Oolite Bulletins

I have tried MANY times to dock with a dredger...all unsuccessfully. Sometimes they just keep on going, right off the scanner. Other times they start doing loops. Got so ticked at one I attacked it. Blows up nice...

reills wrote:

I have tried MANY times to dock with a dredger...all unsuccessfully. Sometimes they just keep on going, right off the scanner. Other times they start doing loops. Got so ticked at one I attacked it. Blows up nice...

Try using Shift+C (if you have docking computers), and then type C again to cancel docking. The Dredger won't stop immediately, but give it a minute and its engines should shut down and it will stop looping. Then you can line up and dock manually (or line up and press Shift+C again for auto-docking).

Reincarnating an old thread here...

I'm having trouble docking with Deep Space Dredgers too. Not because I can't line it up, but because it doesn't register I've docked. Even if it's stationary, I go into it's docking port, but it doesn't dock. I'd hit the back of the docking bay if I didn't come to a stop in time. This is not right, surely?

Same thing happens with shipyards. Won't dock. Should it?

Behemoths, Thargoid carriers, and rock hermits are okay though.

Keep the pedal to the metal... don't go worrying about that back wall now!

The dredger has turrets, so it could be related to:
https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?t=4607
https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?t=4684
https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?t=4648

I remember when I was trying out the dredger in 1.65 I had the same issue. You actually have to go through the back wall of the docking bay in order to start the docking sequence, which is obviously not meant that way.

So this post could indeed be related. Griff mentions that a docking-bay too far off the center could cause problems, and concludes that no more than 450 units should be fine.

A quick look into the dredger's shipdata reveals, however, that its docking bay is only 212 units off-center (position 0 0 212). On the other hand, the Hacker Outposts and Salvage Gangs from Anarchies have their docking bays positioned at 0 0 -500 and 0 -58.6 -500, and no problems with docking have been reported so far. (And a re-centered Generation Ship I am using for an OXP WIP of mine has its docking bay at position 0 -284 12325 (more than 12 kilometers off-center) and I haven't yet encountered problems with docking.)

So probably the culprit is the turrets? Or, more precisely, their need for setup_actions.

Dark1 wrote:

Reincarnating an old thread here...

I'm having trouble docking with Deep Space Dredgers too. Not because I can't line it up, but because it doesn't register I've docked. Even if it's stationary, I go into it's docking port, but it doesn't dock. I'd hit the back of the docking bay if I didn't come to a stop in time. This is not right, surely?

I don't know if you are using the original version or the altered version I uploaded last week. (version 1.1). Whit that last version I never had problems on docking.

Eric Walch wrote:

I don't know if you are using the original version or the altered version I uploaded last week. (version 1.1). Whit that last version I never had problems on docking.

It's whatever version is bundled with 'Zzzz Realistic Shipyards V3.01.oxp'.

That's the old one, then.

I don't know if you are using the original version or the altered version I uploaded last week. (version 1.1). Whit that last version I never had problems on docking.

Hi Eric,

If there`s a docking problem with the old Dredger model you found a solution for I would be very interested in it for implementation in Realistic Shipyards 3.02, too.

I had a comparing look into the old (which my merger was based on) and your new Dredger.oxp but couldn`t find any significant changes to the ship model - actually, the ship model seems to be exactly the same as the old one, just renamed.

So I`m curious as to how you repaired the docking slit problem?

Thanks in advance for the info,

L

Lestradae wrote:

I had a comparing look into the old (which my merger was based on) and your new Dredger.oxp but couldn`t find any significant changes to the ship model - actually, the ship model seems to be exactly the same as the old one, just renamed.
So I`m curious as to how you repaired the docking slit problem?

I have the dredged already for a long time. I can't really remember if I have altered something to the ship itself if it was buggy. I only know the version I was now using did work and I docked with it several times during the tests. But when I made changes in the past it was only with shipdata.plist, not with the model itself. With the current version I only added new scripting for placing into the system and new AI files.

I just tried docking again and now I crashed two times in a row. With computer dock it was okay though. Problem is probably that the ship is moving during docking. Normally with carriers, I start computerdocking, this puts a carrier into a stop. Than I cancel computer docking and do it manually. Much faster. It works well for the behemoth. When I did dock with the dredger, it was put in a hold by several other ships that wanted to dock so it was stationary.

Sabre has also made an other file that contains several dredgers. Two are the same as this one with only different painting. The third is a superDredger. About twice as big and a very wide opening in the front. With that one I never was able to dock. I always crashed.

Sabre pm'ed to me yesterday he will upload his current work to the wiki when he finds time.

Hi Eric,

With the current version I only added new scripting for placing into the system and new AI files.

I`d like to use them for RS 3.02, if you don`t mind, as their content looks more fitting to me than before, especially the new AI ...

Sabre has also made an other file that contains several dredgers. Two are the same as this one with only different painting. The third is a superDredger. About twice as big and a very wide opening in the front. With that one I never was able to dock. I always crashed.

Sabre pm'ed to me yesterday he will upload his current work to the wiki when he finds time.

Cool, didn`t know that, and looking forward to seeing the new Dredgers in action

Lestradae wrote:

I`d like to use them for RS 3.02, if you don`t mind, as their content looks more fitting to me than before, especially the new AI

No problem, but the addition script is JS and will only work at 1.71 + (With the risk of not working in 1.72). So maybe just wait with that part. Just adding the ship in the spacelanes however is no problem. One problem I noticed was with other scripts that are buggy. There are a lot out there that just go into docking mode when not near a station. They look for the nearest station and sometime it is the dredger. Than the dredger has to wait a very long time until those distant ships arrive.

And yes, the AI is kind of cool. I turned it into a mining ship that halts when it detects asteroids, launches miners, wait until the last one returned and proceeds on its way.

On the docking bay. I probably didn't changed it and the bug could still be there. Sometimes the size of a ship maters and I only tried docking with a Boa mk2. That ship worked.

No problem, but ... With the risk of not working in 1.72 ... maybe just wait with that part.

Thanks, and: Will do so.

And yes, the AI is kind of cool. I turned it into a mining ship that halts when it detects asteroids, launches miners, wait until the last one returned and proceeds on its way.

That sounds really cool - very believable Dredgery behaviour ...

On the docking bay. I probably didn't changed it and the bug could still be there. Sometimes the size of a ship maters and I only tried docking with a Boa mk2. That ship worked.

I have the suspicion anyways that, as the Dredger model I used, has ballturrets, and something seems to have gone wrong with turrets and docking ports somewhere in 1.71 when Ahruman & co. rewrote something concerning turrets for the core game, this is a bug in the core game.

I hope that they will do something about this issue because otherwise everything that has turrets and a docking port would have to be rewritten - definitely not a good idea imo.

I will wait until 1.72 and its new options (override.plists!) before I restart work on RS. But then I think I will put the new Dredger AI in and reduce its role(s) to "Dredger" once again.

Cheers

L

I just updated the dredger to version 1.2.

Version 1.1 contained a bug that could prevent the dredger to stop for docking. Also the legacy and JS script could add it in interstellar space. That was also a bug.

This version still works on Oolite 1.65. A new version 2.0 is in preparation that will include 3 new dredger ships and a salvage option. Little Bear and I are currently working on the scripts. But that will be an 1.71+ only version.

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Deep_Space_Dredger