Is there a way to precisely adjust the angle at which docking ports are connected?

[T.C.]

Is there a way to precisely adjust the angle at which docking ports are connected...

1) In real life?

2) In KSP?

-TC

Edited May 30, 2014 by T.C.

[Taki117]

I'm not sure what your asking. if you are talking about the rotational angle then yes, in both Real Life and KSP it is possible to adjust what rotational angle you dock at. In real life it is generally in multiples of 90 degrees (0, 90, 180, 270) whereas in KSP you would need a mod

[Claw]

Are you referring to when you build or when you actually dock two ports together?

Like Taki said, mods can help out with the alignment. Personally I haven't used them yet.

I usually adjust the roll angle after I dock the first time. Once they are docked, you can undock them and make the fine roll adjustments.No need to back away, in fact you want to stay very close to get lined up. After you get the roll angle set, quicksave and quickload. The ports will reconnect at the new angle. (You might want to keep a quicksave copy from right before undocking.)

[T.C.]

To clarify, what I'm asking is whether the angle of attachment between two ports can be precisely set either during or after the docking procedure.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there has ever been a need for precise angular alignment of docking ports in real life. However, if there were such a need, I think it could be easily done. If the desired angle was known at design time, the docking ports could be built with channels that force alignment at the desired angle. And if the desired angle was not known at design time, the docking ports could be designed with a clamping mechanism that can be loosened enough to allow rotation of the mating part, but not escape; this would allow fine-tuning of the angle via standard attitude control.

In KSP, I'm trying to make a rotating space station, and I find that the angle of attachment between ports matters to my design. However, I don't see any way to influence that angle except during docking. Thank you, Taki117, for referring me to the Docking Alignment mod, but with my poor flying skills, there's no way I could obtain a "precise" result even with the mod. I'm hoping to find a way to dial-in the angle after docking. Thank you, Claw, for recommending that procedure; I'll give it a try.

-TC

[Red Iron Crown]

If you're open to mods, Infernal Robotics has some rotating docking port "washers" that might be of use to you.

[cantab]

At design-time, using multiple docking ports will mean you can only dock at specific orientations.

[michaelhester07]

If you make sure to "control from here" with your docking port all your controls will be based on that docking port. This makes rotating your ship to match the angle you want easier.

IRL: They take their time to line up the ports just perfectly.

KSP: You can take your time too. If you need to you can add a part to help you guide your angle with. Eyeballing it works fine usually.

[KerbMav]

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/kosmos-tks-spacecraft/

Somewhere in this pack is a docking node with "guiding petals".

After you get the roll angle set, quicksave and quickload. The ports will reconnect at the new angle. (You might want to keep a quicksave copy from right before undocking.)

!!! Put this into the "Things you figured out by yourself thread" !!!

[Pecan]

Get MJ to do it - its docking autopilot has a 'force roll' option, which you can set to any angle.

[Kasuha]

At design-time, using multiple docking ports will mean you can only dock at specific orientations.

It's not very reliable. Magnetism during the docking will help aligning the two ships better but once just one docking connection appears, the rest will not move at all. Secondary docking connections often snap in even though their docking ports are not perfectly aligned.

[T.C.]

How easy is it to hack the game files to get the desired angle? Since no one has mentioned it, I assume that must be hard to do.

-TC

[Taki117]

How easy is it to hack the game files to get the desired angle? Since no one has mentioned it, I assume that must be hard to do.

-TC

Sometimes it's best to not mess with such things as doing so is easy to corrupt the save file. I suggest getting the Docking Port Alignment mod if you want accuracy to 0.1 degree.

[Claw]

How easy is it to hack the game files to get the desired angle? Since no one has mentioned it, I assume that must be hard to do.

-TC

I haven't looked specifically at docking ports. It could be easy or hard because the game stores angles in all three axis. So it could get quite messy to do by hand. I'll look later if I have time, but like Taki says, it could be risky.