Inconsistencies? Am I missing something

[CraigKerman]

I've enjoyed playing through the KSP career on my PS4, though wanted to take advantage of mods and add some extra realism (graphics and life support mainly) - therefore, I bought the game on steam and am preparing to do my second run on PC.  I tried the first mission, immediately killed Jeb, and was shocked that it happened given my experience from the PS4.  The first career mission, you may recall, is get off the ground.  The parts available are the mk1 command module, the mk16 parachute, the flea booster, and basic fins.  I didn't bother with the fins since they aren't necessary here, put the pieces together, launched, watched the parachute fail, and the rocket crash into the ground with no survivors.  I reset and retried the mission a few times to figure out what went wrong.  I confirmed the parachute was set to fully deploy at an altitude of 5000m (the max value).  What I saw was the rocket go up, the parachute deployed stage 1 on the way up slowing its ascent, but then would get ripped off before getting back to 5000m, at which time it was at a speed of about 320m/s.  This didn't seem consistent to me, so I booted up the PS4 and tried the same build, it also was moving at about 320m/s at 5000m, but the parachute (while yellow) was still attached, deployed fine, and landed safely.  

This has me wondering if the mechanics/math are different in the PC version, or if perhaps I messed something up when installing mods (or perhaps something is supposed to be changed with the mods).  I'm hoping someone here can say - and if different, point me at a source of information I can trust so that I don't kill Jeb (again) when I start the career in earnest.

I'm running 1.9 and the mods I have installed are:

CapCom - Mission control on the go

Chatterer

Community tech tree

Contracts window

DaMichael's CargoBays

Docking port alignment indicator

Earn your stripes

EVE

FlightTracker

Kerbal alarm clock

MechJeb2

Memorial Wall

Planet Wiki

SCANsat

TAC Life Support

 

I'd appreciate any help with this.  Even just knowing if the PC edition is different and this combination should result in death would be helpful as I could plan accordingly then.  Thanks.

[Superfluous J]

I've never played on console, but I've also never had that setup fail to land safely on PC.

I can't see what you could be doing wrong. Maybe a pic of your ship with as many gui things open before launch and when hitting the chute?

[HebaruSan]

3 hours ago, CraigKerman said:

the parachute deployed stage 1 on the way up slowing its ascent, but then would get ripped off before getting back to 5000m

I don't know whether parachutes are different somehow on console (probably not impossible), but intentionally deploying parachutes on the way up is pretty unusual. Why aren't you waiting till the descent?

[Harry Rhodan]

If you don't use a decoupler the game will add both the flea and the parachute to the first and only stage. So you either need to add a decoupler after you put on the parachute and before adding the flea or you need to manually add and rearange your staging.

[Gargamel]

9 hours ago, CraigKerman said:

  I confirmed the parachute was set to fully deploy at an altitude of 5000m (the max value).  What I saw was the rocket go up, the parachute deployed stage 1 on the way up slowing its ascent, but then would get ripped off before getting back to 5000m, at which time it was at a speed of about 320m/s.

Parachutes work best on the way down, not the way up.   This is like trying to do a drag race with the parking brake half set.   You'll go much slower, and by the time you need the brake, it's burned up.  Move your chutes to the topmost stage in your stack.  That way you can deploy them manually on the way down. 

I have never liked setting my chutes to fully deploy at the max value.  I usually have it set to 500m-1000m.   I prefer to let atmo drag reduce the craft velocity to terminal velocity, and the not yet fully opened yet still deployed chutes to add more drag over time.  I also hate waiting for the dang capsule to finally land, so having them fully deploy closer to the ground solves all these.

So simply, you're trying to launch with open chutes, which breaks them when the rocket pushes through their fail speed. 

 

Also, moving the thread to gameplay questions. 

[CraigKerman]

@HebaruSan I only deploy up on this particular build, and just to shorten the mission a bit by adding a little drag and also to slow the descent a bit and keep it from accelerating too much (basically as a poor man's drogue chute) as it comes back down.  I don't deploy till I've slowed till about 300m/s though and, as mentioned in the original post, it works fine on the console that way.  As I start getting bigger, I start deploying the chutes at the "proper" time.

@Harry Rhodan Sorry for the confusing wording, I meant the parachute's stage 1 deployment (minimal deployment), not the rocket's.  The staging for the rocket is set correctly and at the very start, the de-coupler is not unlocked, so there is no option but to bring back the flea and capsule in one piece.  Nonetheless, the mk 16 chute should be able to handle it easily.

@Gargamel As mentioned in my response to Hebaru, for this particular instance, I wanted it to add additional drag.  They are not deployed while until after the rocket has burned out and the speed reduced to under 300m/s (the extra drag reduces the max altitude from ~23km to ~21km).  I only set the deploy altitude to max as it I wanted it to open and slow the craft before it got ripped off, so sooner the better (I started with it at the default).

That said, I found the problem and its neither the parachute nor when I'm deploying it.  Turns out, for such a short jump, I didn't bother using SAS, which means after reaching max altitude, it would roll over to flying nose first and produce less drag than coming down engine first.  Trying this a few times shows that the speed difference is minimal, but apparently enough, because coming down nose first fails every time, engine first works every time (I did try deploying on the way up and down, max/default chute altitude,etc, and it always worked as long as the engine was at the bottom).

Thanks all for the replies and suggestions, without them, I wouldn't have noticed the attitude issue.

[bewing]

The consoles are running an older version of the game. So it doesn't work exactly the same as 1.9.

MK16 parachutes are not indestructible. They will almost always be destroyed if the rocket goes over 300 m/s.

For that first mission -- take almost all the fuel out of the Flea before you launch. You only have to get a few meters off the ground. You don't need to go 5km off the ground.