Can't dock

[Cannon]

Here is how it looks like:
http://imgur.com/7YIL6tU

It looks perfectly aligned to me, yet they won't dock..
Can someone help?

[Empiro]

Try wiggling either craft a bit. Normally, the magnetic force would twist the ships into position in space, but here, there might be some friction preventing the crafts from rotating.

[swjr-swis]

Did you undock just before (maybe to try align the modules better)? If so, the ports need to have a certain minimal distance apart before they will 'engage' again to dock.

[Waxing_Kibbous]

I can't really tell from the pic, but one of my early attempts with docking ports had me putting one on upside down, or flipped 180. To me it looked fine, I think the jr model is kind of hard to tell. Now I always use the snap-align key in the VAB and am very careful with placing them. (if they are right it could also be an odd bug that pops up here occasionally). Wiggle them first and try turning off any sas that may be holding it back first tho.

edit: looking more closely they seem to be attached right... And you have a big reaction wheel there. Are they acting like they want to connect?

Edited January 18, 2016 by Waxing_Kibbous

[Cannon]

swjr-swis, no they weren't connected, i just landed this part, though i did reload from quicksave many times trying to align it, maybe that causes the odd bug, i don't know.

waxing_kibbous, yeah they start moving a little when i bring them real close but they never connect

[FancyMouse]

That's one of the reasons surface docking isn't widely used - it gets nasty at this point.

First check out your save file and make sure both docking port are at "Ready" state - just in case. If it's in orbit, ports are right, and it doesn't dock, most likely this bug is coming into the picture. But on surface - it's still hard to tell. Rule out this possibility first.

Then I guess you'll have to lock/unlock suspension for the legs (especially the far-side legs) in different ways and hope it docks.

[MagicFireCaster]

Right clik both of those and see if they have the "undock" or "decouple node" option, then click it, it may work after that if that's the case 

[ToukieToucan]

Also, turn off SAS before docking, though I don't know a lot about docking on the surface I assume it's more or less the same.

[Evanitis]

Guess the 'redesign the whole stuff from scratch' isn't the advice you are looking for.. But I know a tutorial for a -very- handy method for attaching stock bases on the surface. Since I heard how painful it can be, I'd only attempt it in a refined and tested way.

Or you could use KIS/KAS.

[Plusck]

You could also try simply quicksaving and reloading. From what I've read here, that should "reset" the docking ports and they should connect.

[Snark]

10 hours ago, Evanitis said:

Or you could use KIS/KAS.

+1 to this advice.  Trying to dock things together on the surface is just excruciatingly painful and frustrating.  Yes, there are techniques, but (for me at least) all of them are irritating and frustrating.  I really want stock to work, and I played around with this for a lot, before finally throwing up my hands in exasperation and deciding that it's simply more trouble than it's worth.

<rant>
I don't mind things that are hard because they're supposed to be hard, like taking off from Eve.  This issue bugs me because it shouldn't be hard.  IRL it would be no issue at all.  It's only a problem because it's just a missing feature in the game. The lack of a decent way of docking things together on the surface is one of the most glaring holes remaining in KSP, IMHO.  If I could choose one feature that I'd like to see Squad add in the next patch, it would be that.
</rant>

Until and unless Squad addresses the problem directly, I really like KAS' solution to this problem.  It's simple, elegant, and works great.  Just put "connector ports" on the things you want to connect, and park them within a couple of dozen meters of each other.  An EVA kerbal walks up to one, right-clicks a port, chooses "Link".  Walks over to the other ship, right-clicks its port, chooses "Link".  Presto, the two ships are now connected with a pipe and count as one ship.  To disconnect, just click on one of the ports and choose "unlink".

It's a brilliant solution, and IMHO ought to be in stock.

Edited January 19, 2016 by Snark

[David104]

On 19.1.2016 at 5:36 PM, Snark said:

Until and unless Squad addresses the problem directly, I really like KAS' solution to this problem.  It's simple, elegant, and works great.  Just put "connector ports" on the things you want to connect, and park them within a couple of dozen meters of each other.  An EVA kerbal walks up to one, right-clicks a port, chooses "Link".  Walks over to the other ship, right-clicks its port, chooses "Link".  Presto, the two ships are now connected with a pipe and count as one ship.  To disconnect, just click on one of the ports and choose "unlink".

It's a brilliant solution, and IMHO ought to be in stock.

I agree, its the easiest and best solution. But you should really use one of these ground pilons (forgot the exact name) to connect them. It happens often to me that, when the crafts are linked directly, they start moving. Slowly at first but eventually go completly nuts (like lifting off the surface and just smash into the ground. ). The pilons fix the problem..

[Snark]

1 hour ago, David104 said:

I agree, its the easiest and best solution. But you should really use one of these ground pilons (forgot the exact name) to connect them. It happens often to me that, when the crafts are linked directly, they start moving. Slowly at first but eventually go completly nuts (like lifting off the surface and just smash into the ground. ). The pilons fix the problem..

Certainly it has its issues, but that's just a bug and presumably would be worked out if Squad put in the time needed to make this a stock solution.

My own solution to the hopping/moving buildings problem is to make sure that everything I'm connecting is standing on landing legs, i.e. landing legs are the only thing that actually touches the ground.  Then it's fine.  (Being on legs fixes the problem because it avoids the two issues you can run into:  sliding on a slope-- which legs don't, but other stuff does-- and clipping into terrain, which the game interprets as a collision upon loading, which is what makes stuff jump into the air.  Landing legs deal with that.)

[Waxing_Kibbous]

One of my favorite youtube channels is Kerbal Space Command, and that guy docks stuff together on the surface all the time- I recommend watching his base build videos, good stuff.

[Cannon]

i tried everything except KIS/KAS, still couldn't make it
i think i'll wait till squad makes it easier.
at least i've mastered "walking" on landing legs xD