How would I reset my science, but keep my career otherwise intact?

[Superfluous J]

When 0.23 comes out, I'd like to start over as far as the tech tree and research is concerned, but I want to keep all of my vessels out in space, orbiting or landed wherever they happen to be. I want to reset both the amount of science I have (to 0) AND the amount of science I can get from each place (so I can get it back).

I poked through my persistent file and I'll admit I'm a bit daunted by it. I have a few ideas of where to start but there just seems to be so much there.

Does anybody know what I should remove, or a resource that will tell me what all this means?

[Whirligig Girl]

Make a backup and mess around.

[Superfluous J]

Make a backup and mess around.

Haha I asked too soon, it appears. Right afterward I figured "why not?" and did just that. Turns out it's far simpler than I thought.

For anybody else who wants this fairly specific and not very common thing: All you need to do search for "name = ResearchAndDevelopment"

You'll get something like this:

	SCENARIO
	{
		name = ResearchAndDevelopment
		scene = 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
		sci = 123
		Tech
		{
... Lots of these, one for each tech node you've unlocked.
		}
		Science
		{
... Lots of these, one for each environment in which you've done science.
		}
	}

Just delete most of that and make it look like this:

	SCENARIO
	{
		name = ResearchAndDevelopment
		scene = 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
		sci = 0
	}

I have no idea what "scene = 5, 6, 7, 8, 9" means so I left it alone. Seems okay to do so.

[RocketPilot573]

I don't think it's possible... I think the game treats locked parts as nonexistent, so any crafts with them will be deleted...

[Superfluous J]

I don't think it's possible... I think the game treats locked parts as nonexistent, so any crafts with them will be deleted...

I already learned that that's not a concern. When I first installed KAS I manually put all the parts in node 0. When it upgraded and got its own node in the tree, I suddenly couldn't build any ships but the ones I had in space worked just fine.

[Commander Zoom]

What he said. I've done/seen the same thing. As long as the part(s) is defined in the Parts folders, ships already in place are not subject to existence failure; you just can't build a new one without unlocking it.