Multiple Docking Ports Not Working in 23.5?

[Zac2Bac]

So as I found that expeditions to other planets with large craft tended to be wobbly I decided that I would try to make ships and stations that had essentially multiple sections side by side so that they were more ridged. I did a little forum research and was told that it would work and gave it a try. Sure enough it worked and I sent a very large station to the Joolian system without a problem. (Other than that my landing ship couldn't take back off of laythe ) (The images shown are of the station after using hyper-edit and putting it into an orbit over Kerbin because Jool must have eaten my station or something because it disappeared, but that's beside the point)

(And one screen that I must have picked up while transferring to Jool because it looks amazing imho)

With the release of .23.5 and the extra large parts I decided to make a huge launch stage and send hundreds of tons into orbit to make a new station with the same concept, however only the center docking ports would connect and not the other docking ports. The only apparent changes were the mods that I used, which in .23.5 is only the same mods that I used in .23 but fewer (except for two mods), and that I used 4 sides around the center core instead of two.

Currently installed mods on .23.5:

Active Texture Manager (I believe it's the aggressive version but I could be mistaken)

Docking Port Alignment Indicator

Engineer Redux

Infernal Robotics (Not used in this craft)

Kerbal Attachment System (I don't believe this is in my .23 version)

Kerbal Alarm Clock

Kethane

MechJeb2

Vangard Parachute (I also don't believe this is my .23 version)

Edited June 8, 2014 by Zac2Bac
I'm bad at putting up images

[RexKramer]

I'm not aware of multiple docking ports working.

I don't use mods, but I see you do. I think a better option would be to use the mod where a kerbalnaut can go and rivet some things like struts to secure your assemblies. Someone can chime in and suggest the mod to do that.

I've seen YouTube videos of people attaching struts in space,looks like it works pretty slick. You'd still want a single docking port to initially hold everything together.

[Kasuha]

You posted a lot of pictures but none of them contain new 0.23.5 parts - so I assume they don't display the ship with which you have problem.

I am not aware of any problems with multidocking appearing in 0.23.5. I even tried to multidock a simple ship with new parts and sure enough it worked just fine. I think the most likely cause of your problem is that you didn't have your docking ports lined precisely enough, maybe you left a tiny gap between them and they did not stick.

[Zac2Bac]

Intresting, I'll adjust the build a little and see if it works after that. Thanks for the help guys!

[Duke23]

It's not a method I've actually used in the 23.5 update but think I read somewhere that docking at a slightly higher speed than usual can make them all click together when you're having trouble.

[sdj64]

You should check if it's the fact that you have 4 side stacks now instead of 2. I haven't actually tested this but I heard that the maximum number you can multi-dock is 3.

[gchristopher]

I have multi-docked 5 at a time in 23.5. Really good alignment during construction and docking is required.

[NoMrBond]

Multiple docking ports work, I just built a huge station using multi-port connections

What doesn't work with multi-port junctions is only one of them counts as 'connected' for the purposes of fuel routing

You can get around that limitation with something like TAC or Goodspeed fuel managers to shuffle the fuel around, or adding fuel pipes with KAS though

[Zac2Bac]

Found it! My strut things (the name escapes me) that connect the 'branches' to the center piece on my center most part were connected to a hitchiker which is thinner than the fuel tanks.