Docking Ports which can only dock at certain orientations

[CyanAstro]

Something that KSP was missing is docking ports only being able to dock at certain angles. This could be offset buy using an adapter and 2 or more docking ports but I think it would be better if the standard docking ports could only attach to each other at some angles or however many a player wants. Eventually the KSP devs added a turning system for the docking ports but I found this to be problematic as it would cause my space stations to suffer kraken attacks.

[Bej Kerman]

Completely agree. Freestyle docking is not always what is needed for certain builds imo

[Rutabaga22]

Maybe docking ports with petals could be a good way of doing that.

[darthgently]

3 hours ago, CyanAstro said:

Something that KSP was missing is docking ports only being able to dock at certain angles. This could be offset buy using an adapter and 2 or more docking ports but I think it would be better if the standard docking ports could only attach to each other at some angles or however many a player wants. Eventually the KSP devs added a turning system for the docking ports but I found this to be problematic as it would cause my space stations to suffer kraken attacks.

In theory, the stock dock rotating issue was addressed in the final fix, I think.  I use the DockRotate mod so don't personally know

 

[Starwaster]

3 hours ago, CyanAstro said:

Something that KSP was missing is docking ports only being able to dock at certain angles. 

Docking ports can optionally be configured to dock only at specified angles. Not sure when that was added and I don’t recall what the parameter is or how to set it and can’t readily check that as my PC is down and out and I don’t yet have a replacement yet. 

[CyanAstro]

I just thought there was a turning system and that’s it?

 

[Laxez]

I partially agree with this proposal, because on the one hand I understand the problem, on the other hand it is also much easier to dock "casually", then if you are badly oriented, just unhook, rotate the necessary and dock again. EZ

[jimmymcgoochie]

That’s one way to solve the problem, but adding an option to rotate a docking port through the full 360 degrees would be more useful in my opinion , allowing greater flexibility to build structures with unusual shapes or symmetry (e.g. 5 or 7 sided) and allowing you to just dock first and worry about alignment later.

[Superfluous J]

This is addressed in KSP1, though it requires modding - or at the very least file hacking - to enable.

The easiest way is with a module manager config like this:

// Add angle snapping to Squad Docking ports (12 increments as on textures)
// Author: Psycho_zs
@PART[dockingPortLateral|dockingPort2|dockingPort3|mk2DockingPort|dockingPortLarge|dockingPort1]:FINAL
{
	@MODULE[ModuleDockingNode]
	{
		// If you want X degrees margin, use cos(0.5*X) as captureMinRollDot
		// 0.5 degrees = 0.99999048
		// 1 degree    = 0.99996192
		// 2 degrees   = 0.9998477
		// 3 degrees   = 0.99965732
		captureMinRollDot = 0.999
		snapRotation = true
		snapOffset = 30
	}
}

As you can tell from the comment at the top of the file, this was gotten from another user, no doubt from a post on this forum.

[Catto]

Speaking of docking ports

Well, maybe a free IVA feature, and docking port pathways so you can go in the station without going in the vacuum

[Pthigrivi]

I find that the vast most of the time Im trying to dock in one of the cardinal directions. I sort of think you could have those on magnets so it pulls you to match by default, with the option to turn it off or rotate. 

[intelliCom]

I remember this KSP video with RSS and far future tech, and they built a manned Saturn exploration vehicle with square-shaped docking ports. Having docking ports that maintain orthogonal angles would be very ideal in building spacecraft. Gone are the days of pairs of solar panels being ever so slightly off. One of the biggest reasons I haven't done orbital construction in KSP1 is for this very reason. Annoying as hell.

[Superfluous J]

Is my post hidden or something? This is literally in the game all you need to do is enable it.

[CyanAstro]

18 hours ago, intelliCom said:

square-shaped docking ports.

Yeah these were what I was thinking, I think I saw these in a KSP video.

[Pthigrivi]

17 hours ago, Superfluous J said:

Is my post hidden or something? This is literally in the game all you need to do is enable it.

I would personally argue that while rotating to any angle is nice, what would be more useful would be docking ports that automatically swivel into place only on specific angles. 98% of the time  players are trying to line things up on 0, 90, 180, and 270. Being able to tweak things after that would be nice for edge cases. 

Edited October 11, 2022 by Pthigrivi

[Superfluous J]

4 hours ago, Pthigrivi said:

I would personally argue that while rotating to any angle is nice, what would be more useful would be docking ports that automatically swivel into place only on specific angles. 98% of the time  players are trying to line things up on 0, 90, 180, and 270. Being able to tweak things after that would be nice for edge cases. 

But you CAN lock it to 0, 90, 180, and 270. Just set SnapRotation to 90 instead of the 30 I have it set to because I prefer 30.

I get wanting to dock and then rotate, but if all you want is your solar panels to line up they solved that years ago.

And yes, it's a massive shame it's not incorporated into the game and you have to modify the files to enable it.