How To Remove Parts From An Already Orbiting Station?

[Titler]

I've not yet found a clear guide to doing this; I have a station orbiting Mun I'd like to remove Hydrojeb parts from, as in the end it didn't prove very useful to me personally. I opened the Persistence file and from what I can understand, the text devoted to such a part looks like this....

PART

{

name = HydroTech.JebRad

uid = 985515266

parent = 135

position = -2.46070122718811,-6.41880750656128,-0.597830533981323

rotation = -0.3619524,-0.3618824,0.6074913,-0.6074421

mirror = 1,1,1

istg = 0

dstg = 0

sqor = -1

sidx = -1

attm = 1

sym = 160

sym = 161

sym = 162

srfN = srfAttach, 135

mass = 0.0001

temp = -200.4924

expt = 0.5

state = 0

connected = True

attached = True

EVENTS

{

}

ACTIONS

{

}

RESOURCE

{

name = ElectricCharge

amount = 1

maxAmount = 1

flowState = True

flowMode = Both

}

}

However deleting all the lines between there with Hydrojeb in left the Station with just two probe cores visible when I reloaded the save. I made a backup of course, so nothing ultimately lost! But is there something else i need to do to remove those parts? I'd just like to have the game back to Stock really, without losing the station already built... Thanks!

[CaptinKornflake]

Try crashing a probe into the part you don't want, if it doesn't destroy it completely it should at least dislodge it.

Also crashing stuff is fun, just remember to F5

[Jason Patterson]

Because of the way that parts are referenced in the file, deleting any given part (except the very last one in a vessel) causes all of the others to get out of order. If the part isn't causing problems, it's best to leave it in place. If it is causing problems and is surface mounted, you can insert a small part in its place (like a strut.) Here, unfortunately, it looks like you have several parts that you want to get rid of (a symmetry 4 group.) There's no easy way to do that, and persistence editing isn't really worth the time.

You can put the portion of the vessel that is in orbit on the launch pad without the problem part in place, then quicksave. Find the vessel on the launchpad and copy its part listing in place of your existing ship. It's pretty straightforward, but be sure to back up your persistence file before messing with it in any way.

[Fyrem]

if you take out this text:

EVENTS

{

}

ACTIONS

{

}

RESOURCE

{

name = ElectricCharge

amount = 1

maxAmount = 1

flowState = True

flowMode = Both

}

you will disable the part. it will still be 'there' but it will do nothing anymore.

[HoY]

I ran into a bug in the VAB and SPH a while ago that would make ghost parts on your ship that you couldn't remove, and once they were created and saved you could no longer save changes to that craft. I ended up figuring out exactly how to remove them in the .part file, but it took a bit of trial and error.

Here's the gist of it;

Make a new craft. A probe core and the part you want removed

Save it and open it in notepad

Copy the part name of the second part, and notice it has another field showing its "links". The links are the problems you have to deal with. You need to find every piece that this part is connected to and it will have a reference to this part in its own "links" portion. You need to remove those link references. That won't be listed as linked to names they are listed as part numbers instead, so to find out the part number what I did was to install something onto the part I wanted removed, then saved it, and opened the .craft again, scroll to the bottom and see the very last part that was added. Look at its "links" and it will tell you the part number of the piece it is attached to. Now copy that part number, and go to town removing links to it in your persistence file LOL

It's a little more complicated than that really but for now that's all I can remember off the top of my head. Maybe it deserves a video explanation... After 0.20.0 tho because things will change with part references.

[Nuke]

my method is this:

1: send up a small probe

2: point it at the thing you want gone

3: throttle up

4: cross fingers

if all that went right, your station should be missing the thing you wanted to get rid of and if you are very lucky everything else you wanted to keep should still be there.

[HoY]

my method is this:

1: send up a small probe

2: point it at the thing you want gone

3: throttle up

4: cross fingers

if all that went right, your station should be missing the thing you wanted to get rid of and if you are very lucky everything else you wanted to keep should still be there.

This is by far the best approach. Also the most fun, because then you get to re-launch the station after you give up on everything else and just remove the part in the VAB

I just realized. You play with mods.. Install some lazors and pewpew the part into oblivion!!!

[Titler]

Thanks for the answers so far; lasers are out as the game is too poorly optimised under WindowsXP (even with maximal accessible RAM which I have) to add any more mods, which is why I was hoping to remove ones that didn't work. At present there's only Mechjeb, the Muon Detector, Mapsat and then HydroJeb on a few station parts, which as mentioned is the one love to take off to reduce the choking hazard. Using small probes to bash them off is impossible as they're the docking parts in Hydrojeb (I was testing it before I worked out how to use Mechjeb's Smart ASS), and thus near the ports and hidden deep inside the craft's joints now. If I can't work out the linking parts of the text I may just have to leave them attached for now, as it only adds a few more models and slows down initial loading only a little. Having Kerbals be able to do a Spacewalk and remove individual parts might be a nice idea for future content though...

[HoY]

If there are other parts actually connected TO the parts you want to remove then.. your going to have a bad time...

As soon as you load the ship it's literally going to dissolve in front of your eyes.

Simplest solution and I mean easiest solution is to take the parts off of the station inside the VAB, press launch, and use hyperedit's rendezvous option to just drop the new station in the exact same orbit as your old one.

Requires another mod, but it has no parts and doesn't effect actual in game performance tho adds 0.4 seconds to your load time during game launch

[Kerba Fett]

Since you're already editing files, why not just fix the station in the VAB, give it a new name then edit it into your persistence file in place of the defective one.

[Akalaël]

Unless you got a 1000 part space station, with 25 vessels docked there, woudn't it be faster, better and safer to... well, you know, (sounds a bit akward, I agree) relauch it ?

By the time you've posted this it will have been done, no ?

[Titler]

Well, I desperately needed a solution now, as the latest patch won't load one of those cursed Hydrojeb parts and deletes the entire station!

To show you what I mean about having difficulty, the parts I wanted to kill are circled in the image below, but each docking module is a separate flight/craft, so resending would be slow on the old patch (4 hour flight time to docking for each section!) and I couldn't easily get at the parts once it was up.

I've yet to find a solution which will allow me to just save my own station, maybe tomorrow I'll discover the game runs well enough to just manually replace it all; However! I did find some potential solutions for others struggling...

This online editor seems to read the file correctly, but when I downloaded the modified file it was a whopping 10.7mb, which throttled Notepad and wouldn't open into KSP. Maybe it works for you though?

http://ksp.jbsdev.com/

I also found this small editing program, but it's not WinXP compatible unfortunately. Again though, maybe for you guys?

https://github.com/wfraser/KSPSaveEdit

[Akalaël]

All right this IS actually a 1000's parts station with 25 ships docked there.

My apologies and I'm so sorry I cant help you...

[Titler]

It's a 6 ship, maybe 500 part station 1000 parts would melt my computer I suspect... Will settle in tonight and see about fixing it again... for science!

[Titler]

Hurrah for the new optimisation! It allowed me to not only include the Soviet Pack now, but I had enough CPU cycles left to squeeze in the Lazor set; it was still extremely choppy around the station, but where save editing fails, and hydrojeb frustrates, Seelin Kerman with the help of red lasers will succeed! Seelin arrives on-site with a quick and nasty ship using the new default cockpit...

I love the helmet view on Lazor; Now where are those naughty parts hiding?

Ahah! THERE you are, hydrojeb. Time to get Kerpew-pewed!

I'd quick save after each one because unless you're right on top of them, the slightest movement could put the laser onto one of the structure tanks instead and ruin all your work; but I could quick load and go back to it. Once I'd found them all, deleting each in turn as even if it's mirrored the other sides will stay on until popped too, I exited the game so it would be in both the Persistent and Quicksave file, then searched them all for "Hydro" text. Ahah, all gone. Restart, and... FINALLY! Success! Back to a largely stock station (Bar for Mechjeb).

So if you have the ability to add one more mod, and want to save your older vehicles, consider using Lazor!