Having trouble getting SRB on decouplers

[KhanFoil]

I have a rocket and I want to cluster several SRBs together on my first stage. I put an SRB at the bottom and then added radial decouplers, the ones with the standoffs as shown.

Now I want to attach SRBs to each of the decouplers, but I can't get them to align on the decouplers and it keeps attaching them with the decoupler sticking into the SRB or just a flat miss.

I've had issues aligning the before, (KSP developers, please pay attention. This needs to be easier.) but nothing like this. It just won't attach.

Any tips?

[Harry Rhodan]

You can only attach them to one decoupler. So you need to move your mouse over the decoupler you actually want them to attach to and not just put the SRB somewhere in the middle between two decouplers.

[KhanFoil]

I'm on Playstation. No mouse. So remove one of the rows of decouplers, attach it and then how to stabilize my SRBs so they don't wobble?

[Dafni]

8 minutes ago, KhanFoil said:

I'm on Playstation. No mouse. So remove one of the rows of decouplers, attach it and then how to stabilize my SRBs so they don't wobble?

Simple. Use a strut.

Best way is to use a decoupler near the top of the SRB and a strut at the very bottom. This way the ejection force of the decoupler helps to give you a clean separation (pushing the SRB away from the center stage)

Hope this helps.

Good luck

[KhanFoil]

Tried with just a single row of decouplers. Still can't get the SRBs to attach to the decouplers.

[Geonovast]

Not the entire surface of the SRB is the attaching surface.  There's a specific point on one side that's used for surface attaching.  It's kinda like the green/black spheres of the attachment nodes, but you can't see it.  It would be really helpful if you could, but they're hidden.

Try moving your cursor of where you want the SRB to be attached to, which would be the decoupler.  If you really want the SRB to be attached to the decoupler at the top, after you have it attached to the decoupler (it will attach roughly in the middle of the SRB), select your move tool, switch it from absolute to local, and then slide it down.

 

Also I'm moving this to Gameplay Questions

[HvP]

I find the best way is to do this:

1. Reduce symmetry back to just one single decoupler.
2.  Place one decoupler wherever you want it.
3. Align camera so that you are directly facing the decoupler.
4. Grab a SRB and attach it with your cursor directly onto the face of the decoupler attachment point. Ignore how high or low the SRB seems to be right now. All that matters is that your cursor is clicking only in the very center of that decoupler. Having symmetry turned off makes this task much easier because you usually have a clearer view to click in the right place.
5. Once you have attached the SRB to the decoupler (and not to the surface of the central stack) then rotate your view to the side so that you can grab the already attached decoupler from before. Don't grab the SRB - pick up the decoupler itself. Because you only have one attached right now makes it much easier to grab the decoupler because there are no other parts around the sides that would block your view. If you are not able to change the radial symmetry while holding a part then you should switch to 6 or 8 times radial symmetry before picking up the decoupler.
6. Make sure that you have switched to 6 or 8 times symmetry either before or after picking up the decoupler with SRB attached. Place your decoupler onto your central stack where you want the DECOUPLER to be. Ignore the vertical alignment of the SRB right now. Just worry about where the decoupler should go.
7. Once you have your decoupler-SRB combo attached radially you may notice that your SRB isn't at the height you want it. Simply switch to the offset arrows and move the SRBs up or down to the height you want them.
8. Attach struts where necessary to prevent wobble.

I know this seems like a lot of steps for such a simple building technique, but it really isn't. This kind of construction becomes second nature after a while.

Edited February 21, 2020 by HvP

[AHHans]

11 hours ago, HvP said:

I find the best way is to do this:

1. Reduce symmetry back to just one single decoupler.
2.  Place one decoupler wherever you want it.
3. Align camera so that you are directly facing the decoupler.
4. [....]

For me the procedure that @HvP outlined also works best. The one thing I'd like to add is that for me it helps a bit to place the first single decoupler on one of the cardinal directions on the rocket. That makes it a bit easier to see if I got the placement of the SRB (or whatever) right.

[peteletroll]

I always autostrut the SRBs to grandparent, they'll stay rock steady.

[UncleManuel]

Jepp, the good old "how KSP attaches things to things"-mystery... 

See my old thread here:

Short answer: KSP can only use ONE attach node on parts. Multiple pylons are for looks only. On SRBs you have to use struts or the autostrut function (grandparent)... 

Bonus info: the part is being attached to the point where the mouse cursor tip is. This makes placing sometimes a bit tricky...

Edited February 23, 2020 by UncleManuel