Is there a reason to limit how many docking ports are on my space station?

[Meme Rights Activist]

There will only be about six docking ports used by vessels that will be coming and going, but there are a bunch of others that are only there for when the station needs to be expanded. Like, a bunch of Docking Port Sr.'s. Some are not in use, others are. What makes me particularly worried is the unnecessary docking ports. When building this station, I try to minimize the amount of subsequent launches that have the purpose of delivering parts, just because I don't feel like doing a bunch of little launches for little parts. Because of this, I have larger parts already joined together in the editor by docking parts that would have otherwise been delivered separately in separate launches. Should I have just joined them together with normal parts? Would I have saved myself some framerate by using non-docking ports? How will the stability be? I assume they have the same functionality as stack decouplers when they're initially joined in the editor, so does that mean they'll be just as stable and rigid as any other part?

[Ogre420]

There's a mod for that... (Weldable docking ports)

https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/149233-112x-konstruction-weldable-ports-servos-cranes-and-magnets/

[GunsForBucks]

If you can build it without and eliminate them I would suggest doing that rather than patching after the fact. Simplicity is often better for stability.

Side note for docking. If you intend to dock to it often then make sure to set the priority high in the vehicle naming. There is a rare case of docking ports getting confused and losing their identity. Setting their priority first should avoid that issue.

[Manwith Noname]

Originally posted by Meme Rights Activist:

Is there a reason to limit how many docking ports are on my space station?

In short, yes. Docking ports with open nodes constantly check for the presence of another docking port with an open node. With a few ports it's not a big deal but the more you have the more checks are made and eventually they will impact your ability to run the game in real time.

This has been tested a few times over the years and I thought at one point someone made a mod to help mitigate it...ah here it is...

https://github.com/shadowmage45/DockingPortToggle

Edit to note: I can't recall if Squad addressed this with some of the docking port changes toward the end of the games development.

[Meme Rights Activist]

Does this problem only affect ports connected to nothing? Does that mean I can just connect a small part to them which will occupy the port stopping this problem? How many open docking ports would you say are needed to see this decrease in performance?

[Manwith Noname]

Originally posted by Meme Rights Activist:

Does this problem only affect ports connected to nothing?

As far as I recall, yes.

Originally posted by Meme Rights Activist:

Does that mean I can just connect a small part to them which will occupy the port stopping this problem?

Kinda but the other factor for performance is part count. So Blocking the port with another part is likely less intensive overall but it is adding to the part count which in turn leads to performance loss. I can't recall if you can just cap it with a part or if it has to be a docking port either.

Originally posted by Meme Rights Activist:

How many open docking ports would you say are needed to see this decrease in performance?

Hard to say as this is going to vary from user to user based on their computer and the resources available. I think it will also work in conjunction with part count, that is, 50 open docking ports will have a different impact on their own as opposed to being on a craft with 500 parts.

[Meme Rights Activist]

Shoot, ok. So from now on, when I send multiple parts up like that, I should just make it one part?

[Manwith Noname]

Well, yes, no, maybe?

You should make ships and play the game how you want. The original question was "Is there a reason to limit how many docking ports are on my space station?" The answer to that is yes, eventually you will run in to performance issues. Those issues are only really present when you are within the "physics bubble" of that craft or various craft that have open docking ports and the point at which it becomes a real problem is variable

That doesn't mean you should completely stop doing what you have been doing, particularly if you are only leaving a handful of ports "open".

Best thing to do is test things in a new sandbox save and get a feel for how many parts in a bubble you can cope with and how open docking ports affects that on your system.

Edit for caveat: A clean sandbox save will perform better than a long term career save with many craft / objects scattered around the system and should also be factored in.

[Isabelle]

This game WILL start to run poorly once your craft reaches a certain size / complexity; of course, this depends on your PC specs, but the game isn't built to handle extremely large or complex craft.

that being said, what this means for you is any chance you have to minimize part count and build complexity is a potential performance save. Basically every space station you make will eventually start to run at 15FPS once you tack enough modules on.

Aside from performance losses associated with more parts / open docking ports, welded together parts are simply stronger connections. Don't be afraid to make a craft with multiple launches though, the game can handle a few thousand parts in my case without losing any frames.