Kerbal Space Program

Loading a craft into the editor that may have missing parts (missing mod) or otherwise corrupt craft file will lead to unexpected behaviour rendering the game unplayable.

Reproduction Steps:¶

1. Start a sandbox game and enter VAB.
2. Place a Mk1 pod, name and save this as a new craft.
3. Verify this craft can be loaded into the editor.
4. Open the .craft file, and edit the part name (eg. mk1pod -> mk1-1pod - example craft attached)
5. Open the load craft dialog in the editor again and select the previously saved, but modified craft.
6. Observe the warning about missing parts (mk1-1pod) and dismiss this message.
7. Attempt to do various tasks in the editor or return to KSC to continue game.

Expected behaviour:¶

KSP should fail to load any corrupt or invalid .craft file.
Attempting to load such a file should be handled gracefully.

Results:¶

A message appears informing the player which parts are missing.
Dismissing the message returns the player to an empty editor.
Any number of problems can then be seen while trying to use menus or gui elements.
Returning to KSC (where possible) may leave only some gui elements functioning.

Observations:¶

While there is a warning of missing parts embedded into the craft loading dialog, this does not prevent the craft from being loaded, and is not prominent enough.
The missing parts message comes after the craft has attempted to be loaded, and after the damage has been done.
The resulting behaviour appears to be random, and can vary from minor issues in the editor, to a complete failure to operate any gui element or menu.
Only a game restart will restore the game to the correct state.

The problems manifested by this issue may be subtle and could go undiscovered or even lead to bug reports in other areas. Quite often the KSC buildings cannot be entered, or parts behave badly in the editor.

Conjecture: It may be possible that a corrupt craft file, that does have correctly named parts and therefore does not spawn the missing parts warning, could also cause other issues. This needs testing and verification.