cjdunn

I just -- like 30 minutes ago -- upped my PC to 16GB. For no reason, just cuz...

So I just got hit with this issue. This is in 1.0.5.1028, running Kerbal Engineer Redux, Kerbal Alarm Clock, Docking Alignment and Transfer Window Planner. I just launched a massive station (DSS) off to Duna (four attempts) reverting to a save each time. It was mostly about getting the fuel load right. Once I got it out of Kerbin SOI, I did a manual save and then switched back to my space station (KSS) orbiting Kerbin. I docked the autonomous fuel tank that I had been running between the DSS and KSS and then did a quick save. And then, I tried to release the grappling drone from the KSS and nothing happened. It was still attached. "Release" from the contextual menu was gone but it still acted as part of the station. I did a quick load, same. I restarted KSP, same. I then decided I would dock with the drone (docking ports on either side of it) and pull it off. That's when I discovered that all docking ports of all the craft docked to the station acted the same. Right-click, "Undock" and nothing. I also discovered that my manual save post-DSS launch didn't actually get saved. Fortunely, I did have one quick save that I've been working on to fix this. I had never gone into the save files before. So this was a learning experience. Search revealed posts by Claw and roscoe_jones regarding the issues in 0.23.5 and 0.24. Once I understood parts of the save file, my problem was simpler. The DSS ports were fine. This was just on the KSS. Every docked pair lost their pairing ("state = Docked (docker)" & "state = Docked (dockee)") and reverted to "state = Ready". The grappling drone's GrappleNode did the same. name = ModuleGrappleNode isEnabled = True stagingEnabled = True state = Ready dockUId = 834702479 PART { name = dockingPort2 cid = 4293320786 uid = 3518090815 <- Had to find Part.uid 1565750046 which had MODULE.ModuleDockingNode.dockUId 3518090815 and changed its state to "Docked (dockee)" mid = 3223882772 launchID = 144 parent = 6 position = -2.84053385257721E-07,-2.41715669631958,2.53406381607056 rotation = 0.7071052,-0.001546118,0.001546407,-0.7071052 mirror = 1,1,1 symMethod = Radial istg = 0 dstg = 0 sqor = -1 sepI = 3 sidx = -1 attm = 0 srfN = srfAttach, -1 attN = top, -1 attN = bottom, 151 mass = 0.05 temp = 112.390777343596 tempExt = 112.393421897299 tempExtUnexp = 239.754657632191 expt = 0.5 state = 0 connected = True attached = True flag = Squad/Flags/default rTrf = dockingPort2 modCost = 0 EVENTS { } ACTIONS { } PARTDATA { } MODULE { name = ModuleDockingNode isEnabled = True crossfeed = True stagingEnabled = False state = Docked (docker) <-- Changed from "Ready" dockUId = 1565750046 dockNodeIdx = 0 Finding the pairs was the laborious part. Using the crossfeed status change was pointless for me because all the ports on the station had switched states. So the abbreviated version is: (1) find the DOCKEDVESSEL that won't undock, (2) find the docking pairs and (3) change the pair's states to "Docked (docker)" and "Docked (dockee)" PART { name = dockingPort2 ... (2) uid = (part number of the docking port) ... MODULE { name = ModuleDockingNode ... (3) state = Needs to be "Docked (docker)" and the other "Docked (dockee)" (2) dockUId = (part number of the other docking port) ... EVENTS { ... } ACTIONS { ... } (1) DOCKEDVESSEL { vesselName = An easy fix after FOUR HOURS of full immersion into the structure of the save file. Why this happened is still a mystery.

From National Geographic http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2012/04/16/the-story-in-the-details-gigapanning-the-space-shuttle/ Cockpit on the right, bay on the left:

Apollo 10: launched May 18th Orbital insertion May 21 Departed orbit May 24 Landed May 26th

Yep, I second this. And the indicator could be improved based on pilot XP level: alignment, alignment + velocity, et cetera, all the way to auto-dock.