Base construction - legs sink into terrain

[Fett2oo5]

Aligning Base sections/dock ports.

I'm trying to design and construct a base to land on planets and moons. I'm going to fly it up in pieces/sections, so these sections all have to align. I've got a dock port on the bottom of each section and a "truck" to move them around. I extend the legs of the section/piece down and it lifts off the "truck"

The problem is even with identical sections/pieces the legs do not "sit" on the ground the same. Sometimes the feet of the legs will be on the surface, sometimes they will be below the surface, and to varying depths below the surface. I've had them sink so far into the ground that the truck (which moved them to their resting place) won't fit under them if I try to move it.

Does anyone know of a way I can fix or work around this problem?

[XOIIO]

Locking suspension does help a bit, but yeah it does always seem to happen a bit. Raising and lowering them usually works short term. Just be thankful you aren't trying it on eve.

[Roxette]

I think it's a byproduct of the normal mapping system used to render the terrain surface. What you see as the surface doesn't exactly conform to the surface that's defined for the physics engine.

[Fett2oo5]

I think it's a byproduct of the normal mapping system used to render the terrain surface. What you see as the surface doesn't exactly conform to the surface that's defined for the physics engine.

Yeah, I get that. But I'd expect all the items to adhere to the same "surface" but they don't. Two identical sections will be at different heights, as well as the "truck." The "truck" will usually be on the top of the surface "the visible one" but the legs for the sections may or may not. And they usually aren't the same.

It's just frustrating. I was wondering if anyone had a way that they deal with this.

[Ringkeeper]

[quote=Fett2oo5;926500

It's just frustrating. I was wondering if anyone had a way that they deal with this.

[WhiteKnuckle]

Yeah, I get that. But I'd expect all the items to adhere to the same "surface" but they don't. Two identical sections will be at different heights, as well as the "truck." The "truck" will usually be on the top of the surface "the visible one" but the legs for the sections may or may not. And they usually aren't the same.

It's just frustrating. I was wondering if anyone had a way that they deal with this.

Are your sections truly identical, or are they just identical in the VAB? Because a heavy section will compress the landing legs down more than a light section will.

My advice would be to leave a larger margin of error between your truck height and your base height, make it so when you deploy the landing legs it lifts a good foot (half meter, whatever) off the top of the truck, that way the few inches that the terrain varries by wont matter.

[SpacedCowboy]

Don't know if this will help, but, what size legs are you using? I recently took a "top mounted rover" to Minmus, had the med lander legs on, sat down just a little hard, but half of the ship ended up tilted about 10-15 degrees. One side, two legs buried in the surface, and the other two right up and solid. Thought at the time, I should have used the H.D. legs. Any help?

[Fett2oo5]

Here is a pic of the first 4 buildings of the preliminary base design I have so far:

I know it's kind of hard to tell but even the legs on the end of this PowerTower are in the ground deeper than the legs of the PowerTower on the side connected to the Corridor.

Are your sections truly identical, or are they just identical in the VAB?

Yes, the sections I speak of are the corridors you can see them in the pic. I will launch a Corridor section and move it with the truck, then launch another Corridor section and move it with the truck, when I set it down it doesn't come to rest like the other. BUT, of course my computer makes me a liar whenever I try to get someone to see what I am talking about, so you can't see this in the pic. Please trust me that their landing leg's feet do not always come to rest the same.

make it so when you deploy the landing legs it lifts a good foot (half meter, whatever) off the top of the truck...

Over the weekend I thought the same and this helps to make the docking/undocking to the truck easier, just have to do a little "shimmying" to get it to dock sometimes. But it makes for a better modularization.

Don't know if this will help, but, what size legs are you using?

I am using the HD landing legs.

If you will notice each bottom portion of the tower sections is the same. I used the same base portion for each and changed the tops. That way they would be the same. The legs are ever so slightly at different heights IF needed due to weight.