Breaking ground: deployed science percentage completely wrong

[ysu]

I've got a mission to deploy a goo module on Minmus.

On the way to Minmus the mission somehow showed 169% out of 50% already.   Nonetheless, I've deployed the goo unit, then fast forwards, I got a message on screen that something is working:

https://imgur.com/BPKx0VO

Then I had a quick look at the contract, and it went up 10%:

https://imgur.com/jHOmnEg

 

I'm at a complete loss as to what exactly is going to be needed for this contract, I'm even at a loss if it will complete...please, is there a solution to this?

Edit: reloaded, went at it again, this time I got to Minmus with 0%.  Put down all parts, each one shows it is online and connected.  Then after a bit of fast-forward I get this message:
https://imgur.com/eFDpvr7
What the....?

So I thought third time the lucky, reload (this time from Minmus surface only) depoy again...everything is connected up beautifully, seems all is dandy.  Except; nothing is happening.  Fast forwards; nothing.   Eventually I've run out of time on the contract.

At this point I'm pretty convinced this whole feature is as buggy as it gets

Edited June 14, 2019 by ysu

[Geschosskopf]

Yes, the deployed surface science thing was EXTREMELY buggy in the initial 1.7.1 release.  The 1.7.2 patch notes say they addressed most of these issues but I haven't had a chance to see if anything works now or if there are still problems.  So basically, what folks were doing (at least in 1.7.1) was setting the systems up and hoping they worked.  If not, they'd just cheat the contract complete.

If working properly, the deployed science is a long-term thing.  So, every few days, it will transmit some science, gradually building up the total until (theoretically) the contract amount is achieved.  So it looks like your 1st run was working and you should have left it alone for a while to see if it would have finished the job.   But the function of these things (at least in 1.7.1) was/is filled with various bugs.  Such as...

• The whole completion percentage is wonky.  "X% of Y%"?!?!?!?  What does that even mean to begin with?  And as noted, the values change a lot for no apparent reason, often going way over 100%.  Anyway, this apparently made/makes contracts uncompletable.  This was supposedly addressed in 1.7.2
• The Kraken messes with everything left on the surface.  This can cause modules to be considered not on the planet's surface and thus not function, such as in your 2nd example.  About all you can do there is shuffle the deck by warping a bit more, or switching focus to the set-up to take it off rails, and hope things fall back into place.
• Another aspect of the Kraken's interference was that modules would move on the ground, eventually getting too far apart to be connected.  When this happened, your message box would get spammed with many reports per second stating this problem.  1.7.2 supposedly addressed both these issues, doing something to limit sliding and also reducing the frequency of disconnection messages.
• Sometimes, as in your 3rd example, ;the set-up shows everything connected but nothing happens at all.  Nobody seems to know why.  There are theories that you can only have 1 set-up per planet, but this happens with only 1 sometimes.  But usually that 1 is a replacement, so maybe the "already have a set-up" flag, if there is one, remains set even after you delete the original set-up.

Anyway, at least in 1.7.1, the whole deployed science thing was an exercise in frustration.  But hopefully it's a bit better now, although your experience here makes me fear otherwise.

[mystifeid]

1 hour ago, Geschosskopf said:

Anyway, at least in 1.7.1, the whole deployed science thing was an exercise in frustration.  But hopefully it's a bit better now, although your experience here makes me fear otherwise

Deployed science in 1.7.2 seems to be working ok - I've completed a few contracts now. The screenshots in the OP appear to be from 1.7.1.

[Aegolius13]

2 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

The whole completion percentage is wonky.  "X% of Y%"?!?!?!?  What does that even mean to begin with?

I've got a contract currently asking  for 1,720% of 50% of a goo experiment.  Think it's time to consult my good friend alt-f12.

[Geschosskopf]

55 minutes ago, mystifeid said:

Deployed science in 1.7.2 seems to be working ok - I've completed a few contracts now. The screenshots in the OP appear to be from 1.7.1.

That's good to know!  Glad to hear it.

9 minutes ago, Aegolius13 said:

I've got a contract currently asking  for 1,720% of 50% of a goo experiment.  Think it's time to consult my good friend alt-f12.

Is that in 1.7.1 or 1.7.2?

Anyway, if it's still sending Science! points periodically, let it continue and see what happens.  Unless the contract deadline is getting close.

[Aegolius13]

30 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

Is that in 1.7.1 or 1.7.2?

Anyway, if it's still sending Science! points periodically, let it continue and see what happens.  Unless the contract deadline is getting close.

The contract originated in 1.7.1.  I just upgraded to 1.7.2 and it says the same thing, so maybe the fix only affects new ones?  I guess I'll let it run a bit (have like 10 years on the contract), and kill it if nothing changes.

[Just Jim]

57 minutes ago, Aegolius13 said:

I've got a contract currently asking  for 1,720% of 50% of a goo experiment.  Think it's time to consult my good friend alt-f12.

 

15 minutes ago, Aegolius13 said:

The contract originated in 1.7.1.  I just upgraded to 1.7.2 and it says the same thing, so maybe the fix only affects new ones?  I guess I'll let it run a bit (have like 10 years on the contract), and kill it if nothing changes.

Yeah, my guess would be it's because the contract was already broken and past the point of no-return, so to speak, when you upgraded. New contracts in 1.7.2 should be fine. 
If it were me, I would first make a back-up of the save, just to be safe, then alt-F12 and use that to complete the contract. No need to kill it and take a rep hit... you did what was required, I would not call it cheating in a case like this.
Anyway, kill or complete it, your choice, and then try a new contract in 1.7.2 and it should be working as intended.