Can't dock!

beedle · Post by **beedle** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 12:53 am

Hi. I used to play Elite on the old Commodore 64 many years ago. Love the fact that there's a PC version but I am having some problems docking.
I'm following the tutorial exactly but no matter how slow and how well lined up I am with the space station at Zaonce, I keep dying. I can exit and reenter the station at Lave with no problems, but not at Zaonce.
I'm starting from the bouy as the tutorial says and I get lined up with no problem. Getting a bit frustrating.
Suggestions?

Switeck · Post by **Switeck** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 2:11 am

Do you have any OXPs installed, if so...which ones?

beedle · Post by **beedle** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 5:41 am

I've got no idea what an OXP is so that's probably a no to that question.
All I downloaded was the latest version of th game... although it is the trial version 1.74.2 so could that be the problem?

maik · Post by **maik** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 6:14 am

Hi beedle,

welcome to the boards and of course the game!

The "test" version is the latest and greatest, we all use it here. It's just that the developers are a bit particular about rather confusing the majority of users than the few OXP authors (no offense meant guys, we still love you

) by calling it "test".

Can you please post a link to a screenshot that you take just before you die? It's hard to diagnose what is happening to you otherwise. You can take in-game screenshots by pressing the * key on your main keyboard. Oolite will save it in a folder called "Oolite Screen Shots". Upload it to some web site, e.g. photobucket.com or flickr.com and post a link here. As you are new to the boards you cannot post the link directly yet, so leave out the http:// and replace the dots with spaces and it should work.

Cheers,
-Maik

beedle · Post by **beedle** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 7:00 am

I've given up for the time being. Lost count of how many times I've tried.
However, if I do play again, I will take a screen shot and post it.

[edit]
Although I should add that it looks pretty much like the picture in the tutorial.

Wiki pages · Post by **Thargoid** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 7:13 am

My OXP Traffic Control may help, as it will add guidance to the game of how to dock.

To install it, down load it (link above) and then unzip it. You should get a readme file plus a folder "Traffic Control 1.10.oxp". Move this .oxp folder into the AddOns folder of your game installation and then restart the game.

But for docking with the main station, the trick is to fly to the buoy, stop and then orient yourself to the main station (so your gunsight is dead-centre of the docking bay of the station - align with the lights at the rear of the bay). Then fly slowly towards the station, matching your rotation to the stations so that the bay remains flat. That should get you into the station.

Practice it a few times at Lave, it very soon gets second-nature.

beedle · Post by **beedle** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 7:30 am

Matching rotation doesn't seem to work either. In fact it seems to make it worse. I always start to veer off the to right.

Commander Smivs · Post by **Smivs** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 7:35 am

Hi Beedle, and welcome.
I was (and indeed still am) pants at docking

and I found this really frustrating to start with. There is one thing you could try. In Oolite you can buy and sell your ship (unlike Elite). What you could do is sell your shiney new Mk III Cobra and buy something cheaper, like a Mk I Cobra. OK it's not as good, but with the left-over money from the trade in, buy a docking computer.
This will at least get you started, and you can get on with the game, practising docking manually when you want to, until you're good at it.
To be honest, this is what I did and I've not done so bad since.
Also, well worth checking out the OXPs (expansion packs) as these can add all sorts of great features and make your 'Ooniverse' a much prettier place to be.
Don't give up....have fun

Wiki pages · Post by **Thargoid** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 7:36 am

Then you're not lined up accurately enough along the axis of rotation of the station. Don't forget you can stop and realign along the way if you need to, or if things are too bad even go back and restart.

But you certainly need to keep the "flat alignment" of the bay, the ship physically won't "fit through the letterbox" otherwise.

Also don't forget you have pitch, roll and most usefully yaw controls (, and . in the default key mapping). Yaw and pitch can be used between them to accurately get yourself onto the right axis. That combined with lining up on the lights on the wall of the rear of the bay (or the centre of the wall if they aren't present - it depends what OXPs you have installed).

But if you're flying slowly, even if you're not quite on the ideal line you will still dock, albeit perhaps with a few scratches and scrapes to your paintwork.

beedle · Post by **beedle** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 8:15 am

I've tried all of that. I can be perfectly lined up with the sites set dead in the centre of the 4 flashing lights but as soons as I try to match the rotation, it veers off.

I have just tried a totally different station, who's name now escapes me, and I got in first time and I wasn't even lined up properly. It went in with no problems at all. I tried the Lave station again after that.... crashed and died.

mcarans · Post by **mcarans** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 8:16 am

I struggled with docking despite also having played on the C64 before. However, with practice, I mastered it. The game can be expanded and then you can dock with other things besides space stations like bulk haulers.

I remember getting initially frustrated at docking. What control system are you using? I used the mouse at first but later bought an XBox 360 controller just for this game. With this controller, flying is a breeze.

Get up close to the station entrance and stop. If as the rectangular entrance rotates, you find that despite pointing at the centre, you see a side wall on each revolution and/or find that you drift away from the centre without doing anything, then you are not dead straight. If this happens, do not try to dock anyway. Turn round, then fly directly towards the buoy and then turn again. Likely, you will be lined up this time.

If you find it hard to match rotation, another technique is to not rotate, but instead time your acceleration to line up with when the rectangle is correctly aligned in front of you. I find this easier myself.

Wiki pages · Post by **Thargoid** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 8:32 am

With apologies for asking an obivious and probably dumb question, but you are using the roll keys (cursor left and right) to match the roll, not the yaw keys (, and .)?

When you say you "veer off", it sounds like you're yaw'ing rather than rolling.

Either that or you're aimed at the lights, but not on-axis. Simple check is to look in your rear view. If you're perfectly on-axis, the nav-buoy should be directly in your rear gunsights. If it's not then you're off the line.

Commander McLane · Post by **Commander McLane** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 8:37 am

Hi, beedle, and first of all welcome to the boards and of course to this great game!

Two advices from here:

Lining up is key. However, you have to take into account that the "window" (or view camera) on your ship is not located at its center point, but rather above it. This means that in order to bring your ship's nose dead center between the flashing lights, your screen should be centered around a point above those flashing lights. I can't tell you how much above, but you can try it out by stopping closely in front of the station and aiming at different points while matching the rotation. If you found the point where the docking box does not veer away from you, but stays centered while you rotate with the station, you've got it. In the future try to aim at this point. (Note: different ships have different sizes and differently excentric cockpits. So, if you sell your Cobra and buy another ship, you will have to repeat the procedure and find the correct aiming point for your new ship.)

And second, don't be too shy with your speed. Don't go too slow. Entering the station with between a quarter and a half of full speed is better than crawling. The reason is that the faster you go, the smaller the risk of scratching your hull, because it is exposed to the walls of the docking box for a shorter time, and you also have to keep matching the station's rotating speed for a shorter time.

So, just give it another try, and:

Right On, Commander!

JazHaz · Post by **JazHaz** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 12:49 pm

Suggest that you also watch the YouTube video: How to dock in Oolite

Post by **Cmdr James** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 3:38 pm

Sounds to me like roll and yaw are mapped to the same keys so when you roll it also adds yaw.