Parachute failure rate

[kBob]

I'm new to the program currently just sending my Kerbals on parabolic orbits. The problem is my parachutes keep failing they seemed to work at first but now I'm getting a 100% failure rate over my last five launches. The rocket is simple a capsule with parachute a decoupler some fuel tanks and an engine. I've made sure the capsule bottom is oriented so that the heat shield is facing reentry direction and parachute is on top but it doesn't matter. The staging for the chute is set at 0. Any ideas? (I tried a search for this problem but didn't find anything). A lot of fun anyway even though Jeb keeps being atomized. Oh this in sandbox.

[Alistone]

Are you time warping?

If you use 4x time warp as the parachutes deploye they will often tear themselves off as they fully deploy.

Are you using any mods?

Mods could affect your atmospheric physics; let us know if/what you are using.

Are you deploying your parachute high in the atmosphere or waiting until you are below 10,000m?

If you wait till the last second you may be traveling too fast and similar to time warp the parachute will rip off when it fully deploys at 500 meters above the surface (default). Deploying early allows it to partially deploy and slow the vessel down during the last 15,000 meters instead of just the last 500m.

Edited January 29, 2014 by Alistone

[Vanamonde]

A picture of the ship would help. It might simply be too big for the chute. Meanwhile, when does the chute fail? When it snaps fully open 500m over terrain? You could set it to open higher, or you could add addition chutes and attach them in different spots to distribute the shock.

[stupid_chris]

Yeah, you have to be careful wtih stock chutes. Depending on the mass of what you are bringing down, you might need drogue chutes to slow you down for deployment if you don't want this to happen. You also want to make sure you do not deploy with physical time warp running, because this is a near guaranteed failure.

Alternatively, and I might do a bit of self promotion here, but you might want to try RealChute. That'll give sane deployment speeds to your parachutes if you use the stock MM config, and will fix that problem.

[kBob]

Sorry, should have said the failure is it won't deploy. No mods, doesn't matter what altitude it just won't deploy. I also went with a smaller capsule, which is the only item the chute is attached too, still the same problem. I did try adding a second chute but my rocket became unstable (probably the straw that broke the camel's back).

Ok I reloaded KSP and rebuilt my ship from scratch since it was only a few parts and the chute now deploys, maybe it was just some cumulative bug, hopefully won't happen again as I wouldn't be thrilled to have to rebuild a complicated ship (when I get to that level, right now I'd be happy if I just complete one orbit...trying to figure this out on my own so it takes longer). Jeb seems happier now I think he was worried he'd run out of his nine lives.

I will check out RealChute even so as there is something about these stock chutes that seems un-real to me.

Thanks, Bob

PS No I'm not warping, only do that outside of atmosphere.

Edited January 29, 2014 by kBob

[kBob]

Well after 10 hours the problem hasn't recurred so seems to have been a one off. I did have a cute rip off once but that was the only fail in about 12 missions. Thanks again.

[capi3101]

It is possible your local instance of KSP was having an off day. That does happen occasionally.

Other possible causes:

1) If you deployed your chutes and then repacked them, staging them won't help. You can get around this issue by setting up an action group to "deploy chutes"; that'll work regardless of staging.

2) Lack o'power. That one will get you any time. Slap on a quad of OX-STAT solar panels anywhere on your CSM and you should be golden. Or fly with RTGs; those will work too though they're heavier.

For the OP's future reference: http://ksp.freeiz.com/ - A good calculator for chutes.

[Javster]

Maybe you were out of power?

[kBob]

Possible but it was just a basic capsule and still maneuvered so I don't think so and since it started working again after restarting KSP, but I'll keep that in mind it didn't occur to me to check how a chute was deployed but it makes sense when I think about it, now I'm in career mode and don't have access to solar panels, oh well.

No repacking it was fresh launch each time. Link doesn't appear to be working.

Thanks again, all info is useful at this stage in my explosive career.

[capi3101]

That site can be persnickety at times; Iyou might try it again later.