Inline docking port … missed. Known problem?

[ComradeGoat]

With my recent foray into space planes, I find myself using a component I haven't used before: the inline docking port.

So there I am with my spaceplane a few dozen metres from my fuelling depot in LKO, and I am ready to dock to transfer fuel. Open the port, select "control from here", watch the navball jump by the expected 90°, and bring it in on translational RCS.

Got a beautiful approach lined up, closing speed 0.2m/s, flying with the yellow circle perfectly centred on the purple circle, and boing!

It bounced off.

"That's odd", I think, so I try it again, with the same result.

The next time, I turn the camera to see the two ports approaching and see the problem. Despite having control from the docking port, the navball is apparently lining up my cockpit with the station's docking port, leaving the plane's docking port a few metres away, bouncing off the side of the space station.

Is this a well known bug that I've only just encountered? The navball switches its horizon to where I would expect it to be, but not its point of view, as it were. This does make using the inline docking port rather more of a challenge than it would otherwise be!

[RoboRay]

Not only that, but your NavBall target indicator also seems to center on the target's center of mass rather than the docking port you select. The NavBall will only give you a perfect alignment if your docking port is in-line with your cockpit and the target's docking port is in-line with its CoM (or maybe it's the target command pod, not sure).

I suggest trying out the Lazor Docking Cam for precise docking.

Edited April 24, 2013 by RoboRay

[ComradeGoat]

Thanks. I'll look into the Lazor mod. This does seem to be a bit of a showstopper for using the inline docking port!

[RoboRay]

Note that you can get the Docking Cam as a standalone mod. You don't need to install the full Lazor mod to get it, but it's still included there as well, I believe.

[Splode]

Yeah, this is a known issue with the navball.

Hopefully it gets fixed in a future patch, it's pretty irritating.

[AmpsterMan]

The various issues with docking are what have been keeping me from making any space stations tbh.