Docking Ports

[Lexan]

Seriously... how are these ports not clamping? I've moved and approached numerous times. The alignment couldn't be any more perfect. On a perfectly flat surface. Is there an issue with clamping when on a body's surface that I'm unaware of? I've been at this for hours. The two ports just keep passing through each other. Every now and then, the port on the top side of the photo "magnetizes" and looks like it's sticking to something, but never the other clamp - it looks like it's sticking to the structural fuselage.

And to answer the obvious questions... yes, they're facing the right direction, they're both the same type, etc. The exact same connection exists on the other side of the base, but it was assembled in space and brought down. This side of the base is being added on the surface (which is completely flat - Engineer reports no slope for either craft).

Edited June 28, 2015 by Lexan
change to "answered"

[Dr. Jet]

They won't connect if you disconnected before and not moved 5m away. Maybe that's the case?

[Lexan]

They won't connect if you disconnected before and not moved 5m away. Maybe that's the case?

Thanks for the reply, Jet. Good thinking, but sadly not the case - lander is fresh in from the cold depths of space.

EDIT:

Just for giggles I backed it up to 16m from target and tried again. Still having the same result.

Edited June 27, 2015 by Lexan

[Sidereus]

They seem to be extremely sensitive to angle. In space, the magnetic pull helps bring them together at the right angle because both craft can easily move a bit. On the ground, gravity and friction prevents the craft from moving to accommodate, so you have to get it perfect.

Have you tried using the Docking Port Alignment mod? That would help you know where you're off.

[Lexan]

I'll give it a look, Sidereus - thanks for the suggestion. Much appreciated.

[Wjolcz]

And that is why we need surface refuelling pipes.

[Mic_n]

Yeah, I had a recovery mission where my clampy juniors decided to go into 'lets just mag-wobble around each other and never actually dock' mode.. backed it off to try again which was probably my mistake, because they never connected again. Fortunately I had an engineer on-board with KAS ports in inventory.. mounted a couple over the top, piped the two together then brought the whole asymmetric mess back (without SAS, I might add.. I stuffed that one up) Blerg.

It annoys me that even after all this time they still haven't sorted out this ridiculously bad bug (/"feature") of 'demagentising' docking ports.

[Lexan]

I mean - if I'm expected to do better than this, something needs to change...

[TrooperCooper]

You are not alligned correctly. In space the magnetic forces of the docking ports can easily correct that small error. On the surface they cant correct your attitude. Use a KAS pipe connection instead.

[Lexan]

You are not alligned correctly. In space the magnetic forces of the docking ports can easily correct that small error. On the surface they cant correct your attitude. Use a KAS pipe connection instead.

Does using KAS pipes unify the two vessels as one like clamps do?

[TrooperCooper]

Does using KAS pipes unify the two vessels as one like clamps do?

Yes.

/5char

EDIT: fuel refinery I once created near the KSC with KAS pipes:

Edited June 27, 2015 by TrooperCooper

[Lexan]

Yes.

/5char

Cool. I'll give it a shot. Thanks for the assistance.

[Starhawk]

Sometimes a bug occurs where the game thinks the port is connected to something, even though it's not.

If this is the problem, the docking port attributes in the persistent.sfs file will contain the line "state = Acquired" for one ship or the other.

This can be rectified by modifying the persistent file line to read "state = Ready".

Happy landings!

[Overland]

Ive encountered this problem quite alot when shunting.. a new locomotive unable to couple upto an already existing tanker wagon or full train.. as its on the ground and all wheels set same height, theres little in the way of drift to compensate for as long as things are lined up.. yet ive still got this problem..

the solution within the game engine is exactly what starhawk says 90% of the time

it simply can be an error with KSP thinking somethings connected when it isnt.

I use docking ports quite a bit as there a required component to any train operations.. having something work perfectly one moment then not the next with a new locomotive fresh from the yard much like your ship there.. I dont think you should worry about any other aspects of what your doing wrong but rather dive into the persistance file.. KSP can be a strange beast sometimes

[Lexan]

Thanks for all of the replies, folks.

I'm not too keen on changing anything in the persistent file as I'm too scared to ruin my savegame, but I did copy it to my desktop and browse around just to see what the state of those parts was. Everything appeared to be "ready", so I don't know if that was entirely the issue.

I spent another good while trying to get the ports to connect. Even went as far as to use KAS/KIS to remove the port on one of the vessels and adjust it's height a few times to perfect the alignment and still couldn't get the two to clamp to each other. My last resort before piping (would just rather have them clamped for my own OCD vanity purposes) was to use KAS/KIS to replace both ports with two new ones, relocating them a few times to make ideal alignment, and still was not able to get the two jerks to clamp on to each other. In the end, just left the two as close as possible and ran a pipe.

I understand all of the physics behind this in the sense of "in space the crafts can adjust slightly to clamp - on the surface they can't", but my point is more that with as close as they were to each other and as good alignment as I was able to achieve, it really should just clamp. Needing more than what I was giving it was just ridiculous. And as a side note - I've since attached more pieces to the base via clamps and achieved a connection with far less perfect alignment than the ones I photo'd for this thread. So, at least I know it's not totally borked in my save or on Minmus or something like that.

Thanks again for all of the input, everyone!

[Mikki]

I use the Klaw to transfer ressources, thats the way it goes on surface. Sometimes it works also with dockingports, but there is no guarantee, if there is vertical angular difference on ground they will not clamp properly.

The Klaw works perfect for me !