Closest approach markers bugged?

[icarustours]

I have a strange problem that suddenly arose.  I have gotten relatively proficient rendezvousing and docking at my Kerbin space station.  Now whenever I try to start the process, my closest point of approach markers seem bugged.  The one that is representing my active ship is stuck on the maneuver node(which is periapsis).  Here is the situation:

 

Station at 150,000m circular orbit, Docking ship at ~80,000m circular orbit, both orbits on the same plane.  Station slightly "ahead" in the orbit.

While plotting a maneuver to bring my closest point to within a few km, no matter where I move the manuever node along my path (or how much i vary my speed), the closest point never moves from the maneuver node.  Closest point for the station shows where it would be when i start the maneuver (which is correct).  I effectively can't dock, because i can't plot that maneuver tp get a closest point that is any closer than the difference in orbits).

Here is the strange thing... If i switch to the target (station) and plot a maneuver from that (dropping my orbit to rendezvous with the ship), the closest point marker stays on what will be the periapsis of the new orbit.  It makes it so i can rendezvous, because i can set the new periapsis to the orbital radius of the ship... but its still not working right.

In both cases the closest point markers are sticking to the periapsis of any new orbit (which is the maneuver marker in the first case, since i'm increasing apoapsis).  I tested this by making a highly non-circular orbit and plotting a maneuver from a non-periapsis point.  the closest point marker was stuck to the periapsis (like in the secodn case).

 

This has been occuring to me on 3 different flights, with 2 different designs and 2 different pilots.  I can not get it to work "right".  One of the designs worked 2 days ago, but then after loading a save, no longer works.  I changed no mods during that exit and reload.  The only mods i use are Mech jeb, alarm clock, Docking alignment, and the mod manager which came with the docking alignment mod.  Did i mistakingly change a setting?  <edit>  I did a brand new sandbox game... same exact problem.

My campaign mode is effectively ruined if i can't fix this.  Thank you in advance, I hope this is something that will just make me feel very stupid, which KSP has a way of doing.

Edited April 11, 2018 by icarustours

[bewing]

Welcome to the forums. Sorry you are having a problem.

Which version are you on? We are going to need a few screenshots, I think. Do you know how to post a screenshot with imgur or another image host?

So when you create this maneuver node, do you put enough power into it that it crosses your station's orbit?

 

[Superfluous J]

Sounds like you are closest to the station *now* (at the maneuver), so the markers are telling you where you currently are (well, where the maneuver is). By speeding up, you are forcing your ship further from the station so it's not accurate to say you'll be closer.

When you maneuver to slow the station down, it's (duh) slowing down bringing the two vessels closer. So, the closest point is in the future relative to the station.

And don't bother telling me that this information is not useful and that you'd far rather have the closest approach markers indicate where you and the target would be when their ORBITS are closest, and not just at whatever random point the SHIPS happen to be closest. My voice (fingers) got hoarse (carpal tunnel) trying to convince them to do that years ago, and I still to this day feel just as adamant about it. I've just given up trying to convince anybody.

[icarustours]

Bewing:  I just reinstalled KSP via steam a few weeks ago to start playing again, and I checked that steam was set to auto-update, so i believe the most recent edition, but I will check tonight and edit here.  The mod manager does yell at me that i'm not 1.4.1, which leads me to believe I'm 1.4.2.  the save I am playing on was started after the reinstall.

I will create a few screenshots tonight and link them here.  I was hoping that someone would chime in quickly with whatever I was screwing up, before going through all that.

Yes I have adjusted the maneuver enough to have it cross the orbit of the target twice (an Apoapsis of ~10,000m more than the target's orbit), then i move the maneuver along my own trajectory in order to find the closest point... but the closest point never moves from periapsis (which is the manuever node in this situation).

The good news is that whatever the problem is, it seems to be affecting the whole game, not just my career save.  So its either, something I'm doing wrong, some setting I changed and don't understand, or some type of bug/corrupted file.  All fixable.  I can't find any other people with a similar problem (although my internet searches, have not been exhaustive).  I suspect that if i just reinstalled without trashing my saves, the problem would correct itself, but i will grab the screenshots and do my best to document the issue.  In case I'm doing something wrong, I'd rather learn that than end up repeating it in the future.  If it is some type of bug, then obviously getting it fixed would be ideal for everyone.  Tonight I'm going to try removing mech-jeb and alarm clock, because i don't ever use them (yet), and it seems like a possible culprit.  Docking alignment I use all the time.

5thhorseman: I understand what you are pointing out, and thought exactly that at first, or was simply convinced that there was some strange circumstance I didn't understand at play.  However, the situations you describe would only be valid at very specific times... the problem is no matter where i move the maneuver node and no matter what speed adjustment I make... the closest point never moves from periapsis.  For example, when in a non-circular orbit and plotting a manuever, the fact that the closest point marker is ALWAYS stuck at the periapsis, seems quite suspicious.  Similarly, I've launched an entirely new game in sandbox, launched two totally new ships and still get the same problem.  Regarding your last paragraph, in this situation, knowing when the ships will be closest is exactly what I want, but am not getting.

 

UPDATE: I got home today from work, loaded the sandbox save started last night (to test the problem on other saves) and everything worked exactly how i expected it to.  I then loaded my career save and relaunched a rocket... again everything exactly like i would expect.  The problem had previously persisted through multiple program closures and reloads.  The sandbox save was literally in the exact spot that I was experiencing the issue last night.  I had made absolutely no changes at all to the program or mods.  I can't explain it at all.  Last night i did manage to take 1 screen shot, which all alone doesn't tell much of a story but here it is:

https://imgur.com/F57rmg7

Imagine if you grabbed that maneuver node and moved it around the ship's trajectory, but the closest approach point never moved from the maneuver node itself (which is periapsis of that particular orbit).  I noticed in the picture that my speed readout was set to target, which I'm sure was part of my trouble shooting, but obviously looks suspicious.  I went back into my sandbox save and tried to replicate the problem with that set to target... still worked fine.  I'm glad its fixed, but still can't explain what was going on.  If the problem returns, I'll come back here.

Edited April 11, 2018 by icarustours

[bewing]

Well, since KAC is actually making visible changes to your orbit markers, I'm gonna bet on that one as being at fault.

[TriggerAu]

Is good to hear that its working - although is annoying when you have a bug that mysteriously fixes itself.

It can be a good idea if you have a persistent bug to try removing mods to see if it clears up, but that can be hard too I know

45 minutes ago, bewing said:

Well, since KAC is actually making visible changes to your orbit markers, I'm gonna bet on that one as being at fault.

For extra info on that one KAC doesnt change the orbit markers, it draws a little arrow to the side of them and moves that around. You can disable that in the settings to remove that bit form the equation if you see it again - without having to remove the whole mod as well

 

[bewing]

2 hours ago, TriggerAu said:

For extra info on that one KAC doesnt change the orbit markers

Hmmm. OK, then I'm probably wrong. Oh well.

[GrouchyDevotee]

PS4 Enhanced, 1.01, Default controls, normal difficulty.

Related.

I have noticed that the white encounter/closest approach indicators do not switch from m (metres) to M (Mega metres) when I'm off target.

The measurements will indicate 1,234 m when it's actually 1,234 Mm

Edited April 14, 2018 by GrouchyDevotee