Wobbly Landing Legs. (Possible clipping through ground)

[Tw1]

I am experiencing a bit of a problem.

Jeb and Desberry are optimistic, but I'm finding this a more than a little inconvenient.

I did some experiments, seems to be that radially attached tanks and landing legs are connecting in a dodgy way.

I also did some experiments, and found legs clipping through the ground.

The little dance is enough to pull some ships to bits.

Anyone else experiencing this?

Edited July 26, 2013 by Tw1

[Skyrunner27]

Try the larger landing legs as those ones are designed for smaller landers

[Tw1]

I'm sure I remember using them before, and having them work completely fine in previous versions, for both very similar and heavier landers.

But the bigger ones still are more stable, I'm going to stick with them. I still think this is odd.

Edited July 26, 2013 by Tw1

[dlmarti]

They worked completely fine in previous versions, for both very similar and heavier landers.

In my experience those legs never worked on a ship of that size, use the larger legs.

[DMagic]

This is not new, the medium size landing legs have had that wobbling issue since at least 0.20. They wobble even with very light landers. I've lifted heavier loads with the small size landing legs without having this problem.

In general though, it's a bad idea to attach landing legs to those small cubic struts like you have in the second picture. Those things have their own issues and probably don't combine well with the already dodgy medium landing legs.

[theflyingfish]

Those medium lander legs have always been pretty unstable. Landers "shimmy" around on them with the slightest provocation. Not to mention their small size almost prevents their use with anything but the smallest stack-mounted engine.

Shortly after landing legs were introduced, there was a hotfix (i think) to increase their connection strength or stiffness or something. It helped, but they're still very unreliable.

[Tw1]

So, turns out the old design did use the bigger landing legs.

Problems solved. Good to know it wasn't trouble with my game, still a few part loading bugs I need to sort out.

Withstood rigorous testing sans problème.

Some future stranded kerbals will be pleased.

Thanks for the advice, guys!

Edited July 26, 2013 by Tw1

[Clouds]

I find that any set of connected parts with a severe weight mismatch may start shaking (not just sagging) under the influence of the imperfect physics engine. A strut or two reins it in. If you really want to use the smaller legs, try running a strut from their parent object (the fuel tank) to the leg's joint.

[katateochi]

as others have said, those small legs are prone to wobble when used with too much weight. But sometimes you really want to use them (ie trying to make something more compact or where the bigger legs just look silly). I've also found that they wobble more after a quick load or after returning to the landed craft from a >2km distance. If you can, folding the legs up and re-deploying them can stop the wobble, but its still annoying to have to do that.

What I'm surprised at is that in a thread that mentions wobble in KSP the word STRUT isn't in every reply. You can reduce the wobble in those legs by adding a strut that connects to the hinge part of the leg. This has worked for me sometimes, and not others, so all I can say is try it and see.

[Tw1]

I did use quite a few struts in the version on the Mun, but didn't help too much. Good thing the larger ones suit the design well.