Cannot return to Space Center from my station.

[BoilingCold]

I started making my first proper attempt at a space station orbiting Minmus yesterday and encountered a problem once I'd docked a few parts together. I can't return to the Space Center or transfer to any other craft. I can't even exit the game now, so I had to alt-f4 after quicksaving. The debug menu shows a constant stream of "Null Reference Exception" error messages. My KSP installation is heavily modded, with over 40 mods, all of which are up to date as of yesterday.

The station is pretty simple, it currently consists of a small command unit, a couple of hitchhiker units for habitation and a docked tug:

I've tried undocking everything and redocking it but the problem persists. Does anyone know what's caused this, if there's anything I can do to fix it and what I should do to avoid it happening again?

Thanks!

Edited September 5, 2014 by BoilingCold
typo

[NathanKell]

Please follow the guideline in the Read First sticky. That's how we can narrow the problem down and try to get it solved.

[BoilingCold]

KSP: 0.24.2 Windows 32bit

Problem: Cannot return to KSC or switch to any other craft from orbital station round Minmus.

Mods installed:

Toolbar 1.7.6

ActiveTextureManagement 3-3-1

AlignedCurrencyIndicator 1.1

B9 Aerospace R5

AmbientLightAdjustment 1.1.3

Chatterer 0.5.9.6405

CrossFeedEnabler 2.2

DebRefund 1.0.12

DistantObject 1.3.1

EnhancedNavBall 1.3.2

EnvironmentalVisualEnhancements 7-3

FinePrint 0.58b

RasterPropMonitor 0.18.2

KerbalAttachmentSystem 0.4.8

KerbalEngineer 1.0.7.1

KerbalJointReinforcement v2.4.3

ScienceLibrary 1.2

KW Rocketry Release Package v2.6c

MechJeb2 2.3.1.0

Hotrockets 7.24

NEAR v1_1_1

DockingPortAlignment 4.0

NearFutureConstruction 0_2_3

NearFutureElectrical 0_2_2

NearFutureExampleShips 0_2_1

NearFuturePropulsion 0_2_3

NearFutureSolar 0_2_2

NearFutureSpacecraft 0_2_1

NearFutureTechnology 0_2_2

PartCatalog 3.0_RC7

PreciseNode 1.1.0

ProcFairings 3.09

ResearchThemAll 1.1.0.0

SCANsat v6.1

Sunbeam Laser v34

SurfaceLights uploads-2013-11-

TextureReplacer 1.6.1

VesselViewRPM 0.6

ZexySky (TextureReplacer Version)

KerbalAlarmClock 2.7.8.2

Reproduction steps:

Build a multi-part space station with a large command pod and an attached craft with another control pod. Attempt to switch away to another craft or KSC from the complete, docked station.

Log:

http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31210803/misc/output_log.zip

Hope that's helpful. I know there's a lot of mods there and that's a fairly vague reproduction step, however searching for the problem threw up this thread: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/77358-Unable-to-switch-to-spacecenter-or-revert-flight-since-0-23-5-646 , which suggested it was because of having more than one manned pod on a craft - which once my Orbital Tug craft docked with the main station was indeed the case. However I've been unable to reproduce the bug with a simpler, 2-pod craft.

For now the workaround I have chosen is to simply abandon the station and leave it in orbit as an empty, possibly haunted, husk as a warning to others.

[JDCollie]

Does this bug occur every time you switch to the station? I've got a similar mod set up, and I have had a similar bug once or twice where I could not switch away from the station/ship in question, nor return to the KSC. In those cases I simply quicksaved, alt-f4'd the game, reloaded, and proceeded on my merry way with the station/ship functioning normally. That is, I was able to switch to the vessel and away again normally after reloading the game engine.

I will say, I've never had this bug occur without docking, but I have successfully docked many times without the bug occurring. :\ I'll upload an error_log.txt here the next time it does.

[Commander Jebidiah]

This happens in stock aswell

[LORDPrometheus]

I believe this is something to do with either stock KSP or unity since it has happened to me on occasion (modded or vanilla) since I started playing in .18.

Not being a coder I couldn't tell you exactly what is going on but I've found that menus like options don't open either so it's probably an issue with that system as a whole. Unfortunately quick saving and alt-F4 is the only solution I have found as well.

Edit: I also usually have this happen after something after the craft state changes IE: in flight to landed or when I'm docking/ undocking things.

Edited September 5, 2014 by LORDPrometheus

[BoilingCold]

Does this bug occur every time you switch to the station?

Unfortunately my savegame has become corrupted today so I can't confirm, but prior to this it was happening every time as far as I know, yes.

I'm starting a new career mode game now and I'm planning on making an early Minmus base so I'll see if it happens again!

[NathanKell]

If it does, if you can reduce the number of mods to the bare minimum necessary to reproduce (or none, if is in fact a stock bug) and then launch KSP, *immediately* cause the issue, and *immediately* quite, that would be awesome because then I can take it right to QA.

[BoilingCold]

I'll do my best

[KasperVld]

Looking at the log I suspect the NullReferenceErrors are coming from Sciencelibrary

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
  at RenderingManager.AddToPostDrawQueue (Int32 queueSpot, .Callback drawFunction) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

  at KSPScienceLibrary.Awake () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
UnityEngine.GameObject:Internal_AddComponentWithType(Type)
UnityEngine.GameObject:AddComponent(Type)
AddonLoader:StartAddon(LoadedAssembly, Type, KSPAddon, Startup)
AddonLoader:StartAddons(Startup)
:MoveNext()

[BoilingCold]

Aha, cool thanks. When I get to stations again I'll try removing that if I have problems. Thanks again

[james672]

Hi, I just encountered this one myself and found this thread. Did you manage to find a solution? I wonder if the problem might have anything to with the way the game lets you revert. You know, if you reach orbit, you can then revert back to launch or assembly, or you can leave your rocket/craft there and go to space center. Because I already launched the station core, then went to space center and launched another component, then docked that with it... could that have stuffed it up? Although, I also noticed it when I tried docking with another craft so maybe not.

[direstatus]

Hello all! First I'd like to say that I can't get the log file as I had logging disabled but I've turned it back on and will post the log if this happens again. Haven't been able to reproduce the problem so I don't have a log file to post. Please bare with me as this is my first post here.

KSP: 0.90, x32, Windows 8

Problem:

While docking two ships I accidentally turned on TimeWarp. They were about 1.5km apart. I disabled it before they collided but the NRE glitch had already set in. (I never intentionally use timewarp while docking because it seems to make the NRE glitch more likely.) The game got extremely laggy, the target speed was increasing rapidly and I couldn't return to KSC. Changing ships from the one I was in when the bug started simply resulted in empty space. I tried zooming in but the camera wasn't working. Could switch back to and control the original ship without issue though. Both ships were in about a 300km orbit above Kerbin when this happened. The debugger was showing the same thing as in BoilingCold's screenshot - lots of NullReferenceExceptions.

Mods Installed:

B9 Aerospace R5

CollisionFx 2.1

Dmagic Orbital Science 0.9.1

FAR 0.14.6

Fusebox 1.2

HullCam VDS 0.33

KAS 0.4.10

KAX 2.3.3

Kerbal Joint Reinforcement 3.0.1

SDHI Service Modules 2.4

KSPAlternate Resource Panel 2.6.3

KW Rocketry 2.6d

Magic Smoke IR 0.19.3

MechJeb2 2.4.2.0

MKS 0.22.3

ModularRocketSystem 1.4.4

NF Construction 0.4.0

NF Electrical 0.3.1

NF Propulsion 0.4.0

NF Spacecraft 0.3.1

NF Solar 0.4.0

Nothke_SerCom Service Compartments 1.3

RCSBuildAid 0.5.4

Romfarer LazorSystem 35

Romfarer RoboticArms 35

StageRecovery 1.5.3

StationScience 1.4

TAC Life Support 0.10.1.13

TweakScale 1.5

Firespitter (The .DLL)

HayStackContinued 0.3.3.0

IntakeBuildAid 0.4

VerneTech Science Backpack 1.2.1

FlyByWire 1.4.5

NovaPunch 2.08

ProceduralWings 0.9.1

ShipManifest 90.0.3.3.3

ShowAllFuels 1

Trajectories 1.1.2

Kethane 0.9.2

KSPInterstellar 0.13

SmartStage 2.5.0

ModuleManager 2.5.6

Note:

I realize that some of these mods haven't yet been updated to 0.90 and I took the time to find and remove them from my game so I could rule them out from this bug. I have ATR installed as well and the game only uses about 2~2.5Gb of RAM at peak (2.225Gb specifically when I opened Task Manager shortly after the bug started).

Reproduction Steps:

Build two ships, launch them separately, move one within the other's physics bubble and timewarp while moving at different speeds. I haven't been able to reproduce it myself following these steps but I will continue trying.

What I Tried:

Alt-tab, back up save folder. Copy the data from the persistence file into the quicksave file. Back to the game and hold F9. This brought me back to KSC shortly before the point where the game bugged out. From there I tried going to the main menu and also back to the ships, inside various buildings, etc. All seemed to work fine.

Edit: After trying for a couple hours to recreate the exact circumstances that caused this bug originally, I'd decided to stop trying to reproduce this bug using the quicksave file I had. It seems like it may have been a one time thing and so I continued playing my save until I encountered a different bug that made me decide to restart my career. Sorry for this unfruitful post but just so it's known, here's yet another person who's had to deal with this problem.

Edited January 16, 2015 by direstatus
Clarification & status update

[Drakoflame]

I would love to know why this happens and how to fix it without having to completely close out the game please!

[Quanzi]

What's the status of this bug? It's really annoying - restart game EACH time I need to dock.

[M3tal_Warrior]

Confirm: Every time I dock, and sometimes even after having had a node burn.

Mods:

Docking Port Alignment Indicator 6.1

Extraplanetary Launch Pads 5.1.2 (this one is definitely innocent, I installed it just lately with the bug already happening)

Karbonite 0.5.5

KAS 0.4.10

Kerbal Alarm Clock 3.2.4.0

MKS 0.22.8

RealChute Parachute Systems 1.2.6.3

RemoteTech 1.6.0

ScanSat v10

TAC Life Support 0.10.2.15

Toolbar 1.7.8

It really gets annoying...

[smjjames]

This must be why I'm running into problems when docking and having crashes, plus MJ warps right past the 2.5km load point mark when rendevousing.

[M3tal_Warrior]

Tried it with a clean new install and old savegame, the moment this error occurs the debug log throws NullReferenceExceptions around like rice at a wedding:

[EXC 10:45:03.440] NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object

PatchedConicRenderer.OnSceneSwitch (GameScenes scn)

I guess it's a stock issue, since only TACLS seems to be processed prior to this exception, though it's processed like on every other occasion ingame (with only the values changing), and this NRE is not followed by the Science Library call (as in the log snippet before).

Edited April 17, 2015 by M3tal_Warrior

[M3tal_Warrior]

I've gamed today with the debug window open. The bug struck again as I targeted another vessel in orbital map mode to initiate another rendezvous. Untargeting the vessel stopped the NRE spam, but unfortunately not the behaviour of vessel switching. Retargeting started the spam again. Thus I'm pretty sure this is a stock issue.

[Airogue]

I am running only one mod, MechJeb, and the current KSP build updated from steam. I can not return to the space station either, nor can I quick save, though I am in normal career mode. I can switch easily between my 3 satellites (two at Kerbin, one at mun) but every time I click on "return to Space Center" nothing happens. I am not docking, and did not dock. I did switch between two craft that I was trying to position within the same "day" time frame. No problems returning to KSC before this time.

Anyone have a fix for this? I am actually running the game right now, hoping I do not have to force close.

Airogue

- - - Updated - - -

oh great... I finally Alt-f4'd to restart, and now I can not "resume game". Nothing happens when clicking on it, but I can click on Scenarios and Start New and they both work. Like no saved games exist. I'm going to try and save my data file (if it's still there) and then redownload the game from steam. Hopefully that fixes it.

Airogue

- - - Updated - - -

RESOLVED - at least mine was. I feel very dumb, but only after troubleshooting after all was lost did I realize what my problem was.

While I was playing KSP, I had a torrent downloading of a significant size. I didn't realize but it had used up all my disk space. So KSP could not save it's progress. I only realized this when closing the game and seeing the "low disk space" warning, and my career files were 0kb in size. I felt pretty dumb after that. Needless to say my entire career was lost. Kind of a bummer, but glad I wasn't to far into the game. Anyways, moving some files off the drive made everything ok again. I will try to get my solid state installed on this comp now so I don't have those problems in the future ;-)

I hope this answers at least one other person's problem.

[M3tal_Warrior]

I hope this answers at least one other person's problem.

Actually you miss the whole point. This thread is about the Null Reference Exception, not some disk space problem, as indicated in the very first post (and all others). Sorry, pal.

BTW: Who uses torrents for anything other than open source software still? Waving at the content industry bragging about your piracy would have the same effect...

Edited April 23, 2015 by M3tal_Warrior