passed out in the command chair

[katateochi]

I have a problem with the command chair; my driving sucks sometimes, obv. this is not the chairs fault (it's Bob's fault) but what happens after a crash is problematic, even if the rover survives undamaged. If I roll a rover with a command chair and the occupant of the chair hits the ground they go limp, can't really blame them for that, but once the rover has been righted I can't wake them up. I can't do anything with them, they are just slumped in the chair and won't move. I can't click on them to make them leave the chair, when I right click on them I just get their name, no option to leave chair.

If the chair breaks away from the rover then nothing can rouse them. But if its still connected when I start to drive the rover again they suddenly wake up, sometimes causing a major physics freak-out which can rip the rover to bits, or sometimes just shakes it about. Then it gets odd, as I drive the rover they walk, but they're still trapped in the chair, so as the rover drives forward they try to walk forward and when the rover turns they turn. This also generates some odd physics as it seems the trapped kerbal is also exerting a directional force. But still I can't make them leave the chair.

This is taken after a roll where one of the kerbals bashed his head and you can see him slumped forward. The other pic is shortly later where he is standing up in his seat and walking as the rover drives.

I have the crew manifest mod present so I thought I might be able to use that to move them from the chair into the rovers command pod (this rover has a command pod too) but that only causes an entirely new and socially confusing problem (see thread on cloning machine) but doesn't get them out of the chair.

I've tried pretty much everything I can think of, including getting another kerbal to kick the trapped kerbal (this used to be a solution to being passed out on panel parts) and trying to make another one board the occupied chair but no option is shown to enable that. I've even tried to 'carefully' cut the unconscious kerbal out of the chair with a lazer (I'll leave you to guess how that went). Nothing I've tried can get them out of the chair once this happens, so it leaves someone forever trapped.

Has anyone else seen this happen? Are there any solutions?

I guess the best pre-emptive thing to do is have a roll cage around the command chair, but in the case of the rover I'm using atm I simply don't have room for a roll cage. Guess I just have to drive carefully.

[Tommygun]

Oh, Bob is drinking again.

I have had this issue from time to time.

One way I have used to get them moving again is pressing the "R" key to get their RCS thrusters going.

Once you move them around with the thrusters a bit they sometimes start to movie again.

[Vanamonde]

When I was experimenting with an orbital ejection seat for emergencies, that happened a couple of times, but only when the chute snapped fully open and hit the guy with umpteen Gs. I fixed it by switching to a smaller chute that didn't jerk as violently. WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING TO THESE ROVERS TO SLAM THEM THAT HARD?

[Sir Nahme]

have you tried [] to see if you can switch to him? maybe he's stuck in between connected and not?

[katateochi]

cheers for the suggestions. I've tried switching on RCS thrusters, but they won't come on.

I've tried switching craft, but they still appear to be part of the craft with the command chair. I think you're right thou, it is like they are stuck between connected and not, but the chair still considers that it has an occupant and if I open the crew manifest up the passed out kerbal is listed in the crafts crew.

tbh Vanamonde I'm not doing anything too crazy (by my standards anyway). This particular rover does have a fairly odd construction thou, and as no-one recognises this as a familiar issue I guess it must down to the crafts design.

The rover has a movable arm with a KAS winch on it that can take a couple of different attachments, one of which is a module that has a command chair. Ok so that does sound a little nuts, but I had this problem before I made the modular command chair attachment, the command chair used to just be on the side of the rover. So I don't think I can blame the KAS attached command chair module or the DR movable arm. The idea of the command chair being a modular component was partly a work around for this problem, the DR arm does provide some degree of head protection to the occupant in the event of rolling the rover.

But that issue aside it works great and is a pretty versatile little rover. It first has a docking port attachment that enables it to move small base sections about;

Then it drops the docking port attachment and the command chair module is connected (which also has a small lazer mounted on it);

It also carries the KAS magnet and grab parts the latter being great for getting up those pesky hills.

I have extended the length of the KAS cable from 50 to 200, otherwise winching yourself up hills is extremely tedious, as it is its pretty slow going. It fires the grab part up the hill and it locks into the ground and then the rover can pull itself up very steep hills, the small modular section on the back (which is a tiny science rover) helps it from tipping back over when the grab is released from the ground. In climbing mode the command chair module gets left at the bottom of the hill and the 3rd guy just hangs onto ladders. On steep climbs like this any mistake and its game over for the whole thing anyway!

[L.J. Silver]

I have gotten similar problems, right clicking on the command chair directly should show a "leave seat" button.

Due to the same command seat problem i had Bob disappear and not selectable with [], after clicking "leave seat" on the command chair he should have been occupying, he appeared in the middle of the Rover.

Few minutes before I had lost Jeb due to same behaviour, but he spawned under the Mun ground and was lost forever.....................

Edited June 19, 2013 by L.J. Silver