Delete parts from ship/streamline a base/put parts in storage

[juanml82]

So I have a Minmus base/mining ring set up, including three different habitats with redundant parts: rcs thrusters used when I landed them, each one of them has small batteries, unused docking ports, etc. I'm not using any base mods. This base basically consist in stock, kethane, karbonite and kas.

And, as I approach it with my tanker rover, the game laaaaaags, presumably due part count. And then once I've stopped the rover, switched to other vessels within the range of the base and deleted the nearby debris it stopped. But it got me thinking that, as long as I'm not moving the base (everything has wheels), I can really streamline the part count. I don't need six different small batteries now that the three habitats are docked together (well, almost. I couldn't dock the third one so I've attached it with KAS pipes). So, which KAS I could send a few containers, remove all the small parts I'm not using, store them there and replace them with a small docked rover with a single bigger battery, for instance. And I could do the same with other small parts, either storing them for good (rcs thrusters) or replacing them with a single, larger part. And that way, I will reduce the part count.

But, and here lies the problem, what about larger parts, such as docking ports?

The way I see it, I'd need either something like KAS but able to remove and store larger parts or

Something that will remove it permanently. I could use hyperedit to send the part back from the launchpad if I need it although I'll still have the problem of placing it.

Are there any mods like that?

Edited August 18, 2014 by juanml82

[Master Tao]

ChopIt!, listed on the Community Mods and Plugins Library sticky, will let you remove any parts, though that may only work for ships you haven't launched yet.

[Red Iron Crown]

Inside your persistence.sfs file is a description of each craft that is in flight or landed. Find the parts you want removed and comment them out (decomment them to reinstall). Back up your save file before doing this.

[juanml82]

ChopIt!, listed on the Community Mods and Plugins Library sticky, will let you remove any parts, though that may only work for ships you haven't launched yet.

Installed. At least it will work for new construction

Inside your persistence.sfs file is a description of each craft that is in flight or landed. Find the parts you want removed and comment them out (decomment them to reinstall). Back up your save file before doing this.

Yeah, I know, it's just that editing the savefile it's... well, not a game. And if not done with care, it can screw up the savegame.

[Red Iron Crown]

Fair enough. I figured where you were considering hyperedit (which is a save file editor) you might be fine with doing it manually.

You might also consider the PartWeld mod, it merges parts together to reduce lag.

[M4ck]

Yeah, I know, it's just that editing the savefile it's... well, not a game. And if not done with care, it can screw up the savegame.

For now there is not much beyond manually removing the parts from the savefile(you will also probably have to recalculate all the parts id for every part on this vessel listed below the one you remove - let's say you remove a part no. 7., then you will have to change the next part's id 8->7, 9->8 etc; it worked this way a while ago). Other thing to consider might be assembling such a corrected base in the vab, launching it and hyperediting it to replace your current one. Or open the debug menu, open whack-a-kerbal and manually smash these not needed parts with a high speed lightweight bullet. The last one works very well for bases on heavier bodies, to be honest

[juanml82]

And the whack-a-kerbal idea seems fun. I'm now thinking about editing the KAS configuration files and adding the 1.25 docking port and the LT-2 landing strut to the list of parts which can be grabbed and stored. I'll also need to check if the KAS containers increase their capacity if edited with tweakscale.

And, that way, I can also reattach everything should I want to move the base in the future.

[Wanderfound]

Carefully aimed impact probes. You can "remove" anything if you do it right. No whack-a-Kerbal required.

More seriously, use decouplers for attaching redundant bits while designing.

[juanml82]

Carefully aimed impact probes. You can "remove" anything if you do it right. No whack-a-Kerbal required.

More seriously, use decouplers for attaching redundant bits while designing.

Hey, what's the fun in properly planning every mission?

I'm using KAS. I've edited its config to add the LT-2 landing legs, the tiny and regular docking ports to the grabbable parts and the containers to the parts able to be attached. Poor Hans Kerman had to sweat all the (Minmus) morning to dismantle the base - and six containers weren't enough. Moving with a docking port in the back is rather complicated and attaching landing legs can cause the part to descend below the surface.

In any event, I'm not so sure the lag was truly about part count. Disabling the MJ for all pods mod helped a lot with that, so I think something else is at work.