Recover lost craft from previous save

[Champ]

Hi all

I don't know if it's the right place for this post. If not, feel free to move it.

Here's my problem : i made a big ssto spaceplane. Able to bring a full orange tank to orbit (made it to refuel my space station). Great ship. I was even able to land it ! (only the second landing in my life - I'm a noob with spaceplanes).

Then i went to the SPH, made a few changes, saved and launch.... Modified version doesnt stand it's own weight and collapse on the runway.....

Problem : when saving the modified version, i didnt rename it, and overwrited the original.

Possible solution : i quick-saved just after landing. Is it possible to bring it back to the SPH ?

[Snark]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but, alas, no. Your original version is gone forever.

Your saved ships live "outside of time"-- they're not saved with the "state of the world" file that gets persisted with quicksaves. For example, if you do this:

1. Do a quicksave

2. Create a new ship in the VAB and save it

3. Exit the VAB and load your quicksave

...then the ship is still there.

If you overwrite a ship, the previous version is just gone.

A useful habit if you want to experiment with your (successful) designs: never tinker with the original. If you want to do some "what if" experimentation, load up the original and then immediately re-save it with a different name, like "Test". Now you can tinker to your heart's content without worrying about farbling your original. If you eventually get it to a state that you like, you can always copy it back to the original again.

That said: Your quicksave contains an instantiated copy of the original (i.e. the instance of the ship that's sitting there landed), so in principle it ought to be possible to extract it from the .sfs file, save it as a new .craft file in the ships folder, and retrieve it that way. However, I expect you'd need to do a certain amount of tinkering to get it from "instance of a ship" format to "ship design" format, not sure if that would end up being more trouble than it's worth (and may be involved enough that you'd need some sort of script to do it). So the verdict on that is "likely technically possible, but no idea how hard it would be in practice." My guess is that it would be easiest just to take your munged version and try to edit it back to something usable.

[The_Rocketeer]

Be very careful not to overwrite your quicksave. If you do any hope you have is gone.

If you quicksaved using alt-F5 and put in a custom save name, no worries. Otherwise, you'll need to do this:

1. Save the game with a custom name using the KSC escape-menu/Save Game.

2. Load the quicksave with the landed ship.

3. Use alt-F5 to save the game again using a different name.

Once you've done that, both your progress and your craft will be safe as long as u don't save again using the same names.

To recover it to the hanger, unless you can revert the flight to the SPH, you'll probably have to edit or juggle some of the game files. Someone else can probably give you a better idea here, it's the sort of thing I tend to figure out/muddle through as and when I have to rather than having a clear process in mind!

Edit: Ninja'd.

[Champ]

That said: Your quicksave contains an instantiated copy of the original (i.e. the instance of the ship that's sitting there landed), so in principle it ought to be possible to extract it from the .sfs file, save it as a new .craft file in the ships folder, and retrieve it that way. However, I expect you'd need to do a certain amount of tinkering to get it from "instance of a ship" format to "ship design" format, not sure if that would end up being more trouble than it's worth (and may be involved enough that you'd need some sort of script to do it).

I tried to edit the quicksave, found the [CRAFT], but it's weird : some infos are missing in the quicksave version. Important info, like part links ! Seams like the game does not store the ship's structure in the same format in a save file and in a craft file. I guess my only hope would be a script, as you said. Manual editing is a titanesque task.

My guess is that it would be easiest just to take your munged version and try to edit it back to something usable.

That's what i did. At least got it able to stand it's own weight. Still have to test it (orbit, and landing).

If you quicksaved using alt-F5 and put in a custom save name, no worries.

I used F5 and not Alt-F5, but i think it's safe : i quit KSP, and did a backup of the quicksave file.

I loaded the save with F9, and parked the ship in the middle of KSC. I think i'll leave it here and never recover it. It's a piece of history ! My first landing post 1.0 !

[Claw]

Well, a version or so ago I created a utility to rescue someone's shuttle from pretty much the same scenario. I haven't tested it at all in 1.0.X. If you are willing to post your save file, I can pull up my utility and give it a try.

Cheers,

-Claw

[Champ]

Hi Claw

Here's the quicksave : https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9robdzPFAr9R25ZUmNqWG10MWM/view?usp=sharing

Here's persistent save (should be nearly the same, i quicksaved just before leaving) : https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9robdzPFAr9cUhrNUVRNV9pQlE/view?usp=sharing

The ship i want to recover is the "Papillon" (landed in the middle of KSC).