Editor: Transparent parts

[QuietElite]

Hello guys

Today I built an rocket with an command module on the top and a lander under it. I wanted to check the Center of mass of my lander but when you detach it then it become the transparent part and it only show the CoM of the other parts. Is there a way that the other parts become transparent and only the lander stay without building the lander seperately again ?

[Snark]

Every ship in KSP has one part that's the "root" part-- that's the root of the tree that all other parts descend from, in attachment order.  In the editor, this root part is normally the first one that you place.  Whenever you detach a piece in the editor, one of the two halves becomes "inactive" (turns transparent, is no longer accounted for in CoM), whereas the other half remains and stays solid.  The important thing to remember is that the active, remaining half will always be the one with the root part in it.

From the behavior you're describing, it sounds as though you started building your ship outward from the main command pod, and the lander was something you added afterwards.  Therefore, the root part isn't on the lander, which means when you separate the two, it's the lander that goes transparent.

One thing you can do:  you can "re-root" the ship.  There's a tool in the editor that lets you change the root part to something different from what you originally placed as the first part.  (There's a button for this at top left, or you can press the 4 key to go into re-root mode).  Using this tool, you can (for example) change the root part from being the command module of your main ship, to being the command module of the lander instead.  Once you do that, you can then separate off the main ship from the lander, and it will be the lander that stays and the main ship that goes transparent and inactive.

That way you can then see where the CoM is for the lander itself.

The re-root tool is a little tricky to use:  first it asks you to click on some other part (no idea why it asks this, folks have discussed the matter in the forum and I've never seen any reasonable answer proposed), then you click on the part you want to be the root.  So, for example, to make the lander's command pod the root part, you would first press 4 (to go into re-root mode), then click on the part immediately beneath the command pod, then click on the command pod itself.

Edited December 25, 2015 by Snark

[QuietElite]

Thanks for the quick answer

[Orbin]

If I understood you right, your problem is that lander isn't you root part. Try pressing '4' (or the 4th button to the upper left, the one with the cyan Z-shape on it), then click on any part, then click on the lander (don't ask me why two clicks are required, but the second click is the important one). It should then become your new root part and everything you detach from it should become transparent while the lander stays opaque.

EDIT: Ninja'd (and way better explained) by Snark

Edited December 26, 2015 by Orbin