I can confirm this problem but would even consider it being a bug.
I lost one night as I was not able to narrow it down the problem after I triggered the update function and the Align process stopped to work reliably and I was not aware of this post. I could use a number of clear nights (first time this year we have some in a row) to check. Setting the Align profile back to Small Scale in the options switched it back to rock solid autonomous operation.

Why I consider it a bug and not just a matter that "Default" should cover most cases:
1. Platesolve worked for me with no problem for polar alignment where the profile was "Default" and not "Small Scale" as well at the same time with the same setup, same exposure time etc.
2. First solving in the Align tab always worked. After this it reportet "not enough stars" and switched to blind solve. Only here and there the solver worked and I could not get to the target. Clearing the mount model did not help. After one successful solving the next attempts did not succeed (or very rarely every 7-8 attempts, automated scripts already stopped before)
3. Quitting kstars and starting the app again led to the same effect: again for the first plate solving in the align tab worked, the rest failed

The fact that it works once with the setting default is for me an indication that it is not just a matter of the general setting "Default" or "Small Scale" for the Align Process. Maybe I'm wrong, but I could recreate that behavoious with my equipment.

Hope this is helpful.

One wish from my side: If a parameter in the options that exists before is actively being changed by an update, could we make this transparent as part of the update procedure (Changelog text file?) or instead recommend users to switch rather than just doing it? This would give back a bit control. Assuming best intention to "improve" things, as a user I feel rather blind to sort out what could possibly be wrong when something that never grabbed my attention suddenly faiis.

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