Does Disabling Part Clipping Matter Anymore?

[ZooNamedGames]

In the ye olden days of Kerbal Space Program (2014), we KSP players used to have to deal with the tyranny of a problem called Part Clipping (dum dum duuuuum). Part Clipping was when the game detected  that a part you were attempting to place would clip into another part (hence the name). It was a pain and a struggle for all Kerbal Players. You had to spare lots of space beyeeen parts and even then, you still had a 50/50 chance of it accepting the placement. If it didn't work, you had to just keep moving the part away and back into place repeatedly until it accepted it. 

As time went on, Squad improved the Part placement mechanics and made it easier to place parts and the system was more reliable and more accepting of it.

Slowly the problems became less and less to the point where I just realized; it's been at least two years since my last Part Clipping incident. Now the issue is nearly nonexistent. I can't find a situation where it happens anymore. The only situation where I can encounter it is with the fairings.

This brings into the discussion the old game cheat, "Allow Part Clipping in Editors". A cheat that with the current version of KSP is nearly useless, or is at least for me. It doesn't effect fairing placement and at this point I'm left wondering;

Does it even have a use anymore? Seeing with both stock and modded installs (both light and heavy mods), I never encounter Part clipping. 

Thoughts on it from the rest of the community.

[jros83]

1 hour ago, ZooNamedGames said:

In the ye olden days of Kerbal Space Program (2014),

Sorry but I laughed.

[Superfluous J]

It's not that clipping is smarter these days. They just stopped checking for it.

[ZooNamedGames]

22 minutes ago, jros83 said:

Sorry but I laughed.

I've been around since before 2014 but I felt that the majority of players on the forums now would've joined then rather than 2012. 

From what I've seen, 90% of all the 2012-2013 members have moved on past the forum (and maybe the game itself as well).

5 minutes ago, 5thHorseman said:

It's not that clipping is smarter these days. They just stopped checking for it.

That's what I've been thinking with the introduction of rotation/translation. 

Granted I wonder occasionally... should they? Majority would say no but sometimes it helps, especially when preventing stuff from instantly impacting after separation.

[Tex]

I clip parts in nearly every single build I make. It's a brilliant way to make better-looking rockets and other vehicles. Sometimes its necessary in order to get the aesthetic you need for a particular build, but other times you can make things look simply awesome.

[IncongruousGoat]

Actually, the cheat does do something: It allows you to attach multiple parts to the same inline node.

[ZooNamedGames]

3 minutes ago, Tex said:

I clip parts in nearly every single build I make. It's a brilliant way to make better-looking rockets and other vehicles. Sometimes its necessary in order to get the aesthetic you need for a particular build, but other times you can make things look simply awesome.

So do I, but have we adjusted too much to this level of freedom? Try picking up .21 sometime and see how it compares as far as what you can get away with.

It looks nicer but we also get away with a lot more. Now my answer to most builds is "store it in the fuel tank", that used to be a lot tougher. Now it's as easy as '2,drag,1' done. Used to have to make internal structure. 

Lots changed. I'm for and against it. For one, it makes it possible to get away with stuff that people abuse and shouldn't be able to; however it definitely is an improvement and one I'd struggle to live without.

So I'm stuck at catch 22, hence why I'm left to your opinions.

11 minutes ago, IncongruousGoat said:

Actually, the cheat does do something: It allows you to attach multiple parts to the same inline node.

Hm. Granted some parts you can do that with even without the cheat.

[System Error Message]

you can still clip parts easily. Just enable mirror mode and attach a part to a node like normal and you'd have 2 perfectly clipped parts. There are some uses and some problems with clipping.

The first problem with clipping is that it creates torque or in some cases seems to propel you uncontrollably which can also make your craft less efficient. Other than using it to make something look good clipping can be used to fit more stuff in a small space without worrying about aerodynamics. Such as cramming as many mk0 or mk1 fuel tanks into a small cargo bay, fitting larger pars into a smaller cargo bay( it'd pass through the cargo bay but its considered to be inside the cargo bay so aerodynamic forces dont apply). Its hard to avoid clipping when trying to make something look good as most common this is done with wings to make all sorts of shapes. What really matters is that your craft is structurally sound or it will blow up if you accelerate time on a planet.

[Mikki]

5 hours ago, IncongruousGoat said:

Actually, the cheat does do something: It allows you to attach multiple parts to the same inline node.

Oh my god i missed a epic feature ...!!!! NOOOooooo!
Thank you very much for pointing this out!

[ZooNamedGames]

1 hour ago, System Error Message said:

you can still clip parts easily. Just enable mirror mode and attach a part to a node like normal and you'd have 2 perfectly clipped parts. There are some uses and some problems with clipping.

The first problem with clipping is that it creates torque or in some cases seems to propel you uncontrollably which can also make your craft less efficient. Other than using it to make something look good clipping can be used to fit more stuff in a small space without worrying about aerodynamics. Such as cramming as many mk0 or mk1 fuel tanks into a small cargo bay, fitting larger pars into a smaller cargo bay( it'd pass through the cargo bay but its considered to be inside the cargo bay so aerodynamic forces dont apply). Its hard to avoid clipping when trying to make something look good as most common this is done with wings to make all sorts of shapes. What really matters is that your craft is structurally sound or it will blow up if you accelerate time on a planet.

Tha torque and internal issues like that have been fixed by disabling part interactivity while part of the same craft. 

[Superfluous J]

1 hour ago, Mikki said:

Oh my god i missed a epic feature ...!!!! NOOOooooo!
Thank you very much for pointing this out!

Watch out. It's disabled by default for a reason.

[regex]

15 hours ago, 5thHorseman said:

Watch out. It's disabled by default for a reason.

Confirming that it is disabled for a very good reason.

[qzgy]

15 hours ago, ZooNamedGames said:

disabling part interactivity

Mind explaining what this is to an uninformed person? It would be helpful as I have a design that doesn't always work cause some ii-eams are kinda inside some rover wheels.

Edited April 23, 2017 by qzgy

[ZooNamedGames]

38 minutes ago, qzgy said:

Mind explaining what this is to an uninformed person? It would be helpful as I have a design that doesn't always work cause some ii-eams are kinda inside some rover wheels.

Well Part interaction is when the physics of parts is enabled and when they interact when clipped together and cause issues.

In your case it's just that there is a detection box around the rover wheel and any physics based issue is because the wheels are weird and have undergone a lot of work in recent updates.

[qzgy]

17 minutes ago, ZooNamedGames said:

Well Part interaction is when the physics of parts is enabled and when they interact when clipped together and cause issues.

In your case it's just that there is a detection box around the rover wheel and any physics based issue is because the wheels are weird and have undergone a lot of work in recent updates.

Ok, thanks.

[Red Iron Crown]

On 4/22/2017 at 1:41 AM, IncongruousGoat said:

Actually, the cheat does do something: It allows you to attach multiple parts to the same inline node.

This is what makes it a cheat, as the drag model treats parts in the same stack as occluded from frontal drag. Aside from that, the offset tool handles all the aesthetic use cases of the old part clipping. The editor gizmos were a revolution in KSP construction, what used to take enabling a cheat and lots of fiddling could now be done in seconds in an intuitive way. 

[cantab]

Which of course means that I spend half my building time fiddling with the offset and rotate gizmos ... they've been a double-edged sword for me.

[AlamoVampire]

@ZooNamedGames I joined the forums mid-ish august 2013, began playing ksp at .21 steam launch in july 2013  teehee. Part clipping cheat to me is a non issue since like you said clipping seems a non issue now.

Edited April 24, 2017 by AlamoVampire