Regarding decouplers... Yes, I looked

[pander59]

I've had this problem since 0.18.0 and still have it in 0.25.0. I have yet to see it properly discussed or even worked around. People routinely have radial decouplers properly operating on their spacecraft. When I use them to remove SRBs from mine, most often only one set actually operates and another set fails to eject. I have a nice rocket that I want to get into orbit now. The primary stage SRBs eject as commanded. The secondary (longer burn) SRBs remain attached and drag my "third stage" liquid rocket down due to the weight.

I have tried various decoupler versions, various decoupler configurations, and various decoupler strategies. To no avail. There is obviously some secret that I have yet to behold. Radial decouplers should just work, correct? This isn't secret physics. Blow a bolt and the whole thing should just drop off.

For crying out loud, this is driving me insane. I need some help. It shouldn't be this tough.

Edited December 6, 2014 by Claw
answered

[razark]

Have you double and triple checked your staging setup?

[worir4]

Screen shot could help...

[Engineer of Stuff]

I understand your frustration.

Screen shot could help...

I think that a video would be more helpful than pictures. This is such a weird problem that a video with you explaining the problem would be better.

[turkwinif]

First question!

Are the pairs of decouplers firing in the same stage?

Second question!

Are the boosters correctly placed on the decouplers to allow them to decouple?

[EdFred]

My money is on the staging being incorrect.

[worir4]

My money is on the staging being incorrect.

I would expect your money is burning right now...

(get it?)

[Engineer of Stuff]

My money is on the staging being incorrect.

He has played sense .18, so he probably understands how the staging works.

But, a staging error is the simplest solution.

Edited December 4, 2014 by Engineer Of Stuff
I am obsessed with using commas correctly.

[pander59]

Have you double and triple checked your staging setup?

And before I go down the very quick replies, I have way over-enjineered my potential screw ups... thankyuverymuch.

To answer one just a tad down, rather than use multiple decouplers, I decided to go with singles, despite the issues with SRB rocking. I can balance the load and prevent that, but I still don't get clean separation on every item attached radially.

The problem does seem to be with the longer SRBs.

As for another lower respondent, I will make an attempt to give you a visual in the Assembly area and during launch. I know for sure that staging has been properly taken care of. Now what I need is some multimedia assistance. I am a geek, a dweeb. I do networks as if I had bits in my brain. I don't do videos. I will learn. You guys seem to know all about it. Sigh. I'm an fscking 55 year old unix guy. I solved my problems with doom and the rest of the FPS scenario. I am back to geekdom and alpha-testing software. But for that tweaking little piece of crap that should just work I am bewildered.

[Pecan]

If nothing else post the .craft file on dropbox or another file-sharing site and tell us which mods are required for it, if any. Someone will probably download it and test it out for you.

[pander59]

Okay, I am trying to attach an image. This apparently isn't going to work out too well. I don't do cell phones. I used to, but I don't like them. I have never done personal media, so facebook and the like are just completely bogus items. I cannot attach an image to a post because I have no place to send it to provide a proper IRL. Yes, for crying out loud, I have other options to pull this off. I shouldn't have to do this much work to send a pic into etherspace. When I settle down just a little I'll try again. I really do want an answer to this particular problem.

[Taki117]

Okay, I am trying to attach an image. This apparently isn't going to work out too well. I don't do cell phones. I used to, but I don't like them. I have never done personal media, so facebook and the like are just completely bogus items. I cannot attach an image to a post because I have no place to send it to provide a proper IRL. Yes, for crying out loud, I have other options to pull this off. I shouldn't have to do this much work to send a pic into etherspace. When I settle down just a little I'll try again. I really do want an answer to this particular problem.

To attach an image you need to first upload it to site like imgur.com or photobucket.com, then drop the BBCode tags into the text box. As for your decoupler issue a bug was introduced in .24 that caused decouplers to behave incorrectly. Try the Stock Bug fix modules and see if that helps, also, as far as boosters leaning inwards, it means you need more struts across that connection, a pair at the top and bottom of your booster should do the trick.

[Claw]

I don't do cell phones. I used to, but I don't like them.

It's all good. You don't need a cell phone. Here, this tidbit is cut from the support request post:

KSP is capable of taking screenshots in-game by pressing F1. The screenshots are stored in the KSP installation folder under a folder called [sCREENSHOTS].

You can upload screenshots to any image sharing site (such as imgur.com) and post the link with your support request. (Note: imgur is free and does not require you to create an account.)

Screenshots usually illustrate the problem better than trying to explain with several paragraphs. Feel free to mark up your screenshots with a noticeable colour to highlight important points. Also, avoid excessive drawing since it may end up making your problem less clear.

You can also post a craft file:

In the KSP installation folder, you should be able to find a folder called [sAVES]. Open this folder and select the save file name that applies. Inside you will find three things: one or more files (usually two) with a .sfs extension and a folder called [sHIPS].

Craft Files: Any ships that you created will be stored in the [sHIPS] directory under [sPH] for Space Plane Hangar vehicles or [VAB] for Vehicle Assembly Building vehicles. Craft files are named the same as what you titled your ship in KSP and have a .craft extension.

CRAFT NOTE: When posting in the Stock Support forum, ensure that no mods are used in the creation of the craft. (Or at least let us know what mods you are using...)

You can upload these files to any file sharing site (such as Dropbox, Mediafire or File2web). These sites will give you a link you can include in your posts to share your files.

Craft files should be provided whenever you are having an issue with a specific craft, or have found a potential bug that you find easiest to reproduce with that specific craft. Having the craft file to work with will make it much quicker and simpler for us to diagnose and attempt to replicate the issue, and hopefully get it resolved much quicker.

There is a little extra information in there, but hopefully that helps. The Stock Bug Fix modules Taki mentioned will help with boosters tipping inward, but probably won't help with what you are describing.

Cheers,

~Claw

[The_Rocketeer]

I've never had the problem described. In a non-judgemental way, my gut feeling is this is a case of misunderstanding.

You may have attached the longer SRBs to the centre stack thinking they were attached to the decoupler. It's not just a matter of being in line with the decoupler, they actually need to be placed on it and not just on top of it. If the SRB is covering the decoupler but is actually attached to the same stack as the decoupler, it would look nice and flush but just wouldn't function as intended.

A quick fix/way to check would be to place the decoupler and SRB together as a sub-assembly. It would surprise me if you'd made this mistake as often as you suggest, but I guess if you're not looking out for it/just didn't realise, it could be happening every time.

Edited December 4, 2014 by The_Rocketeer

[Rakaydos]

I have occasionally had stages "hangfire", but repeatedly pressing the stage button will usually set them off.

[Kryxal]

I'd probably just solve this the easy way ... delete all the decouplers and SRBs but one which you know to work, then either click on the decoupler, modify symmetry, and re-place, or alt-click to duplicate, and place each other one. For that matter, you could easily do two sets of SRBs that way using pull-symmetry-place then alt-click-symmetry-place.

[TheAnimePug]

if it still doesn't work you can always manualy decouple them by rightclicking

[Taki117]

if it still doesn't work you can always manualy decouple them by rightclicking

While this works in theory, it will cause your rockets to become unbalanced, an action group would be better if you decide to go that route.

[Norcalplanner]

May I take this opportunity to strongly recommend the decouplers found in NecroBones' SpaceY pack - although heavy, they're incredibly strong and contain built-in sepratrons.

[tsotha]

Aside from staging, the other possibility is the second set of SRBs is actually attached to the main stack instead of the decouplers. When you stage them, do the decouplers fire and not eject the SRBs, or do they not fire at all?

[tsotha]

While this works in theory, it will cause your rockets to become unbalanced, an action group would be better if you decide to go that route.

Right, but it will be a good diagnostic. If he decouples one manually and the SRB remains attached then the SRB isn't attached to the decoupler. If not... well, he could always put them on a command group.

[cantab]

You cannot attach a booster to multiple decouplers. More generally, when you add a part to your rocket it only attaches to *one* other part. It's like a tree (in fact the data structure the game uses *is* a tree).

You can attach the booster to one and strut to others, but there's no need, simply strut directly to the core and the struts will automatically be broken when the booster decouples.

As for your problem, it's most likely that your booster is not attached to the decoupler, but to the core stage underneath. When attached correctly you should see a clear gap between the core and the boosters, even with the flat decouplers, as you can see in this picture:

Sorry for night pic and don't mind the fairing that's a mod.

A consequence is that the middle of the booster needs to be attached to the decoupler. You cannot fix the top or bottom of the booster to the decoupler, and if you try you'll just attach the booster directly to the core and it won't decouple.

[pander59]

Now that has some things I can deal with.

The craft file is here : http://wikisend.com/download/938664/Let's make this work.craft

Thank you for your concern. This is a prototype, I know it has issues that need to be addressed. I will work on them once this detach issue is resolved. The short SRBs detach properly. When I command the longer ones to detach they just remain as they were. You will see that as soon as you run it. I am sure it is something stupid, but this isn't the first time I have had issues with decouplers.

[pander59]

I considered that as well and have changed the decouplers from one version to the other. Also considering the SRBs were permanently attached and moving things around for mounting points. The decouplers blow, they just don't release. Now after re-reading your post, I will try this one again... making absolutely sure that they are physically attached to the decoupler rather than the ship itself. I have attempted this before but it would seem it is the only reason why the SRBs remain after firing the decouplers. Still, if it is obvious that I am attempting to attach to a decoupler, when the alignment during assembly changes color and allows the attachment, it should just be right... correct?

[phunk]

The boosters on the lower stage are not attached to the decoupler, they're attached to the tank with the decoupler clipping through them.