How to change root part of an existing(in flight) ship.

[blnk2007]

As the title says I am trying to change an in flight ship's root part. The problem is that I am trying to change out(upgrade) a docking port from a jr to a regular using KIS and it keeps telling me that there are parts attached to it. I suspect this is because after undocking it was changed to the root part of the ship. I tried to edit the save file and I have had no luck editing the right numbers so far. I have searched all over the forums and haven't found what I am looking for. In the KIS thread someone was asking about the same thing to no avail. Since this is because of how KSP handles decoupling I am asking here.

Edited June 26, 2015 by blnk2007

[Drew Kerman]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/107663-1-0-Magico13-s-Modlets-%28Field-Experience-Sensible-Screenshot-etc-%29

Check out Re3 in the list.

[rollo1002]

1. Click the root part node change (along the top of the screen looks like a z) or press 4 on the keyboard

2. Click the group of parts and they will turn blue.

3. Click on the part that you want to be the root node it will start moving around.

One thing to note you have to have more then one part connected in order for this to work.

[blnk2007]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/107663-1-0-Magico13-s-Modlets-%28Field-Experience-Sensible-Screenshot-etc-%29

Check out Re3 in the list.

This looks promising! It's unusable for my purposes right now as it kills all Kerbals onboard.

1. Click the root part node change (along the top of the screen looks like a z) or press 4 on the keyboard

2. Click the group of parts and they will turn blue.

3. Click on the part that you want to be the root node it will start moving around.

One thing to note you have to have more then one part connected in order for this to work.

This isn't what I am looking for. I want to change the root part of ships "in space" not in the VAB.

Still looking for help!

[Kryxal]

Simple solution then, everybody goes for a spacewalk!

[Randazzo]

If you have another controllable part on the ship, such as a probe core or a pod, try right clicking on that and select "control from here"

I'm not sure if that will affect the actual root or not, but it's worth a try.

[Xannari Ferrows]

If you have another controllable part on the ship, such as a probe core or a pod, try right clicking on that and select "control from here"

I'm not sure if that will affect the actual root or not, but it's worth a try.

It will not, as the ship name and type will still be tailored to the original part.

If you really want to know how, you'll have to get into .craft interfacing. Change the root part to whatever you want to in the hangar, find the reference number for the root part in the .craft, quicksave the desired craft, go into the quicksave.sfs, and change the reference of the root part of your vessel to match.

That was a mouthful, wow.

[Kryxal]

Oh, and an alternate method ... make a new ship, hyperedit it into place maybe 50-100m from the old one, transfer your kerbals (and any data), and make the old one go away.

[Sharpy]

That's why my tug has a set of adapters. Large to jr. Large to Klaw. Large to Tricoupler, Large to a neat flat surface to which Klaw can dock at the center of mass where the main port is. And a drone to attach these to the main docking port so that any customer could dock.

[Claw]

The unfortunate truth is that, practically speaking, you aren't going to be able to manually edit the file and change the root part unless you are really committed (and lucky enough for the ship to have the right structure). It is possible, but it can be quite a mess to do. You can't get away with just changing part numbers around. The problem is that not only do you have to change links, but the offsets and rotations need to be updated as well. That's the real trick. And they are all stored in quaternions, which are generally difficult for humans to deal with directly (vice something like standard angles).

And you are likely correct, assuming the ship in question was the child ship when docked. If you docked the ship and later undocked it, the docking port becomes the root part.

So... Another option that might work. Dock something to the ship using the claw. The claw ship should be labeled as a "Station" or higher, rather than a probe or lander. By that, I mean the icon that you see when it's flying around. You can change what it's labeled as by right-clicking the control part (pod or probe core) and rename the vessel. In there, you can also select the type. The type is important for hierarchy purposes. Then claw onto the ship (away from the docking port) and that should reorder the parts. Hopefully that'll allow you to remove said docking port.

Cheers,

~Claw

[blnk2007]

Simple solution then, everybody goes for a spacewalk!

I'm about to try this.

That's why my tug has a set of adapters. Large to jr. Large to Klaw. Large to Tricoupler, Large to a neat flat surface to which Klaw can dock at the center of mass where the main port is. And a drone to attach these to the main docking port so that any customer could dock.

I'm in career mode and haven't unlocked these yet.

The unfortunate truth is that, practically speaking, you aren't going to be able to manually edit the file and change the root part unless you are really committed (and lucky enough for the ship to have the right structure). It is possible, but it can be quite a mess to do. You can't get away with just changing part numbers around. The problem is that not only do you have to change links, but the offsets and rotations need to be updated as well. That's the real trick. And they are all stored in quaternions, which are generally difficult for humans to deal with directly (vice something like standard angles).

And you are likely correct, assuming the ship in question was the child ship when docked. If you docked the ship and later undocked it, the docking port becomes the root part.

So... Another option that might work. Dock something to the ship using the claw. The claw ship should be labeled as a "Station" or higher, rather than a probe or lander. By that, I mean the icon that you see when it's flying around. You can change what it's labeled as by right-clicking the control part (pod or probe core) and rename the vessel. In there, you can also select the type. The type is important for hierarchy purposes. Then claw onto the ship (away from the docking port) and that should reorder the parts. Hopefully that'll allow you to remove said docking port.

Cheers,

~Claw

Once I unlock this in career mode I will try it.

[blnk2007]

I tried RE3 and it resulted in an instant and catastrophic explosion upon returning to space.

[blnk2007]

I used RE3 again and I when using only the middle part of the station it worked.

Didn't work as a whole.

Worked as one part of the station.