SPH Blues: cannot get docking port to attach

[Klapaucius]

I've got this space station I am building and wanted to attach a small SSTO to it.  I'm going to test the whole thing out in Mission Builder before trying to launch and assemble it in orbit.

 

However, I cannot for the life of me get the docking clamp on the nose of the plane to attach.  Oddly, I can turn the plane around and attach the rear just fine, but not the front. What is going on?

 

Also, has anyone else encountered this issue where your parts or our sub assembly appear very small and far away in the hangar, and it is quite a mission to get them on the same plane as your build? Notice at the start of the video.

 

Any thoughts or suggestions would be most appreciated.

 

 

[Draalo]

Every subassembly has only one attach node. This time its the rear part which has it.

Reroot the subassembly, make the front part root and it should work.

 

Edit: Not sure but the shielded dockinport hasnt a node in front anyway

Edited April 25, 2020 by Draalo

[Klapaucius]

How do you make a root part of a subassembly?  In order to create it, I have to build it, attach it to an ibeam, reset that to be the root and then drop it into the subassembly folder. Or have they changed something? I have never been able to drop a fully built craft into the subassembly without detaching it from some root part.

[Rhomphaia]

You cant really reroot a subassembly IIRC.

what you would have to do is start a new build, attach the subassembly to something, then attach another part to the node you want to use and make the new part the root.  remove the starting part from the old node then detach the subassembly from the new root and save it as a new subassembly.

As mentioned the shielded docking ports dont have a node in stock, but there used to be a mod that enabled one for them.  don't know if it still exists

[AHHans]

19 hours ago, Rhomphaia said:

You cant really reroot a subassembly IIRC.

No, you can. The re-root tool works on subassemblies as well as on your main craft. (Also took me a while to figure that out.) You first need to put the "ghost" version somewhere - preferably somewhere where you can get to the part that you want as the new root - and then you can use the re-root tool on it.

19 hours ago, Klapaucius said:

How do you make a root part of a subassembly?

The part of a subassembly with the active attachment node is the root part of that subassembly. So if you want then don't call it "root" but "attachable part".

P.S. In stock the shielded docking port has only the one attachment node and it cannot be used as a root part for a subassembly because of that.

Edited April 26, 2020 by AHHans
Added P.S., fixed typo

[Klapaucius]

11 hours ago, Draalo said:

Edit: Not sure but the shielded dockinport hasnt a node in front anyway

That's a bummer, as I wanted to eventually upload it with the spaceplane attached.