MechJeb auto docking help

[spacejohn]

Hi, 

I am sure many Kerbonaughts asked this question, and I resisted posting after searching for a solutions here and on the web - Part question and part statement. I have "Flown" my own ships to to Min, Mun, Duna and it satellite (can't remember its name), several times on Stock. I built a Kerbin space station and I am tired after four hours of unsuccessfully docking the fuel.. well, I am a math teacher and I need to plan lessons, and would like the rather "mundane" Flying left to auto pilot to prepare for my real life job, and love KSP to the heart, sorry to the die hards...... ANYWAY, sorry for boring you, but MJ is not successfully docking to a station wo MJ, but the fuel has MJ part. It is an AWESOME mod! but it fails in the last few meters. Like the control from here to dock to here is ignored and it seems to want to dock to some center of mass, or something. I believe I have the correct updates, and I only run MJ and KER. Is there something I am missing (of course, i know our guys covered everything in the forums) sorry my question is mundane. But your expertise is welcomed :-) dorky smiley. \

Btw, I played for an entire summer wanting to get my Math students into this game but I think my pc was not up to the specs, but now my mac 15 is capable, and I want to introduce KSP in the classroom to my Chinese students as an alternative to the junk they play and as a Math/Sciecne/Learning tool. If you need my OS conditions I can provide. OR just point me to a link and I can read it first. Thanks for you time.

thanks,

spacejohn (teacherjohmath)

PS. I admire this program immensely! An understatement. Keep up the great work. I read the lead programmer move on... No worries, I hope you guys are great. I am not blowing sunshine. But so many winners, and (maybe me too) but its a great undertaking none the less. :-) supper happy this game exists. Btw, I don't  mind playing stock, but the mods are very intriguing. I did not not see a MAC install for CKAN, is there one?!

[Kerbart]

Apparently nothing has changed over the years... I always found MJ docking troublesome. Here's a few hints though:

• Right-click on the docking port on your ship you want to use to dock with and select "control from here"
• Make sure your RCS ports are aligned with the COM of the ship (either right on top of it, or spaced symetrically around it)
• Use the Navyfish Docking Port Alignment Indicator and dock manually. DPAI makes manual docking a trivial exercise that costs hardly any monoprop and usually takes me less than a minute.

[spacejohn]

7 minutes ago, Kerbart said:

Apparently nothing has changed over the years... I always found MJ docking troublesome. Here's a few hints though:

• Right-click on the docking port on your ship you want to use to dock with and select "control from here"
• Make sure your RCS ports are aligned with the COM of the ship (either right on top of it, or spaced symetrically around it)
• Use the Navyfish Docking Port Alignment Indicator and dock manually. DPAI makes manual docking a trivial exercise that costs hardly any monoprop and usually takes me less than a minute.

thank you so much Kerbart!. I will look into it: 

First bullet - I did that

Second bullet - I did not even have rss on the docking ship - dum-me ;-( and knew it extra dumb. "COM of the ship?" what is this, sorry?!

Third bullet - Navyfish Docking Port - I have not heard of this {navball?!} Either way, I don't want to dock this massive fuel container manually... I spent four hours --- maybe I am lame, or not enough something to get it right. this is what is causing me to put the game away for several months, and shelf-it, but KSP is always in the back of my mind to find a reasonable solution, that is not manual. 
 

[Van Disaster]

Further expanding Kerbart's points if you're using MJ anyway:

* "Control from here" on ship's port
* Either using Navyfish's indicator or just in external view, target the docking port on the station you want to dock with.
* In MJ SmartASS, TGT -> PAR-  : now your ship will align the two ports and hold them aligned, and you can just use the translation controls to dock without having to keep rotating it. Unfortunately if you didn't bring RCS, that's a problem

* So, install KIS & KAS: send a kerbal with a backpack full of rcs ports and a tank or two of RCS, and attach them to the ship in flight in EVA - always good fun doing that. COM of the ship - Centre of Mass.

Edited June 12, 2016 by Van Disaster