Recover Unit 58 K93 Mission Impossible.

[Karlos]

So... I've wasted a PHENOMENAL amount of money and resources in trying to keep my reputation by completing this small, apparently easy task of recovering a small object from Kerbin's Orbit, only to discover it's physically impossible!

Multiple (literally hundreds) of attempts to grab it with the grappler, (it bounces off), squash it between two ships armed with grapplers, (it still bounces off), contain it in a cargo hold, (works great until you manoeuvre the vessel then it falls out 'though' the side). Even tried to contain it in a cargo hold with a grappler fitted inside (despite bouncing around on and off the grappler it still doesn't attach. All attempts have proved fruitless so, in absolute desperation, I sent a 4th ship - this time 'manned'. Deployed the guy on EVA to see if it could physically be grabbed... and (surprise surprise) he flew right through it!!! - No contact... like it doesn't exist.

Hacked off... I've spent literally hundreds of thousands on assets and countless hours of play on this challenge for a mere 50k reward just to do it properly, as a matter of principle... Any ideas would be very welcomed please.

 

[mystifeid]

What part is it? Screenshots are always helpful.

[Gargamel]

7 minutes ago, mystifeid said:

Screenshots are always helpful.

This..... but.....

51 minutes ago, Karlos said:

and (surprise surprise) he flew right through it!!! - No contact... like it doesn't exist.

Can you switch to it?  When you get close to it (couple hundred meters) try warping for a few seconds, see if it becomes solid again. 

Share your save file, let one of take a look.

But stop throwing good money after bad, don't try any more until you got it figured out. 

[Karlos]

2 hours ago, mystifeid said:

What part is it? Screenshots are always helpful.

Yes... sorry... I actually have a few screen shots but couldn't for the life of me figure how to post them here... Sorted it now... URLs below:

https://imgur.com/srhxybe

https://imgur.com/Cqyuaqr

https://imgur.com/eXuOVUp

https://imgur.com/I0aIyjz

 

1 hour ago, Gargamel said:

This..... but.....

Can you switch to it?  When you get close to it (couple hundred meters) try warping for a few seconds, see if it becomes solid again. 

Share your save file, let one of take a look.

But stop throwing good money after bad, don't try any more until you got it figured out. 

Sound advice for sure... I tried switching to it... and I can... but I can't do anything with it and it doesn't become solid again.

Edited May 30, 2018 by Karlos
Added URLs

[mystifeid]

Yeah, they're not the friendliest part - usually I think you have to grab the flat part (where the orange and black lines are in the first pic) pretty square on. When I have my alignment right I try to hit with a speed of about 1m/s - 1.5m/s.

It might help to have a much smaller and more maneuverable ship (with rcs top and bottom and sas).

If you start it spinning with a miss, briefly go to 5x warp, then realign and try again.

The alignment is important so  you can also save your game often as you improve your position so that you can reload and try again without starting from scratch.

I haven't had one of those in my current game but I remember having trouble with them in the past.

Edited May 30, 2018 by mystifeid

[Geonovast]

Pretty sure I know what's going on.

That particular piece is unrootable.  It cannot be the root of a ship.

So when it's floating in orbit, essentially a 1-part craft (where the 1 part would have to be root), it can't actually exist.  Since it doesn't exist, you can't interact with it.

This shouldn't be allowed to happen and I would consider it a bug.  @bewing?

[StrandedonEarth]

I can only wonder if it can be grabbed with KAS

[mystifeid]

I've had this contract in the past and seem to remember completing it (with a klaw). Hasn't anyone else?

Edited May 30, 2018 by mystifeid

[bewing]

You must still be on KSP ver 1.2.x? See this thread for an astounding job solving the problem: 

But this bug was fixed in 1.3.0, AFAIK. Wheels are no longer valid parts for recovery contracts.

 

[mystifeid]

Seems that memory is fallible.

[Karlos]

38 minutes ago, bewing said:

You must still be on KSP ver 1.2.x? See this thread for an astounding job solving the problem: 

But this bug was fixed in 1.3.0, AFAIK. Wheels are no longer valid parts for recovery contracts.

 

Yes,I think you’ve nailed the problem... I accepted this contract when the programme was very very early in its development as it had an unlimited time for completion, and it was WAY before they fixed a lot of the early bugs. So yes... I guess the challenge remains but the piece remains unrootable.

[Geonovast]

1 hour ago, Karlos said:

Yes,I think you’ve nailed the problem... I accepted this contract when the programme was very very early in its development as it had an unlimited time for completion, and it was WAY before they fixed a lot of the early bugs. So yes... I guess the challenge remains but the piece remains unrootable.

You might be able to edit your save file in a way that leaves the contract intact, but changes what the part is. 

[Karlos]

15 hours ago, Geonovast said:

You might be able to edit your save file in a way that leaves the contract intact, but changes what the part is. 

Haha... wouldn't that be something... Sadly I suspect my technical programming knowledge is WAY below the standard required for that kind of intervention.

Thank you all for help/advice/replies... I may not have solved my issue, but at least (thanks to your help) I can now acknowledge that the limitation is not of my own making and move on.

Having spent about a Million Bucks on and WEEKS of anguish on this for a 50k reward, I feel justified in hitting ALT F12 - Mission Complete!! :-)

18 hours ago, bewing said:

You must still be on KSP ver 1.2.x? See this thread for an astounding job solving the problem: 

But this bug was fixed in 1.3.0, AFAIK. Wheels are no longer valid parts for recovery contracts.

 

This info was the clincher... many thanks for the reference... much appreciated.

[Xd the great]

Hyperedit it to kerbin. Thats kinda cheating though.