Duna Base keeps disapearing

[KerBlammo]

I've been trying to get a Duna Base established. Its basically a habitat for use by future crewed missions. It has a crew capsule (a Cupola) and a remote control (RC-L01) unit (as well as hitchhiker and lab modules, solar panels, batteries etc). It also has a MechJeb to provide true altitude and time to impact info. After I land it might show up in the tracking center at least for a while, but inevitably when I go back to Duna or look later in the tracking station its just not there. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.

Any suggestions?

Edited October 9, 2015 by KerBlammo

[NeatCrown]

In the tracking station on the top of the screen (and one that auto-hides itself in flight map mode), there's a tab that shows different types of crafts. One of the craft types might be disabled (or you might have pressed "revert flight" by accident. It happened to me a few times. )

[KerBlammo]

In the tracking station on the top of the screen (and one that auto-hides itself in flight map mode), there's a tab that shows different types of crafts. One of the craft types might be disabled (or you might have pressed "revert flight" by accident. It happened to me a few times. )

Good idea about the map mode, but unfortunately it doesn't even show up as debris. The last time I changed it to be a base in the info editor after landing. The map tells me I have 0 bases

[NeatCrown]

Then did you accidentally press "revert flight"? As I said last post, I did that a few times... If not, try reinstalling KSP.

[KerBlammo]

I am definitely not accidentally hitting "Revert Flight".

[Melonfish]

have you tried it with a probe controller attached rather than a remote controller? just a thought but as it isn't an entity without a controller it may be getting auto deleted?

[Pax Kerbana]

Seems to be getting deleted as debris, turn on persistent debris. The game will re-classify the craft at every stage separation I believe.

[KerBlammo]

have you tried it with a probe controller attached rather than a remote controller? just a thought but as it isn't an entity without a controller it may be getting auto deleted?

I tried that and unfortunately get the same result.

[Melonfish]

Seems to be getting deleted as debris, turn on persistent debris. The game will re-classify the craft at every stage separation I believe.

Possibly a persistant debris issue as Pax Kerbana has stated here? other than that I'm not sure, i've never had anything disappear before but then i haven't changed anything in the stock startup options.

what mods are you running? is it possible one of them is affecting this?

[Tex_NL]

It's possible your base might actually be lifted of the surface due to terrain clipping. Unfocussed 'airborne' objects below a certain height are deleted as they are considered to crash.

You could try to change terrain detail or (un)locking your landing legs/gear.

[KerBlammo]

It's possible your base might actually be lifted of the surface due to terrain clipping. Unfocussed 'airborne' objects below a certain height are deleted as they are considered to crash.

You could try to change terrain detail or (un)locking your landing legs/gear.

Ahh yes I think you are on to something! If I lock the suspension on the landing gear, the base does show up in the tracking station! However when i switch back it its been launched 100 m into the air then crashes back down and is destroyed Maybe my problem is the design of the base with landing gear at the extremes of the structure:

If so frankly I would class this as a bug... I'd have to do more experimentation to determine if this is the case, but at this point I'm ready to give up on the entire project.

[DeMatt]

Hm... that's not a stock landing gear... what happens if you land it, then retract the landing gear and let it settle directly on the ground? Does it still get deleted?

[Slam_Jones]

Typically when it gets launched into the air, it is due to part of it being spawned in underground. There are a few ways I've dealt with this in my bases:

- Make sure the spot you're building on is smooth. Doesn't have to be 0 degree slope flat, just as long as it's not bumpy. You want the base to be sitting perpendicular to the ground at all points. Not sure if it was mentioned in this thread or elsewhere, but when you load in your base, KSP loads it as if it were in the VAB, then sets it on the planet. Again, if any part of it is then underground, KSP gets confused, and physics happens, usually involving your base cartwheeling through the air.

- Sometimes you can ditch the landing legs. If it's balanced and designed to do so, bases can sometimes be more stable and less error-prone if they sit directly on the ground.

[KerBlammo]

Hm... that's not a stock landing gear... what happens if you land it, then retract the landing gear and let it settle directly on the ground? Does it still get deleted?

It does not! Thanks for the suggestion!

- - - Updated - - -

Typically when it gets launched into the air, it is due to part of it being spawned in underground. There are a few ways I've dealt with this in my bases:

- Make sure the spot you're building on is smooth. Doesn't have to be 0 degree slope flat, just as long as it's not bumpy. You want the base to be sitting perpendicular to the ground at all points. Not sure if it was mentioned in this thread or elsewhere, but when you load in your base, KSP loads it as if it were in the VAB, then sets it on the planet. Again, if any part of it is then underground, KSP gets confused, and physics happens, usually involving your base cartwheeling through the air.

- Sometimes you can ditch the landing legs. If it's balanced and designed to do so, bases can sometimes be more stable and less error-prone if they sit directly on the ground.

I don't have much control over where it ens up. It areobrakes in then deploys parachutes at ~5km / ~350m/s and then uses rockets at the last second before touch down. I tired DeMatt's suggestion an retracted the legs after landing, it wobbled around uncomfortably a bit on its fuel tanks but stabilized and was still thre after switching away!

I will follow your advice and redesign so it does not have landing gear (or at least can sit stably once they are retracted).

[KerBlammo]

Thanks to everyone who contribute to this thread!

It appears the answer is terrain clipping because of the placement of the landing struts. Here is the final design on Duna (I went back to the original 'sky crane' approach so no fuel tanks or rocket motors on this one):