[1.8.1] Docking Port Alignment Indicator (Version 6.8.5 - Updated 12/14/19)

[RoboRay]

It's actually easy to figure out your orbit Normal regardless of inclination... Find your prograde marker and note the compass heading. Add/subtract 90 degrees. Your Normal axis is on the NavBall horizon at those headings. Align your docking ports with that axis to eliminate the apparent rotation induced by traveling along your curved trajectory.

Or, use the Enhanced NavBall mod that adds Normal and Radial markers in Orbit mode.

Edited November 23, 2013 by RoboRay

[gilflo]

Yes, you're right. I use MJ ASAS to do that and it handles it perfectly.

[HeadHunter67]

He may not have realized he was talking about MJ. It sounds like he got "ASAS" confused with "Smart A.S.S." - but we know the difference.

[capi3101]

Actually, a good way to figure out the directions of radial in/out and normal in/out without mods like Mechjeb or Enhanced Nav Ball (i.e. stock game) is to use maneuver nodes. Just set one up, pull whichever one you need just a little bit and aim your ship that direction. Lock it in with SAS and get rid of the node. Easy peasy.

[Deadweasel]

It's actually easy to figure out your orbit Normal regardless of inclination... Find your prograde marker and note the compass heading. Add/subtract 90 degrees. Your Normal axis is on the NavBall horizon at those headings. Align your docking ports with that axis to eliminate the apparent rotation induced by traveling along your curved trajectory.

Or, use the Enhanced NavBall mod that adds Normal and Radial markers in Orbit mode.

*facepalm* dang it.. simplest concept in the universe, and I totally didn't even think on it. Thanks for the reality check.

Actually, a good way to figure out the directions of radial in/out and normal in/out without mods like Mechjeb or Enhanced Nav Ball (i.e. stock game) is to use maneuver nodes. Just set one up, pull whichever one you need just a little bit and aim your ship that direction. Lock it in with SAS and get rid of the node. Easy peasy.

OMG... Why the heck didn't that ever occur to me before?!

*sigh*

Thanks guys, I needed a little setting straight on that front.

[magnus333]

Is it possible to edit the size of the window? I play at 2560x1440 and the window is so small I have to squint to line things up, additionally it's very difficult to get extreme precision when I can't see where the lines are in relation to each other because they are so small.

My game UI is on the largest possible setting and even that is much too small for me. I'd like to increase the area of the window by about 600% ideally.

[Deadweasel]

Is it possible to edit the size of the window? I play at 2560x1440 and the window is so small I have to squint to line things up, additionally it's very difficult to get extreme precision when I can't see where the lines are in relation to each other because they are so small.

My game UI is on the largest possible setting and even that is much too small for me. I'd like to increase the area of the window by about 600% ideally.

Check under %KSP_ROOT&\GameData\NavyFish\Plugins\PluginData\DockingPortAlignment\config.xml

You can change window size and position there, but you'll probably also have to edit the graphics that live in that folder to compensate for the size change as well.

Photoshop or GIMP should be able to resize them nicely by percentage.

[magnus333]

Check under %KSP_ROOT&\GameData\NavyFish\Plugins\PluginData\DockingPortAlignment\config.xml

You can change window size and position there, but you'll probably also have to edit the graphics that live in that folder to compensate for the size change as well.

Photoshop or GIMP should be able to resize them nicely by percentage.

I did check there before posting. The only variable that can be changed there is window position, not window size. I tried increasing the position (by increase distance from min to max for x and y) but the mod overwrote the file when the window opened. So I tried again and set the file to read only, no dice, it just used x and y min (ignoring max) and the window was the same size.

The default png for the dock window is 400x407, yet the default display size in game is 265x265. Unless there is a hidden xml variable for window size I presume it's hard coded. Would it be possible to pull the size variables into xml in the next release?

Thanks

[Deadweasel]

I did check there before posting. The only variable that can be changed there is window position, not window size. I tried increasing the position (by increase distance from min to max for x and y) but the mod overwrote the file when the window opened. So I tried again and set the file to read only, no dice, it just used x and y min (ignoring max) and the window was the same size.

The default png for the dock window is 400x407, yet the default display size in game is 265x265. Unless there is a hidden xml variable for window size I presume it's hard coded. Would it be possible to pull the size variables into xml in the next release?

Thanks

Nuts. Sorry it wasn't quite as easy as it looked to be.

[magnus333]

I just checked and the window doesn't scale with resolution size. It's always 260x265. The most commonly used screen size is 1366x768. At that resolution the window accounts for 6.5% of screen real estate. At my resolution it's around 1.8%, meaning the window on my screen appears nearly 25% of the size as it does on most screens.

/end fun facts for the day.

In the meantime I've reduced the width of the lines on the background.png. They were 3 pixels and I've brought them to 1, which helps a little.

[photogineer]

How well does this work if you're docking in reverse? By that I mean your docking port is on the rear of the vessel and you're backing in, so to speak? My space station construction tug has a small docking port on its front nose and a Clamp-o-tron Sr on the back for moving station modules, I am always backing on to a module to capture it and then backing that Module on to the station. I am getting pretty accustomed to the flipped controls at this point, but gauging alignment in reverse is tricky! I'd love to use this mod if possible.

Thanks,

Matt

[jrandom]

How well does this work if you're docking in reverse? By that I mean your docking port is on the rear of the vessel and you're backing in, so to speak? My space station construction tug has a small docking port on its front nose and a Clamp-o-tron Sr on the back for moving station modules, I am always backing on to a module to capture it and then backing that Module on to the station. I am getting pretty accustomed to the flipped controls at this point, but gauging alignment in reverse is tricky! I'd love to use this mod if possible.

Thanks,

Matt

Just right-click on your docking port and select "Control from Here" and it will act as the front of the craft.

[Deadweasel]

How well does this work if you're docking in reverse? By that I mean your docking port is on the rear of the vessel and you're backing in, so to speak? My space station construction tug has a small docking port on its front nose and a Clamp-o-tron Sr on the back for moving station modules, I am always backing on to a module to capture it and then backing that Module on to the station. I am getting pretty accustomed to the flipped controls at this point, but gauging alignment in reverse is tricky! I'd love to use this mod if possible.

Thanks,

Matt

These were both "reversed" into their bay.

Just select the target port, then right-click the port that will be docking to it, and "control from here". At that point, don't look at your ship in the way it normally flies. The docking port is the new "nose", and all you'll really need to watch is the gauge, and you're in business.

[rotorwashed]

Here's a pic:

It still can be used perfectly though!

has anyone come up with a solution for this? I keep getting very jealous of Scott Manley's sweet hi-res docking indicator

[Deadweasel]

I just checked and the window doesn't scale with resolution size. It's always 260x265. The most commonly used screen size is 1366x768. At that resolution the window accounts for 6.5% of screen real estate. At my resolution it's around 1.8%, meaning the window on my screen appears nearly 25% of the size as it does on most screens.

/end fun facts for the day.

In the meantime I've reduced the width of the lines on the background.png. They were 3 pixels and I've brought them to 1, which helps a little.

I've just been rooting around in the source, and... yeah, I'm definitely no C coder. However, I think I found the portion that's relevant:

private static float scale = .65f;
   private static int gaugeWidth = 800;
    private static int gaugeHeight =814;
    private static Rect gaugeRect = new Rect(0, 0f, gaugeWidth * scale, gaugeHeight * scale);
    private static float visiblePortion = .76f;
    private static int settingsWindowHeight = 68;

It seems the assertion that the size is hard-coded was dead-on. I was going to play around with different values, but alas, I don't have .Net Studio installed because it's a behemoth of a space hog that takes ages to download and install, so I can't compile the new source to see what happens.

EDIT:

I run at 1920x1080, and I certainly don't see image degradation anywhere near what that screenie is showing! :/

EDIT 2: *cough* Didn't realize NavyFish was already aware of the situation. I'll just go take a seat over there and watch quietly now, kthx. >_>

Edited December 7, 2013 by Deadweasel

[Glockshna]

Working fine in .23 so far as i can tell.

[NavyFish]

has anyone come up with a solution for this? I keep getting very jealous of Scott Manley's sweet hi-res docking indicator

Are your texture settings at "One-Eighth", and if so, does it look correct if you turn them up to full?

EDIT: This issue has been resolved in v3.0! Please test and let me know if it works on your machine.

Edited December 18, 2013 by NavyFish

[NavyFish]

Oh by the way..

Version 3.0 - Released 12/18/2013

• [update] Verified compatibility with KSP v0.23
  
• [added] Indicator's size can now be scaled freely (from settings window)
  
• [added] Toolbar-Plugin miniature icon for toggling the settings window
  
• [added] Glyph Font rendering to support indicator scaling
  
• [fixed] Indicator will now display at full resolution regardless of KSP's Texture Settings
  

[Boamere]

Coolio, although the icon is in the middle of my screen not in the corners :/ is this a bug? I can't move it or click on it either

[Mystique]

Coolio, although the icon is in the middle of my screen not in the corners :/ is this a bug? I can't move it or click on it either

Menu should appear when you click that little white arrow. Indicator will be clickable when you target a docking port.

[Boamere]

Menu should appear when you click that little white arrow. Indicator will be clickable when you target a docking port.

Thanks, it didn't seem to work when i clicked on it before

[NavyFish]

As you have probably noticed, the toolbar icon is somewhat redundant at the moment - settings can still be accessed using the "settings" button on the indicator itself. In the future, however, this icon will be used to interact with the indicator when no target is selected, allowing for fancy-schmancy stuff like target port cycling, etc.

[uboats]

A little suggestion (maybe someone in earlier pages has posted)

If you can integrate the camera as the background of this indicator, that would be perfect!

Another thing is that, I have both dock cam and your mod, however, the cam cannot be shown, while your mod works well.

[magnus333]

Thanks a ton for scaling!

[NavyFish]

A little suggestion (maybe someone in earlier pages has posted)

If you can integrate the camera as the background of this indicator, that would be perfect!

Another thing is that, I have both dock cam and your mod, however, the cam cannot be shown, while your mod works well.

Sorry, that kind of code is non-trivial and not really worth the effort in my opinion. Thanks for the suggestion though, and I'm glad the mod works well for you!

Thanks a ton for scaling!

You're welcome! Damn you and your awesomely huge screens! lol

Actually this feature has been on my to-do list since version 1, I just hadn't found an easy way to draw bitmap fonts (and still haven't, really... What text rendering I've written in there is a hard-coded kludge, but it does the trick).

Next up: a bit of texture cleanup and sharpening, some more data readouts, and perhaps an orbiter-store precision zone on the gauge.