how to align connecting modules on making space station

[michanst]

i build space station on parts. before i construct it bit by bit, i always make a prototype of the complete station im doing with. but i always have this problem when connecting it in space, the connected parts are always off. some are rotated weirdly and no matter how i undock and dock again, still i cant get the correct angle.

 

how can i solve this? any advice would be of great help. thanks.

[steuben]

Two options quickly come to mind.

1. lots of fiddly and patient docking/undocking. You'll be burning the EC and RCS for this one. I think there are some mods that will be able to help. Outside of my experience but some folks will be able to provide suggestions.

2. Cheat. Well for some values of cheat anyways. Complete the station as best you can. Then hyper-edit the existing station to the surface of Kerbin, recover it. Then hyper edit up the "completed" station fresh out the VAB/SPH to that orbit.

[Urses]

Moded is the USI-Konstruction the way to go. Construktion Docking rings have the ability to dock on precise angles. 

Vanilla .... swearing, sweating and trying... and more time as the most will invest in....

Funny Kabooms 

Urses 

Edited June 16, 2017 by Urses

[Cpt Kerbalkrunch]

One alternative I can think of is, instead of using a docking port Sr., use a quad connector and 4 regular docking ports. This might give it a bit of a "boxy" look, but there will only be 4 possible ways to connect it, so you should be able to line it up the way you want pretty easily.

[michanst]

 

17 minutes ago, Cpt Kerbalkrunch said:

One alternative I can think of is, instead of using a docking port Sr., use a quad connector and 4 regular docking ports. This might give it a bit of a "boxy" look, but there will only be 4 possible ways to connect it, so you should be able to line it up the way you want pretty easily.

 

36 minutes ago, steuben said:

Two options quickly come to mind.

1. lots of fiddly and patient docking/undocking. You'll be burning the EC and RCS for this one. I think there are some mods that will be able to help. Outside of my experience but some folks will be able to provide suggestions.

2. Cheat. Well for some values of cheat anyways. Complete the station as best you can. Then hyper-edit the existing station to the surface of Kerbin, recover it. Then hyper edit up the "completed" station fresh out the VAB/SPH to that orbit.

 

24 minutes ago, Urses said:

Moded is the USI-Konstruction the way to go. Construktion Docking rings have the ability to dock on precise angles. 

Vanilla .... swearing, sweating and trying... and more time as the most will invest in....

Funny Kabooms 

Urses 

thanks for some mod referrals. its really a pain to put it in a correct angle. as you can see, the space station is not aligned,

[Urses]

For most ingame problems there is a solution.

As a guidehelp this Thread is realy big help:

Take a look in and don't hesitate to ask if you are unsure.

Funny Kabooms 

Urses 

[HvP]

You could place small parts on the end of your segments near the docking ports to act as a guide for alignment.

Or, if you want to install a simple mod try SnapDock https://spacedock.info/mod/870/SnapDock

It will only allow your docking ports to snap into 5 degree increments when they dock together.

[Wanderfound]

12 hours ago, HvP said:

You could place small parts on the end of your segments near the docking ports to act as a guide for alignment.

Like so:

[OHara]

KSP has an option to make ports dock at discrete rotation-angles, but it is disabled in the stock game.  The Module Manager mod is necessary to use it:

If you use this patch, you have to align the ports in all three components of rotation (within tolerance) before the ports dock.