Docking port doesn't dock anymore?

[LitaAlto]

Hi all. I'm posting here because my game is heavily modded, but I don't think my question necessarily requires me to list every mod I have.

I built a craft with the shielded docking port. And it seemed to work before--I was able to open the shields, dock a craft, and undock.

But now the craft's docking port says "Status: Locked," and won't give me any options to toggle the shields. And, even with my docking port aligned well and magnetically attracted to another docking port, it won't actually dock--the two crafts remain separate, I can't transfer crew or resources, etc.

I'd like to believe one could edit the persistence file to fix this--but I haven't found anything obvious, and might not even be looking in the right place. I don't generally edit persistence files so maybe I'm just clueless.

Could anyone point me in the right direction, please?

Thanks.

[NeatCrown]

Yep, It's the age-old docking port bug. There's a few threads on this already. This thread is for 0.23, but the bug's been around since the dawn of docking, and will work with any version.

[MalevolentNinja]

A thought... Did you radially attach that docking port to your craft? Even though the shielded docking port allows radial attachment in the VAB, it doesn't work if you do it. It must be attached to an attachment point (green ball) just like all the other docking ports.

[LitaAlto]

Yep, It's the age-old docking port bug. There's a few threads on this already. This thread is for 0.23, but the bug's been around since the dawn of docking, and will work with any version.

Thank you very much, that worked! I wasn't having much luck locating the thread but now know what to look for next time.

A thought... Did you radially attach that docking port to your craft? Even though the shielded docking port allows radial attachment in the VAB, it doesn't work if you do it. It must be attached to an attachment point (green ball) just like all the other docking ports.

No, it's on the attachment node. Thanks for the tip, though--I'll bear that in mind if I ever decide to use radial docking ports.