Cannot launch or save due to custom anchor vessel after staging - repro + logs

[PrivateOrange]

KSP Version:  0.1.0.0.20892
OS: Windows 11  (10.0.22621) 64bit
CPU: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-11600K @ 3.90GHz (12)
RAM: 32533
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (12107MB)

Expected Behavior: Staging does not lead to corrupted vessel and launching vessels and saving continues to work

Observed Behavior: Vessel enters a corrupted state, launching doesn't work and campaign can no longer be saved after reloading game

Steps to Replicate:

• Create a vessel where the anchor part is not in the last stage
• Launch vessel above the atmosphere of Kerbin
• Stage until the last stage of the vessel
  • This causes a "Index was out of range." exception in KSP.Sim.impl.StagingComponent.ProcessPendingPartRemovals()
  • Additionally "Launch location Invalid not registered!" begins printing in the logs repeatedly
• Continue and reach orbit with the remaining vessel
  • Note some remaining parts will have broken orbit
• Return to VAB (do not revert)
• Launch a new vessel
• Save and exit game
• Launch game again
• Return to VAB and attempt to launch a new vessel
• Launching no longer works and saving no longer works
  • A NullReferenceException occurs in KSP.Sim.impl.VesselComponent.GetState() as part of KSP.Game.Serialization.SerializationUtility.VesselToSerializable
  • Additional attempts to save only cause SaveLoadManager IsBusy

A list of ALL mods: None

Other Notes / Screenshots / Log Files (if possible..):

Repro video recording:

Part 1: https://imgur.com/a/HC7x0Jh

Part 2: https://imgur.com/a/PAeiXic

Workspace: https://pastebin.com/YxpTuwvk

 

[MechBFP]

To summarize, make sure you don't ever stage the root part if you don't want the game to break.

[Mahhew]

I'll most definitely take this into account in the future. At least a few of my saves have been broken by this bug.