Do you like building massive spaceships? Does the launch tower get in your way?

[Tommy521]

If you're like me, building massive ships is something you enjoy. But with massive ships comes a problem, the launch tower. Countless times I've had to abort missions because half of the rocket was clipping into the launch tower. However, recently I've discovered a way to overcome these problems.

Step 1: Build you ship as usual. (You can use older saves ships if you want)

Step 2: Go into the KSP folder, find the folder named "Ships".

Step 3: Click "VAB", and copy the .craft file of the ship you wish to use onto the clipboard (or whatever some computers call it).

Step 4: Go back the the "Ships" folder, and click "SPH".

Step 5: Paste the .craft file of the ship you wish to use here.

Step 6: Go to the spaceplane hanger (or runway) and launch that sucker!

Warning: Always back up .craft files. You cannot add anything to your craft when it is in the Space Plane Hanger. Well, you can but not the same way. Also don't try to move anything, it will mess up the orientation. Staging should be changeable.

Sub-Warning: For some reason, canards seem to cause unbelievable amounts of lag when transferred between the VAB and SPH. Not sure why, so it's better to not use them. I've tried a few straight rockets and they launch fine, if you encounter any problems I'd be happy to add them to the warnings!

Build a spaceship!

This one could encounter problems...

Navigate some folders!

Difficult to see in the SPH...

Wow it was really that easy! Never worry about that silly launch tower again!

Edited September 1, 2012 by Tommy521

[Dwight Schrute]

Very interesting, some pictures would definitely be appreciated!

[Tommy521]

Very interesting, some pictures would definitely be appreciated!

Why thank you, I'm working on both some folder tutorials and a ship to show it off nicely.

[Adslegend]

You can also use the launch clamps to hold the rocket above the tower.

[Tommy521]

You can also use the launch clamps to hold the rocket above the tower.

This doesn't always work if the rocket is very large, and some other issues may arise, but yes I did know that.

[Tommy521]

Update: Images added!

[Martonaut]

nice one, I used to build the rocket on the SPH , but its a bit more dificult, this will help ty!

[CobraA1]

Heh, usually if I build a rocket that big, I'll get a frame once every five seconds XD.

[EndlessWaves]

Try opening the craft file and changing the VAB line to SPH and see if that helps with your canards.

[Tommy521]

Try opening the craft file and changing the VAB line to SPH and see if that helps with your canards.

I'm not sure if that enhanced performance (the ship was pretty laggy already), but thanks for the suggestion!

EDIT: I'm testing it more and I'm not really sure why those specific ships are laggy but... whatever.

EDIT: It might be the support struts... they might not be able to handle the runway. Oh well.

Edited September 2, 2012 by Tommy521

[UNSC]

You could just raise the ship in the VAB above the launch tower and support it with the launch stabilizers.

[Tommy521]

You could just raise the ship in the VAB above the launch tower and support it with the launch stabilizers.

Pretty sure I said this earlier but some times this is not an option... And it's generally quite annoying to do.

[bsalis]

You can also move the rocket away from the tower by repositioning it in the VAB.

[Elios]

i would like to rotate my ships 45dec clock wise ie any idea how to do that?

if i do in the VAB controls also get changed which is a pain

also that trick done the other way around could be great for building space planes that launch vertically since the mirror doesnt work the same in the VAB

[Tommy521]

i would like to rotate my ships 45dec clock wise ie any idea how to do that?

if i do in the VAB controls also get changed which is a pain

also that trick done the other way around could be great for building space planes that launch vertically since the mirror doesnt work the same in the VAB

I think any way you rotate the ship 45 degrees the controls will be changed sadly And yes, if you wanted to launch a spaceplane vertically (perhaps add more rockets?!) it works like that.

[superscout]

i would like to rotate my ships 45dec clock wise ie any idea how to do that?

if i do in the VAB controls also get changed which is a pain

Have you tried selecting the capsule and using shift+rotation keys to rotate the whole space ship?

[EndlessWaves]

Shift and nine taps on the rotation keys is 45° (I can't tell you which key specifically because you didn't say which axis).

In flight controls are relative to the capsule orientation while building controls are relative to the floor of the hanger, you should be able to rotate back and forth - although symmetry doesn't always behave as you expect after rotation and duplicating/refixing parts that were added symmetrically in another rotation can lead to odd results.