When I'm in editor mode I keep getting the message
"[autodeconstruct|drill.order_deconstruction] Error: [ <gps coords> ] electric-mining-drill instantly deconstructed, nothing else done."
noting that actual coords are given in the actual message. I assume but cant confirm that this occurs when robots pick up a finished mining drill as they should. so why the error message ? This only occurs if/when im in the editor btw.

In the editor, with instant deconstruction enabled, marking a miner for deconstruction causes it to be deleted before the mod can check it for pipe connections or output chests. That's all the message is saying.

but the miners in question arent in the editor, they're in the main game. perhaps some clarifications. the editor i refer to is the Editor Extensions mod editor accessed by ALT-R from the main map while in game. It is miners in the main map being picked up while I'm ALT-R'd into the EE editor that I use to sort out blueprints. So the miner's in question shouldn't be being "instant deleted" since the editor settings shouldnt affect the main map. Or at least I wouldn't expect them too. Is this perhaps an EE issue of edtior settings improperly affecting the main map while im in editor mode ?

Thanks for clarifying. It could be. I haven't tested with the "editor surface" in an otherwise normal game. That error message only appears when AutoDeconstruct can't find the miner after it was marked, so clearly something is making it become invalid that doesn't normally.

i am getting the same error. while inside the editor.

I confirmed that the problem is because "instant deconstruction" is activated when the player controller is changed to "editor", even though the player is on another surface. I posted a message on Raiguard's mailing list to see if there is a solution, but the setting in Editor Extensions to disable "instant deconstruction" doesn't seem to work anymore. It may be a base game behavior that is causing the problem.

An interesting data point would be to see what happens in a multiplayer map, especially if there are multiple forces.

Thanks for the effort to confirm the behaviors cause. Looking forward to hearing what's really going on behind the scenes, and hopefully a solution.

Raiguard had the answer! The deconstruction orders were being attributed to whichever player had originally placed the miner. If that player was in editor mode at the time, then they would be instantly deconstructed. The solution is to order deconstruction by the owning force without specifying a player at all. Just published version 0.3.3 with the fix.

Woot ! Thank-you much to you and to Raiguard !