Docking issues

[babtras]

I have been trying to dock two craft unsuccessfully all day. I've been able to bump the clamps together several times but they will not latch. This last time, I was so precise that you couldn't tell by looking at it that the clamp wasn't engaged. Watching tutorials it seems you only have to be close and they will pull together magnetically. That isn't working for me. I just end up bumping the ships together endlessly until I run out of monopropellant. Is this a common problem? I am using the latest version of the game to the best of my knowledge. I have included a screenshot below, showing that I am indeed lining them up very precisely. In the screenshot, the ships are not latched. If I don't touch the keyboard, they will drift apart.

[sjwt]

To dock you will need to turn off your SAS as the clamps start to attract or get close and your confident with manually flying them.. otherwise your ship will try to straighten itself as its getting pulled in..

[babtras]

As it turns out, the problem was because the docking clamp on the smaller craft was installed backwards. I right-clicked it and saw an "uncouple node" option. I clicked it and the port popped off and floated into space. Installing it on the bottom of a craft during design causes it to be installed backwards and not work.

[Noticeably FAT]

It's a little tough to tell from your screenshot, but it looks like you may have one of your clamps backwards. That seems to be the common theme when clamps aren't trying to pull together, the magnetism is fairly strong and it's pretty obvious when they try to dock. Actually, the closer I look, the more I'm certain that the Cricket vessel clamp is upside down. The 'outside' has a sort of 'finished' ring, and the 'inside' has a large skirt the is designed to clip inside your vessel. When your placing them, they clamping side by default is pointing up. If I was a betting man I'd say you forgot to flip it before you placed it on the bottom of your ship.

It's not strictly necessary to turn SAS/ASAS and RCS off while docking, but that seems to be the best practice. I try to make sure they get toggled off right when the magnetism kicks in. The ASAS especially tries to fight the docking ports.

[Noticeably FAT]

Ninja'd by the OP. Damn.

[UNSC]

Could you imagine NASA realizing that they have installed a vital part of the ship backwards. XD

[Sovek]

Could you imagine NASA realizing that they have installed a vital part of the ship backwards. XD

They did, a Jupiter atmospheric probe IIRC.

[tommygunyeah]

As it turns out, the problem was because the docking clamp on the smaller craft was installed backwards. I right-clicked it and saw an "uncouple node" option. I clicked it and the port popped off and floated into space. Installing it on the bottom of a craft during design causes it to be installed backwards and not work.

Lool, I came to say it could of just been the wrong port but you done better

[Nibb31]

They did, a Jupiter atmospheric probe IIRC.

Erm... I don't think so.

However, the Russian Polyus experimental battle station was mounted upside-down on the first Energia flight. This was deliberate because of the CoM of the payload, and the station was supposed to rotate 180° before firing its engines. For some reason, someone entered 360° instead of 180° in the flight computer, causing the Polyus to do a full turn and burn in the wrong direction. Major Oops.

[Sovek]

Erm... I don't think so.

However, the Russian Polyus experimental battle station was mounted upside-down on the first Energia flight. This was deliberate because of the CoM of the payload, and the station was supposed to rotate 180° before firing its engines. For some reason, someone entered 360° instead of 180° in the flight computer, causing the Polyus to do a full turn and burn in the wrong direction. Major Oops.

Ahem, pulled from the Wiki.

The atmospheric probe deployed its first parachute about one minute later than anticipated, resulting in a small loss of upper atmospheric readings. Through review of records, the problem was later determined to likely be faulty wiring in the parachute control system. The fact that the chute opened at all was attributed to luck.[52][not in citation given] It is now believed that the accelerometer controlling the parachute's pyrotechnics was installed backwards. A similar defect affected the Genesis probe's sample return capsule when it returned to Earth in September 2004, causing the capsule to crash in the Utah desert.[53]

[stibbons]

Ahem, pulled from the Wiki.

URL?

My first thought was, if NASA can lose a probe because their ground station was using imperial units while the probe itself was using metric units, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter#Cause_of_failure) then anything's possible.

[babtras]

The obvious question to follow up, is there any way I can rotate the port when assembling it so that it is installed the correct way? I have the same issue with the lack of forward facing lights for docking in the dark. I ended up installing aircraft landing gear on all my dockable craft for the built-in light, which isn't ideal.

Edit: Nevermind. Never thought to try WASD.

Edited April 21, 2013 by babtras

[Sovek]

URL?

My first thought was, if NASA can lose a probe because their ground station was using imperial units while the probe itself was using metric units, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter#Cause_of_failure) then anything's possible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Probe , scroll down to almost the bottom, its under "Near-failure of atmospheric probe parachute"

[UNSC]

Fun fact: Hold shift when you press WASD for small rotations.