Debris disappearing

[pp3d]

Even though the Max number of persistent debris is non zero (150), debris don't stick around (yes they are in space). Once i move to another ship or go to the tracking station created debris disappear from tracking (counter is reset to 0). Happened recently as I deleted a bunch of files (old saves and ships) from the saves folder (just conjecture at this point not sure if this is related). I guess the question is how can one mess this up... 

thanks

 

--