Frustrated rail docking

[GRHayes]

Ok, so far no trouble with rail docking till now. Its been awesome.
I wanted to create a ship that could take advantage of the new fly in and contact a rail and dock in order to allow it to use various modules.

The first thing is if you dock to something else it is assumed what you dock to is bigger and will be in control.
That means if you dock using the rail docker on your ship you won't be able to fly off with what you dock to.
So ok since now we just have to come in contact with it we can put a rail on the ship we are flying and contact the module and it will doc to us. So far great at least that works.

The problem comes though when I want to drop the container back off. I figured ok this should be simple hook an activation module or switch to the rail and I should be able to disconnect it. Yea, right. I tried over 20 different variation with and without delays nothing gets that rail to let go other than jump in the other module and disconnect from it.

The decision by the developers to end controls when you dock to something was not the best choice in my opinion. A better option would be just that to make it an option or give it a switch.

I even went back and looked at Bench's USD video tutorial. tried that no good doesn't work.

Beginning to think this game hates me haha.

 

[Aynslei]

Place a rail docker in a random location on the thingy. Link a inner-ship remote to the raildocker, name it "undock".

In the hot bar activate "undock", a signal is sent to the raildocker, which will tell the ship to undock from any rail it is attached too.

Note: there is a bit of a bug with raildockers and getting signals, so make sure the rail docker you use to send the signal is not actually used for docking. (make it internal)

 

[ilec]

Aynslei - are you meaning to put this additional rail docker on the ship (entity with rail basic) or on the cargo pod (entity with the rail docker)?

If on the cargo pod then that doesn't fix the problem apart from using wireless remotes - which removes the utility of having a cargo pod.

as far as I am aware it is impossible to force undock any child entities... but I'm very happy to be wrong.

 

[Aynslei]

Aynslei - are you meaning to put this additional rail docker on the ship (entity with rail basic) or on the cargo pod (entity with the rail docker)?

If on the cargo pod then that doesn't fix the problem apart from using wireless remotes - which removes the utility of having a cargo pod.

as far as I am aware it is impossible to force undock any child entities... but I'm very happy to be wrong.

I may have originally misunderstood what GRHayes was asking for, but the information is still valid for triggering an undock from an entity that used a raildocker to dock (IE Cargo pod).

It is VERY easy to undock any child entity that is on a rail, so much so that I overlooked that that may be his issue.
Ship A has a rail, cargo pod B is docked to that rail. If I link a non-adjacent activator to that rail and turn it on, it will force that rail to let go of the rail docker attached to it.

Want to trigger an undock from the docked entity? Send a logic signal to any rail docker.
Want to trigger an undock from a parent entity? Send a logic signal to the rail that is docked to. (The block sending the signal can NOT be adjacent to that rail)

 

[alterintel]

I have also run into this problem it boiled down to this:

If I link a non-adjacent activator to that rail and turn it on, it will force that rail to let go of the rail docker attached to it.

I was trying to activate the rail with an adjacent block and it was screwing up the whole thing.

 

[Bench]

Activation Module into Rail / Rail Docker while adjacent to rail will replace. If not adjacent to rail will disconnect. (Rail Docker can sometimes be a little weird, sometimes needs a pulse).

Activation Module or Button adjacent to rail will detect when rail docker goes over rail, docks, or undocks.

Activation Module or Button adjacent to rail docker will detect when it docks, or undocks.

That should cover all the interactions.

 

[GRHayes]

Activation Module into Rail / Rail Docker while adjacent to rail will replace. If not adjacent to rail will disconnect. (Rail Docker can sometimes be a little weird, sometimes needs a pulse).

Activation Module or Button adjacent to rail will detect when rail docker goes over rail, docks, or undocks.

Activation Module or Button adjacent to rail docker will detect when it docks, or undocks.

That should cover all the interactions.

Noticed the issue was dealing with the ship I built had two sets of rails.

The undock signal was only connected to one block. It took removing all the other rails on the ship to get rid of the problem.
Thanks for the replies and information everyone.

I made the automatic cargo drop of and storage system once I got it figured out. Apparently its a little difficult to understand for some so I will clean it up and put a new version on here for everyone.

Right now it is at the point you dock your ship, hit a release button for the cargo, then undock. the cargo then is forced to dock their and travels to a point it unloads then the empty container continues to the pick up point. You fly there dock when a cargo module is in position. Wait for the red light to go out. Once it goes out take off you have the module.

I have to leave in a few to get my son from school but will get the improved model up this evening.