How to rescue Kerbal from Stayputnik "capsule"

[Messelink]

When arriving with my rescue vessel at a stranded Kerbal's debris, I notice he is stuck inside an aptly named Stayputnik, with no way to exit, as there is no hatch. Also, the poor man is stuck in total darkness as the IVA shows there is no light whatsoever inside the Stayputnik.

So, what do I do now? Revert to a previous savegame and not take the contract?

Edited July 7, 2015 by Messelink
Change Prefix to Answered

[Reddeyfish]

You can try using a Klaw to grab the Stayputnik and bring the kerbal home. Recovering the Stayputnik will also recover the kerbal inside.

Also, do you have any mods installed? This is something that needs to be reported as a bug.

[Vagani]

^^^ what he said, although that is quite funny XD

[fchurca]

What Vagani said, and pics please so keks can be had.

[Snark]

Or if you just regard it as a bug, you can edit the save file pretty trivially to turn it into, say, a Mk1 lander can.

[Messelink]

Or if you just regard it as a bug, you can edit the save file pretty trivially to turn it into, say, a Mk1 lander can.

Okay, I'm game. How trivial are we talking? I remember searching though the save file some months ago to fix some docking ports, so I have some experience, but not much. Is it just a one line change?

[Sharpy]

In-game solution: Grab the Stayputnik with the Klaw. Land. Recover.

I built a tiny unmanned vessel just for that purpose. RCS, airbrakes, parachutes, Klaw and enough dV to deorbit an MK3 passenger module from Munar orbit onto Kerbin using the RCS engines alone.

Note as increasingly more contracts demand recovery of the "hulk" the kerbal was stuck in, something like that will become necessary soon anyway.

[Kryxal]

This sort of reminds me of how I had a service bay try to eat Bob...

Javascript is disabled. View full album

[mrclucks]

I'm with everyone. Klaw it and recover back on kerbin

[Snark]

Okay, I'm game. How trivial are we talking? I remember searching though the save file some months ago to fix some docking ports, so I have some experience, but not much. Is it just a one line change?

Super trivial, yes, just a one-line change.

Let's say the troublesome craft is "Fredbert's Wreck" (or whatever it's called). To fix:

1. Make a backup copy of your save file in case you hork something.

2. Open it up in a text editor and search for the VESSEL section named "Fredbert's Wreck" (or whatever it's named).

3. Find the PART in the VESSEL.

4. Find the line that says "partName = probeCoreSphere" (that's the Stayputnik)

5. Change the "probeCoreSphere" to "landerCabinSmall"

6. Save, exit the text editor, load the save file in KSP and you're good to go.

Edited July 6, 2015 by Snark

[Snark]

I'm with everyone. Klaw it and recover back on kerbin

That would be my preferred solution, too... except that the klaw is so buggy. Maybe others have had better luck with it, but I seem to destroy the universe (or other problem) every time I try to use one. Not even doing anything fancy. I make a simple rocket with a klaw on the front, grapple the stayputnik in straightforward fashion... and suddenly my craft has a slow but steady phantom acceleration that builds up until my craft suddenly explodes. And then any other vessel I switch to also does the same thing. Even if I re-load from save. Can't fix it unless I totally exit KSP and re-start the program. Bottom line: the klaw is bad news(at least for me), and I will not touch one ever again until and unless Squad has the bandwidth to fix it.

That's why I resorted to editing the save file. Normally I'd steer clear of that, it just feels somehow unclean... but it's either get clobbered by the klaw bug, or the stayputnik bug (surely they didn't intend that). Editing the save file is a last resort, but in this case the only resort (for me, anyway).

[Sharpy]

Heh. Use the Klaw and don't fear it. Then after you finish, save, quit the game, load it anew and play on.

The Klaw wakes the Kraken, but the Kraken very rarely attacks the Klaw's direct target - it tends to prefer more tasty morsels, like a large space station fifteen minutes later.

[sumghai]

Does this issue occur in the stock game, or with mods?

According to Arsonide's response to another thread on this topic, this problem apparently is due to a bug with USI MKS:

I've tracked this down to a particular ModuleManager config in USI MKS. The config adds seats to every part, including probe cores, which causes the rescue contracts to think they are crewable. I've alerted RoverDude to the issue, but for now, you can fix it by extracting this config I whipped up into your GameData/UmbraSpaceIndustries/Kolonization folder, overwriting the one that is there. Enjoy!

[Arsonide]

I've tracked down this issu...oh...beaten to the punch.

[Messelink]

Thanks for all your help, much appreciated! The Klaw is not really an option for me as I have already put a rocket with two inflatable rescue pods 30 m away from the probe. I will edit the save file, thanks for the detailed instructions.

And yes, I also have USI MKS installed, thanks for pointing me to that thread. I didn't search enough to find it. And thanks for the config, I will give that a go, as I have another contract to rescue a Kerbal stuck in orbit, which is going to be the next stop.

[Ignath]

There must be another mod out there doing the same thing, as I do not have any USI mods installed but still experience this issue.