[Never mind] Overriding stock PartModules

[MOARdV]

Basically, what I want to do is make a MultiModeEngine extension. Instead of creating a separate part module and tying it to a MME module, I'd like to do this:

class ExtendedMultiModeEngine:MultiModeEngine
{
 ... my extended KSP Fields ...

        public override void OnAwake()
        {
            base.OnAwake();
        }

        public override void OnStart(PartModule.StartState state)
        {
            base.OnStart(state);
        }

        public override void OnUpdate()
        {
            base.OnUpdate();
        }

}

Should be benign, right? Except that I get a null dereference in MultiModeEngine.OnStart().

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
  at MultiModeEngine.OnStart (StartState state) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at ExtendedMultiModeEngine.MultiModeEngineExtension.OnStart (StartState state) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at Part.ModulesOnStart () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at Part+.MoveNext () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

So ... is there something obvious that I'm doing wrong here? I did not create a constructor for this class, and I didn't create an OnDestroy method (MME has both, and OnDestroy isn't virtual). Is there some C# gotcha that I'm tripping over?

EDIT: I'm still mildly curious why that doesn't work, but I realized I need to take a different approach to get what I want working right, so never mind.

Edited October 31, 2014 by MOARdV
Nevermind...

[sarbian]

I guess the onLoad did not run properly or some of the field did not get initialized, and ao the onStart failled