Control from here - target alignment

[tomf]

I have several craft which hace docking ports that aren't alligned with the centre of mass.

When I click control from here the nav ball correctly rotates to show orientation relative to tha active port.

However the direction to target marker isn't drawn relative to the chosen port but is still relative to the centre of mass.

As you get increasigly close to the target this leads to an increasing error in the direction to target with the target being marked as dead ahead when it it is ahead of the COM instead of the docking port.

Is there a simple wokaround or mod that will fix it? I already use NavBall Docking Alignment indicator which is creat for telling if you are heading in the right direction.

[KerbMav]

Right click the other docking port and set it as target.

[Snark]

Right click the other docking port and set it as target.

That doesn't help. It's a KSP bug that has been around since forever, and it's really annoying.

When you set your target as the other docking port, it does correctly target the actual physical location of the docking port, not the target craft's center of mass, so that's good.

However, that's not tomf's problem. The problem is that the navball uses your own craft's center of mass as its where-am-I location, regardless of what your "control from here" setting is. If you do "control from here" on a docking port whose axis doesn't pass through your center of mass, then the navball lies to you. Setting "control from here" adjusts the navball's orientation, but not its where-am-I coordinate.

This makes it really hard to dock, if the docking port on the craft you're controlling has an axis that's off your CoM.

Horrible bug, really wish they'd fix it. It's been there since forever.

[justidutch]

I've experienced this as well. I did manage to dock the crafts together, but the only way for me was simply by sight. A lot of rotating the camera view to make sure the X and Y axis were lined up, and a very slow approach.

[RexKramer]

I've experienced this as well. I did manage to dock the crafts together, but the only way for me was simply by sight. A lot of rotating the camera view to make sure the X and Y axis were lined up, and a very slow approach.

That works for me also. One suggestion is to move fuel around in the active ship to move the COM closer to the docking port you want to control from. That obviously won't help much on a vessel which has full fuel tanks.

[jarmund]

Normally I discourage answers on par with "There's a mod for that", but I find that Docking Port Alignment Indicator is a must-have and should be stock. It'll account for the issue you're describing and it generally makes docking a lot more fun.

[justidutch]

I'll never discourage anyone from using a mod to better their life, I'm sure one day I'll get on that boat myself. However, when I did finally complete the docking manoeuvre with faulty information, it was like: "ya game, I beat you!". Like I won the internet or something. Overcoming engineering challenges (even unintended ones due to bugs and glitches), that's where a lot of my fun comes from.