Bases fall apart when I come back to them

[Spodershibe]

So I leave my base for a couple years to go do something else, and then I come back to it, and it completely runs down. Parts randomly detach from it, parts break, and my base is rendered unusable, with my Kerbals doomed to eternity at a broken base. Is there something I should be doing? Is it one of my mods?

[DrLicor]

Hmm thats how the game should work, never had this.

Have you installed mods during this savegame?

Installing mods can mess up with saves, especially with existing ships/bases.

You also could install:

And when loading a base, acitvate the cheat menu (alt+F12) and activate the unbreakable joints.

 

[Snark]

Bases can be... odd sometimes.  They can get into clipping problems with terrain, where when you come back to them, the game decides "oh noes, object intersecting terrain!" and treats it like a collision, flinging stuff upwards, and general hilarity ensues.  (Not sure if this is what you're running into, but it might be.)

I've had pretty good luck with bases in which I make sure that nothing touches the ground except lander legs.  That is, each component of my base is standing on legs.  The game does handle "standing on legs on the ground" well, and I generally don't have problem with stuff leaping as long as follow this design principle.