Can't do anything, control locked

[Boner]

So I'm doing the mun fly-by contract in career mode, I do my maneuver and I fly by the mun. For the contract to go through I also need to do experiments while flying near it, but all my experiments are locked and I can't move my craft or do anything. Do I need antennae and a way to generate power? From what I understand the mun and the dark side of kerbin are blocking my rocket's connection to the KSC.

[Hugo]

Ive had a similar problem: For basically no reason, I was unable to both place and delete any maneuver nodes because I was "control locked".

[Jubberdunkus]

Yes, you need both power and a way to communicate with Kerbin. If you're blocked from Kerbin by another celestial body (like you said you thought you were) then you'll have to wait until it moves.

[Hugo]

Originally posted by The Whappy Goblin:

Yes, you need both power and a way to communicate with Kerbin. If you're blocked from Kerbin by another celestial body (like you said you thought you were) then you'll have to wait until it moves.

How come mechjeb can still place maneuver modes when I literally had no antenna to communicate with kerbin?
Also, does this apply to piloted command modules or only probes?

[Boner]

Originally posted by The Whappy Goblin:

Yes, you need both power and a way to communicate with Kerbin. If you're blocked from Kerbin by another celestial body (like you said you thought you were) then you'll have to wait until it moves.

So what can I do about this in context of my mun flyby contract? Do I have to fly in such a way that once I'm there I'm facing the light side of Kerbin so I can communicate with the KSC?

[edorward]

Originally posted by Hugo:

Also, does this apply to piloted command modules or only probes?

Probes only. Pilots can control their craft without contact, but they do need to have electricity to change course, for instance.

MechJeb can set up nodes because it's cheating. And you actually do have an antenna in the probe core - it's just very short range.

[Jupiter3927]

Any kerbal except a tourist can operate your ship under any circumstances.
Unmanned ships require a connection to KSC to do literally anything.

Pilots or a connection to KSC are required to make, edit or delete maneuver nodes.
MechJeb is a mod and follows its own rules.

Some parts act like control points and can control nearby vessels with the commnet.
It acts like a connection to KSC but you can't transmit science.
It's only ever useful if you have control point parts unlocked but not the good antennas.

[Boner]

Originally posted by Jupiter3927:

Any kerbal except a tourist can operate your ship under any circumstances.
Unmanned ships require a connection to KSC to do literally anything.

I'm not sure that's true. I had Valentina in my ship who is classified as a pilot and I could not do anything. I couldn't move my ship, create maneuver nodes, add thrust, decouple, do experiments or anything.

[Bort]

Originally posted by Cass:

I'm not sure that's true. I had Valentina in my ship who is classified as a pilot and I could not do anything. I couldn't move my ship, create maneuver nodes, add thrust, decouple, do experiments or anything.

In this situation, it sounds like you ran out of electrical charge. This is really easy to do, especially in the early stages of the game, when you only have basic batteries. How to get around this is to include solar panels on your ship and, if they are packed up, extend them once you make Kerbin orbit. Just remember to pack them up again if you go to land somewhere, otherwise they'll break.

[Boner]

Originally posted by Bort:

Originally posted by Cass:

I'm not sure that's true. I had Valentina in my ship who is classified as a pilot and I could not do anything. I couldn't move my ship, create maneuver nodes, add thrust, decouple, do experiments or anything.

In this situation, it sounds like you ran out of electrical charge. This is really easy to do, especially in the early stages of the game, when you only have basic batteries. How to get around this is to include solar panels on your ship and, if they are packed up, extend them once you make Kerbin orbit. Just remember to pack them up again if you go to land somewhere, otherwise they'll break.

I'm not sure if that's the case. When I flew back to Kerbin I could steer my ship and everything again, but I couldn't actually do my contract since I need to do experiments while close to the mun, and I only flew by it.

ill try it anyway. solar panels it is

[Bort]

My only other idea is, did you have it running on x5 time or higher? Anything other than x1 time means you cannot maneuver, or use thrust, etc.

[MechBFP]

Originally posted by Bort:

My only other idea is, did you have it running on x5 time or higher? Anything other than x1 time means you cannot maneuver, or use thrust, etc.

This was likely the issue.

[HellRestaurant]

It's a bug since 1.7

For some reason, sometimes you get the "control locked" message when trying to delete a maneuver node by clicking on it. You can still delete the node by clicking the "x" on the remaining burn bar instead.

[dshodaw]

I too lost control of my vehicle just now. Turns out I didn't add batteries to the rocket, and I tried to send data back to earth, draining what power I had for control

[miklkit]

I get this problem too often. I can create a maneuver node, adjust it, make the burn, and then I can not delete the node because it is "control locked". Then sometime later it decides I can delete it. Frustrating.