Can't Undock Bug, How To Fix

[kalizec]

The fix:

Make a copy of your save and store it somewhere in case this doesn't work.

1. Select "Control from Here" at the docking port of the dockee.
   
2. Quicksave
   
3. Open the Quicksave and look up the vessel ( VESSEL-tag ).
   
4. Look up VESSEL.ref and note the number there. This is the uid of the dockee's port.
   
5. Select "Control from Here" at the docking port of the docker.
   
6. Quicksave
   
7. Open the Quicksave and look up the vessel ( VESSEL-tag ).
   
8. Look up VESSEL.ref and note the number there. This is the uid of the docker's port.
   
9. Look up VESSEL.PART.uid where uid matches uid of the dockee's port.
   
10. Within that part, lookup MODULE.state.
    
11. Set MODULE.state to "Docked (dockee)".
    
12. Look up VESSEL.PART.uid where uid matches uid of the docker's port.
    
13. Within that part, lookup MODULE.state.
    
14. Set MODULE.state to "Docked (docker)".
    
15. Additionally, add the code below to MODULE for the docker (but not the dockee).
    
16. Save the edited Quicksave and Reload from it.
    
17. Now select Undock from the docker's docking port and you should succesfully undock.
    

					DOCKEDVESSEL
					{
						vesselName = Name (Name of the Docked Vessel before it was docked)
						vesselType = 5 (Type of vessel expressed as a integer)
						rootUId = 1234567890 (uid of the docker's port which is a integer)
					}

[DeepSpaceDutch]

Thanks for the reply kalizec! Just to be clear; the docker is the original station and the dockee is the combination that originally docked with that, correct?

EDIT: Nevermind, it was the other way around!! Thank you very very much!!!!!

Edited January 12, 2014 by DeepSpaceDutch

[Loerelau]

Damn, have the same issue here; the fix looks complicated.... (and have actually also the same question as DeepSpaceDutch!?)

Hope I am able to rescue my manned Gilly lander.

[kalizec]

Usually I dock my smaller more manouverable craft to my space station.

In that case the docker is the smaller craft and the dockee is the station.

The fix looked complicated to me at first too. By now I can manage to do it in less than 60 seconds.

(Had a lot of these bugs, though the latest add-on updates seem to reduce the frequency).

[Jyro117]

What a fun little bug, I just encountered this on my Jool spacestation... thankfully someone has figured out how to fix it!

[jacobgong]

What a fun little bug, I just encountered this on my Jool spacestation... thankfully someone has figured out how to fix it!

Simple for you to say, I have a ship with at least 10 docked pairs and all of them are bugged.

[ostrichbean]

I have the same issue as DeepSpaceDutch and tried your solution, Kalizec. It meant that I could separate the docking ports but the two parts created were still one vessel although they were separate pieces.

EDIT: whoops, I got the dockee and docker the wrong way round. It's fixed now, thanks!

Edited February 5, 2014 by ostrichbean

[KerbMav]

Shouldnt this bug be squadshed since .23?

And can someone please write a program to automate the fix?

[Bedwyr]

• Open the Quicksave and look up the vessel ( VESSEL-tag ).
  
• Look up VESSEL.ref and note the number there. This is the uid of the dockee's port.
  

					DOCKEDVESSEL
					{
						vesselName = Name (Name of the Docked Vessel before it was docked)
						vesselType = 5 (Type of vessel expressed as a integer)
						rootUId = 1234567890 (uid of the docker's port which is a integer)
					}

Could someone clarify what step 3 means? What "vessel" am I looking for once I set "control-from-here" on the space-station's docking port? What does "VESSEL-tag" mean? I'm using Notepad++ to search and it's not clear which exactly what Mr. kalizec is referring to. (Note, I likewise have a "Docked (same vessel)" indication for a refueling ship that I left attached between play sessions. Pictures available if need be.

Thanks.

[fededido]

Could someone clarify what step 3 means? What "vessel" am I looking for once I set "control-from-here" on the space-station's docking port? What does "VESSEL-tag" mean? I'm using Notepad++ to search and it's not clear which exactly what Mr. kalizec is referring to. (Note, I likewise have a "Docked (same vessel)" indication for a refueling ship that I left attached between play sessions. Pictures available if need be.

Thanks.

vesselName: the vessel you marked as "docked"

VESSEL{<--this is the tag

...

}

vesselType: 5 for normal spacecrafts, 6 for station, etc... I suggest you to find other occurrencies of the tag "DOCKEDVESSEL" for examples.

I hope it helps.

Anyway, could please anyone explain what is causing this bug? I'm using ksp with only MechJeb and BobCat's Soviet Pack, it affected all my station's docking ports all at a time... The fix works, but doing it for every single port is annoying.

[Bedwyr]

Thanks. I actually saw that the station was becoming a hot mess anyhow so I got a clean install of KSP and started over with a new station.

[tychochallenge]

unfortunately, this fix does not work for me

Edit: actually my whole ship except for my command module(bugged and unresponsive) disappeared when I edited the persistence file.

Edited March 23, 2014 by tychochallenge

[sal_vager]

Guys, if we're going to see an end to this bug we're going to have to give Squad as much info as possible, so when this bug hits you, please update this bug report with your save file, and how you triggered the bug.

Ideally only with stock installs and with as few parts as possible, but at this point any new information would help.

If you can reproduce this bug consistently on the ground with stock test craft then that would be great

[tychochallenge]

Guys, if we're going to see an end to this bug we're going to have to give Squad as much info as possible, so when this bug hits you, please update this bug report with your save file, and how you triggered the bug.

Ideally only with stock installs and with as few parts as possible, but at this point any new information would help.

If you can reproduce this bug consistently on the ground with stock test craft then that would be great

For me, it happens randomly but it only starts happening once I get to a certain point of my career game, so it is Possible that it could be a memory issue, but people did report having this bug in full stock.

In fact, when I use docking ports from mods, I can dock and undock at ease. For example in my last career save, I used a SpaceX(dragon) mod for my Duna mission, all of the stock ports were bugged, but the Dragon docking port still worked.

[BananaDealer]

So I've been encountering this bug a lot lately...

I've mostly been able to fix it using the steps from the previous page but recently my "broken" have been reluctant to undock themselves even after I apply the changes...

Any ideas why?

Update: So it apparently undocks the thing but... doesn't make it a separate vessel? What? Like, it floats away but I can't change to it and as soon as I timewarp it pops back onto the original vessel... I'm confused... Munfry's blaming space noodles again...

Edited March 25, 2014 by BananaDealer

[Neshma]

So im seeing a consistency here (I may be pointing out the obvious) which seems to be a major part of why this bug happens.

It seems that separating parts of a "ship" (ie initial construct) and adding them to another (and removing their contact with the root part) is what causes this.

In my own case I have a heavy lift vehicle with its own probecore (the root part for my ships) so that I can deorbit the launcher after delivery of the payload to orbit. So when I lifted the truss for my station, detached it from its root probecore and docked it, it broke that docking pair. Similarly I have a tug with two probecores to control it BUT the original root part probecore burned up with its heavy lift vehicle. I think this is why it is now welded to the side of my space station

I had a period of mounting the initial probecore on a truss at the top of my rocket where I started the builds then ditching it before I hit orbit (since id include other probecores in the build, a moment of idiocy I think). To contradict myself here, I have several RCS tugs around my station which were launched at the same time (ie are no longer attached to their initial root part) and they seem to be able to attach/detach with ease!

Love to see what you all think of my theory, it seems to fit with alot of the stories in this thread.

On the same note, since I have a stuck tug without a root part (which is long gone, burned up in outer space) what rootUid could I use with the methods suggested in here? I have no original ship to add a DOCKEDVESSEL module to

[BananaDealer]

So im seeing a consistency here (I may be pointing out the obvious) which seems to be a major part of why this bug happens.

It seems that separating parts of a "ship" (ie initial construct) and adding them to another (and removing their contact with the root part) is what causes this.

In my own case I have a heavy lift vehicle with its own probecore (the root part for my ships) so that I can deorbit the launcher after delivery of the payload to orbit. So when I lifted the truss for my station, detached it from its root probecore and docked it, it broke that docking pair. Similarly I have a tug with two probecores to control it BUT the original root part probecore burned up with its heavy lift vehicle. I think this is why it is now welded to the side of my space station

I had a period of mounting the initial probecore on a truss at the top of my rocket where I started the builds then ditching it before I hit orbit (since id include other probecores in the build, a moment of idiocy I think). To contradict myself here, I have several RCS tugs around my station which were launched at the same time (ie are no longer attached to their initial root part) and they seem to be able to attach/detach with ease!

Love to see what you all think of my theory, it seems to fit with alot of the stories in this thread.

On the same note, since I have a stuck tug without a root part (which is long gone, burned up in outer space) what rootUid could I use with the methods suggested in here? I have no original ship to add a DOCKEDVESSEL module to

It doesn't appear to matter if the section you're trying to undock was part of "the original construct".

In my case, if you look at the images from my previous post, the tug I'm trying to undock was added onto the station (fairly recently too). Such is also the case with the "Bell"-TMA vehicle visible next to it, which is also suffering from the same bug...

[Neshma]

Hey BananaDealer sorry you've got me wrong. My question is, is the tug connected to the original root piece IT was created from? I think the problem is related to when you disconnect a construct from its own root part and attach it to another (essentially if the game identifies ships according to root part you are making it part of a different ship)

<Station><Station Root Part> ----- <Tug><Tug Root Part>

|

\/

<Station><Station Root Part><Tug> ----- <Tug Root Part>

I think this might be part of why the problem is happening, why we need to add in the DOCKEDVESSEL line to the save file to reidentify the added construct (ie. Your tug) as a separate vessel.

Like I said though I dont know if this rule holds across the board since I have small RCS tugs which dock/undock regularly from my station which arnt connected to the root part they were created with. PErhaps its something to do with this root part theory and some other cause together which cause everything to bug up.

[BananaDealer]

Yes, the tug contains within itself the root part, in its' case- the circular probe core, it was created with.

[Neshma]

Oh well thought I might be onto something

So im still abit unsure about a few things in the methods for fixing this problem by Roscoe.

Finding the two docking ports:

THe disabled crossfeed worked well for me for finding one docking port and hence its uid. Is the uid the ID number for the docked pair, in which case the second instance would be the dockee while the first is the docker?

Is there a separate docking ID?

When the original root part for the docking ship doesnt exist anymore (ie it was part of the payload delivery vehicle) how do you create a new DOCKEDVESSEL script (ie new rootID) for your docked spacecraft?

I tried Kalizec's method and managed to get the two docking ports to undock but the game still thought they were connected. They drifted apart but RCS thrust commands were carried out by both halves and made the game go abit loopy.

Any help would be fantastic thanks everyone!

[helaeon]

So... this actually kinda sucks to fix and requires you edit your quicksave while you have Kerbal running (this is the fastest way I've found).

I had to do this the other day but forget how precisely each time so sorry if my instructions are a bit jarbled.

First search for the name of your ship.

Set your ship to "control from here" from one of the docking ports, the root id of the ship is that docking port.

Now "control from here" the other docking port and quicksave. The root id is now that other docking port. Now search for those numbers.

You'll find that one of the two is missing this block right after Actions in ModuleDockingNode

DOCKEDVESSEL

{

vesselName = BlahBlahBlah (Name of ship that this port is docked to when undocked).

vesselType = 5 (type of ship, in this case it's a ship, 4 is lander)

rootUId = 1273710335 (this is the docking port ID of the other half's docking port)

}

one "half" will need to say (dockee), the other half (docker) at state=Docked (it doesn't seem to matter a whole lot which one is which).

Save that quicksave and then load from quicksave.

Then try and undock it should work, RCS away and make sure they are separated as intended then quicksave again and immediately re-load it.

Really you're looking to get them apart so the game can re-write that save file for you.

I've found it happens when I am docking using a pod with the same orientation of the port and I don't do "control from here" on the docking port. If I am sure to do "control from here" at the docking port then dock it seems to not happen. Or happen less. I think it is why it happens so much with landers is we don't bother to change where we are controlling from because our navball is already oriented correctly.

[Neshma]

Set your ship to "control from here" from one of the docking ports, the root id of the ship is that docking port.

Now "control from here" the other docking port and quicksave. The root id is now that other docking port. Now search for those numbers.

THanks Helaeon, just trying to work this bit out. I was using the original disable crossfeed concept to find them. How do you find the numbers?

Could I disable crossfeed and control from here to find the first docking port in the save file, grab its UID and its rootID as well?

Also if the original root part of the second "dockee" craft is gone (ie the truss which is now connected to the station) will I get a root ID if I control from here?

Thanks for all your help!

[ArmEagle]

Thank you haleon!

I first kept the dockee the same and changed the other 'same vessel' to 'docker' with addition of the dockingvessel section (referencing the dockee node). That kept the two parts the same vessel after undocking.

Then I switched it all around and now it undocked just fine!

[Astronut25]

Does anyone think that this could be written into a plugin or something?

[Mykill Metal]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/77643-Docking-Node-Sr-won-t-undock

can anyone give me a hand? i'm not good with the save-file editing stuff