Solar Panel Issues?

[Choctofliatrio]

I'm pretty sure this is a bug, but not positive. Whenever I use the OX-4W 2x3 or the OX-4L 1x6 solar panels on satellites, I open them, and am not able to close them. Action groups to close don't work. I haven't observed if this is the same for the solar panels with the white casing, or if it works on manned craft, but the fact that I cannot retract these solar panels has ruined several missions of mine.

The "retract panels" option simply vanishes from the menu when I right click on the panel. Reloading the save and restarting the game doesn't work. Once it's deployed, it's stuck.


Is this normal? Has anyone else experienced this?

[Destroyer713]

You're talking about the ones that aren't in a white case, right? Those haven't been able to retract since 1.0, so that's intended.

[Choctofliatrio]

[quote name='Destroyer713']You're talking about the ones that aren't in a white case, right? Those haven't been able to retract since 1.0, so that's intended.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I'm talking about the ones without the case.

Huh. Well I didn't know that. Guess I'm going to have to change what panels I use for basically... all my missions. Thanks for telling me

My first mission to Eve could theoretically have been ruined by the panels not retracting. They would have broken during aerobraking. However, that didn't happen, because the ship was incinerated five seconds after it entered the atmosphere.

[LordFerret]

If you put your cursor on the part in the parts list in the VAB and right-click for the expanded description, it says "Panels cannot be retracted".

[Pecan]

You can edit the .cfg file for the solar panels if you wish.
(eg; C:\Program Files\KSP_Stock\GameData\Squad\Parts\Electrical\1x6SolarPanels\1x6SolarPanels.cfg)

Just before the end of the file is the line "retractable = false". Guess what you need to change.

FWIW this has been discussed a fair bit. The description of the parts used to suggest that the casing on the heavier parts is there to protect the panels during re-entry so I'd still be keen to have both sets retractable but with lower aerodynamic and heat tolerance on the unshielded ones. Edited November 16, 2015 by Pecan