Rover issues -- some actions make my rover not work

[BenKerman]

Hi,

 

I'm trying to send a rover someplace.  It's going to be a mining rover.  Today I noticed that if the ore tank has ore in it, and I jettison the ore, I can't drive the rover any longer.  It won't go forwards or backwards or turn, even though the little dials (yaw, pitch, roll) on the bottom left show that the rover is receiving my commands.  What's up with this?  I've previously jettisoned ore on rockets, and they haven't had stopped working.

I also noticed that if I execute staging on my rover, it will exhibit the same behavior.  Can't go foward, back, or turn, even though the yaw, pitch, roll dials show movement.  That is, only if I "launch" the rover from the Spaceplane Hangar.  If I launch the rover on a rocket, then I will be able to drive it (after it lands) after staging separates the rover from the rocket.

all of these tests were conducted on Kerbin.

Any ideas?

I do think I have already tested doing ISRU and being able to drive it both before and after.

Also, any ideas on how to get this large-ish rover onto the surface of Eve would be appreciated.  

 

Thanks,

Ben

 

[Echo__3]

Are you able to share some screenshots of your rover and include the interface from when you are having issues?

[Serenity]

3 hours ago, BenKerman said:

Any ideas?

Have you tried quicksaving and quickloading to see if you can gain control?

If you hit Alt+F12 and Clear Input locks does it help?

[AHHans]

The "the little dials" do not show the rover steering commands, but the yaw, pitch, and roll commands -as they are labeled. IMHO it is rather unfortunate that the rover steering commands and the pitch & yaw commands are mapped to the same keys by default. But I don't think that's your actual problem...

My guess is that you changed to a control point that's pointing straight up (or down), and then the system doesn't know in which direction to turn the wheels to go upwards. (Well, or you have a control point 90deg to the left or right.) What does the Navball show when the rover doesn't want to move? It should point to the horizon and into the direction in which you want the rover to move - i.e. straight forward.

Or have you run out of electricity?

P.S. O.K. Next time: first food, then posting. That way the answer might not be so grumpy.

[BenKerman]

OK, I "solved" the problem for one of the cases.  The rover couldn't move after staging, but I realized that that was because the brakes come on after staging.  Turn off brakes, and voila.

Not sure about jettisoning the ore still, but I noticed if I jettison the ore before the rover lands, then it will still be able to drive.

I am actually now considering totally scrapping this plan, however.  I tried using the grabbing unit to attach to a ship on the launch pad, and it didn't work.  I'm pretty sure this is because the grabbing unit was not lined up perpendicular to a flat surface, it could only run into an engine bell.  Because the end goal of this endeavor was to land on Eve and refuel a ship that is already there, and because that ship only has engine bells near the surface, I might not bother with this approach.

Of course, I could change my rover so it intersects with a fuel tank that is above an engine bell, but then I would be effectively enlarging the cross-section of the rover, in which case the fairing would have to be enlarged, which would surely cause aerodynamic issues on EDL.

I know more about making fairings now, so I might just redesign my Eve lander so I can protect my mining equipment with a fairing.  Sheesh.