Space station being renamed to the docking craft

[paul23]

Well as per title: my space station is constantly being renamed to the craft that is docking, leading to a lot of confusion and annoyances. How do I prevent the station name from being changed?

[XLjedi]

You need to check the ("Configure Vessel Naming" right-click part property in the SPH or VAB) naming priority level on your station.  ...or does your station even have a command module part that you can assign the highest naming priority to?  For a station, I might suggest the highest value of 20?

[paul23]

53 minutes ago, XLjedi said:

You need to check the ("Configure Vessel Naming" right-click part property in the SPH or VAB) naming priority level on your station.  ...or does your station even have a command module part that you can assign the highest naming priority to?  For a station, I might suggest the highest value of 20?

Well can this be done after going into flight? The station is (was) at "10", same as the ships (default).

[XLjedi]

34 minutes ago, paul23 said:

Well can this be done after going into flight? The station is (was) at "10", same as the ships (default).

Dunno, try right-clicking on station parts and see if the option appears.

[HvP]

The "Configure Vessel Naming" menu won't be available after launch. It may be best in the VAB to pre-configure new ships that will be docking to your station to have a lower name priority. Although, sometimes this causes docking ships to retain the station's name after undocking, but sometimes it doesn't. I haven't figured out yet what circumstances cause this to happen. Expected behavior is for them both to revert to their original name after undocking.

[Linkageless]

I recall seeing odd things like vessels retaining a different name after collection of some module belonging to the other vessel.

The new naming priority is a brilliant solution but I've yet to see how this can be retrofitted to vessels launched without, or indeed tweaked later.

[paul23]

8 hours ago, Linkageless said:

I recall seeing odd things like vessels retaining a different name after collection of some module belonging to the other vessel.

The new naming priority is a brilliant solution but I've yet to see how this can be retrofitted to vessels launched without, or indeed tweaked later.

Hmm what "property" in the save file corresponds to this? I might go for modifying the save file manually.

Edited December 15, 2019 by paul23

[Aelfhe1m]

14 minutes ago, paul23 said:

Hmm what "property" in the save file corresponds to this? I might go for modifying the save file manually.

VESSEL
{
	pid = XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
	persistentId = XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
	name = Kerbin Orbital Station
	type = Station
	
	[SNIP]
	
	PART
	{
		name = XXXX // must have a MODULE { name = ModuleCommand }
		
		[SNIP]
		
		VESSELNAMING
		{
			name = Kerbin Orbital Station
			type = Station
			priority = 20 // 0 to 20
		}
	}
	
	[SNIP more parts]
}

Simplified to show relevant parts. If there are more than one parts in a vessel with a VESSELNAMING node then the highest priority one wins. If there are multiple of the same priority then its the one closest to the root node.

New parts added in the editor default to a priority of 10.

 

[Linkageless]

Awesome, thanks @Aelfhe1m !  It shouldn't be too daunting to insert those VESSELNAMING sections manually.

[GoldenHornet]

Go read the original article on vessel naming  

NOTE: If you want to be doing this in flight you need to edit your setting.cfg

Quote

By default this option only shows for Command Modules like the original rename vessel option and only in the editor (VAB/SPH), but if you want to extend that behavior then this info could be useful.

If you add this to a parts cfg file then it too will have that option appear in editor

showVesselNaming = True

If you change this setting in settings.cfg to be true then the configure vessel naming option will show for parts configured when in flight mode

SHOW_VESSEL_NAMING_IN_FLIGHT = True

You can also configure the maximum number of priorities and the default priority from the settings.cfg

 

[Fraktal]

Um... why does everyone claim that you can't access the naming menu in flight? All of my command modules and probe cores allow renaming in flight and I didn't manually edit anything. Am I missing something here?

[Geonovast]

2 minutes ago, Fraktal said:

Um... why does everyone claim that you can't access the naming menu in flight? All of my command modules and probe cores allow renaming in flight and I didn't manually edit anything. Am I missing something here?

It's the naming priority that can't be changed in flight.

[Fraktal]

Oh, right. The earlier posts weren't clear on the matter.

[adsii1970]

This has been an early complaint of KSP ever since I became a forum member in 2012.

^{FULL DISCLOSURE:} Those who know me well know I am a bit OCD about things in my free time as well as at work.

It torments me that if I dock my shuttle to my space station, the entire thing becomes named after the craft but retains the icon of the station rather than both being treated as either separate vessels. But it has been explained to me, back when KSP was at 0.22, this is a side effect of the way KSP handles multiple vessels. When a vessel docks with another object, the two are treated like one single object to allow KSP's programming to calculate in-flight physics. I'm not sure if it is a limitation with Unity or the way KSP was programmed, but as the expression goes, it is what it is.

Whenever you embark from a station or other object you've docked with, the original craft name always returns - as does the default icon.

Whenever I play my saved career game (which is still in version 1.3.0), I play it with my tablet opened to my spreadsheet. I literally take notes on everything on the active mission spreadsheet. This way, I don't lose a craft (long story, but I came across a Kerbal I had forgotten about orbiting Plock during another mission. ). It's not a perfect system, I know, but when there are literally 71 missions being done at the same time, it's easy to forget where I parked a shuttle, a lander, or even a satellite.