Setting SAS attitude gets disabled after switching control to another Vehicle.

[LeroyJenkins]

Ok, not sure if this is a Bug or not, but I saw the same thing in KSP1. I have two spacecraft in orbit. I want to dock them to each other. I set SAS on Vehicle number 1 to point a certain direction to orientate the vehicle to assist with the docking alignment I want. Then I switch to and control Vehicle number 2, get it SAS orientated just right and start my rendezvous approach to Vehicle 1. As I approach Vehicle 1, I see it is not in the orientation I want or left it in. So I go  back to controlling Vehicle 1 and SAS is disabled. Is this by design, a limitation of the game or a bug? Any insight help from anyone is much appreciated.

Edited April 14, 2023 by LeroyJenkins

[s_gamer101]

On 4/15/2023 at 12:56 AM, LeroyJenkins said:

I saw the same thing in KSP1

I don't know how it is in KSP 2, but in KSP 1, SAS should stay on.

Or do you mean with "SAS is disabled" that SAS is just set to stability assist instead of whatever-you-wanted? Because that would be normal:

If you point Vehicle 1 to normal  or antinormal direction and it doesn't rotate in any direction (Timewarping should stop rotation, at least it does in KSP 1), it will keep it's heading even without SAS. Otherwise it just keeps it's direction relative to the center of mass of the body it is orbiting (as far as I know), which isn't what you want (you want it to keep it's heading relative to the spot on the planet's surface that is below the ship) during timewarp and while it isn't loaded.

Summary: Pointing Ship 1 towards normal or antinormal will probably solve your problem

[18Watt]

I have not personally encountered this issue.  However I perform docking slightly differently.

With both vessels, I target the other vessel, then set SAS on each to lock to the target.  That way they both are pointing directly at each other.  Doing this, I have been able to switch between vessels multiple times, with the SAS still set as I intended.  This was in the most recent version of KSP2 (0.1.2 ?).

I have not tried this with basic SAS mode (hold a random attitude), or any of the other modes, such as one ship holds Normal and the other ship holds Anti-Normal.  If that sounds like how you are docking, perhaps try having each vessel target the other, and then hold target lock on each vessel.  See if that works as a potential workaround for the issue you are experiencing.

Good luck!

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

On 4/14/2023 at 6:56 PM, LeroyJenkins said:

Ok, not sure if this is a Bug or not, but I saw the same thing in KSP1. I have two spacecraft in orbit. I want to dock them to each other. I set SAS on Vehicle number 1 to point a certain direction to orientate the vehicle to assist with the docking alignment I want. Then I switch to and control Vehicle number 2, get it SAS orientated just right and start my rendezvous approach to Vehicle 1. As I approach Vehicle 1, I see it is not in the orientation I want or left it in. So I go  back to controlling Vehicle 1 and SAS is disabled. Is this by design, a limitation of the game or a bug? Any insight help from anyone is much appreciated.

I ran into this too - and I would call it a bug.  In KSP the craft would not 'lose its mind' and change state just because you switched to another vehicle. 

In 2?  Every freaking time.