Pressing spacebar activates all stages at once. How do I fix that?

[Machinus]

Hello,

I am new to KSP. I have read the controls, and I am trying to use them as it says in the manual. I am practicing using stages. I have made a 4 stage rocket, in reverse order 3-2-1-0: boost, jettison, boost, engine.

When I press spacebar, all stages activate at once.

How can I activate stages one at a time?

[Sirrobert]

Are the icons each in a different stage? It sounds obvious, but it's a very easy thing to miss when you begin.

Mouse over the staging bar, and a + and - will show up next to it. Click the + will make an extra stage. Now drag what you need in that stage to that stage with the mouse. Repeat until your staging is correct

[thereaverofdarkness]

It could also be that your spacebar is making a rapid repeating response when you press it?

[Fr3Runn3r]

It could also be that your spacebar is making a rapid repeating response when you press it?

No, there is a short delay after staging where you can't stage again (something like 0.1s)

If you could show us a picture of the staging in question that would really help

[Machinus]

There are 4 stage groups. Third is booster, second is disengage, first is booster, and zero is engines.

[Murph]

With what sounds like a quite simple rocket, KSP would normally get the staging setup right automatically, but we don't have any pictures to really assess what's happening. Have you changed the ordering of the stages from the automatic default provided by KSP?

Are you certain that you have the icons in the correct stages? If you hover the mouse over each part, the corresponding staging icon should be highlighted, to allow you to confirm that.

I'm also a little confused by you saying that engines are in stage 0. A normal-ish setup would have main engines firing at the same time as the boosters, although possibly at reduced throttle to limit speed to terminal velocity (if you have a fairly high overall TWR). Firing the main engines right from the start has the advantage of their gimballing being available to help keep you on course. That's assuming, of course, that the boosters are attached parallel to the main engine, not stacked below it. If you've gone for stacked boosters, you'll need tail fins and possibly winglets as well, to provide the directional stability.

[AlexisBV]

I'm also a little confused by you saying that engines are in stage 0. A normal-ish setup would have main engines firing at the same time as the boosters, (snip) That's assuming, of course, that the boosters are attached parallel to the main engine (...)

I believe the default KSP setting even with parallel boosters, would be boosters without engines. Next stage will be decouplers, and the following will be the engine underneath the decouplers.

[Murph]

I believe the default KSP setting even with parallel boosters, would be boosters without engines. Next stage will be decouplers, and the following will be the engine underneath the decouplers.

Yeah, the default does do that, I think, but that's something I always change, even if I'm only going to initially run the main engine at say 10% (some of my creations go for overkill on boosters, so they do most of the initial work).

[Fr3Runn3r]

I think we're going a little off topic... The staging order itself doesn't matter, what matters is if the pieces are actually in separate stages. While the OP seems to say they are I'd still like to see a picture of the craft and staging so I can really know what's going on

[vetrox]

A screenshot would be really usefull here.

Press f1 in game to take a screenshot. Screenshots are located in a screenshots folder where you installed ksp. (if using steam its something like C:\Programfilesx86/steam/steamapps/common/ksp/screenshots)

Upload to an image hosting website such as imgur or photobucket (you will have to sign up to them first. Dont worry, its free) and post a link to it here.

EDIT: Is there a sticky on how to post up a screenshot?

Edited December 10, 2013 by vetrox

[Kasuha]

This is correct staging setup, first launch clamps are released and boosters ignited, second boosters are jettisoned and main engine ignited, last the parachute is deployed.

this is wrong staging setup, everything will activate at once:

[Marcuzzi]

since no one has posted a picture for easy reference.. (10 seconds in google)

Here is a picture showing a rocket being built, the green arrow is showing where that specific part is in the staging.

On the right, those orange columns are considered your stages, with 0 being at the top and considered your last stage.

(Also in this picture there is 11 stages. the 8th stage has a decoupler, and the 10th has the launching clamps, just to give you some reference on the actual pictures)

So typically I like to think of it as,

Stage 0 - Parachutes

Stage 1 - Decoupler + Last Engines used (the engines on say a return lander)

Stage 2 - Decoupler + Orbital Engines

Stage 3 - Lifting Engines + SRB + SRB + MORE SRB's!!!!!!!!!!!!

( This is an example, I usually use more stages but if set-up right you can use 0 stages and make that awesome SSTOcean everyone keeps talking about )

The reason for grouping the decouplers and the engines is so you don't have to stage your empty fuel tanks, wait a half second, then stage the next engines. It just skips that middle step, I should add though that having the middle step is a good thing sometimes. Also, you can re-stage at any time by making more stages and re-grouping items just like in the VAB/SPH.

Edit: Well, I got beat to the punch, but I'm sure some of this information I typed might be considered helpful, therefore it stays

Edited December 10, 2013 by Marcuzzi

[GameNerdTrey]

i actually have a question. for some reason, my staging is mirrored. It puts the last stages as the engines and the first stage as the parachute and stuff. is there a way to fix this?

 

Edited March 28, 2023 by GameNerdTrey