Launch Clamp Bug, Need Help

[NJP]

For a while I've had a rather interesting issue with all of my launch clamps, in that periodically during a launch to orbit they decide to follow me around and pop up meters next to my craft as I'm going up to orbit, and, as static objects, as soon as they appear they rapidly disappear as I accelerate upwards. This happens in about half of my launches on certain vehicles I build, and despite the number of mods I have currently installed I can confirm this did happen to me long before I started using anything, and I am certain this is not a mod related issue.

As I've said, I haven't really been having a problem with it, but I supposed it was a bug nonetheless. However recently I've been launching directly upwards (to set up my orbital network for RemoteTech2), and I figure this change in my ascent trajectory has caused this bug with the Launch Clamps to really start to interfere with my game, as when they appear near my vessel they will crash into parts of the ship, forcing me to revert to launch and try again, hoping it doesn't happen again. But then does again...

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This, understandably, is quite frustrating, and I was wondering if anyone else out there was having a similar problem or (better yet) know how to help me fix this issue, or at the very least lend some insight into the problem.

Thanks!

Edited July 23, 2015 by NJP

[Sharpy]

do your rockets really require them?

I can't remember the last time I used launch clamps. I think it was for diagonal launch of some insane contraption, not any real purpose.

Yes, I faced that bug too, long in the past, but only once and with a rather weird craft too.

[NJP]

Unless I want rapid rocket disassembly on the launch pad, I do sorta need them for the mid/late game as I'm launching 3.75 and 5m rockets with multiple stages. It's not all the time that this happens, but it's enough.

[Lukaszenko]

I get this problem, too. They often bring down my rocket on the first launch. I have to re-launch and manage to avoid them. I've even seen them spawn in space and orbit around as debris. Don't know what causes it.

If I try to forgo using them altogether, my rocket spawns a few meters above the launch pad and...well, you get the rest

[NJP]

It seems like it's something with the type of part and not just the specific launch clamps. In the mod SpaceY Heavy Lifters pack there's a new part that act as super clamps, and I've seen them reach orbit in formation too.

[Glaran K'erman]

I'd go with Sharpy and say you don't really need them. I know you said that your rockets fall apart but you can just attach struts from the fuel tank to the decouplers/separators (or other way around, whichever you prefer) and that should eliminate you're issues. Beyond the falling apart problem, if your rocket didn't want to stand up straight at launch you probably wouldn't even notice the clamps with all the trouble trying to get it to fly straight...

[Sharpy]

BTW, do you use TR-38-D?

I found them to be a bait for this kind of bugs.

[SAI Peregrinus]

For those saying you don't need launch clamps, remember that they provide power. If you're trying to launch directly to a target window that's several hours away at night your solar panels won't be deployed (inside a fairing) and your probe will run out of EC before you get to the window. It's easier to just use a launch clamp than to add panels on radial decouplers to be staged before launch, or to only move from VAB to pad just before launch.

[Sharpy]

then your vessel flips a minute after start or you mixed up your staging or you began the gravity turn too early and finished it with lithobraking, or Jebediah snuck into your cabin, or a hundred other results to revert, and then you have to toy with turning the time forward until the precise moment once again. And again.

Just exit to the main KSC screen, wait until the right time, then launch.

[Sobriquet]

There is a critical number when it comes to summoning the Kraken with launch clamps. I'm not able to tell you what that number is, only to say, try using fewer clamps. You may need them, but odds are you don't need as many as you think.

[HoloYolo]

KJR causes this for me most of the time.

[imaspacestation]

I get this problem too. At first I thought it was only because I was using FASA Launch clamps, but then I saw it happen with the regular clamps when playing stock, too.

Sometimes I also lose control of my ship when that happens.

[Glaran K'erman]

What are the real advantages to clamps providing power if you can just move your craft right to the pad before launch? Why have it sit there, am I missing something?

[NJP]

I'd go with Sharpy and say you don't really need them. I know you said that your rockets fall apart but you can just attach struts from the fuel tank to the decouplers/separators (or other way around' date=' whichever you prefer) and that should eliminate you're issues. Beyond the falling apart problem, if your rocket didn't want to stand up straight at launch you probably wouldn't even notice the clamps with all the trouble trying to get it to fly straight...[/quote']

Perhaps, though that is a lot of pressure to put on the main booster engine if, persay, its a Monmouth that can't use that trick. In order to avoid that much pressure on the main engine I could also try and build the stages attached radially bellow the main stage so that the weight is shared. However I've had past experiences with both of them either destroying the launch pad as soon as the physics loads or having multiple engines break off their fuel tanks. It might be because I use 5m parts from SpaceY, but its still a lot of change for an occasionally occurring problem.

BTW, do you use http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/images/thumb/e/ef/TR-38-D.png/60px-TR-38-D.pngTR-38-D?

I found them to be a bait for this kind of bugs.

No, actually I've never used that part because of it's buggy tendencies. The example in the imgur album is actually with a 1.25m rocket where the clamps were strapped o to the SRBs.

- - - Updated - - -

There is a critical number when it comes to summoning the Kraken with launch clamps. I'm not able to tell you what that number is, only to say, try using fewer clamps. You may need them, but odds are you don't need as many as you think.

In the pictures above I used four around my radial SRBs; is that too much?

[imaspacestation]

KJR causes this for me most of the time.

Are you confident? I do use KJR all the time, maybe it really is the cause...

[NJP]

Are you confident? I do use KJR all the time, maybe it really is the cause...

I know it's not the cause because I didn't use KJR up until recently and the screenshots I have in the OP are without KJR. Pretty sure it isn't the mod

[Hagen von Tronje]

I've had this happen with and without mods.

It happens most often on rockets with high part counts (read: laggy at launch), and now that it's brought up, they do seem to have the extra large decouplers, with physics enabled to allow correct staging.

The launch clamps are stock, and so far have always just fallen harmlessly away from my rockets when they do this mystery spawn, it just looks wonky.

[NJP]

The launch clamps are stock, and so far have always just fallen harmlessly away from my rockets when they do this mystery spawn, it just looks wonky.

Yeah, the first time it happened to me I had a mini-freak moment and just slammed the Esc button and froze thinking ".... ... just happened". It scared the crap out of me

[Hagen von Tronje]

Yeah, the first time it happened to me I had a mini-freak moment and just slammed the Esc button and froze thinking ".... ... just happened". It scared the crap out of me

Oh yeah, and it may have happened on much lighter rockets, more than once I saw debris much closer than staging suggested it should be or saw "trails" from what certainly looked like parts flying past me, but I never saw the clamps - possibly because on those rockets my FPS and velocity were both high enough that I didn't get a chance to see before they were gone, while on a huge, lumbering laggy rocket it's pretty obvious.

[cerberusti]

This occurs reliably if you have the base of a launch clamp outside the circle in the VAB.

If you position your launch clamps such that the bases are all within the circle, you should not see the launch clamps reappear during flight and strike your vehicle. There may be other causes, but every time it happens to me this is the situation which triggers it. Usually these are large rockets, as otherwise you have little reason to have clamps that far from the center (although if you offset a rocket from the center enough in the VAB it may happen.)

[Hagen von Tronje]

As of last night I lost an engine to a "phantom clamp" so they are definitely physical objects, not just glitched illusions. It is a decidedly oversized rocket, even after removing all clamps the engines are wider than the pad, so that could probably have something to do with it.

Strangely I have now also seen A.I.R.B.R.A.K.E.S. spawn like this. Seems to occur most often when mach effects start up or change.

[cerberusti]

This is the bug writeup, it also gives a workaround if you cannot redesign your rocket such that it can launch without clamps placed far from the center (quicksave / quickload on the pad):

http://bugs.kerbalspaceprogram.com/issues/4874

[WeirdCulture]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/117344-Launchclamps-crash-into-rocket-and-follow-into-space?p=2034329&viewfull=1#post2034329 maybe that helps

[zilfondel]

This happens to me with a stock game - on at least half of all my launches. And these are small, sub-100 part, 2.5m rockets with the launch clamps all within the pad itself.

Sometimes they even shoot my rockets down before they get to orbit! Kind of like a SAM system.

Edited August 14, 2015 by zilfondel

[FungusForge]

I've only gotten it to happen with my really heavy builds. Before the ClampsBeGone mod popped up I solved the issue by lowering the render detail (which also made the game run as if it was lone pod, instead of a 300 part behemoth)

Anywho here's a link to ClampsBeGone, which immediately deletes the clamps once they're separated. LINK