[KSP v1.1.3] Stock Bug Fix Modules (Release v1.1.3b.1 - 10 Jul 16)

[luizopiloto]

That docking bug Claw... when docked crafts becomes unable to undock... Is there a way to add a module to fix this?

[NoMrBond]

On 30/06/2016 at 0:26 PM, luizopiloto said:

That docking bug Claw... when docked crafts becomes unable to undock... Is there a way to add a module to fix this?

I guess it could scan the mated docking ports to check that the docked (docker) / docked (dockee) are correct (i.e. they both can't be docked (docker) etc), and the EVENT attributes for undock{active and guiActive are correct?

I mean, it sounds plausible but I have exactly zero programming chops so I can't be sure

[kcs123]

There is more/less easy workaround for docking problem. I don't know if it is possible to fix it trough additional plugin, it is probably something that need to be fixed in core game code.

 

[Claw]

On 6/29/2016 at 2:26 PM, luizopiloto said:

That docking bug Claw... when docked crafts becomes unable to undock... Is there a way to add a module to fix this?

I've looked into the issue and I believe I've found the culprit that's causing ports to be unable to undock (at least the particular case that's been pointed out to me). I should be able to work up an add-on fix for it, but might be a couple days.

As with everything...too much to do and not enough time.

[MaxwellsDemon]

Out of curiosity... it would appear to me to be a no-brainer to include the parachute fix (to avoid them clipping into each other) in stock... I'm baffled as to why that hasn't been included when so many of your other bugfixes have been?   

[THX1138]

I think there's a problem with the way this mod is organised. It would be a lot easier to manage updating this mod if it were contained within a single folder. I will face a problem in the future because it has several folders that don't make it clear which mod they belong to. When I come to update, it won't be clear exactly which folders I need to delete. For example, "pilotsasfix" should at least be called "stock bug fix pilotsasfix". Ideally, all the different modules would be contained within a single folder called "stock bug fixes" or whatever.

[Claw]

32 minutes ago, THX1138 said:

contained within a single folder called "stock bug fixes" or whatever.

That's exactly how the zip file is set up. There's a single folder at the top of the zip file called StockBugFixPlus (just just downloaded to confirm). Grab that folder and drop it in your GameData directory.

[THX1138]

8 minutes ago, Claw said:

That's exactly how the zip file is set up. There's a single folder at the top of the zip file called StockBugFixPlus (just just downloaded to confirm). Grab that folder and drop it in your GameData directory.

Oh right, I'm an idiot. I have suspected as much for some time. Thanks.

[Jovus]

On 6/29/2016 at 2:33 AM, Claw said:

@MaxwellsDemon The CUP utilization and the editor crash fixes are not required for 1.1.3. As for the regular StockBugFixPlus, it still needs updating for 1.1.3. (Hopefully soon...)

This makes me curious about the release process of your stock bug fixes.

To wit, you're Squad staff, but these aren't part of stock KSP. Why not?

The most immediately obvious answer is that you're volunteering your time to fix bugs that slipped through the QA process, and (possibly) planning to include them in the next patch/version. But that doesn't have to be the case; there might be other answers.

Please don't take this as an attack or a passive-aggressive "why didn't Squad do this better?" post. I understand that QA isn't perfect; I worked in QA for 3 years before quitting to pursue my PhD. I'm honestly curious how the relationship works out.

[Claw]

29 minutes ago, Jovus said:

The most immediately obvious answer is that you're volunteering your time to fix bugs that slipped through the QA process, and (possibly) planning to include them in the next patch/version. But that doesn't have to be the case; there might be other answers.

This is mostly it. I am squad staff, and pretty much all of the bug fixes are making their way into stock. However, a quick read through the release notes and you'll see that the primary development process is currently focused on 1.2. So for some of these bugs, I try to put out fixes for folk for primarily two reasons.

1. It lets people enjoy the game more, to eliminate some of the more destructive bugs while the main team focuses on the next release.
2. For some of the elusive bugs, it helps to confirm that the fix is aimed at fixing the right thing.

There are also some other, more minor bugs that get added into StockBugFixes (usually because they're pretty easy to fix and add to the quality of play). I started out as just a regular forum user and KSP player, and during that time I spent a lot of time digging around and trying to find some of the more troublesome bugs (like the claw causing the universe to come apart). Then I learned how to mod KSP to help improve gameplay for other people as well. Maintaining an addon actually eats up quite a bit of time, but believe it or not, I really enjoy trying to make the game a bit more enjoyable (or less frustrating) for others. 

 

The reality of the matter is there is neither infinite time nor infinite money available to ensure the game is completely bug free. The typical QA process usually reveals several hundred bugs. So there are a lot of things that get caught during QA and Experimentals, but this game is so open ended in terms of user-defined experience that it's pretty much impossible to catch every combination of events.  Also, some bugs end up being incredibly obvious (like missing body lift). Those sometimes slip through because they're not very apparent during the usual testing process, but become glaringly apparent when users start to really stress the game in unique ways. Or because they have a favorite craft that they've been using for months, and suddenly it behaves differently. When you have a small test team dedicated to checking every corner of the game, it's hard to spend hours and hours on playing with one single craft. On top of that, because of the small team and development cycle, the QA and dev process is iterative. So at times a late bug fix pass might introduce some unintended side effect, and again, the immensity of the game means it might go unnoticed in the short time available to test.

It seems like it should be easy to say "just focus testing on those areas that recently changed." Well, we do, but as an example of how code can be a finicky beast, we had a bug not too long ago: When a fairing was the root part, the map mode no longer worked right and the craft's icon would disappear. Fairing->Map, two completely unrelated systems and one broke the other. There's another, similarly (seemingly unrelated) issue going on right now where decouplers and fairings, under certain conditions, can cause docking ports to break (won't undock) and leaves kerbals unable to return to a cabin after EVA. Which reminds me, I promised to put out a fix for that!

[Jovus]

Thanks for the in-depth answer! As to the QA process, I can 100% back you up there. Even when you have a huge team of developers and QAers, the dev process for any enterprise-level product means bugs get through. There will always be critical bugs.

Which is why I really appreciate your work here in this thread and these fixes. You're really going above and beyond. These may not be showstoppers, but players really appreciate the fixes regardless for quality-of-life. This goes double-especially because some of these simply wouldn't get fixed, due to larger concerns.

It's a sad fact of life for any large product that some lower priority bugs exist in perpetuity, because other things are simply always more important. And, as I've said, that's what makes your work here so great.

[Claw]

Update 1.1.3a.1:

• Deprecated several modules (that have been incorporated into stock)
• Added a small fix for non-responsive kerbal EVA lights
• Added fix for fairings that was causing kerbals to get stuck on EVA and docking ports to break (becoming perma-stuck).

If you already have version 1.0.2a.X, you should be able to carry over your settings from the previous install.

Note: The editor symmetry highlight is not included in v1.1.3a.1. I will work on that and also a utility to help recover broken docking ports.

[MaxwellsDemon]

Quote

Update 1.1.3a.1:

• Deprecated several modules (that have been incorporated into stock)
• Added a small fix for non-responsive kerbal EVA lights
• Added fix for fairings that was causing kerbals to get stuck on EVA and docking ports to break (becoming perma-stuck).

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!    

[Claw]

Update 1.1.3b.1:

• Added DockingPortFix, which adds a "Force Undock" option to stuck docking ports.

Note: The editor symmetry highlight is not included in v1.1.3b.1.

[autumnalequinox]

23 hours ago, Claw said:

Update 1.1.3b.1:

• Added DockingPortFix, which adds a "Force Undock" option to stuck docking ports.

Note: The editor symmetry highlight is not included in v1.1.3b.1.

I <3 you, Claw.  

Oh you saved my station!  Works perfectly.  *mwah*

Oh, and lastly, for anyone wondering:  I redocked the module with a small utility tug and the port became normal again (I had my CLS "open hatch" option back as well!).  So if you get a stuck port, just detached with the Force Undock and redock.

Edited July 11, 2016 by autumnalequinox
update

[Red Shirt]

22 hours ago, Claw said:

Update 1.1.3b.1:

• Added DockingPortFix, which adds a "Force Undock" option to stuck docking ports.

What fortuitous timing! I just put Jeb in a lander that wouldn't undock. I love you man.

[Kelderek]

On 7/10/2016 at 5:32 PM, Claw said:

Update 1.1.3b.1:

• Added DockingPortFix, which adds a "Force Undock" option to stuck docking ports.

Note: The editor symmetry highlight is not included in v1.1.3b.1.

I just had this bug during my Apollo-style Mun mission and was forced to abort the mission and return home from Mun orbit.  I came here to report the bug, but it looks like you already know about it and have a fix, thanks!

I was happily surprised that I was able to safely renter Kerbin's atmosphere in my Mk1-2 command pod with half of the lander still docked.  The landing can got to 97% heat before it started cooling down during re-entry:

[Claw]

9 minutes ago, Kelderek said:

I was happily surprised that I was able to safely renter Kerbin's atmosphere in my Mk1-2 command pod with half of the lander still docked.

Wow, nice recover.

[Speadge]

On ‎10‎.‎07‎.‎2016 at 11:32 PM, Claw said:

Update 1.1.3b.1:

• Added DockingPortFix, which adds a "Force Undock" option to stuck docking ports.

Note: The editor symmetry highlight is not included in v1.1.3b.1.

does this help/work with "non-docked" ports that became unresponsive (after beeing docked / beeing near other ports and trying to dock but not finishing)?
(=> having "state = docked (dockee)" status in safe-file )

Edited July 12, 2016 by Speadge

[Claw]

4 hours ago, Speadge said:

(=> having "state = docked (dockee)" status in safe-file )

It doesn't. But if that is still an issue, I look at making a utility for that too.

If you, by chance, have reliablable reproduction steps, then I can have a look at fixing it longer term.

Cheers,
-Claw

[Speadge]

1 hour ago, Claw said:

It doesn't. But if that is still an issue, I look at making a utility for that too.

If you, by chance, have reliablable reproduction steps, then I can have a look at fixing it longer term.

Cheers,
-Claw

only way i was able to reproduce it is by using KAS.

just take 2 docking ports (from KIS, tested with seniors) and put them on 2 wall facing each other but still with a gap inbetween.
if u havent fixed ur joints to much, u should see that they start attracting each other - but dont let them connect.

detaching one of these ports now and attaching it somewhere else leaves at least one of them in the "state = docked (dockee)".

Had to fix a station with four of them just yesterday after attaching/detaching them from walls a thousand(+1) times (with KAS).

hth

 

PS: sorry that i just can reproduce it with mods for now - but it should be "reliable" to test a fix. Sur one could argue that my example could also be fixed with kis/kas... For that reason i dont expect a fix for that by squad anyway.
It just happened to me some times before without KAS so i knew how to fix it... Cant tell you for sure if it still happens in stock.

Edited July 12, 2016 by Speadge

[Nerfclasher]

Hey @Claw I found a bug here are the logs

log

[Claw]

6 hours ago, Nerfclasher said:

I found a bug here are the logs

It's a bit unclear to me, from your logs, what bug you ran into. Also, there are a few add-ons in your save, so I'm not really sure what you're meaning for me to see.

[Nerfclasher]

@Claw your bug fixes break addons and also breaks ive

[Gryphon]

16 hours ago, Nerfclasher said:

@Claw your bug fixes break addons and also breaks ive

I suspect Claw will need more information to be able to help, or to figure out what problem is occuring. Have you looked at:

But I'll start with these questions:

What other mods do you have installed?

Do the other mods work without Stock Bug Fix Modules installed?

Which Stock Bug Fix Modules are you using?

If you are using more than one Stock Bug Fix Module, can you isolate the issue you are seeing to a particular one?