Unpredictable behaviour of mining outpost

[alex955]

Hi,

I recently began the project of creating a mining station in one of the craters of the Mun. a complete one, with mining modules, tank modules, and power modules.

Of course, I had to launch each part separately and assemble them on the Mun. and there comes the trouble: when I asemble more than a few parts (mining, tank and power), as soon as the last part is docked, the entire outpost starts twisting and wiggling and jumping and then of course... exploding...

I still don't understand why, I turned off every SAS, it still behaves completely randomly, so I end up with no mining station

 

Any suggestion welcome !

Thanks in advance

[A_name]

2 hours ago, alex955 said:

Hi,

I recently began the project of creating a mining station in one of the craters of the Mun. a complete one, with mining modules, tank modules, and power modules.

Of course, I had to launch each part separately and assemble them on the Mun. and there comes the trouble: when I asemble more than a few parts (mining, tank and power), as soon as the last part is docked, the entire outpost starts twisting and wiggling and jumping and then of course... exploding...

I still don't understand why, I turned off every SAS, it still behaves completely randomly, so I end up with no mining station

 

Any suggestion welcome !

Thanks in advance

You've been visited by the Kraken! Seriously though, are you *absolutely sure* you turned off all reaction wheels and control systems? I’d say go back and double check. Even when a vessel isn’t active, if it has a pilot or a probe core it could still be trying to hold and SAS position.

Also try time warping a bit to halt all motion right after the docking ports click.

Also check if you don’t have any moving parts clipping into each other. Especially the service bays and the landing gear, which have always been Krakenny.

[bewing]

And make sure you turn off any autostruts once you have the pieces connected.

[alex955]

Thanks for your first answers !

Indeed I'm shure any SAS is turned off, I even build a test-version of the outpost at KSP, same problem. If I'm not mistaken, autostrut is an add-on, and I don't have it so it shouldn't be a problem.

I'll try to post a video or printscreen of my problem as soon as I have timeto do it

[Snark]

39 minutes ago, alex955 said:

If I'm not mistaken, autostrut is an add-on

No, it's a stock game feature, available via advanced tweakables.

[alex955]

Mh well anyways, is not activated

[sal_vager]

Actually this is a wheel and leg bug, I assume you have several legs on this station, if you have too many they will do this (about 20).

Autostruts may actually help in this case, if you autostrut the whole station you can prevent most of the wobble, but any wheels may still bounce around.

Doing this is awkward though, back up your save then open it in a text editor (not wordpad).

Find your station, if you highlight the station in the file you can do a find and replace for this line.

                autostrutMode = Off

Change it to this.

                autostrutMode = Root

That should only do the station instead of the whole file and all vessels.

Then load this new save and see what happens.

Another method would be to avoid wheels and landing legs except on some truck type craft to move modules of the station into place, so they can be undocked when not in use, the station itself can use structural parts for support instead.

I know this is a huge pain, and Squad are not happy with the wheels either, but there are some limitations that we have to work around until a better wheel system becomes available.

[TheKorbinjer]

4 hours ago, sal_vager said:

Actually this is a wheel and leg bug, I assume you have several legs on this station, if you have too many they will do this (about 20).

Autostruts may actually help in this case, if you autostrut the whole station you can prevent most of the wobble, but any wheels may still bounce around.

Doing this is awkward though, back up your save then open it in a text editor (not wordpad).

Find your station, if you highlight the station in the file you can do a find and replace for this line.

                autostrutMode = Off

Change it to this.

                autostrutMode = Root

That should only do the station instead of the whole file and all vessels.

Then load this new save and see what happens.

Another method would be to avoid wheels and landing legs except on some truck type craft to move modules of the station into place, so they can be undocked when not in use, the station itself can use structural parts for support instead.

I know this is a huge pain, and Squad are not happy with the wheels either, but there are some limitations that we have to work around until a better wheel system becomes available.

I do believe you can autostrut in the game, in flight..

If you autosaved, load it up and ALT F12 unbreakable joints, indestructable parts cheats autostrut the whole thing to root part, then undo the cheats.

Should be good to go after that.

Edited February 17, 2017 by TheKorbinger

[sal_vager]

While you can add auto struts in flight, your craft might be shaking apart at that moment...

[alex955]

I suspected the wheels to be the cause, indeed what a pain: all my parts are auto-motorized with 8 wheels... I will try the auto-strut.

 

Thank you !