Trouble with KSP:BG robotic parts getting locked?

[Ken.C]

I'm having some issues with a rather complex base/sky crane setup. I have a number of robotic parts on the ship, and during bits of the mission, some were flopping around. I solved this usually by resetting to build angle, and that worked... some of the time. Now that I have the thing stable and ready to land, some parts are not giving me the option of changing the angle (hinge) or extension (piston) at all. The motor shows as engaged, but the slider bar for the angle/extension is not present. And reset to build angle does nothing. The craft has plenty of electricity. 

 

Here's the really weird thing. These parts are in pairs (mirrored), and one of the two parts in the pair usually has a working bar. It only changes that one part; not its mirror. 

 

I'm running KSP 1.8.1.2694 (mac), 1.8.1 Making History, 1.3.1 Breaking Ground, using KJR-next (meirumeiru's) 4.1.15 and Kerbal Alarm Clock 3.12.

Thanks, everyone!

--Ken

 

Edited January 23, 2020 by Ken.C

[Commodore_32]

Try using them in action groups.

Maybe the part is obstructed and KJR-next may give some joint too strong for the part and debugs it in locking it.

[AHHans]

9 hours ago, Ken.C said:

Here's the really weird thing. These parts are in pairs (mirrored), and one of the two parts in the pair usually has a working bar. It only changes that one part; not its mirror. 

Well, parts in symmetry (mirrored or radial) usually stay in symmetry, i.e. when you move one part the other part(s) move too.

Are you sure that KJR-next is compatible with KSP 1.8.1? (I've only seen 1.7.3 mentioned in the readme, and there was a big change in KSP between 1.7.3 and 1.8.)

[Fierce Wolf]

Apparently in KSP, robotic parts and symmetry don't get along. Sometimes a part will respond and its mirror will not. A solution? Place them individually.

I hope this issue is addressed in the next patch

[Michel Bartolone]

I have yet to get any of the robotic parts to work _in flight_! They work fine in the VAB, they work fine on the pad, but once in space they never seem to work. And no, I'm not having a symtery issue. Here in an example, I attached a hinge to the side of a ship, on the end of the hing I have a piston, on the end of the piston I've got an advanced grabber. The program moves the hinge so the piston is sticking straight out from the ship, then it extends the piston and arms the grabber unit. Works 100% in the VAB and the launch pad, but once it is on orbit the hinge never moves when instructed to do so. I've tried moving back to the build angle, and tried again, same results . I've verified the play direction, etc. I've tried reversing it and then playing forwarded repeatedly, and once in a while, it will wiggle, but it never really changes the angle. I've even zoomed in as far as I can to see if perhaps there was some clipping or obstruction and I can find nothing.I've also verified that there is electrical charge (plenty) available. 
Any suggestions would be helpful.

 

[Ken.C]

Hi all, 

Thanks for the input. I've tried them in action groups. At this point I'm sending an engineer to see if they can be repaired, although they don't seem to show as broken. 

I haven't had any problems with KJR in 1.8 prior to this, so I'm hesitant to point the finger at that. The symmetry thing may be what's going on. I've had a fair amount of luck with the robotic parts and controllers in flight, but it seems the more outlandish and complex I make the vessels (this one has 4 controllers and I'm not even sure how many parts on it) the weirder it behaves. This is the only one I haven't been able to get to work eventually though. 

Thx!