Why won't my space station modules dock?

[captainjerky]

Hey all.

First off, I'll be honest; I go between loving the game and wanting to delete it and cut out the part of my brain where memories of it are stored.  I'll spend an afternoon on a mission, only to have it be unable to complete.  Turns out I forgot a big enough antenna, a spare battery, or I installed something upside down. It's aggravating as hell.  To be truthful, if it wasn't for MechJeb I wouldn't be able to play the game.  Sometimes I go days or a week or more between sessions, and I've given up on being a top notch Kerbonaut in exchange for a guy who pretty much knows the deal but is willing to turn some functions over to the autopilot until I get better (which I really am, honest.)

But the other day, it started to come together.  I started building a space station, leaning heavily on the suggestions of those in the forums on what to do and how to do it.  But then I hit a snag.  I put a Clamp-o-Tron Docking Port Senior on the station module I want to connect to, plus the module I'm trying to connect into place.  I tried bumping uglies for an hour, reloading and trying again but the stupid things won't latch together.  I tried docking the Senior on my inbound module with the Junior on the station (green bracket in picture).  Also no dice.  Then I turned it over to MechJeb, and instead of docking it tried to ram through the station and get to the docking ring from the back side (which is already connected).  

I'm at a complete loss.  I don't know why it's not working, and nothing in-game will help explain why.  Can I not join two docking ports?  Are they directional so that I should have flipped the one on the station around?  If that's the case, can I do that maybe via an EVA somehow, or is my station plan completely down the crapper?

Short version: can somebody help me?  And feel free to explain how this stuff actually works, because this forum is the only reason I've been able to play this game; the tutorials and little documentation from the developers are no help.  Advice and tutorials from you folks are what helped me stick with it.  I'm such a glutton that I'll torture myself with days of failed missions in exchange for that one or two that goes off just the way I planned.  

Thanks for any advice.

 

 

[Geonovast]

You're trying to dock a normal docking port with a Senior.  You can't join ports of different sizes.

And the other senior port in the picture, the one you have the PAW up for, is reversed.

[Gargamel]

2 hours ago, Geonovast said:

And the other senior port in the picture, the one you have the PAW up for, is reversed.

Which means...  short of installing the KIS mod and having a kerbal remove it and re-attach it correctly while on EVA, That docking port is now just a wall.  But don't worry, this is one of the many right's of passage that KSP has. 

[jimmymcgoochie]

I second the above- you can only dock two ports of the same size together, and that large port on the station is backwards.

You might be able to fix that by bodging a save file- do a quicksave, copy then open the file in a text editor and find the station then find that specific port, then change one of the rotation values by 180 degrees and load the edited save in the game (hint- don't close KSP while doing this!) and see if it's pointing the right way and nothing explodes. If it isn't pointing the right way/stuff explodes, undo that change and try another value instead and if nothing does it at all you may have to send up a new module with the port facing the right way from the start.

[king of nowhere]

or, without modding, you can salvage the station by sending a new module whose sole purpose is to provide some docking ports with the right size and orientation. you attach it to the working clamp-o-tron senior, and this module will include several clamp-o-trons of different sizes, oriented correctly.

this happened to me too. i think it happened to everyone. this game's major flaw is that it really lacks explanations. you have no way of knowing that docking ports of different sizes don't attach without trying it, and likely scrapping a mission.

[Jestersage]

Incidentally, the adapter concept is actually used as a PMA

[Zhetaan]

On 7/4/2020 at 12:38 AM, captainjerky said:

Then I turned it over to MechJeb, and instead of docking it tried to ram through the station and get to the docking ring from the back side (which is already connected).

That was your hint.  It's backwards.

On 7/4/2020 at 12:38 AM, captainjerky said:

Are they directional so that I should have flipped the one on the station around?  If that's the case, can I do that maybe via an EVA somehow, or is my station plan completely down the crapper?

They are directional.  Aside from the helpful pictures others have posted, one key to remember is that you don't want to see the circle with the plus sign in it.

You can change it by EVA with a mod called Kerbal Inventory System, or KIS.  That may take a bit of work; KIS can be 'fiddly' at times.

On 7/4/2020 at 12:38 AM, captainjerky said:

Short version: can somebody help me?

If your backward-port module happens to be attached to the rest of the station by other docking ports, then you can simply deorbit it and send a corrected one.  You can dock your giant tank to one of the small ports by one of its small ports, and you won't have a problem with drifting.  If that means taking your station apart and building it around a new core, then I suggest leaving it in place until you send the new module.

If you're truly at your wits' end, then it is possible to modify the save file to correct the rotation of the port.  I don't normally advise this because it's easy to completely ruin your save this way, but it can be done.  It's highly technical, though, and honestly may be more effort than launching a new station core--I'd be more inclined to tell you to try it to rescue a station at Moho or Jool.

On 7/4/2020 at 12:38 AM, captainjerky said:

Thanks for any advice.

We're glad to help.  Good luck with it, and please don't hesitate to come back.  Also, welcome to the forum!