2.3 Resource Transfers
Resource Transfers (Electric Charge and fluid/gaseous resources)
Resource Transfers (Electric Charge and fluid/gaseous resources) are a very powerful means to manage vessels in flight.
Realism Mode Effects
Realism Mode affects Resource transfers as follows:
Realism ON:
- Solid Fuels cannot be transferred.
- Transfers will take time, based on the set flow rate, and the maximum flow time set in Settings.
- Pump sounds will be played during the transfer operation.
- Transfers respect the CanBeTransferred Flag (set in a part's config or a Module manager config). if False, no Xfer.
Realism Off:
- Solid Fuels can be transferred, and will appear in the Resource selection list in the Manifest Window.
- Transfers will occur immediately. (No waiting)
- No sounds will be played.
- All resources can be transferred, regardless of the CanBeTransferred flag.
Multi Resource, Multi Part transfers
The Resource Transfer operations support multi-resource, and multi part transfers. This means you can move up to 2 resources in a 1:N, N:N, or N:1 parts arrangement.
The source part selection list contains buttons that act as toggles. Click on one and it is toggled on. Click it again and it is toggled off. A part that is selected in the source will become disabled in the target list, and vis versa. This prevents attempt to transfer resources to the same part, and makes it easier to see what you can select when there are a large number of parts.
To Transfer resources, Select the Resource or Resources you wish to transfer in the Manifest Window. In the Transfer window, click on a source part or parts and then click on a target part or parts. In the action sections you will see the list of resources selected with amounts remaining / total amounts for all parts selected. to the right you will see a Flow button. This has the state shown just to the left of the button. This button controls the ability of the resource to be consumed by the vessel. If off, no fuel will flow to engines, RCS, motors, etc. Nice for managing upper stages when consuming RCS for example.
If resources can be transferred, you will see a resource amount selection text box, showing the maximum amount of a given resource that can be moved to the target parts selected. Since resources can be transferred bidirectionally, the target Action section will show an identical interface if there are resources that can be moved from the target to the source. Below the amount text box is a slider for controlling the amount of resource to move. The textbox is for precision, the slider is for convenience.
When moving multiple resources (such as Liquid Fuel and Oxidizer, the larger percentage resource is listed in the textbox and on the slider. SM looks at the selected parts, and calculates the ratio of one resource to the other to come up with the amount of the smaller resource to move. This saves complexity in the interface and ensures that ratios are based on the selected parts. Since engines can consume resources at differing ratios, it is impossible for SM to account for all engine types. Since it is in the interest of the player to provide the correct ratios for the given engines, I felt it was safe to use the tank ratios as the basis for resource movement. If you need more precision than that, move the resources one at a time.
Finally, click on the Xfer button and resources will move. Depending on your realism settings, this could be immediate (Realism Off) to a long period of time. The actual run time in Realism mode is set by the smaller of Flow rate (in settings) * amount to move vs max Flow time (in Settings).
During a transfer operation, the text box is replaced with a running display of the remaining amount of each resource to move in real time. The Xfer button changes to a Stop button in case you don't want to wait on a long operation or made a mistake.
Multi Resource, Multi Part transfer in progress
Docked vessels
Docked vessels exist when 2 vessels dock together. KSP keeps track of each vessel via their root part and Launch ID. Therefore it is possible to identify a docked vessel through these means. When performing transfers of normal resources (not crew or science), you can select a vessel and all parts associated with that vessel and the selected resources will be selected. It is also possible to select multiple vessels, just as it is in the part selection. To enable Vessel selection, click on the vessels toggle below the part selection section (when available).
Docked vessels being selected in the Transfer Window...
