Decoherent Posted August 17, 2013 Share Posted August 17, 2013 I've been struggling with a problem for a while, and it finally occurred to me to actually ask for help. In short, is it possible to build a winch/connector/port/(part) assembly while in the VAB? Basically I've been trying to use a winch as an attachment for a minirover to my rocket. I've got the winch/connector on the main rocket, and a radial port on the minirover, but I can't get them to attach together until after I launch. I assumed I could just start building from the winch out in the VAB, but after adding the winch, then the connector, I cannot, under any conditions, get a port to attach to the connector. Is this a mod limitation, or is there something important I'm missing? After hours of struggling, my workaround is to just mount the rover onto the rocket via a decoupler, right next to the winch, then have Jeb come out and connect the cable manually after launch, but this is inelegant.Also, do you think you could add a radial winch at some point in the near future? It seems all my winches end up radial, and I'd love to reduce my part count. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0x7be Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 Hello.I'm trying to attach detachable connection port to my ship in EVA. I press "H", then click on surface of ship. Then port is attached but it is significantly displaced from point of click. In fact it appears to be hovering 2-3 meters in front of ship with no visible connection to it. Can it be fixed without any destructive changes to savegame? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TinyPirate Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 I am a bit flummoxed by something: I could have sworn some versions ago KAS had a node on the bottom of the magnetic clamp. This was great as one could attach rovers and whatnot and then easily deploy and pick them up again when on mission. Now, it seems, unless I totally messed this up, that there is no attachment node on the bottom of the magnet, making it hard for an un-kerbaled mission to recover rovers (used to drive under the magnet, activate, and winch in!). What is going on or am I missing something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hades Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 I found some interesting floating cables while driving around with my rover.. They are an exact copy of a setup I have back at my mun base and seem to reappear every few kilometres:I'm using KAS 0.3.1 on KSP 0.21.1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GavinZac Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 I am a bit flummoxed by something: I could have sworn some versions ago KAS had a node on the bottom of the magnetic clamp. This was great as one could attach rovers and whatnot and then easily deploy and pick them up again when on mission. Now, it seems, unless I totally messed this up, that there is no attachment node on the bottom of the magnet, making it hard for an un-kerbaled mission to recover rovers (used to drive under the magnet, activate, and winch in!). What is going on or am I missing something?The magnetic clamp is exactly that, magnetic. You need to activate the magnet, catch the object (rover), and then reel it back in. The rover, then, has to be small enough to not cause a collision between itself and the spacecraft, so that the magnet can be winched all the way back in, flush to the the winch base, where it will lock. I think you probably still need to power the magnet at this point, even when it is locked, but I'm not sure. The best way to transport rovers in this fashion is to have the rover have an actual port for connection, but that requires a kerbal to connect it. The hook works but not very safely, the magnet works but requires electricity (it should be properly called an electromagnet). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TinyPirate Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 Thanks, but that is kind of annoying as one can no longer build a fully attached system in the VAB. I once built an airship rover for Duna with an underslung rover, electromagnetically attached. I could build it ready to go and then deploy and collect the rover on Duna. I miss this capability! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taniwha Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 I'd just like to add something to the orbital KAS attachment woes discussion: last night I found that moving detachable connectors from one part of the "same"* ship to another worked just fine (in LKO): no need to go to the space center and back (I did need to for the first one, though, but it was inter-ship).* "same" in this case is the craft holding the connectors was docked (via that first connector) to the craft to which I was attaching the connectors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeckoOBac Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 Might I suggest the addition of a non stack winch? I had some trouble with a design, and basically I had to resort to attaching the winches to a docking port that in turn could be placed just about anywhere. This simple addition would help with parts count and, well, avoid silly uses of other parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastMINI42 Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 I built a KAS equipped orbital tug to de-orbit debris and help build space stations and I'm having all kinds of issues. I built it with the magnetic clamps, but those took too much power (didn't take into account they need power). So I EVA'd Maczor and had him replace all the magnet clamps with grappling hooks. Now either the attachment pointer doesn't show up (press H, click on a spot) until I reset KSP 2 or 3 times, or the pointer doesn't work. When I'm hovering on the part far from Maczor, it's yellow and when I get close to him it turns red and I can't attach the hook. I would think it should turn green? I'm currently de-orbiting the craft so I can add more solar panels and also try starting with grappling hooks. Am I correct in assuming I should be able to attach the grappling hook to any other craft? Or are there exceptions?Magnetic Clamp needs more power! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reddot99 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 I am a bit flummoxed by something: I could have sworn some versions ago KAS had a node on the bottom of the magnetic clamp. This was great as one could attach rovers and whatnot and then easily deploy and pick them up again when on mission. Now, it seems, unless I totally messed this up, that there is no attachment node on the bottom of the magnet, making it hard for an un-kerbaled mission to recover rovers (used to drive under the magnet, activate, and winch in!). What is going on or am I missing something?Betting you could just add an attachment node there, in the cfg file, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TinyPirate Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Betting you could just add an attachment node there, in the cfg file,You're probably right. I need to work out how Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyrusinfection Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Greetings. I just noticed a minor issue with KAS that the author would probably like to know about: I'm attempting to create a skycrane/rover (ala Curiosity), using KAS for the crane. So far during testing on Kerbin, everything seems to be fine up to and during the skycrane's portion of the mission. It's only after the rover is left to its own devices that a problem was noticed. Regardless of which type of wheel I use, once I start driving around, the rover can no longer turn. Instead it 'strafes' to the side when attempting to turn. The problem seems to lie with the 0.5m stack connector port, as I removed the one I was using, connected the connector straight to a decoupler, and the problem went away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuna7 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 I'm having game texture with KAS. The suspect was the ables texture. I have similar problem with Lazor mod. I had to delete file for it to work. Any fix? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valley Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 I am having problems - as I try to attach a Connector to a Hitchhiker Container it will not show me the tiny target..whatever. It is not working. It is the item I am trying to connect to? I want to attach Life Support to a Hitchhiker on the Mun and it seems to NOT see the Hitchhiker as a target. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arrowstar Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 I am having problems - as I try to attach a Connector to a Hitchhiker Container it will not show me the tiny target..whatever. It is not working. It is the item I am trying to connect to? I want to attach Life Support to a Hitchhiker on the Mun and it seems to NOT see the Hitchhiker as a target.Quicksave and reload. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valley Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 Quicksave and reload.Thanks! That worked like a charm! Now my Mun base guys will not turn...well, what ever color they turn when they run out of good air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tntristan12 Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 (edited) Okay I'm having more difficulty with this mod. Quite frankly, my KAS Kit which is designed to transfer fuel from my Kethane Crawler into my Fuel Buggy is becoming more trouble than it's worth. Every time I reload the game something new is wrong with it!Anyway, this time I've got it connected to my fuel buggy via detachable connector port, and the connector won't unplug. I've tried everything from clicking unplug in the GUI to getting out of my rover with a kerbal and trying to unplug it manually. Nothing. Quicksaving and quickloading doesn't do anything, and the only solution I can think of is to go back to a previous quicksave where it wasn't plugged in... but that'd undo all my progress since then.Also, this is an entirely unrelated bug but every time I go though a refueling cycle, and retract my winches and close the doors (which are powered by Infernal Robotics) the rover stops working. The rover wheels no longer appear to grip the soil, sometimes appearing to be hoving in mid-air. Turning does nothing, even though the wheels appear to swivel. The rover just moves in a straight line. Since the rover works just fine when I open and close the IR doors, I'm inclined to believe that it's KAS that's causing the problem.I guess I could try to reinstall KAS again, but I'd like to know if anybody else had problems like these.EDIT: Just out of curiosity, is there some kind of compatibility trick that I missed that would make KAS v0.3.1 work with KSP 0.21.1? I cannot overstate my frustration at trying to get my otherwise perfectly functioning Mun base to work. Edited August 20, 2013 by tntristan12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary.townsend Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 Okay I'm having more difficulty with this mod. Quite frankly, my KAS Kit which is designed to transfer fuel from my Kethane Crawler into my Fuel Buggy is becoming more trouble than it's worth. Every time I reload the game something new is wrong with it!Anyway, this time I've got it connected to my fuel buggy via detachable connector port, and the connector won't unplug. I've tried everything from clicking unplug in the GUI to getting out of my rover with a kerbal and trying to unplug it manually. Nothing. Quicksaving and quickloading doesn't do anything, and the only solution I can think of is to go back to a previous quicksave where it wasn't plugged in... but that'd undo all my progress since then.Also, this is an entirely unrelated bug but every time I go though a refueling cycle, and retract my winches and close the doors (which are powered by Infernal Robotics) the rover stops working. The rover wheels no longer appear to grip the soil, sometimes appearing to be hoving in mid-air. Turning does nothing, even though the wheels appear to swivel. The rover just moves in a straight line. Since the rover works just fine when I open and close the IR doors, I'm inclined to believe that it's KAS that's causing the problem.I guess I could try to reinstall KAS again, but I'd like to know if anybody else had problems like these.EDIT: Just out of curiosity, is there some kind of compatibility trick that I missed that would make KAS v0.3.1 work with KSP 0.21.1? I cannot overstate my frustration at trying to get my otherwise perfectly functioning Mun base to work.Ok so i have a large kethane halftrack drill that mines the kethane i then have an orbital ferry that lands loads kethane up and takes the kethane to an orbital processing facility, all the transfers are handled using KAS even the orbital transfers, and i haven't had the problems you describe so I'm not sure what i can add other than that. In the average play session i'll plug and unplug 6 to 7 times. Mind you i am constantly switching Points of View between kerbals and the various vehicles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tntristan12 Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 (edited) Everything usually works fine for me until I reload. Try reloading and see if you come up with problems. It's also possible that infernal robotics is causing used the same exact crafts, and reliably get the bug to reproduce itself when I plug the connector into a detachable connector port, and discovered that it is NOT Infernal Robotics causing the bug. I removed the hinges I was using and got the same bug. That's the good news. The bad news is I still have no idea what's causing the bug. D: Reloading fixes it, but that causes my hinges to reload in weird positions, which I think IS a bug with IR. I'd rather not have to worry about it.EDIT EDIT: Here's a video of one of the bugs I'm experiencing. EDIT EDIT EDIT: I've found an older thread that outlines this happening. I figured the information might be useful in helping diagnose and fix the problem. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/38998-Rover-rotation-locked-after-using-KAS Edited August 21, 2013 by tntristan12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iueras Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 I am having a connection problem as well... I took the connector off the fuel storage base and am trying to attach it to the ship... I see the connector when I try to attach it, I am aware of that issue and the quicksave/reload trick to fix it. The problem is it is green for a split second then turns yellow and will not attach no matter how close I get. I can't even put it back on the place I got it from to begin with. Anyone have any suggestions or fixes or experienced an issue like this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
call4dead3 Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 So... does the current version work in 0.21? Because I can not even start making my Mun base without this mod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GavinZac Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 So... does the current version work in 0.21? Because I can not even start making my Mun base without this mod.Yes. I'm not sure why people thinking that it does not; there is a problem occassionally where the radial dismountable ports (and other objects) cannot be placed by a Kerbal holding them; to solve it, you just quicksave (f5) and reload (f9). Otherwise it works fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virtualgenius Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 It seems to be intensely buggy and it looks like the author is MIA or found something else to do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GavinZac Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 "Intensely" seems a bit of an overstatement, graphical glitches and 1 possible clash with other mods? What else am I missing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tntristan12 Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Yet it would be helpful to know which mods it doesn't work with so players like me don't get needlessly frustrated when it doesn't work. I guess the only course of action I have is to start uninstalling mods until I get it to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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