General Question Are there any "velcro docking ports" I could use?

[marcheenek]

I'm planning mission to Mars with the Arrow Freighter, but she can carry only one vessel in the bay. I would need at least two vessels - DGIV for quick tasks like establishing a base on Phobos or carrying small crew down to the Mars surface for recon or research missions. I would also need a bigger vessel, something like XR5 to carry all the cargo the Arrow would be hauling and the rest of the colonizers. I don't want to use two Arrows for the mission, so what are the other options? Forgive my ignorance for programming, but is there a way to place some additional docking ports outside Arrow's bay?
Thanks

 

[Tacolev]

Try out [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3262"]Universal Cargo Deck[/ame] which, while not the panacea it's often made out to be, probably fits the bill pretty close for what you're aiming at.

 

[sputnik]

You can add a docking port definition in the Arrow's .cfg file, even though it's a .dll-based vessel. I haven't tried this with the Arrow; it might not work right, depending on how it's coded, but it probably will. Of course, it won't add a visible place to dock; just the ability to do so.

 

[marcheenek]

Of course, it won't add a visible place to dock; just the ability to do so.

That's OK, I would not need the ports to do EVA, or anything like that. The docking to such phantom port would be still possible using dock MFD...

Could someone give a hint how to do it?
Thanks

 

[Izack]

That's OK, I would not need the ports to do EVA, or anything like that. The docking to such phantom port would be still possible using dock MFD...

Could someone give a hint how to do it?
Thanks

In Arrow's config (in the UCGO folder in the Vessels folder in Config) you can add:

BEGIN_DOCKLIST
0 0 0  0 0 1  0 1 0
END_DOCKLIST

First three zeroes are X Y Z position of the port, second set are the direction of approach to the port (0 0 1 means the dock points forward - you must approach from the Arrow's nose. 0 0 -1 points backward like the Arrow's existing port,) and the third are the rotation of the port (you can probably leave the last alone.) See OrbiterConfig.pdf in the Doc folder for a better explanation.