Any way to change the root part of a ship?

[Tuxi]

Hey.

I've been working on some base structures such as living quarters, rovers etc. The problem is that I have finished Living Quarters, Rover and Carrier but I can't send out multiple items at once because the root part is always in the ship I want to send out. This way I cannot copy the ship and send out like 2 or 4 Living Quarters at once. I'm using Subassembly mod but it's really hard with that also. The easiest way would be to change the root part to something else so I could copy the whole structure.. Multiple hours of googling didn't find me a solution, I hope this will

Thanks

[Xiphos]

I haven't tested this, but I'm fairly sure Alt+Left Click the command pod will copy the entire ship while in the assembly building. Hope this helps!

[Amaroq]

There is no in-game UI which would let you change the root part of the ship.

In my opinion, the subassembly mod is really your best bet for what you're trying to do.

If you are adept, you could probably learn to do what you want by manually editing .craft files -- they're basically XML files, which are easy enough to read, and even to modify. If you decide to go that route, I highly recommend doing it on a very simple structure, maybe four or five pieces total, rather than starting on your detailed and polished base.

[Tuxi]

I haven't tested this, but I'm fairly sure Alt+Left Click the command pod will copy the entire ship while in the assembly building. Hope this helps!

If you Alt + Left Click on the command pod it just selects the whole ship to move around.

There is no in-game UI which would let you change the root part of the ship.

In my opinion, the subassembly mod is really your best bet for what you're trying to do.

If you are adept, you could probably learn to do what you want by manually editing .craft files -- they're basically XML files, which are easy enough to read, and even to modify. If you decide to go that route, I highly recommend doing it on a very simple structure, maybe four or five pieces total, rather than starting on your detailed and polished base.

I tried looking through the .craft file for the root part but there's nothing that determines which part of the craft is the root. I've been messing around with the XML files quite a bit, mostly deleting debris, but copying ships there.. Too much trouble :/ I can't use the subassembly for this project because my ship has a docking port which I want to connect to the rockets which take me to space and subassembly mod only lets you connect the template from its root part (command pod).. I tried mixing this with Part Filter which allows to start building ships with different parts but that was way too buggy. I crashed my game multiple times messing around with a ship that had a docking port as the root part.

I've heard Squad would be implementing copy/paste ships and templates to the game but there hasn't been an update out for a long time

Thanks for contributing!

Edited April 25, 2013 by Tuxi

[Read have Read]

Pull the lifter off the command module and drag it to sub assembly mod so you can make a new craft with your new root module of choice and stick all the parts back under it. Et Voila, you have an identical rocket with a different root.

[Tuxi]

I found a solution! If I start building with a the little octocube probe and then build my ship around it I can make a template out of the part I want.

Edited April 25, 2013 by Tuxi