Trouble launching from the ocean

[UH60guy]

OK, well after plenty of testing on Kerbin I sent a floating base to Laythe, only using the MechJeb mod. It floats just fine, and now it's time for the Kerbals to return home. The top blasts off, reaches orbit and...

...and I can't switch ships so my return craft can rendezvous and dock to take them home. It says I'm "moving over terrain." Mechjeb reads an orbit at 63 km by 59 km, just barely above the atmosphere. In orbit, I switched to map mode, and noticed that it still lists my flying ship as "splashed down," and won't give me the blue orbit line either. I had juuuuuust enough delta V even with using all RCS fuel, so using this ship to meet the other is pretty much out of the question. I need to be able to leave the ship to either save or switch to the recovery ship for orbital maneuvers.

Is there a way to overcome this (I assume) bug, where the craft is permanently "splashed down" despite returning to orbit? It would be a shame to leave all four of the crew behind on a technicality, when the craft apparently functions well enough. Redesigning the ship is out of the question, since they're already at Laythe.

[Mmmmyum]

I'd try renaming the vessel and changing it's type, that's all I can think of

[nadreck]

I just did an amphibious landing/takeoff off from Laythe and did not have that problem. I did repack my chutes when I did my EVA to get a water sample and EVA report. Is it possible that repacking the chutes would help?

[UH60guy]

Thanks for the tips- still working the problem, but I should elaborate more on what I've tried.

I have repacked the chutes, though not all of them. I'll see if I can reach some of them, but it can be a tricky EVA to get to a few. I'll post pictures when I'm home from slacking off at work.

I've also tried renaming the ship and even designating it as debris. The problem persists even through numerous restarts. Maybe part of the problem is that there's a probe core on the bottom half (and two Kerbals on board), which is also functioning as a separate ship? I've also tried renaming it and designating it as a base, but still no luck. In "product testing" on the ocean on Kerbin, I was able to exit and save from the base, but I never could test the ascent portion separately since it wasn't powerful enough to reach Kerbin orbit. I always took off and crashed it into the water. This leads me to think that the problem is with the ascent module and independent of the base- as I could always save from the "splashed down" floating portion or when they were combined.

Edit:

Here's a picture of the ship in early testing on Kerbin- you can see the parachute placement here.

The point of separation is just two gray lines above the wide struts- there's a hitchhiker module with a fuel tank and a separator on top. Everything above that separates to launch, but still indicates "splashed down." Maybe because I didn't include any landing gear, it doesn't think it's possible to take off again?

Edited November 4, 2013 by UH60guy

[Captain_Party]

Editing the persistence file might help, find the vessel, and change it from 'SplashedDown' to 'Orbiting'

[UH60guy]

That sounds like it might do the trick. I can certainly justify that from a gameplay perspective in that I already proved I can reach orbit with it!

I've never done that before; can it be done while the game is running? If not, will it revert to splashed down when I start it back up from the ocean? Or, alternatively, can I just "beam" the whole base into orbit by defining an orbital parameter in the file?

[Traches]

Easiest way to edit a save file is to work with the quicksave - hit f5, tab out, open up quicksave.sfs in notepad, make your changes, tab back into ksp, and hold f9 to load the new changes. You get pretty good at it when you need to fast forward for years...

[hobbsyoyo]

Do NOT edit the persistence file while the game is running. Also, if you are going to edit the persistence file, back it up somewhere else as you could accidentally corrupt the game.

[Sirrobert]

That sounds like it might do the trick. I can certainly justify that from a gameplay perspective in that I already proved I can reach orbit with it!

I've never done that before; can it be done while the game is running? If not, will it revert to splashed down when I start it back up from the ocean? Or, alternatively, can I just "beam" the whole base into orbit by defining an orbital parameter in the file?

Yes you can also do the second thing. You'd need to know what parameters you need to fill in though, or you might end up with some very weird orbits.

What I usually do when I want to beam something into orbit, is first lauch something very small into orbit. Than I copy the orbital parameters of that thing, and copy them over to whatever I want to beam to orbit. Don't forget to move the first drone out of the way

That might not be viable in Laythe though. You could try using Hyperedit?

Also, it won't take effect until you load the save. So best to use quicksave. And don't forget to backup first

EDIT: Scott Manley did a vid about save file edditing:

Might be helpfull

[nadreck]

UH60guy, I didn't need my Kerbal to get to the parachute to re pack it, he just had to be in eva. Do your parachutes even go back up with the return craft?

[UH60guy]

Some go up, not all. I forgot to put radial decouplers on the "arms" so those ride up on the first stage and are jettisoned halfway through launch. Those are the ones I couldn't get a repack on a long while back (still at work, can try again tonight), but those get dropped off when the rocket stages. There are radial ones on the upper landing can that stay on the whole time, those are the ones I could repack. The whole shebang is in 3 parts- floating base with probe core that stays on the surface, fuel drop tank and parachute arm (becomes debris), and the upper stage (landing can, radial chutes, and engines).

A while back I tried to repack the parachutes on the arms, but I don't know if I wasn't close enough or just clicked wrong, but I couldn't get a repack option to appear. No problem "reaching" the radial ones while Jeb's hanging onto the ladder.

I might try that quicksave edit- that sounds like maybe the least likely to explode in my face. However, the question will be that if it still considers me "moving over the surface," will it even let me quicksave in orbit in the first place, let alone change my status to "orbiting."

Edited November 4, 2013 by UH60guy