Parts & Vessels Solar panels are being blocked by moons when the sun is in clear view in flight

olawlor · December 27, 2023

What I expected to happen:

In low Ike orbit, at high game time, solar panels on vessel in sunlight collect EC

What actually happened:

Solar panels are "Blocked by Ike" below 120km altitude

Steps to replicate:

Load minimal example game save .json (attached)
Notice solar panels are listed as "Blocked by Ike"

Interestingly, this did not replicate with a UniverseTime near zero, so I pasted in my main save's UniverseTime (almost 15 years elapsed) and then I was able to reproduce the minimal example game save above.

The underlying issue is likely causing a similar error on Jool (which I also encountered) and other bodies, possibly related to high game time:

Included Attachments:

BugreportIke.json

Anth · February 24

There were two issues:

Jool blocking solar panels when they shouldn't be.
Moons blocking solar panels when they shouldn't be.

Jool is fixed. The moons aren't.

I have moved any Jool related issues into the following and set it as fixed:

I am sorry to say that the votes were lost on splitting these two issues.

WingC3 · January 5

This issue has been around since before 0.2.0 based on a search of the archive. In my case, the craft is in a 23km orbit around Ike and in clear sunlight. The issue exists for at least 25% of the circumference of Ike. In other areas it is either legitimately dark or the solar panels DO work. But for 25% of the orbit, the craft is in clear sunlight but the panels say it is blocked by Ike.

(Just for clarity, it's not blocked by Duna either.)

Included Attachments:

.Fusion · January 16

Around Ike, solar panels will sometimes wrongly say the sun is being blocked by Ike even when in broad daylight, and will also sometimes produce power even at night. The times these discontinuities occur also appear to be consistent with regards to the day/night cycle.

The attached footage mostly speaks for itself but I'll include some extra info here.

I first encountered this issue on a previous mission and have just now gone back to document and report it.
Saving and loading does not fix the issue
This happens in low orbit, high orbit, and on the surface
From what I could tell it is not a purely visual issue, and will actually result in loss of power on crafts.
This issue might also happen in orbit of Duna with Ike eclipses, Solar panels do still produce power during these eclipses, but I could not find a situation where solar panels wrongly thought the sun was in eclipse of Ike so I'm unsure on this one.

Included Attachments:

IkeSolarBug.mkv

Anonymous Bug Reporter · January 24

During a rendezvous over Ike, the solar panels quit functioning, with the message "Blocked by Ike". They are on the daylight side of the planet. If I time warp to where they are at a higher point in the orbit, the solar panels behave normally. The bad behavior returns as it nears pe.

Included Attachments:

IkeExpidition.json

Little 908 · February 4

Solar panels on Ike seem to be non-functioning. I was doing a mission to Ike, landed and saw my electricity go down rapidly, so I created a craft with a bunch of different solar panels on a sandbox save, and it had the same issue. So it seems that solar panels simply dont work while landed on Ike, probably a bug that was created recently. (Yes I checked with other command pods too)

Severity: Med (bug prevents player from landing on Ike)

Frequency: High (was able to reproduce this bug)

Included Attachments:

435545143543.mp4

ShadowZone · April 3

I encountered this bug at Pol. My vehicle was in clear view of the sun, the panels pointed at it, but the game said "blocked by Pol". This was persisting through multiple attempts to repack and unfold the panels. It only went away when I undocked my lander and then switched back to the original vehicle.

Included Attachments:

ForSci_Bug47.mov

ForSci_Bug47.zip

Edited April 3 by ShadowZone
Request for merge no longer needed. Thanks!

DibzNr · January 17

@.Fusion Merged your report with this post

twich22 · January 18

also having this problem. Perhaps there is a cloaked planet/station out there somewhere. or a black hole? although if it were a black hole i dont think the kerbolar system would be in such good shape.

Edited January 18 by twich22

Spicat · February 4

@Little 908, merged your bug report.

Little 908 · February 4

58 minutes ago, Spicat said:

@Little 908, merged your bug report.

Maybe the thread should change to "Celestial bodies blocking sunlight during periods of direct sunlight" because many people would just read the first half and think its only a bug with jool.

Jaypeg · February 24

Might have to do with certain parts the panels are put on?

Filed.Teeth · February 26

Here's what I got. The "Generating power" portion really does include the dark side.

Btw, also got a ship buried underground bug a few times when using a craft on the ground. Made a quick entry in that thread.

ike.png?ex=65ee4f8a&is=65dbda8a&hm=7c1a0

Edited February 26 by Filed.Teeth

Flush Foot · March 27

Also around Gilly (I definitely encountered it frequently around various Joolian moons but I only thought 'quickly' enough to do it around Gilly, given how much time I had to think about it):

Spicat · April 3

@ShadowZone, merged your bug report.

Parts & Vessels Solar panels are being blocked by moons when the sun is in clear view in flight

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