Problem with Clampotrons working only once

[ATravelingWolf]

So, having an issue with the clampotron jrs like a lot of people who play ksp apparently. This is weird though. The problem doesn't happen the first time around. Instead it happens the second time around. I'm using the clampotrons in a vtol engine and have two sets. First set holds the engine horizontal (I'll call these the h-ports) and the second holds it vertically (call these v-ports). The first time I decouple the engine module it connects to the vports perfectly fine. When I decouple it and move it back to the hports though, it refuses to dock despite having a near perfect alignment, and it no longer docks to the vports either despite just undocking from it a moment ago. So you'd think the problem was that something was blocking its path? Nope.  While I do clip in landing gear to make the transition back and forth automatic neither have caused an issue, and I rerooted the module to start in the vertical position and got the problem in reverse. Decouple from the vports, able to couple to the hports flawlessly, cannot couple to either position after. So it definitely isn't that. As far as I can tell the docks won't attract each other after they connect the first time. I thought they might just do this on their own but the craft I drew inspiration from does something very similar and can switch indefinitely with very few hitches. They simply stop attracting each other after the first time they do. Any sort of advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Up to this point I've been very happy with how this engine seems to work and it'd be a waste to have to trash it.

Vport docked after decoupling from hport:

Hport NOT docked after decoupling a second time from vport:

Vport not docked after trying to redock when the Hport failed to dock:

 

Oh, should probably mention this is in ksp 1.1.3. Same problem occurs in 1.2.1 too though.

Edited November 12, 2016 by ATravelingWolf

[FullMetalMachinist]

19 hours ago, ATravelingWolf said:

The problem doesn't happen the first time around. Instead it happens the second time around

I'm pretty sure that you're running into a kind of 'safety' feature. Once a docking port detaches it has to move a certain distance away before it can be coupled again. I'm not sure the exact distance, something like 5 or 10 meters. I also don't know if there is a way to alter or disable it. 

[Jarin]

 

21 minutes ago, FullMetalMachinist said:

I'm pretty sure that you're running into a kind of 'safety' feature. Once a docking port detaches it has to move a certain distance away before it can be coupled again. I'm not sure the exact distance, something like 5 or 10 meter

Pretty sure the minimum distance is much shorter than that, but the design above could still be hitting it.

[tg626]

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[ATravelingWolf]

I will try adjusting them to see how far away I can get them to be. If that's the case it's kind of a shame since the hope was to be as compact as possible, but oh well it is what it is. Thanks for the advice!

[EpicSpaceTroll139]

If I recall, there's a line in the physics or settings .cfg that determines the reset distance. I'll have to check in the morning. You could probably change that to a fairly short distance and not run into problems.

[tg626]

On 11/16/2016 at 7:12 PM, EpicSpaceTroll139 said:

If I recall, there's a line in the physics or settings .cfg that determines the reset distance. I'll have to check in the morning. You could probably change that to a fairly short distance and not run into problems.

Set them too close and you'll never escape from them.  The mod tweakable everything lets you adjust various properties, reset distance is among them.