Very basic question

[tyraidooi2]

So i have a really basic question and feel dumb i have to ask but can just not figure it out. When building rockets and I want to change or alter the design how do I select just one piece? Every time I try to click on a piece it selects the entire rocket. The only thing I can single select is the capsule and once i remove that nothing else. No matter where I click the rocket at or on what piece it just selects the whole thing. Appreciate any help and try not to lauch

[TechnicalK3rbal]

Sounds like your shift key is stuck down, or possibly you changed the controls, shift is the default key for grabbing the entire thing. Also, you should try out the ingame tutorial for building. Also, welcome to the forums!

[How2FoldSoup]

The way the editor works in ksp is the first part you select is the "root" part that you build off of. From that point on ever part you add must be attached in some way to the root. What it sounds like you're doing is starting with a fuel tank or an engine or something and building there. Generally what you would want to do is start with capsule and build down. This will allow to select and attach pieces individually how you want. You can also select the whole rocket by moving around the command pod. Also some handy shortcuts - Ctrl-z is undo(a life saver), alt click is duplicate part, and I believe shift-click is select the entire rocket regardless of clicking the root or not(helpful if your commandpod is hidden or something).

Hope this helps!

Soup

Ps, there's no such thing as a stupid question..especially with ksp. It's definitely a hard game to figure out at first. ^^

edit:Fixing shortcuts...muscle memory =! my actual memory

[Taki117]

Some pics of the issue would help, but it sounds to me like you are selecting that parent part (The part of your rocket that everything else is attached to) instead of the one part you want to grab.

[tyraidooi2]

I did start with the capsule and build down adding tanks and engines and what not from there. Once I have saved the ship I can click just the capsule and remove it from the rest of the rocket. From there it does not matter where I click the rocket. Im not just trying one place here. I have tried every single piece engine, tank, decoupler, every time it just highlights and selects the whole rocket. Ill try the shift key thing and mash them both in a couple times and see if that helps. Maybe Ill just try turning my keyboard off and see what that does.

[How2FoldSoup]

That's a real interesting bug you have there, well done :S

Before you save the ship when you click the capsule will it pick up the entire ship? or is it still the same thing? it sounds like for whatever reason once you save the entire rest of the ship is being welded into the root part and the capsule is forgot about it.

[tyraidooi2]

Ok even weirder. Keyboard shift keys didnt work. Tried pushing them down and even turning keyboard off. Then all of a sudden for a moment I was able to select a single part and pull it out of the rocket. Then i could single select all the tanks above it to remove the one decoupler I wanted to get rid of put it all back together. and now...lol i cant select single parts again. Only the capsule can i select and pull off. I have to be doing something silly here haha

[tyraidooi2]

Ok i figured it out. Once I pull the capsule off it treats the whole rest of the ship as one piece. If I put capsule back on and then come down to a piece i want and click it, it will remove everything below that point as one piece and I can select anything above that point singly. Weird but at least I can work around it now. Thank you to all who gave advise its greatly appreciated.

[Kerba Fett]

Are you trying to select parts on the stuff you've detached from the capsule?

For instance, make a rocket starting with a capsule, then a fuel tank, then an engine.

You should be able to select or remove the engine by itself. If you select and remove the fuel tank, the engine will go with it. You can't take the engine off the fuel tank at that point, because the game considers them one subassembly.

If you've removed the capsule from the rest of your rocket and deleted it, there's no root part and you'll need to add a new capsule then attach the rest of your rocket to that. You should then be able to remove individual parts from it.

If you're trying to change payloads on your rocket and keep everything else the same, you'd make a subassembly. (if you wanted to make your final stage a lander rather than on orbiter)

This is done with the subassembly tab in the editor next to the science tab.

Load the rocket you want to start with.

Detach the parts you want to use from the capsule and drag them to the save box in the subassembly tab.

Click on the new button to start fresh then build or load your new payload.

Go to the subassembly tab and select the rocket parts you saved there and attach them to your payload.

[Superfluous J]

Aha. I see your problem.

When you take the capsule and throw it away, the rest of your ship is a ghost image of what it was. Without the "brain" (capsule) it isn't actually a ship. It's kind of a hunk of a ship.

Click on a new capsule, and it'll get put down near the bottom of the VAB, maybe 10 meters off the ground. Drag it up above your ghost rocket, and then you should be able to attach all the ghost stuff to your new capsule. Then your rocket will be complete again and all will be well.

[Claw]

Like Kerba Fett and 5thHorseman have said, sounds like you've disconnected your ship and/or deleted your root part.

How can you tell? If the ship parts you are trying to mess with are gray or red, you won't be able to select them individually. Also, if you are unable to zoom or rotate the screen around, you've deleted the root part.

The loose pieces will need to be reattached to the root part (as others have said). The root part is the part you first picked when you were making the rocket. If you've deleted it, then you'll need to select a new root part, which will automatically drop itself into the center of the VAB. If your ghost ship is in the way, you might have problems seeing it. If you're not terribly worried about your current design, it might be less confusing to just start a new rocket.