PSA: Kerbals on EVA vs Ship Recovery

[klesh]

Today I learned if you recover a ship on Kerbin while an Astronaut is holding onto a ladder of that ship, this happens:

1) The ship itself will recover properly.

2) The Astronaut on the ladder will not recover, nor can it be seen from the space center view (should you be close enough to KSC to see it).

3) The Astronaut on the ladder will show as "on EVA" in the Astronaut Complex. And you will show +1 EVA Kerbal in the filters area (up top) of the Tracking Station.

4) The Astronaut will not be in the list on the left hand side even when all that is filtered for is EVA Kerbals. You cannot recover the Kerbal at this point, nor switch to it.

5) Switching back to the Astronaut Complex will then show the Kerbal as KIA, and the Tracking Center will no longer show the phantom EVA Kerbal.

Goodbye Jebediah.

[Endersmens]

Just open the persistence CFG and Ctrl+F Jebediah Kerman and change availability to where he is alive.

[Guest]

Well, yeah, you just yanked the ship out from underneath Jeb, what else did you expect? Technical: The object reference the Kerbal is "attached" to went missing, the game did an okay job recovering from this circumstance instead of CTD'ing and ruining your save.

Report it as a bug and move on.

[klesh]

Just open the persistence CFG and Ctrl+F Jebediah Kerman and change availability to where he is alive.

Thanks, I know how to fix it. A PSA is used to help people avoid the same situation.

Well, yeah, you just yanked the ship out from underneath Jeb, what else did you expect? Technical: The object reference the Kerbal is "attached" to went missing, the game did an okay job recovering from this circumstance instead of CTD'ing and ruining your save.

Report it as a bug and move on.

I expected him to fall 6 inches into the water and be floating there along with the other Kerbal standing on top of it. It was a test.

Thank you so much for the advice as to what to do as well, I had no idea to report it and move on with my life.

[cantab]

I found this out the hard way myself. What's going on is that a Kerbal holding onto a ladder is considered "flying", something that is commonly exploited to get extra science reports. And an object that is flying low enough in the atmosphere, below about 22 km on Kerbin, is liable to be deleted when it passes out of physics range which includes when you go back to the Space Centre screen. Recovering the ship the Kerbal was holding onto was irrelevant except that it takes you back to the space centre.

It's not a bug per se, it's an expected if unwanted consequence of how the game handles vessels in atmosphere outside physics range. But it strikes me that Squad could easily resolve it by letting vessels very close to a planetary surface not be deleted in this way.

[mrclucks]

Side tip/psa: if you evad and can't get back in, go back to the tracking station and recover the vessel first then the Kerbal. Ksp has a habit of deleting ships with tasty science if you recover the Kerbal first

[Guest]

Thank you so much for the advice as to what to do as well, I had no idea to report it and move on with my life.

You're welcome. Have you reported it or should someone else do it?

It's not a bug per se, it's an expected if unwanted consequence of how the game handles vessels in atmosphere outside physics range. But it strikes me that Squad could easily resolve it by letting vessels very close to a planetary surface not be deleted in this way.

I would call that a bug. As far as a fix, it really depends on how vessels are recovered but putting a check in for attached Kerbals on EVA and recovering them would probably be pretty easy.

[Defenestrator47]

Today I learned if you recover a ship on Kerbin while an Astronaut is holding onto a ladder of that ship, this happens:

1) The ship itself will recover properly.

2) The Astronaut on the ladder will not recover, nor can it be seen from the space center view (should you be close enough to KSC to see it).

3) The Astronaut on the ladder will show as "on EVA" in the Astronaut Complex. And you will show +1 EVA Kerbal in the filters area (up top) of the Tracking Station.

4) The Astronaut will not be in the list on the left hand side even when all that is filtered for is EVA Kerbals. You cannot recover the Kerbal at this point, nor switch to it.

5) Switching back to the Astronaut Complex will then show the Kerbal as KIA, and the Tracking Center will no longer show the phantom EVA Kerbal.

Goodbye Jebediah.

Thanks for the tip, good sir. RIP, Jeb. We hardly knew ya.

Everyone, I'd like you to meet our newest test pilot; let's have a warm applause for Jeb!

- - - Updated - - -

Well, yeah, you just yanked the ship out from underneath Jeb, what else did you expect? Technical: The object reference the Kerbal is "attached" to went missing, the game did an okay job recovering from this circumstance instead of CTD'ing and ruining your save.

Report it as a bug and move on.

I see that you're trying to be helpful here, but your tone is borderline insufferable superiority. Speaking as a former Eve Online pilot, save the bittervet syndrome for a game more worthy of it.

[Guest]

I see that you're trying to be helpful here, but your tone is borderline insufferable superiority. Speaking as a former Eve Online pilot, save the bittervet syndrome for a game more worthy of it.

Pot, meet kettle. Pleasure speaking with you.

[r4pt0r]

I see that you're trying to be helpful here, but your tone is borderline insufferable superiority. Speaking as a former Eve Online pilot, save the bittervet syndrome for a game more worthy of it.

Regex is an eternal fountain of snark and sarcasm, I find it grows on you after a time, and personally enjoy it even when it is I who is disagreeing with him

Tone doesn't really matter, his point was correct. No sense in ruffling your feathers over some random person in a forum.

[wossname]

Snarcasm!

[Defenestrator47]

Pot, meet kettle. Pleasure speaking with you.

Chip, meet shoulder. Likewise. I foresee great things.