Kerbal Space Program

Changed priority in accordance with guidelines at http://bugs.kerbalspaceprogram.com/projects/ksp/wiki

Win 8.1 x64, KSP 1.1.3.1289 x64, full stock as downloaded from Steam.

I can confirm the nose gear (surface-attached to the outside) deciding it is 'stowed' and thus refusing to deploy, if the cargo bay is opened and closed even once, of the craft posted by alamovampire in the following thread/post:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/142950-cannot-deploy-while-stowed-mechanic/&do=findComment&comment=2659155

Reproduction steps:
1) load craft
2) go to launch pad, but don't stage
3) test deployment of gear several times to prove it works without problems
4) open the cargo bay just once and close it again, it doesn't need to open fully
5) try deploying the gear again, and notice the nose gear will from this point on refuse because 'Cannot deploy when stowed'

You don't need to launch, it will do it right there on the pad without having moved, so it's not even a case of parts fractionally moving relative to each other. The stowed code is treating the before and after differently, even though the conditions are identical. This same thing will also happen mid-flight: if the cargo bay is opened even once, which is rather the whole purpose of it, as soon as it is closed again it will make the nose gear inoperable, and you only find out when it's too late, because there is no hint that the gear has been made inoperable now.

I attach alamovampire's craft here.

Additional comments:

Parts that are surface attached to the outside of the craft, even if it is a cargo/service bay or a fairing, and regardless of the amount of clipping, should always be immune to any type of deactivation because of stowing. It should be understood that by choosing to attach the part to the outside the player is explicitly opting out of any type of forced protection from imagined or real consequences. So at the very least, the game should make a clear distinction between parts that are attached to the outside vs inside of a bay or fairing.

But even aside if this happens to be an actual bug that can be corrected, please consider A) adding a global setting to entirely disable the code that forcibly turns any parts inoperable 'when stowed', or B) preferable but probably more work, make it a per part configurable.

The way it is now, it is very inconsistent and jarring that the game has no problem at all permitting parts to deploy or activate when heavily clipped into 'solid' parts like tanks, cockpits, engines, etc, but then turns those same parts inoperable if they are slightly clipped or even fully inside the 'hollow' of bays and fairings. Please allow us to opt out of this forced 'protection'.