Bug #26781
Retrieve part from orbit disappears after retrieving nearby craft
10%
Description
I've had just finished a part retrieval mission from kerbin orbit and landed very close to KSP, so I decided to play a bit and retrieve it manually, so I built a truck with a large MK3 cargo bay to carrp the parts and a robotic arm to load them, then I detached the retriever probe from the retrieved part and loaded the part and probe separately into the truck. Done that I drove to SPH, selected the retriever probe and recovered it, as a result the retrieved part disappeared, it was no longer inside the truck and didn't show up the the tracking station, I tried quickloading to a point before I recovered the probe and the retrieved part exploded inside the truck before the game even finished loading.
History
#1
Updated by 18Watt over 3 years ago
Updated by - Status changed from New to Need More Info
I'd like to try to duplicate this, and have a few questions to get conditions as close to your scenario as I can.
1. How close to KSC did you land? 10km? Rough guess is fine.
2. How was the 'retriever' connected to the debris? I'm assuming the Klaw or Klaw Jr?
3. How did your 'truck' get the parts in the vehicle? I'm assuming robotics and a Klaw?
4. When you Recovered the 'retriever' probe, what was attached/connected to what? In other words, was the 'truck' attached via Klaw to anything? And was your 'retriever' probe attached via Klaw to anything?
5. You said the debris (retrieved part) disappeared. Did the contract complete?
When you 'Recover' stuff, I think that's short for 'Recover to the KSC'. So perhaps the game saw that you had positioned the contract part to the KSC, and completed the contract. Which would remove the part from the game.
#2
Updated by 18Watt over 3 years ago
- Status changed from Need More Info to Confirmed
- % Done changed from 0 to 10
- Platform OSX added
Duplicated, confirmed on OSX. To duplicate, I used 3 vessels:
1. A PART to be recovered, generated after accepting a recovery contract.
2. A SHIP to bring the recovered part to Kerbin. I used a ship with probe core, Klaw Jr., fuel, engine, electric, and RCS. And parachutes.
3. A 'TRUCK' which can load recovered PART and recovery SHIP into it's bed, or cargo bay. I used robotics to accomplish this.
Steps to duplicate:
1. Accept part recovery contract. (Hopefully one in LKO)
2. Grab PART in orbit with your SHIP's Klaw. De-orbit.
3. Land near, but not on, KSC. I ended up ~10km to the west of KSC.
4. Send TRUCK to recover PART and SHIP.
5. Load PART and SHIP in bay of TRUCK, not attached to each other or the TRUCK. (Both are loose in the cargo bay..)
6. Return to KSC and park.
7. Revert to the Space Center. Go to Tracking Station. Note which vessels are available.
8. From Tracking Station, 'Fly' your TRUCK.
Expected Results: The recovered PART is still in the bay of the TRUCK, and is also selectable from Tracking Station.
Observed Results: The recovered PART is not available from Tracking Station, and is no longer present when you switch to the TRUCK.
Additional note: As jackmcslay stated, if you have vessels loose in the bay of your TRUCK, and leave and return to the TRUCK while it is parked outside of KSC, the stuff (PART and SHIP) loose in the cargo bay will explode.
Two workarounds which worked for me:
1. If the parts are all connected (via Klaw(s)), it becomes a single vessel, which you can leave and come back to safely.
2. If you can get the loose ships (PART and SHIP) out of the TRUCK at KSC, and move away from them, you can also leave and return safely.
Building a robotics arm that can load both vessels onto a truck isn't easy on Kerbin. Also not easy getting ships OUT of the truck on Kerbin.