Docking more difficult since update

[Lorshank]

On 3/17/2018 at 2:47 PM, Waddle said:

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

Maybe?  Have you noticed any improvement?

[AngryKitty]

1 hour ago, Lorshank said:

Maybe?  Have you noticed any improvement?

I didn't personally play 1.4 to the point where I would have noticed it there, but it's definitely present in 1.4.1.

[Gargamel]

On 3/17/2018 at 2:46 PM, Waddle said:

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've had this happen twice in 1.3.1 last week.   Went to dock a small CSM craft to a Class E asteroid with a variety of ports on it.  Slightly bad approach, bounced off, and the CSM was fine, but the Asteroid went tumbling.   Had to wait 20 minutes the first time before the SAS/RCS already docked on the asteroid could stabilize it again.  Second time, time warp quickly nulled the tumble. 

So I don't know if it's a new bug, but maybe one that's been hiding and it takes a rare combination of circumstances to happen. 

 

The rest of the reports may be new to 1.4. 

[Boris Kerball]

My problem Guys is that Iv lost confidence with Thruster positioning it seem all thrusters keep correcting at once, Should i use the 4way Ones wich i need for forward & reverse , i only use 2 of them (12 o'clock & 6 o'clock) then the Pod type for left & right Up & down * in total.

 

Is this wrong when we had the docking camera film (realistic docking 1.2) I could dock first tikme every time with this set up...but not Now

[LameLefty]

14 hours ago, Technical Ben said:

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

In my case, yesterday afternoon I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what was going on. I finally decided it was probably the way I had things mounted to nodes in the interstage fairing I was using. I ultimately deleted the interstage nodes inside the fairing and just built my lander "down" from base of the orbiter module on top. I mounted the Junior docking port on my Munar Module to the engine bell of the orbiter above, and then used an action group to decouple that Junior docking port and separate the orbiter. 

After that, I was able to transpose and dock with the Munar Module as expected, then extract the MM from the transfer stage as planned, using another decoupler at the base of the fairing bound to a second action group. 

So tl;dr: in my case, something about the nodes inside a fairing cause the docking port(s) to become bugged and inoperable. 

[Waddle]

Thanks Zeiss Ikon and KevinW42 for the additional tips on docking / lining up. Haven't had much KSP time since my last post but I'll deffo try them out.

[Waddle]

On 18/03/2018 at 8:58 PM, Lorshank said:

Maybe?  Have you noticed any improvement?

I've only had time to try a couple more dockings since my last post and I haven't had the issue again, but it's maybe a bit soon to give it the thumbs up . As soon as I have another few tries I'll report back. I notice a few other posts on here saying that 1.4.1 might still be suffering the issue and that it may be in earlier versions too. For me it was definitely an issue only after the 1.4.0 upgrade, but that doesn't mean others don't have it in other versions. Maybe it's totally random or linked to some particular port / ship configuration......?

[Waddle]

Well, after quite a few more attempts docking I haven't had the problem again, so I haven't seen the issue on 1.4.1 yet. Quietly optimistic that some random change in this version may have sorted it

[KerikBalm]

I'm seeing issues in 1.4.2

In 1.3 and earlier, the magnetism seemed gentle, and if the ports didn't connect on the first bump, they'd get pulled back together, possibly pump again, and again... and so on, with the magnitude of the bump decreasing each time until connection. Now I seem to need to get the docking connection right on the first time or my craft will be flung away from each other.

Once I was docking a 1.25m based lander to the side of a 2.5m based station via 0.625m docking connections, and I had a weird glitch.It seemed that the manetism somehow pulled the other docking port through it without connecting, and then the attraction was very stong, and it initially seemed like a stable connection, but they wouldn't actually join (and there was a bit of vibration), as each port seemed to be sticking a bit through the other.

I wonder if the colliders have somehow changed. *if* attraction increases with distance, and if that distance is allowed to get smaller, then the attractive forces can get much larger, and perhaps rounding errors and artificial limits to the attraction distance are causing these bumps that fling craft apart

I'm really getting the feeling that the attraction in the moments right before contact is stronger than before.

[Cavscout74]

On 4/14/2018 at 8:15 AM, KerikBalm said:

Now I seem to need to get the docking connection right on the first time or my craft will be flung away from each other.

I had this a week ago or so in 1.4.1, trying to assemble a science/fuel station to go to Laythe.  I had a core with a transfer stage & 4 Sr docking ports around the middle with plans of 2 fuel & 2 hab modules.  Only 1 of 4 modules would dock, the other 3 plus a duplicate i sent up to try again all very nearly docked (<1m) then were sent flying off faster than my approach had been.  I finally let the whole thing burn up over Kerbin & built an assembled version in the VAB & cheated it to Kerbin orbit.  I haven't had this issue with regular or Jr ports yet though.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Cavscout74

[Zosma Procyon]

Just use Mechjeb. There is no shame in letting a computer handle the grunt work, that's how real space travel is done these days.

[Gargamel]

55 minutes ago, Zosma Procyon said:

Just use Mechjeb. There is no shame in letting a computer handle the grunt work, that's how real space travel is done these days.

I don't think MJ will stop the issue from happening, as it's not a piloting error. 

[Cavscout74]

10 hours ago, Zosma Procyon said:

Just use Mechjeb. There is no shame in letting a computer handle the grunt work, that's how real space travel is done these days.

I actually did on one or two of the tries for my station, and made no difference.  Got to almost touching, then got shoved back at >1 m/s with or without MJ

[Zosma Procyon]

2 hours ago, Cavscout74 said:

I actually did on one or two of the tries for my station, and made no difference.  Got to almost touching, then got shoved back at >1 m/s with or without MJ

Oh that. I've had that too. Had to use RCS jets to finish docking. Maybe it will be fixed in 1.4.3.

[JAFO]

It looks like @Skystorm may have figured out what's going on.. turns out the exploding landing-legs bug appears to be a misplaced-decimal-point bug, and that the docking ports bug may possibly be related.

https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/173831-patch-143-to-be-released-next-week/&do=findComment&comment=3362854