Docking more difficult since update

[Lorshank]

Is anyone else finding it way less forgiving to dock since the update?  Where the vessels used to bounce a bit and slowly orient themselves with the magnets... Now they drive into each other and starts spinning frantically out of control.  

[sevenperforce]

Hmm. I just tested it with a standard Apollo-style flip-and-dock, no problem. Did it a few times in succession to be sure.

Try keeping one craft's SAS off?

[DerekL1963]

Docking was one of my first tests, because of the new RCS system on the MK 1-3.  Absolutely zero problems.

[Zeiss Ikon]

Haven't tried it with a Mk. 1-3 yet, because when I upgraded I had a flight in progress with a Mk. 1-2 based rescue craft -- but that one docked without unusual difficulty.  In fact, it connected so smooooothly it took me by surprise.  I did find that a fuel duct from the vessel's SM tank to one of the "cylindrified" RCS tanks (to bypass the heat shield) didn't let me transfer fuel to the station where I was collecting the rescuees; it occurred to me, after undocking and maneuvering to pick up a Kerbal stuck about 5,500 km up at 11 degree inclination (i.e. when it was too late to go back and check) that I might have forgotten to enable crossfeed on one or another of the docking ports involved.

We really need a simple way to transfer fuel past a heat shield, but I'll probably just start radially mounting docking ports on a tank instead of fooling with ducts.

Edited March 12, 2018 by Zeiss Ikon

[Lorshank]

Must just be my imagination.  It may also be a happy coincidence that I'm not having problems with ship bounce on Ike anymore (on load)

[Waddle]

I've definitely got this docking issue too. I'm no expert by any means but I'm not too bad at docking. On 1.3 if you were a little bit off the ships just bounced a little and then settled as the ports attracted each other. I've tried about 10 docks since the update and unless I'm bang on,  my ship ends up being flicked away with quite some force. The issue is severe enough that it even spins the space station I'm docking with with some force. Neither the ship or station is small.....

[Lorshank]

The ships I was having problems with are rather large as well.  I would say that probably has something to do with it.  I'm not aware of a method of making sure you're perfectly lined up (without rotating both objects), and I can't go any slower than 0.1 m/s.

Edited March 15, 2018 by Lorshank
additional info

[Kaskel2000]

I’m struggling with the entire docking process. I can’t seem to get my rocket within 1km of the target. It’s got to the stage where I gave up trying!  I sort of tried again this morning. I have two kerbals stuck in a circular orbit with no fuel left so I know I’m going to have to rescue them eventually (though there’s no docking port which makes it harder!). So I took my current launcher into space which carries a lander on it. This time I couldn’t even get within 12km. It’s really frustrating and I’ve watched a lot of tutuorial videos. Are there any mods that make it easier? I don’t want to cheat but just something to help. I know I’m going to have to learn to dock to make interplanetary missions. 

[Chumpes]

i also have the same problem

 

before you could dock at 0.5-1/0 m/s relative velocity, now it seams to bounce above 0.2-0.5 m/s relative velocity...

[sysigy]

I've also had a similar issue, to fix it you have to turn off SAS when the magnetic attraction kicks in.

I'm not sure when it happened but I now experience docking as if it has been made easier.

I now seem to have a more 'magnetic' issue going on that when maneuvering 1 ship the other ship is mirroring it at close range.  This is making it easier but I don't like it as it doesn't look or feel realistic to me.

Is there an option somewhere to turn off this 'magnetic attraction' between docking ports on different vessels?

NOTE: I know docking ports always attracted to another in range but it seems to be stronger in the newer versions of KSP.

Edited March 16, 2018 by sysigy

[sevenperforce]

3 hours ago, Kaskel2000 said:

I’m struggling with the entire docking process. I can’t seem to get my rocket within 1km of the target. It’s got to the stage where I gave up trying!  I sort of tried again this morning. I have two kerbals stuck in a circular orbit with no fuel left so I know I’m going to have to rescue them eventually (though there’s no docking port which makes it harder!). So I took my current launcher into space which carries a lander on it. This time I couldn’t even get within 12km. It’s really frustrating and I’ve watched a lot of tutuorial videos. Are there any mods that make it easier? I don’t want to cheat but just something to help. I know I’m going to have to learn to dock to make interplanetary missions. 

Well, it sounds like you're having trouble with rendezvous, not with docking itself. You can test dock and undock by sending up a two-part ship in one launch and then separating and reattaching, but rendezvous is a horse of a different color.

The hardest part of the rendezvous is getting an intercept. If you can get to under about 10 km separation, then you've already done the bulk of the work, and the rest is pretty simple if you know what to do.

Here's what you do.

1. Make sure you have targeted your target in the map view.
2. Click the navball velocity indicator until it reads "target".
3. Turn the navball until you are pointing retrograde.
4. Burn until velocity is zero.
5. Turn the navball until you are pointing toward the target indicator.
6. Burn about 10-20 m/s.
7. Wait until you are as close as possible to your target, then repeat steps 3-6.

Just keep repeating until you are close enough to initiate docking visually.

[Waddle]

20 hours ago, Lorshank said:

The ships I was having problems with are rather large as well.  I would say that probably has something to do with it.  I'm not aware of a method of making sure you're perfectly lined up (without rotating both objects), and I can't go any slower than 0.1 m/s.

You might be right there. I've tried with a number of ship sizes docking to the same space station and the smaller and lighter they are the less I have the problem. The worst one is a 75t Eve manned ship that is a nightmare now since the patch. It wasn't a problem before. What I'm doing now is getting to about 10m away and then holding. I then rotate the view around and use RCS to get as close to lined up as I can. I'm running stock so no mods or anything. When I'm happy it looks good I thrust forward slowly. When I'm close enough that the ports start to attract I use some reverse RCS to smooth the dock. Only tried this a few times but it seems to help. Still a pain though :-( Clearly something has changed ..... Oh yes, I always turn SAS off a couple of metres out too (did this before the patch too).

Edited March 16, 2018 by Waddle
Missed a bit off the end!

[Kaskel2000]

Thanks for the tips sevenperforce I actually tried the launch two ships just before you posted your reply and managed to dock and un dock a few times. So it’s definitely the approach I need to practise. Hopefully I’ll get there soon as I’m starting to unlock things that will help with a space station. 

[Frozen_Heart]

I've been having the same problem since 1.3. Two craft trying to dock into each other at 0.5m/s and they will both go spinning off at high speed. Sometimes it does it sometimes it doesn't.

 

It's not even a consistent craft which is doing it.

[Zeiss Ikon]

The only time I've had ships bounce off after docking (velocities anywhere from 0.1 m/s up to 1 m/s or a little above) was when I had inadvertently attached docking ports backward.  No attraction, no latch-up, just a bounce, as if I'd bumped a part with no port attached.

You guys do dock with the nav ball, don't you?  I can pretty much dock without looking at the ships, now, other than to switch to the target and (if there's control) turn its port to face the ship doing the work (and then leave SAS on stability mode).  And this is in 1.3.0 (which I was running until a few days ago) and 1.4.0 (which I installed this past weekend).  I've never had a need to turn SAS off just before contact, either, except one time when I got the clamps into contact, but the ship axes were something like 55 degrees off parallel.

[Zeiss Ikon]

I got a chance to try a docking in 1.4.0 with a Mk. 1-3 pod; as usual, I docked with the nav ball (no mods installed for this), and as usual, with closing velocity around 0.7 m/s (slowing down with RCS, but a little late decelerating, so docked with a heavy bump) -- no bounce.  Good thing there weren't knick-knacks on a shelf in the station, though -- that docking probably rattled every Kerbal tooth in both vessels.

Straight in approach from a couple hundred meters out (hence the relatively high approach velocity), target (Mun Station Alpha) pointed at the approaching vessel, approach velocity set with main engine at minimum thrust, steered in and kept aligned with RCS.  Bob's your uncle (which, I think, makes you a Kerbal, too).

[Lorshank]

I hadn't played in a few days and now I'm not having the problem anymore.  I've docked several times with large ships.  Hopefully anyone else who was experiencing this has noticed an improvement as well.  I am putting more time into my approach, but even when i failed an alignment, it didn't behave the way i described before.

[Waddle]

20 hours ago, Zeiss Ikon said:

The only time I've had ships bounce off after docking (velocities anywhere from 0.1 m/s up to 1 m/s or a little above) was when I had inadvertently attached docking ports backward.  No attraction, no latch-up, just a bounce, as if I'd bumped a part with no port attached.

You guys do dock with the nav ball, don't you?  I can pretty much dock without looking at the ships, now, other than to switch to the target and (if there's control) turn its port to face the ship doing the work (and then leave SAS on stability mode).  And this is in 1.3.0 (which I was running until a few days ago) and 1.4.0 (which I installed this past weekend).  I've never had a need to turn SAS off just before contact, either, except one time when I got the clamps into contact, but the ship axes were something like 55 degrees off parallel.

The docking ports are definitely the correct way around :-) It's not so much that the ship(s) bounce, they get flicked away (usually into a spin) as if something's given them a real bash. I do use the nav ball and as you say you can pretty much connect the ports without ever looking at the ships. Because of the 1.4.0 issue though I now need to make sure that everything is as parallel as it can be - from what I can tell the nav ball shows you direction to target and where your velocity vector is, but not "alignment" as such? The way things are at the mo' if I'm just a couple of degrees off parallel with a large ship it's a no go.....

[Waddle]

3 hours ago, Lorshank said:

I hadn't played in a few days and now I'm not having the problem anymore.  I've docked several times with large ships.  Hopefully anyone else who was experiencing this has noticed an improvement as well.  I am putting more time into my approach, but even when i failed an alignment, it didn't behave the way i described before.

This sounds promising. Do you think 1.4.1 might have sorted this?

[Zeiss Ikon]

1 hour ago, Waddle said:

The docking ports are definitely the correct way around :-) It's not so much that the ship(s) bounce, they get flicked away (usually into a spin) as if something's given them a real bash. I do use the nav ball and as you say you can pretty much connect the ports without ever looking at the ships. Because of the 1.4.0 issue though I now need to make sure that everything is as parallel as it can be - from what I can tell the nav ball shows you direction to target and where your velocity vector is, but not "alignment" as such? The way things are at the mo' if I'm just a couple of degrees off parallel with a large ship it's a no go.....

Well, you get partial alignment information from the nav ball.  The pink crossed circle ("to target") marker has a definite center, and if the dot in your own "wings" heading indicator is centered on the "to target" marker, and you've done "control from here" with the port you want to use, you can be assured your docking craft is aligned.  Then if, after you set up your approach and are coming in straight from less than around 300 m (in Kerbin orbit, drift rate varies with how tight and how fast your orbit is, so that distance will be different around other bodies), you switch to the target, set "control from here" on your target port, set target on your docking vehicle, and then similarly center the heading dot on the "to target" marker, everything will be lined up, more than close enough that if you keep the velocity vector aligned and periodically nudge the docking craft's heading, you won't be off angle enough to worry about when you get close.  I've done this twice in 1.4, and it works the same way it always has since I learned to dock with the nav ball.

[AngryKitty]

I see similar issues, fairly intermittently. Might be some issue with the collision physics on docking ports. I usually dock at 0.3m/s with no issues, but trying to dock my lander to a Minmus station in 1.4.1 was challenging at best. Ran out of monopropellant, couldn’t use the engine because of the “bounciness”, and had to reload from Quicksave. 

I’m not bad at rendezvous and docking - never had problems like this before. 

[KevinW42]

19 hours ago, Waddle said:

The docking ports are definitely the correct way around :-) It's not so much that the ship(s) bounce, they get flicked away (usually into a spin) as if something's given them a real bash. I do use the nav ball and as you say you can pretty much connect the ports without ever looking at the ships. Because of the 1.4.0 issue though I now need to make sure that everything is as parallel as it can be - from what I can tell the nav ball shows you direction to target and where your velocity vector is, but not "alignment" as such? The way things are at the mo' if I'm just a couple of degrees off parallel with a large ship it's a no go.....

What I do for alignment is go to the target vessel, right click the target port, and select control from here. Then I set sas to anti normal. Then on the active vessel I set sas to normal. That should keep the angles just about perfectly aligned. And the reason I use the normal vectors is because they're the only ones that stay pointing in a fixed direction as you move through your orbit.

[Zeiss Ikon]

1 hour ago, KevinW42 said:

What I do for alignment is go to the target vessel, right click the target port, and select control from here. Then I set sas to anti normal. Then on the active vessel I set sas to normal. That should keep the angles just about perfectly aligned. And the reason I use the normal vectors is because they're the only ones that stay pointing in a fixed direction as you move through your orbit.

Unfortunately, in a career, this only works after you have Level 2 pilots.

[LameLefty]

I just noticed this issue today for the first time in 1.4.1. I'm trying to dock a LM-analog vehicle with a Junior docking port to the a Junior docking port on top of a CM-analog part. I'm DEFINITELY not a docking newbie (first docking was 5 years ago in 0.19!) Perfectly lined up per DPAI, approach velocity anywhere from 0.1 m/s up to 0.5 m/s or so, and .... nada. Nuthin'. Ships just touch and rebound, as if the docking clamps weren't even there. Reloading a quicksave didn't fix it, nor did quitting the game entirely and starting it again and reloading my save.

Mission aborted due to bugged docking ports. 

[Technical Ben]

IIRC there was a really old bug with the docking ports... could it be something to do with which part is the root part?