Mechjeb2, KSP 1.11, failed maneuver nodes, and runaway RCS

[maddog59]

I've been playing 1.11 w/ MechJeb2 installed for a few days. I've seen the warning at startup (of course) that MJ2 isn't compatible, so I've been proceeding w/ caution, but until today it seemed to function normally for executing maneuver nodes, landings, and ascent guidance. That ended this morning. 

I have two ships (A and B) docked in Mun orbit; I have a station waiting for them to return to it.  I separate them, and use MJ2 to set up nodes for ship A to a) match planes; b) rendezvous with the station; and c) match velocity.  I execute the first node, then manually warp up to 1000x to quickly get to the second node, then let MJ2 execute the remaining 2 nodes.  When I return to ship B, I find that all four of ship B's RCS thrusters on the command pod appear to be firing. None of the other RCS thrusters appear to be active, just the command pod's thrusters. I say 'appear' because the RCS is turned off (according to the navball), and no monopropellant is being used, as evidenced by the resources pop-out (upper right corner), or the command pods info screen when I right-click. And the ship isn't changing position (as evidenced by the navball).  But both the visual and audio indicators show that the pod's RCS is active. If I start with ship B, the same thing happens for ship A. I was in the process of trying to narrow it down , by restoring and checking back with the ship that was left behind after each node, and the problem seems to occur after warping up to 1000x.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to verify that categorically because as I was repeating the scenarios, MJ2 began to fail to execute the nodes. I'd set up all the nodes as described above, MJ2 would warp to the first node, but then not fire the engine. I verified that there's plenty of fuel and the engine was active, but the candle won't light.  

I've used these ships and this sequence several times under 1.10.  I've restarted both KSP and my computer several times. And I've verified the files from the Steam Library. 

I've not seen an update for MJ2 for KSP 1.11, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm not looking in the right place; if one exists, I'd appreciate a link to it.  I should probably try removing MJ2 altogether and setting the nodes manually to confirm whether or not MJ2 is really where the failure is happening, but I find that MJ2 makes the game eminently more playable by automating some of the more tedious tasks, now that I know how to do them, so I'm loathe to play without it. 

I'm a bit of a KSP newbie, so any suggestions, while they will be appreciated, may require some explanation.  

[maddog59]

The woes of KSP 1.11 seem to be continuing: today I decided to ignore the 'runaway' RCS since it was visual only, and was able to get both ships docked with my station. I was saving at various points, but when I was done I found that I could not get back to the Tracking Station or Space Center from the Game Paused menu.  Clicking the buttons had no effect. Nor does Quit to Main Menu. Then I discovered that none of the save points that I'd saved existed in the menu, and even the 'persistent' game had not updated, according to the date stamp (see below, compare the UT to the persistent). 

At this point I'd like to downgrade back to 1.10, but don't see how to do that. And because the Quit to Menu button isn't working, I'm going to be forced to shut it down the hard way, which means I'll lose the work I've done getting these two ships back to the station, and who knows what other havoc it's going to cause. 

I love this game, but at this point it's become unplayable for me. 

Edited January 8, 2021 by maddog59

[sebi.zzr]

@maddog59have some courtesy and at least read the OP. Your moaning about playing with non compatible version of the game will not solve any problems.Instead, post some game logs.

If you don't know how, read this: 

 

Edited December 22, 2020 by sebi.zzr

[maddog59]

1 hour ago, sebi.zzr said:

@maddog59have some courtesy and at least read the OP. Your moaning about playing with non compatible version of the game will not solve any problems.Instead, post some game logs.

I agree ... I didn't do my research. Thank you for the correction. 

[ant3d-zipo]

Good afternoon! I'll join you. Have you decided how to get around the bug with the menu hanging, except for closing the game and checking the integrity of files?

[maddog59]

9 hours ago, ant3d-zipo said:

Good afternoon! I'll join you. Have you decided how to get around the bug with the menu hanging, except for closing the game and checking the integrity of files?

No, no solution other than to pull MJ2 from the game and wait for an update. Once I did that everything started working normally again.  Well, almost normally ... flags fall over and work lights and experiments appear about a foot off the ground when you place them. 

Edited December 24, 2020 by maddog59

[Jester-RAS]

If it helps, I'm getting this exacot same game error in the Hangar screen when I try to use this or other "Incompatible" Mods, and even a few compatible ones like RemoteTech. What do all these mods have in common that gives the same error?

[ant3d-zipo]

Thanks! It can't be helped. We will wait for updates:)

Edited December 25, 2020 by ant3d-zipo
not the language

[FleshJeb]

@maddog59 Since your question on rolling back the game version didn’t get answered:

In Steam, you can opt-in to open betas, and select the version there.

Guide here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1229485944

[HansAcker]

I did see an example of the "runaway RCS" (just the plume animation with no effect) in a stream I was watching today.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/857320798?t=01h15m07s

Odd. It never happened to me (yet) and I play with MechJeb in 1.11.0. I'd wager that it's not MJ's doing but since MJ uses reflection to find its sub-modules, it's prone to trigger weird behaviour in other incompatible mods and the hanging menu is probably a symptom of that.

 

Edited January 1, 2021 by HansAcker

[Serenity]

2 hours ago, HansAcker said:

I did see an example of the "runaway RCS" (just the plume animation with no effect) in a stream I was watching today.

There is one more post i found on this visual RCS, do you think its a new stock bug or Mechjeb related?

https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/199235-docking-vessels-causing-save-bugglitch/

Edited January 1, 2021 by Boyster

[HansAcker]

On 1/1/2021 at 8:19 PM, Boyster said:

do you think its a new stock bug or Mechjeb related?

I'm not sure if it is either I can't imagine how MechJeb could trigger it (it's only an animation playing, no other effects). Could be a stock thing, sure, but equally likely an interaction from another mod.

I have yet to experience it myself. It appears that it only happens with the Mk1-3 command pod in all the examples I've seen.