Need help with decoupling

[Stgerrit]

Hello, let me start off with saying I am really enjoying this game so much.  I have had so many fun adventures in this game, and this game is captivating me so much.

Now off to the topic - I recently sent a payload with my part 1 of my mun outpost.  However, halfway through I realised the morons at VAB forgot to add landing struts  . So I needed to improvise my moon landing.  Things went relatively well but with all the chaos I somehow couldn't uncouple my couplers.  Now I am on the moon but my couplers are still coupled.  How would I go to decouple these manually?

A screenshot might explain things better :  https://gyazo.com/7bd45453427b6de97817d0497a362163

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Daripuff]

You're problems are twofold :

One,  the "top"  decoupler in the left:  decouplers only detach from one side,  so if you want to detach from both sides,  you need a separator. 

Two,  the "bottom" decoupler on the right: You put the decoupler under the faring base,  so even in the best circumstance,  all you'd detach is the fuel tank,  and the faring base would remain attached.  If you want to detach the payload,  you want to use a decoupler smaller than the faring base,  attached to the top of the base.  

[Stgerrit]

Hey Daripuff

Thanks for the reply :).

Do u have any idea on how I could remedy the situation from here, or is it basically a lost cause?

thanks

[Chiron0224]

First off, in the future questions like these belong in Gameplay Questions/Tutorials.  The mods will probably move this thread soon.  With that out of the way you'll notice that decouplers have little red arrows on them.  The direction the arrow is pointing shows the part that will be removed and the wide part of the arrow is the part that will remain attached to the decoupler.  So in your picture you have a decoupler on one end that will be forever attached.  The other decoupler, with the fuel tank still attached will be able to decouple completely taking the fuel tank with it.  If you can't find it in the staging sequence you can also right click and then click "decouple".  Hope that helps

 

Bonus tip:  Decouplers only decouple one direction as mentioned above but stack separators decouple above and below so for certain applications they are what you need.

[Stgerrit]

11 minutes ago, Chiron0224 said:

First off, in the future questions like these belong in Gameplay Questions/Tutorials.  The mods will probably move this thread soon.  With that out of the way you'll notice that decouplers have little red arrows on them.  The direction the arrow is pointing shows the part that will be removed and the wide part of the arrow is the part that will remain attached to the decoupler.  So in your picture you have a decoupler on one end that will be forever attached.  The other decoupler, with the fuel tank still attached will be able to decouple completely taking the fuel tank with it.  If you can't find it in the staging sequence you can also right click and then click "decouple".  Hope that helps

 

Bonus tip:  Decouplers only decouple one direction as mentioned above but stack separators decouple above and below so for certain applications they are what you need.

Hey Chiron0224

Thanks for the advice :).  For some reason if i either right click on the coupler itsself or on it in the staging sequence it doesnt give a decouple option at all.  So that puzzles me.

 

Edit - Nevermind Tex_NL pointed the problem out.

Edited November 30, 2016 by Stgerrit

[Tex_NL]

And last but not least:
Unless you have a probe core hidden somewhere on the large section (I don't see any) you will not be doing ANY decoupling. A craft without a probe core or a manned pod will be dead. It will be useless debris. (A manned KPBS lab does not count as a manned pod.)

[Stgerrit]

Well guys thanks for the very helpful replies.  I have made a few vital errors in designing and learned a lot more than anticipated from the post. 

Have a good one!

[RX2000]

44 minutes ago, Stgerrit said:

I have made a few vital errors in designing and learned a lot more than anticipated from the post. 

That's the best way to learn!

[beelzerob]

1 hour ago, Stgerrit said:

 

Do u have any idea on how I could remedy the situation from here, or is it basically a lost cause?

thanks

I don't know your stance on mods, but this is one reason I love the Kerbal Attachment System mod, because you can send an engineer Kerbal with a wrench to go fix the thing....What i call my many "Hubble moments".

[Tex_NL]

As always: Failure is not an option. It's part of the process.

And yes, KAS can save your skin in more ways that you can imagine.

[cubinator]

If you're really in a pinch and need to do some spontaneous rocket surgery, you can press Alt+F12, go to the "Cheats" tab, and arm the "Object Thrower" (formerly Whack-A-Kerbal). Use small, fast objects for precision part amputation!

Edited November 30, 2016 by cubinator

[Starhawk]

This question about how to play the game has been moved from KSP Discussion.