Docking not working

[Boersgard]

Picture

It's a bit dark but I've got both my clampotron jr ports literally touching each other and they still won't connect. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I've even tried rotating around in case it needed a particular orientation and still - nothing!

Is there some trick to this that I'm missing?

[bewing]

No, no trick. You are doing it right. But it's highly likely that one of your mods has screwed up the docking code in your game.

 

[Boersgard]

I'll try docking on the ground as a test to verify - could an alternative explanation be that I attached a stack separator to one of the docking ports for the launch and that causes some kind of bug when I separated and spun the spacecraft around?

[Boersgard]

https://gfycat.com/MistyInbornAmericanriverotter

Testing has confirmed that docking is still working correctly, so it must be some other issue than a mod.

[bewing]

6 hours ago, Boersgard said:

I'll try docking on the ground as a test to verify - could an alternative explanation be that I attached a stack separator to one of the docking ports for the launch and that causes some kind of bug when I separated and spun the spacecraft around?

Maybe. But why would you use a stack separator? A docking port can act as its own stack separator. Just click the "Undock node" button. You may still be able to click that button, to make your design work the way you originally intended.

 

[Bakkerbaard]

Are you perhaps using MechJeb for docking? I can't make out much from the picture, but I have found that after rubbing my docking ports together like horny teenagers, turning off the docking autopilot sometimes just works. The docking ship slowly floats away, but remains in the capture range of the port you're trying to dock and snaps in place. 

Sometimes it does not...

Also, if you're using Construction Docking Ports that do angle snaps, it sometimes happens that the ligter docking part rotates too fast to dock right away and by the time it gets into position it'll be slightly misaligned. Backing up and trying again usually helps. At least, that's what I think happens. I don't think I'm your best source of information when it comes to rocket science.

[Boersgard]

I'm not using mechjeb, just doing it manually with the navball.

[Gargamel]

28 minutes ago, Boersgard said:

I'm not using mechjeb, just doing it manually with the navball.

Probably done this a few times, but back up 30-40 m or so, and try again.  Sometimes the coupling action needs to reset...

 

[Boersgard]

On 5/25/2018 at 11:04 PM, Gargamel said:

Probably done this a few times, but back up 30-40 m or so, and try again.  Sometimes the coupling action needs to reset...

 

Doing this worked, thanks!

[putnamto]

i had this problem to many times to count.

really they just got to be in the mood,  you know their in the mood if you get them close at a slow relative velocity and they start the dance, then its a matter of time before they connect. 

btw the dance can take a LOOONG time sometimes. once i had a docking ports rim touching the others rim and it kept rotating on the rim, sort of like a coin rolling around the edge of a disk.

it also helps if you have two docking ports with the same orientation, gay ports wont mate with straight ports, and vice versa.

[Kesa]

When you decouple/undock a port, its magnet goes off and so does its ability to dock, so that you can actually separate the vessels without instantly redocking. For whatevever reason, it seems to be the state one of your docking port was stuck in.

Glad to see backing up and trying again did work (as it should). If it did not, switchwing out of physic range and back in should also reset magnets (backing up before doing so is not necessary but prevents vessel going through each other while physics' off).

On 5/28/2018 at 4:22 AM, putnamto said:

btw the dance can take a LOOONG time sometimes. once i had a docking ports rim touching the others rim and it kept rotating on the rim, sort of like a coin rolling around the edge of a disk.

Turning SAS ON on the bigger ship (and OFF on the smallest) should make that dance quite short.

Dance requires energy and may last long when SAS is off on both ships because magnets forces are conservative, so collision and friction are the only way to dissipate energy. Collision works great if you approach perfectly aligned, other wise you have to rely on the very low friction of the rims. By turning SAS on on one craft, you let it act as a pseudo ground with additional solid friction (turning SAS ON on both craft prevent them to align, as you might have guessed).

Edited May 30, 2018 by Kesa