Rover Wont Work after Decoupling From Docking Port

[Operation Captain Viridian]

I final have been able to squeeze a good looking rover into a mkII cargo bay, but If I launch a full craft (with the rover as a payload, docked within the aircraft) and disengage docking ports, then it wont drive (but when launching the rover separately as its own vehicle, not docked to anything, It works fine). The only problem I could forsee is the wheels being clipped into position somehow bugs them out (yet when using the smallest wheels without clippage, it still has the same problem) ]\

Any assistance is appreciated.

-Viridian

[HvP]

Well, it's hard to tell without more information about your rover. A screenshot of the craft would be helpful.

A few thoughts about what could be going wrong.

- Communication problem: What kind of antennas are you using on each craft? An unmanned probe needs a line of communication back to Kerbin in order to be controllable. Small antennas on rovers are not always powerful enough to communicate directly with the KSC, however if you have a relay antenna on the mothership then it could be relaying the signal for your rover using its more powerful antennas.

- Power: Sometimes the electricity in small batteries and probe cores gets used up first when connected to a mothership. When you undock you might be stuck with no electricity, and no control as a result.

- Control point: Your rover might be trying to orient itself to the docking port after undocking. This would mess up your directional controls, but it shouldn't cause a complete loss of control. Try right-clicking the probe core and choosing "Control from Here."

- Design flaw: If you built the two versions of the rover separately, then it's possible you simply forgot some easy to overlook essential on the probe because it was present on the mothership - like batteries or an antenna.

I don't know if any one of these is the cause of your problem. Let us know a little more about your craft and maybe we can be of more help.

[bewing]

- Brakes: Sometimes they turn on, invisibly. Try clicking the brakes on, and then off again.

 

Edited September 6, 2017 by bewing

[Geonovast]

Any chance you're hibernating the brainbox of the rover before launch?

[mk1980]

to debug the problem, you could set the cargo bay that holds the rover as the root part in the editor, remove the other parts of the ship and "launch" only the cargo bay & rover. if that fails, it's probably some issue with clipping or whatever and it won't work in a real mission, either.

[XLjedi]

I've had issues with clipping where I could dock/undock a rover OK at the start of the mission... but by the end of the mission the wheel contact with surface caused tire damage and/or inflight clipping to the point the rover couldn't move at the destination.  I finally decided to go with an overhead gantry design and I just install jacks in all my rovers to lift em up a bit to dock.  No more issues.

[BjM]

I'm having a similar problem. The diference is it's a sat, not a rover. Cargo bay mkII. Of the 2 docking ports only one (or in some tests none) shows the undock option. When undock the button to undock goes away but the 2 didn't part. When I try to cycle between crafts It didn't show 2 diferents.

(Sry, not at home to put screenshots)

 

Edit: Some screenshots. I have tracked the problem to the docking ports, despite the cargo bay, or what is in it.

https://imgur.com/a/REePf

Think it's the same problem of OP. If it's not I would gladly open another post.

Edited September 7, 2017 by BjM
To put some screenshots

[Shadowmage]

On 9/5/2017 at 5:27 PM, Operation Captain Viridian said:

I final have been able to squeeze a good looking rover into a mkII cargo bay, but If I launch a full craft (with the rover as a payload, docked within the aircraft) and disengage docking ports, then it wont drive (but when launching the rover separately as its own vehicle, not docked to anything, It works fine). The only problem I could forsee is the wheels being clipped into position somehow bugs them out (yet when using the smallest wheels without clippage, it still has the same problem) ]\

Any assistance is appreciated.

-Viridian

Are you using KerbalFoundries / KSPWheel by chance?

I've seen one other report of similar outcome (cargo-bayed rover not working), but have so far been unable to confirm the problem.

[JStevenson]

I've had similar problems while doing Base building tests at my nearby Kerbal test site (I test modular construction tech always on ground before wasting time launching to moons/duna/etc).

Sometimes just toggling the brakes (B key) seems to "wake up" one of.my rovers after undocking it.

Also, I suggest you always test your cargo-rover payload deployment  at launch pad to make sure it works OK before committing to a mission.  Generally, I've found that if things work ok in Kerbal gravity (meaning rover can separate from cargo pod in a non destructive manner) they should be ok in lower gravity/airless places.

But do also check that your rover has ample comm link and power as (early on) I did experience dead rovers way out due to dead batteries or no comm link! Usually it was because I forgot to deploy solar arrays or antennas shortly after orbit! Doh!

 

[HvP]

16 hours ago, BjM said:

I'm having a similar problem. The diference is it's a sat, not a rover. Cargo bay mkII. Of the 2 docking ports only one (or in some tests none) shows the undock option. When undock the button to undock goes away but the 2 didn't part. When I try to cycle between crafts It didn't show 2 diferents.

(Sry, not at home to put screenshots)

 

Edit: Some screenshots. I have tracked the problem to the docking ports, despite the cargo bay, or what is in it.

https://imgur.com/a/REePf

Think it's the same problem of OP. If it's not I would gladly open another post.

Looking at your screenshots @BjM it looks like your docking ports are clipped through each other and not directly attached to each other. The ones on the back of the cockpit should look like the ones on the back of that probe core. Notice how on the probe core docking ports the narrow ends meet in the middle between the flared collars of the docking ports? In the first pictures of the cockpit the flared collars are touching each other which should not be the case if they were attached correctly.

My guess is that you probably missed the end node at the back of the cockpit when attaching the first docking port, which means that it surface attached and left the end node open. Then when you attached the second docking port it attached directly to the node on the back of the cockpit, and clipped through the first docking port. The docking ports aren't attached to each other, they are both attached to the back of the cockpit.

To try and keep this from happening, hold down the ALT key when you want to attach to an end node. It prevents parts from surface attaching and will center it directly on the nearest available end node.

Edited September 8, 2017 by HvP

[BjM]

@HvP Big thanks!! It was it. Pretty simple but I didn't know the Alt shortcut.

Thanks!