Docking a 6DOF ship to a moving carrier combines two moving reference frames, network prediction and visual transforms. In a September 2026 account, Unreal developer Emil Sjöstedt describes four fixes in his custom Aether framework: align camera updates with prediction ticks, bound landing-gear forces, apply lift along the ship’s own up axis, and preserve carrier-derived velocity when undocking. The fixes are an account of one work-in-progress system—not a guarantee of drift-free motion or deterministic networking in other projects.
Sjöstedt describes Aether as a UE5 spaceflight framework for his game Sirius, using the Network Prediction Plugin (NPP) and Large World Coordinates (LWC). His public technical showcase is read-only, with proprietary implementation details omitted, so the code-level explanations below reflect his published account rather than an independent audit of the complete system. Read Sjöstedt’s account of the four fixes and the Aether architecture showcase.
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Why relative docking makes small errors visible
A ship moving with a carrier is not simply following a stationary world transform. Its motion is evaluated relative to a moving parent while the simulation, prediction system, mesh and camera each have update timing to respect. A mismatch can appear as jitter, unwanted forces or a sudden change in speed when the ship enters or leaves the carrier’s relative zone.
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Jittery rotation on moving carriers
Reported cause: smoothing bypassed in the relative zone
Sjöstedt says rotational smoothing was bypassed when a ship entered a relative movement zone. Small carrier rotations then showed up as frame-by-frame stutter. He also reports that the camera aim director updated post-physics, leaving camera, mesh and physics state out of phase.
Reported change: align aim updates and smooth the relative transform
The fix synchronizes aim-director updates with prediction ticks and restores rotational smoothing for relative zones. In the published code excerpt, the target location and rotation are transformed by the zone parent transform; the translation offset is interpolated toward zero, and quaternion spherical interpolation (FQuat::Slerp) moves the relative rotation toward identity before the visual transform is applied.
This separates the simulation/reference transform from its visual presentation. Smoothing can make motion look coherent, but it does not by itself resolve an authority or reconciliation defect. In your project, inspect which tick group updates the camera and mesh, which state prediction consumes, and whether all three are presenting the same carrier-relative pose.
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Violently oscillating or “sticky” landing gear
Reported cause: unbounded or poorly scaled suspension response
The author attributes the oscillation to suspension forces derived from spring velocity, friction and mass without suitable delta-time scaling or impulse limits. A force that is too large or sensitive to frame timing can drive repeated compression and rebound instead of settling.
Reported change: clamp the spring response and separate adhesion
The excerpt computes stiffness and damping, forms a spring force from compression and velocity along the suspension axis, then clamps that response to a mass-scaled maximum based on MaxSuspensionGs. Sticky-gear adhesion is a separate downward force applied when compression exceeds a small threshold. This keeps the normal spring-damper response distinct from the extra force intended to hold the craft against a surface.
Those code values are illustrative details of Sjöstedt’s implementation, not universal tuning constants. When adapting the approach, inspect force units, mass scaling, delta time, force application point and the transition between contact and no contact. Test compression and rebound across the frame rates and network conditions your game supports.
Why rolling 90° caused unwanted sideways drift
Reported cause: lift pointed toward world up
Sjöstedt says a transformation flaw made lift act against world up regardless of ship orientation. With the ship rolled 90 degrees, that force appeared sideways relative to the vehicle, producing unwanted drift.
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Reported change: apply lift along ship-local up
The reported code transforms velocity into body space to estimate forward speed, reads the ship’s up direction from the synchronized rotation with GetAxisZ(), and applies lift along that direction. The force is scaled by lift alpha, gravity magnitude, environmental density and delta time. The important frame distinction is that a force meant to follow the vehicle should use a vehicle-relative direction, then be expressed in world coordinates using the current vehicle rotation.
This is a correction to the force direction described by the author, not a complete aerodynamic model. Check that the rotation used for the direction is the intended synchronized state and that any conversion between body and world space happens once, in the appropriate place.
Loss of inherited speed when leaving a moving carrier
Reported cause: standalone speed clamp erased carrier momentum
On leaving a relative zone, the system combined ship and carrier motion to calculate world velocity. Sjöstedt says a same-frame clamp against the ship’s standalone engine MaxSpeed then discarded much of that inherited momentum. An engine’s ordinary speed limit and the world velocity of a craft departing a moving reference frame are different quantities: the latter can legitimately begin above the former.
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Reported change: preserve the transition velocity, then bleed excess
The fix removes the hard top-speed clamp during the zone handshake. In the aerodynamics simulation, the excerpt calculates speed above the effective maximum and a dynamic bleed factor, then scales velocity so excess speed decreases over time. This is the author’s chosen gameplay handling; it is not a claim that gradual speed bleed is physically correct for every vehicle or game.
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When reviewing a similar transition, trace the velocity immediately before and after leaving the carrier, identify every clamp applied in that frame, and decide separately how excess speed should behave after the transition.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Validation checks for a custom UE5 project
Sjöstedt’s fixes suggest practical cases to exercise; these are recommended checks, not tests reported as completed in his article:
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- Enter and leave a relative zone while the carrier rotates, and compare camera, mesh and predicted state across the relevant tick updates.
- Compress and release suspension through contact transitions; observe spring response and sticky adhesion separately.
- Repeat lift tests at upright, rolled and inverted orientations to confirm force direction follows the intended vehicle frame.
- Exit carriers at different carrier velocities and inspect whether world velocity is preserved through the zone handshake before any later speed-management behavior acts.
- Repeat transition cases with server correction enabled, since visual smoothing alone does not establish correct prediction or reconciliation.
What is established about Aether’s current status
The fixes are presented as work in progress. In his September 2026 showcase, Sjöstedt wrote: “This is still work in progress and needs some adjustmends but the core works.” The creator-maintained Aether technical manual identifies UE5.7+ as its target and marks dynamic relative docking and landing as in progress. That status matters: the four reported adjustments should not be read as a claim that the framework’s dynamic docking and landing are finished.
The public architecture showcase calls itself a read-only architectural showcase rather than an open-source plugin, and says full implementation details are proprietary. Developers considering a reusable framework or outside implementation support should check the creator’s current licensing, source availability, compatibility and service terms directly; the published material does not establish specific prices or referral arrangements.
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