Refill tanks en mass

[MarsUltor]

I tend to make landers with stacks of radially attached Oscar-b tanks, which in turn allow me to attach landing legs further off from the centerline of the craft, imparting more stability upon landing... I also like to keep these crafts attached to a refuel station, orbiting the mun (for example), so that I can use it as a rescue lander, collect my kerbals from orbit or the surface, and bring them to the refuel station, where I finally can collect them with a rescue craft to bring them back home... but I digress...

 

My question is: is there a way to easily refill 12 Oscar-b tanks without having to do each one individually? Like, is there an easy way to tell my refuel ship to dump fuel into the lander until all of the tanks are full, or must I open each Oscar-b window and fill them manually? Also, I am on PS4, so no  mods, or computer-related exploits...

[Okhin]

You can open all your Oscar b windows and pin them, and then open one other tank and click the "Out" button on it, it will transfer from this tanks, to all other tanks with opened windows. Works the other way around (to fill one big tank with a cluster of smaller one).

But yeah, transferring fuels is a bit tedious in stock. I have space station with tens of tanks docking to each other for refueling purposes and it's a pain (also there's a bug in 1.10.x which makes refueling not working all the time). I'm using a mod to make my life easier (also, you can balance your tank to keep the Center of Mass at the same point, which is good for plane I've heard, I would not know, I don't do planes). The mod is TAC Fuel balancer.

 

[Wobbly Av8r]

If you select the resources icon (looks like a drop of liquid on a gas can, upper right) it will show the current level of your consumable resources - liquid fuel, oxidizer, monopropellant and electricity.

After selecting that icon so that the display remains on the screen, click the check box next to liquid fuel and ALL of your tanks' PAW (Part Action Windows) and fuel levels will become visible. Find the one which you wish to transfer FROM, click the OUT button and it will transfer its fuel to all other tanks. If there are tanks you do NOT want to transfer to, pin the ones you want fuel into and uncheck the box you checked in the resource window so the unpinned PAW's will disappear. Only the tanks whose PAW is visible will receive fuel.

Maybe not exactly what you are looking for, but definitely shortens many transfers....

Edited September 19, 2020 by Wobbly Av8r

[swjr-swis]

1 hour ago, MarsUltor said:

My question is: is there a way to easily refill 12 Oscar-b tanks without having to do each one individually? Like, is there an easy way to tell my refuel ship to dump fuel into the lander until all of the tanks are full, or must I open each Oscar-b window and fill them manually?

A modless method:

On 8/21/2020 at 8:10 AM, Hotel26 said:

Here's a mod-less technique that I think works.

1. check the LF box in the Resources tab (with which I fly open at all times)
2. Pin the internal tanks open
3. Uncheck the LF box in the Resources tab.  Pinned tanks stay open
4. click-select the source tank for fuel replenishment.  Pinned tanks disappear!!
5. Briefly hover over the LF box in the Resources tab and the "pinned" tanks now re-open.
6. Proceed with pumping fuel

Don't know how well-known this is, but it's not very obvious and it could be very useful to those who need it.

[MarsUltor]

Thanks for all the input everybody... I’ll try the method posted by @swjr-swis, but let me clarify the issue: with the console version you can only pin 4 windows at once... so if I pin the refuel tank, I can only refuel 3 Oscar-b tanks at once, meaning I have to go through the process 4 times for a 12 tank lander.

[Wobbly Av8r]

Sorry - wasn't aware of the console limitations, but even if you have to transfer to a tank or two you didn't want to, then transfer the fuel from those (fewer) tanks to where you want might still be quicker.

[swjr-swis]

25 minutes ago, MarsUltor said:

with the console version you can only pin 4 windows at once... so if I pin the refuel tank, I can only refuel 3 Oscar-b tanks at once, meaning I have to go through the process 4 times for a 12 tank lander.

I was not aware of this, thanks for clarifying.

I hope you find a workable solution.

[linuxgurugamer]

5 hours ago, Okhin said:

You can open all your Oscar b windows and pin them, and then open one other tank and click the "Out" button on it, it will transfer from this tanks, to all other tanks with opened windows. Works the other way around (to fill one big tank with a cluster of smaller one).

But yeah, transferring fuels is a bit tedious in stock. I have space station with tens of tanks docking to each other for refueling purposes and it's a pain (also there's a bug in 1.10.x which makes refueling not working all the time). I'm using a mod to make my life easier (also, you can balance your tank to keep the Center of Mass at the same point, which is good for plane I've heard, I would not know, I don't do planes). The mod is TAC Fuel balancer.

 

Also PWB Fuel Balancer: