[1.8.1] Docking Port Alignment Indicator (Version 6.8.5 - Updated 12/14/19)

[Deadweasel]

This thread doesn't get a lot of activity. I think that is because this app has been so perfect that no one has had anything to say...

You're right, in that everything that can be said about this mod already has been said. It's darned near perfect! I will swear by it for docking at all times, and since I've installed it, I have never had a docking that ended with the ships swaying and bouncing all over the place. In fact they come together so well that there's no movement induced in the receiving vessel whatsoever. Before this mod, I had to immediately do a quick timewarp to stop any rotation after docking, but now it's completely unnecessary.

<3

[BigD145]

This thread doesn't get a lot of activity. I think that is because this app has been so perfect that no one has had anything to say...

Yup, works fine in 23.5.

[LameLefty]

Yup, works fine in 23.5.

Good to know! I started a new save and haven't played much since the update. As a result, I haven't had the chance to actually dock with anything yet. Good to know Navyfish's hard work remains viable.

[YolDovah]

Im guessing this as already been answered but when i click on the drop down arrow to unlock the position an size how do i get it to stay at the size because every time i let go of it it shrinks back to the small 1cm by 1 cm size.

Note to everyone I'm also using engineer which is docked onto the alignment window so i dont know if that could be causing the problem.

[YolDovah]

Im guessing this as already been answered but when i click on the drop down arrow to unlock the position an size how do i get it to stay at the size because every time i let go of it it shrinks back to the small 1cm by 1 cm size.

Note to everyone I'm also using engineer which is docked onto the alignment window so i dont know if that could be causing the problem.

[HeadHunter67]

That's a toolbar question, best to ask Blizzy.

[Artorp]

I would also love for this tool to work with asteroids. Or - with the new addition of the claw - any target in general. Just having the relative lateral speed available would be awesome, the navball just doesn't cut it. Thinking aloud, unlike docking ports you can't use the asteroid's orientation as a reference since the approach angle would vary from asteroid to asteroid and maneuver to maneuver. Maybe you could use your own ship's?

[Tarophon]

I recently re-installed KSP and this mod, but the indicator doesn't show up when I target a docking port. The files are in the right locations and I only have MechJeb and Kerbal alarm clock installed. Anything else I could be doing wrong?

[NavyFish]

This plugin currently requires blizzy's toolbar to be installed. In the next version, I will be removing this dependency (keeping integration optional). I apologize for the inconvenience.

[JedTech]

blizzy's toolbar is practically stock. Anyone not using it should really consider it.

Excited for an update NavyFish! Let us know if you need any testing, ideas, or research.

[NavyFish]

Thanks jmanidb!

If anyone could tell me how to get an individual part's transform when it's greater than 200m away from the active vessel, that'd be great! Time permitting, I'll be taking another whack at this, and if we can figure it out, I'll add a couple "Target Port Cycle" buttons to the mod (including a HUD-style selection diamond over the selected port in-game), so that we no longer have to right-click the target docking port.

Also.. I've added a donation button to the first post. I'm not looking to quit my day job (yet.. ), but after making a few contributions myself to other modders, I figured why not. I'm not going to put up an AdFly link because advertisements are so very annoying. If you're feeling generous, a small contribution would be incredibly appreciated!

-Navy

[Tommygun]

NavyFish, you seem to have an old version of Toolbar with your down load (the change log readme only list up to version 1.2.0).

I wasn't getting MechJeb and Kerbal Engineer to display correctly with the version of Toolbar you had, so I updated to toolbar 1.7.1 and it works now.

Also I finally made my first manual docking!!! Thanks.

[NavyFish]

NavyFish, you seem to have an old version of Toolbar with your down load (the change log readme only list up to version 1.2.0).

I wasn't getting MechJeb and Kerbal Engineer to display correctly with the version of Toolbar you had, so I updated to toolbar 1.7.1 and it works now.

Also I finally made my first manual docking!!! Thanks.

Congrats! Always nice to hear!

I believe that was the current version of blizzy's toolbar when I last updated the plugin. The coming update will likely not even include the toolbar folder, as integration will be optional.

[NavyFish]

Gentlemen, GREAT SUCCESS:

If I may, please draw your attention to the distance readout to the targeted docking port.

I have discovered how to interact with docking ports beyond the 'default' 200m radius. Ports can now be targeted up to ~2.25 km (or whatever your vessel load/unload distance is set to, via other mods).

Of course, you can't right-click a port at that distance. Heck, I find it hard to right-click a port at anything more than 100m, particularly if there's relative motion involved. Thus, the next update will include the ability to cycle-through the list of docking ports on your target. Finally, there will be a reason for the toolbar integration (although I will be making it optional, and provide a standalone button if blizzy's toolbar isn't present).

Here's how I picture it all working... (Note that I'm sharing this with you for feedback purposes. If you think there's a better way to do this, then speak up!)

This DPAI 'reticule' window will always be available, and its visibility can be toggled with the toolbar button. When visible, if the target is not loaded (beyond ~2.2 km), it will simply display a message in the window indicating that the target is too far away. Once you've closed within the loading distance, the nearest port will automatically be targeted (A settings option will allow the DPAI to automatically pop-up whenever you're in docking range, if desired). Somewhere on the gauge will be a left and right arrow, which will allow you to cycle through the available docking ports. It will also likely display the human-readable name of the type of port that's selected. Finally, and this may not make it into the next version unless I can figure out how to do it soon, there may be a little 'diamond' reticle overlaid in world-space over the selected port, for quick visual identification of your selection. I've experimented with part highlighting as an alternative, but I think it's just ugly.

As always, interested to hear your feedback. Free-time is very limited for me at the moment, so I can't give you a reliable estimate as to when the next update will come out, but stay tuned, I think sometime within the next 2 weeks will be reasonable.

[ZodiusInfuser]

Since the window can be opened when out of the 2.25km range, perhaps rather than be inactive it could act like the navball, in that the direction marker would be the line to the target? Once within that range it could then switch to the existing mode if docking ports are available, otherwise remain as is (useful for docking with asteroids).

As a possible extension to the new selection feature, would it be possible to specify primary axes of a target vessel, such as z up.I'm thinking this may be beneficial for claw docking with craft without ports, as I had to do recently.

[LameLefty]

Excellent planned enhancements, Navyfish. Thank you. I look forward to seeing these new pieces of your excellent tool implemented. The ability to select the proper docking port from further away will be GREATLY appreciated!

[taniwha]

Navyfish: I don't know what it's like now, but please break the dependency on the target being an actual docking port. EL's recycling bins are targetable in the same manner as docking ports. I believe you need only to find ITargetable objects and you can interact with those as appropriate.

[diomedea]

...

Somewhere on the gauge will be a left and right arrow, which will allow you to cycle through the available docking ports. It will also likely display the human-readable name of the type of port that's selected. Finally, and this may not make it into the next version unless I can figure out how to do it soon, there may be a little 'diamond' reticle overlaid in world-space over the selected port, for quick visual identification of your selection. I've experimented with part highlighting as an alternative, but I think it's just ugly.

Truly impressive those new features, but that one to allow some form of identification of the aimed port is a must-have for me. I would like a way to name single parts (so to assign specific names to docking ports and be able to know what I am targetting), but having a visual aid on the selected port is possibly even better. It would save me the hassle of placing beacon lights close to the ports, and switch them on for the selected port to see which one I have to dock with (plus, I still have to target that port). Though, if there could be an interaction with the targeted port, so to simulate that having a lighting device attached, it could be even better IMHO.

[TMS]

Yeah, it's a real shame that the game core doesn't allow you to name docking ports. One for "tweakable everything", perhaps?

Other docking and targeting mods of old provided a docking port list, but it tends to get cluttered if you're approaching a large space station with numerous ports. Visual highlighting can help in those cases, but I would agree that it does look incredibly ugly.

Is part highlighting the only visual distinction that can be made? Could one generate a HUD-like reticle/crosshairs over the part?

[Rockstar04]

TMS brings up a good point, large space stations would have a TON of docking ports, would it be possible to only list docking ports that are open? (as in not currently docked to another space station module)

[Superfluous J]

TMS brings up a good point, large space stations would have a TON of docking ports, would it be possible to only list docking ports that are open? (as in not currently docked to another space station module)

Why not also (as in doesn't have the shield open) for the shielded ports? You could keep them all closed by default, open one of them, and then your ship would only have one thing to target. Easy peasy.

[Pontiac]

- Kethane has the ability to store a planets resources values within the save file, so theoretically, a port COULD be named. How the code does it, I've no clue, but its there. I do know that every time a part is loaded, it is given a new internal ID, which is useless, however, certain attributes to each part are carried across. A name value possibly could be stored.

- You could limit the list of entries to be docked at by comparing what part you're controlling the active space craft from and seeing what parts are available on the targeted entity. Basically, you show the list of small docking ports only if the "controlled from here" object is a small docking port.

- I personally like the layout of Targetron, in which a list of items are selectable, and highlights what you're going to target on the receiving vessel.

[NavyFish]

All good ideas. For a first pass, I'll generate a HUD reticule over the selected part, akin to the normal target diamond but probably a different color (orange?). It may be easy in code to distinguish between ports of different size. If so, I'll filter (with the settings option to not filter) the list of available ports to those matching in size. I'll take a look at shielded and docked ports - not sure how those are represented in code, but if I can parse them I'll include them as a filter option as well (with shielded ports likely defaulted to not filter, as it's more of an advanced usage case).

Part naming, as far as I can tell, is a whole other monster. Module Manager may allow for it, but I won't have the time to research that before my desired release date - I'll be getting underway again for some time and would like to push these new features prior to that time.

Targeting asteroids and other types of objects falls under this category as well, but I admit would be a very cool feature, so I'll look into it for the future.

[Crater]

The secret of being able to name a port would be to create a new partmodule that only had one parameter, and that was the port name, so the config would look something like

MODULE
{
    name = ModuleDockingPortName
    portName = Cargo Berth #1
}

Kethane stores data in the savegame by using a SCENARIO {} node, but that's save-global, not craft specific, so for the ports on a single craft, I think you'd have to go the partModule route, then use ModuleManager (or other witchcraft) to add your new partmodule to anything that had a docking port on it.

It might crumble when faced with single parts with multiple docking ports (such as PortWorks hab), but other than that, it should be pretty robust I think... but since I've never written anything of any significance in C#, and never anything at all for KSP, I could be completely wrong, ofc.

[NavyFish]

That sounds about right, though I've also never modified or created a part module so there might be a few hidden snags. Regardless, the ability to name ports is sounding cooler each time I consider it. As always, time is the factor which determines whether or not this will make the next update, but if not, then I could see it coming out in the one following that.

As far as interface is concerned, I'd probably look to add a rename button to the right-click GUI both in editor and in flight, and have that name reflect in both the right-click GUI as well as on the DPAI when targeted.

On an unrelated note, is anyone having issues with the precision of the indicator or any of its symbology? How about any confusion over the 'back hemisphere' (red CDI lines) mode? Any other 'core' functionality bugs/comments/requests?

Finally, I'm happy to report that I finalized the the logic for port cycling last night. My favorite aspect of this is that the closest port is automatically targeted whenever a ship is first targeted. I like this so much that I may add a 'target nearest port' button on the indicator, so you can retarget as appropriate with a single click on the DPAI as you navigate around a large station. Thoughts?

"Dock Safe"

-Navy

Edited April 15, 2014 by NavyFish