Ship not controlling as expected during docking?

[RX2000]

So I completed my first docking last night after fiddling around with it for 30 minutes or so. My ship wasnt turning as I would expect it to. By that I mean, I press D to turn it to the right, but instead the nose of the ship (where the docking port was) would turn like down & to the left. This made it extremely difficult to line up the docking. Anyone know exactly what was happening? Maybe its something to do with having the navball show relation to target instead of orbit or something? Or why else would the ship not control the way you expect it to?

[Vaporized Steel]

So first you docked, then after docking you released from the docking port and then your ship seems to control badly? Am I correct, because I can't tell by how you told it to me.

If this is the case it is possible you had a command pod/probe core attached to the module that you docked, then after releasing a offset probe core or pod or rotated one switched to be the active probe core on the vessel. By the sound of it this is the case and the probe core that becomes active after docking is rotated in relation to your previous probe core (the one you shed during docking I guess)
Depending on the orientation of your active pod/probe part it will change the navball in the direction it is facing. Probably rotating the horizon on the navball. Does your navball switch after you undock? If the answer is yes then I'm 99percent sure this is the case. Potentially this also whacks the RCS symmetry of balance because you shed weight, also causing control issues obviously.

You can still use the vessel in most cases though. You just have to cross translate and rotate against the offset rotation of your probe core. For someone new to docking this might be really difficult, especially since you said that normal docking took you 30minutes.

Can you post a picture of your craft, just before you docked and a picture thereafter (where things go haywire)
That way we can be specific in our advice.

Edited October 11, 2016 by Vaporized Steel

[DrLicor]

When docking manually, I focus on the navball, not the ship, the navball shown everything you need to know except the distance. Also, you can rightclick the dockingport, press 'control from here'. This way the navball shows the info from dockingport instead of the cockpit.

Last thing I can thing of is that in 1.2pre, there's a bug with the info you get when your dockingport isn't alligned with the CoM. 

If you want to learn how to dock a bit faster and efficient, here's a great video from our wizzard Scot Manley:

 

[GluttonyReaper]

If you hit the 'V' key on your keyboard, you can cycle through the different camera modes. For docking, I would recommend using the "Locked" mode, which if you rotate the camera to behind your craft, ensures that left/right and up/down behave as you'd expect. As mentioned above, it's also worth right-clicking on the docking port you are docking with, and selecting "control from here". This tells the game which way the 'front' of the ship is - it's not always necessary, but it helps a lot if the docking ports are at weird angles.

[RX2000]

12 minutes ago, Vaporized Steel said:

So first you docked, then after docking you released from the docking port and then your ship seems to control badly? Am I correct, because I can't tell by how you told it to me.

Can you post a picture of your craft, just before you docked and a picture thereafter (where things go haywire)
That way we can be specific in our advice.

No, it was controlling weird while I was trying to dock.

I'll fire it up & post a pic of it on here when I get home tonight.

It might have something to do with the camera mode I was in. I think I was using FREE & not LOCKED.

[Vaporized Steel]

The camera has nothing do with controls. If you change camera view the "D" key will do the same just with another camera angle.
And the Locked mode is best as Glutonny pointed out, but it will only change your view, nothing else.

We will await the pics and by tonight you can probably do it in V1.2 of KSP

Edited October 11, 2016 by Vaporized Steel

[Streetwind]

If your RCS ports are badly positioned, then you can have unexpected effects. In particular, trying to translate can induce rotation, and trying to rotate can induce translation.

[ForScience6686]

As well as setting camera to locked, and controlling from the docking port, make sure to target the docking port you want to attach to, not just the ship.  

[RX2000]

4 hours ago, Streetwind said:

If your RCS ports are badly positioned, then you can have unexpected effects. In particular, trying to translate can induce rotation, and trying to rotate can induce translation.

It was turning weird without RCS on.

[Empiro]

The controls are always relative to your ship, not to the camera. It's very easy for your ship not to be aligned with the camera. You can fix this by trying to align your ship with the camera, but usually I don't find it necessary to do so.

The only thing you can count on all the time is the Navball. If you press 'D', then you should see your nose moving to the right on the Navball.

[Chiron0224]

could be the orientation of the command pod such that down isn't the direction you think it is.  Also I highly recommend the mod Docking Port Alignment Indicator.  I can't sing its praises enough.