Is this a female docking port?

[vej]

I see these "+" ports on some parts but not on others. Do they have any special function, such as for docking? Or does docking always require two clamp-o-trons?

Edited May 18, 2015 by vej

[Randazzo]

Well, that first picture is a docking port attached backwards, or rather, the backside of the docking port.

I would guess that particular portion of the art is supposed to represent an interior airlock door.

[cybersol]

Once you are attaching them forwards instead of backwards, to get a female docking port press D twice before attaching

[vej]

I know it's the underside of a docking port and how to rotate stuff. I included a few photos because I see it on a lot of parts and because it was on the docking port I thought maybe that signified that it had something to do with docking. I guess from your responses it's not something a clamp-o-tron can connect to.

[cybersol]

Well its a good observation on your part. I never noticed before, but it almost certainly means there is a crew hatch there, because all the surface docking ports have it except the Jr.

[Randazzo]

I know it's the underside of a docking port and how to rotate stuff. I included a few photos because I see it on a lot of parts and because it was on the docking port I thought maybe that signified that it had something to do with docking. I guess from your responses it's not something a clamp-o-tron can connect to.

I pointed that out to support my theory, not to suggest you didn't know how to rotate things.

But yes, you are correct, you cannot connect a docking port to that.

[NovaSilisko]

It was an attempt to make a unified theme among some textures, it's meant to represent a crew-passable hatch on the part.

Source: me

[sumghai]

Looking at how the docking port parts are actually implemented in Unity, one would notice that there is a (invisible) dockingNode transform added to the model.

This determines which way around a docking port faces, and thus the only allowable direction for docking.

[cybersol]

Plus if you are trying to dock multiple ports at once the rotation around the docking axis also matters. It can be most easily be seen with the Sr Docking port, where the 3 outer handles align properly when their relative rotation is correct. This is why I said to press D twice instead of say pressing W twice

[vej]

Cool, thanks guys for the info!