Can't Undock Bug, How To Fix

[Mark Kerbin]

Someone Just fix this already.... my poor space station exploded when i touched persistant

[MindCozy]

I was able to solve this problem by using Kerbal Attachment System to 'detach' the two stuck docking ports from each other.

[Rob K]

If you use KAS (kerbal attachment system) you can use an engineer to disconnect the ports

[Surreaux]

THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANKS, MYTHOS. VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERY MUCH! 

 

 KML - Persistence file editor

 

Thats the answer to the UNDOCKING PROBLEM. Just install and it will tell wich docking port is problematic, then just press "FIX IT". BRILLIANT! EXCELENT!

Again, Thaaaaanks, Mythos. I worship you! haha. 

[Tasmanian]

It is 2016, version 1.1.3 and this thing still occurs(((

[AIRens]

I had to join the forums for this as well... The bug just bit me again a couple days ago. I couldn't believe how far back this bug has been around. I'm going to look into the KML, I hope it's the solution that Surreaux is making it out to be. 

[dcompart]

Is there a way I can make two docking ports undock on spawn?

[jmill050]

EDIT: of course this is what I get for not scrolling to the last page before spending the time to write this up. I'm not the first to identify the KAS/KIS method, and I'm not sure if the errors identified by KML would have resolved themselves or not. Cheers everyone.

 

----

 

Sorry if this is redundant with anything above. Hope this can help someone who's stuck, or help Squad better understand a way to solve this issue.

This bug ruined a big assembly for me a year or so back and did a bunch of manual sfs editing with these original instructions. It hit me again today and I actually discovered a pretty easy way that is mostly in game, but it does involve KAS/KIS if you don't use that and also uses KML. On that note, KML is my new favorite tool for bug squashing (Kraken-slaying?)

First, clarification on the DOCKEE vs DOCKER terms, mostly so I don't confuse myself:

The DOCKER is this vessel doing the docking

The DOCKEE is the vessel that is being docked with.

The DOCKEE is the vessel that when you dock, the new 'assembly' inherits the name. I believe KSP determines it by mass (bigger vessel is being docked with, smaller vessel is docking). I've seen some people report that this has to do with which vessel is being controlled during the dock, but through some experimentation I wasn't able to get the relation to swap. In practice I've had a station core with RCS pick up 'dumb' modules to reduce part count, and the name of the station remains unchanged. Really it doesn't matter for the scope of this.

Every time I've had this happen it's because I tried to dock two vessels that already had other vessels docked to them. As someone above mentioned, I think it has something to do with the game confusing itself trying to flip around who is the dockee/docker. So avoid that.

Quick description of my issue, arrows point to the DOCKEE.

[fuel module]--->[Station core]<---[shuttlecraft]

/\

|

|

Docked to

|

|

[greenhouse/lab module]--->[transfer stage]<---[greenhouse/lab module]

 

 

PROBLEM:

When trying to undock the transfer stage, the greenhouse parts would go flying off through the rest of the station. No collisions, no explosions. Looking a little closer here, the ship never undocked either; you can still right click on parts both on the transfer stage and the station.

FRUITLESS TROUBLESHOOTING:

Undock lab modules: The lab modules become separate vessels, but are still physically attached to the transfer stage.

Undock lab modules, undock transfer stage: the lab modules again become separate vessels, and the transfer stage breaks into pieces when undocked, even with all the ALT + F12 cheats on.

KML editing the stable .sfs: No errors thrown.

KML editing the .sfs after undocking: autorepair yielded various versions of "this is fixed but this isn't", which upon loading cause glorious explosions and cause an interesting failure mode similar to the apocolypse Kraken: When quickloading back to a stable save, there is no Sun/Mun and some of the textures are corrupted (station was transparent-ish?). Returning to the spacecenter shows that we are now in an eternal night.

 

SWEET SUCCESS

In game:

Using KIS/KAS, flew up to the station. Used the power drill and the 'detach' function, I was able to separate the docking ports from each other and the transfer stage was completely free!

KML sanity check:

An examination of the .sfs threw a few errors with both docking ports that autorepair was unable to fix. In practice I believe this would have prevented the ports from being used again. But the autorepair tool gave me the exact part numbers so they were easy to find.

KML fix:

Navigate to both docking ports, 'ModuleDockingNode'.

Set dockUId to 0.

Set the state to READY

delete the 'DOCKED VESSEL' node. Yes, delete. Poof.

 

 

Save, load, and fly safe!

 

Edited January 3, 2017 by jmill050

[Mythos]

16 hours ago, jmill050 said:

I believe KSP determines it by mass (bigger vessel is being docked with, smaller vessel is docking). I've seen some people report that this has to do with which vessel is being controlled during the dock, but through some experimentation I wasn't able to get the relation to swap.

I've read many rumors about the rules for this, but the mass theory is new to me. I can't explain exactly what is happening, but my experience tells it has to do with which ship was build latest (the older ship likes to be dockee) and the type of the ships (stations tend to be dockee and such).

16 hours ago, jmill050 said:

delete the 'DOCKED VESSEL' node. Yes, delete.

Confirmed. If you know what you're doing, deletion of broken content is often the fix.

[awilliamwright]

Would just like to say...this is still a problem that is happening with recently started saved games. But the KML fix does work. 

(I don't know if sharing my details will help nail down the cause, but I have a fueling station in orbit of Minmas that went bonkers when I docked a craft that was a lot older than it to it. Every single docking port went kaput.) 

[EwingKang]

It's 1.3.1 now, but I still encounter this bug

On ‎2016‎年‎4‎月‎24‎日 at 3:55 AM, Mythos said:

Would you please try to fix your docking problem with my KML - Persistence file editor tool and report my or send me your currupted 1.1 savegame? I hadn't the chance to switch to 1.1 yet, and it would take a while to encounter such a problem.

Hello Mythos, I've tried your KML editor. The fixer seemed to change nothing ingame after rightclick-repare the issue. "Undock" option is still missing from both docking ports. Those same issue in KML still appears after I exit the supposedly repaired game.

 

On ‎2017‎年‎1‎月‎3‎日 at 8:14 AM, jmill050 said:

KML fix:

Navigate to both docking ports, 'ModuleDockingNode'.

Set dockUId to 0.

Set the state to READY

delete the 'DOCKED VESSEL' node. Yes, delete. Poof.

 

After painstakingly found both docking ports, do the three step solution above, the "undock" botton did show up again. However when I hit Undock, the option simply disappeared and the part I want to dettached is still sticked together.

In this picture, you can see the station is consists of multiple vessle of the same type. Right to the selected docking port are four 1st generation "Mun Transportation Vehicle" clumped together. The spacing between docking ports does not match to the 2nd gen on the left so only one docking port can possibly be docked at a time. 

The 1st gen originally docked to the others through the lower port, and I decided to return them back to LKO due to low framerate. After I undocked it, the game lagged, and seems like the entire 1st gen half is "sucked" to the upper docking port. After all the lagging stoped, both docking port have no "undock" option.

Here's the save file, and the cit of the problematic parts are 4294659678, and 4293555442.

Can anyone help me with this? PLEASE?

Edited December 21, 2017 by EwingKang
words

[Mythos]

On ‎21‎.‎12‎.‎2017 at 8:52 AM, EwingKang said:

Here's the save file, and the cit of the problematic parts are 4294659678, and 4293555442.

Can anyone help me with this? PLEASE?

@EwingKang I could not see where the problem is. I loaded your save with KML, fixed all problems, then reloaded the save in KSP 1.3.1 and then I could undock.

Here is the save after the fix before undocking: EwingKang_fixed.sfs

[EwingKang]

9 hours ago, Mythos said:

@EwingKang I could not see where the problem is. I loaded your save with KML, fixed all problems, then reloaded the save in KSP 1.3.1 and then I could undock.

Here is the save after the fix before undocking: EwingKang_fixed.sfs

@Mythos, thanks for your help. Your file did worked fine. And since you have no problem with it, I gave another round of try with the KML. Finally it worked! It is only because I didn't "run it as Administrator" that it seemed to be unable to overwrite the files *facepalm*. I'm a idiot.

I can finally undock that thing now, thanks for your awesome software!

Edited December 23, 2017 by EwingKang

[Mythos]

7 hours ago, EwingKang said:

because I didn't "run it as Administrator" that it seemed to be unable to overwrite the files

Oh well, I may never notice such kind of problems, as by design I always install games to something like c:\games, just a normal folder that behaves normally instead of having complicated things going on with c:\program files 

I added a warning message to KML for such cases, will be included in next release.

Edited December 23, 2017 by Mythos
implemented the idea

[Defsentence]

Ive had this bug many times. Ive also gotten around it. Ive always had it work for me, although it could be different for everyone I guess:

This bug occurs at random. It does not affect the action buttons: I will press the action button on the fuel tank of any of my ships. Next, edit the fuel quantity or thrust of your engine, launch, full launch sequence, revert back to editing hangar. Once i return im usually able to start editing again. 

 

Its not a fix but it sure beats restarting everytime. Good luck kerbals

Edited January 20, 2019 by Defsentence