DGIII alpha release 02.07 feedback here (CLOSED)

[shadow151]

can i use any other program besides photoshop to make skins(i don't have a few hundred dollars
to spend) like the gimp or something?

[Spets]

So Dan,

what about them hover engine covers and/or redesigned hover engine bells, eh?

[ChristopherT]

 Darkvoid,  The Vespucci "C" model was recently released.  It does have a panel and
the docking ports for the DG3.  It features 5 docking ports, visual approach only - 1 in the
nose and four in a ring around the hull.  That's the version I was talking about.    

     Christopher

[MattNW]

ChristopherT wrote:

>
>  Darkvoid,  The Vespucci "C" model was recently released.  It
> does have a panel and
> the docking ports for the DG3.  It features 5 docking ports,
> visual approach only - 1 in the
> nose and four in a ring around the hull.  That's the version I
> was talking about.    
>
>      Christopher


That's what I've been using to test the DG III. I loaded it up and took it on a tour of the Anwar
System. Only problem I ran into was with the DG III loaded Vespucci lost some of it's sounds. I
finally just copied the DG III part and left a simple DG when flying from Vespucci. When I
established orbit around a planet I just edited the DG III back in and switched over. Was some
scenario editing but it worked out pretty good.

Vespucci C panel isn't chocked full of functions but that's still a limitation of the panel creation
program. I noticed a little bit of the docked structure bug but that wasn't too bad since Vespucci
outweighs the ships docked to it by a fair margin. I made a tour to all planets in the Anwar system
and took the DG III to visit all the moons and space ports.

[Leniad]

Could you tell me where to get Vespucci C? I ran some searches and all I found was vespucci B :P

PS: Great job, Dan! The DGIII is the only ship I fly (at least to L.E.O.) :P

[DanSteph]

Matt,

I think the DGIII lost some sound because there is another ship (dragonfly?)
in the scenary that use sound (I recall for now OrbiterSound allow
60 sound slot for all the vessel, if two use the same slot the ship
that is loaded the latest will replace the sound with it's hown.

One things I never tried but that should work: try to copy/paste the ship section
of the DGIII (ie: GL-01:DeltaGliderIII) in last position into the scenario, so it will
be loaded the last and it will keep its sound.

Dan

[darkvoid]

ChristopherT wrote:

>
> Darkvoid, The Vespucci "C" model was recently released. It
> does have a panel and
> the docking ports for the DG3. It features 5 docking ports,
> visual approach only - 1 in the
> nose and four in a ring around the hull. That's the version I
> was talking about.  
>
> Christopher

That sounds really great ChristopherT. I've searched but I can't found that "C" model
Can anyone tell me where I can get it?



Post Edited (02-11-04 14:02)

[DanSteph]

It's horrible,

Joe just lost his feet during a terrible collision with the ISS




The medical glider is already here ready for the surgery, the feet are well
conserved at -200c°

Dan

[Leemon]

message removed -- was a link to the Vespucci, but I see DarkVoid already has it...

Lee



Post Edited (02-11-04 18:40)

[Krytom]

Yahooooo!    8)  

I've just completed a "Mir to Moon" mission with the DGIII. That hover autopilot is really useful!
You just set the verticle speed to 1 m/p/s and bring your airspeed down to nothing. That way I
did a soundless verticle landing, without a bump! (I even had time to do time accelleration while I
did that!;))

Dan, would we only be able to make repairs in space? It would be useful to repair on ground
aswell, like if you mess up a landing and your gear gets ripped off, you might want to fix it.
Just a thought.

Krytom



Post Edited (02-11-04 23:50)

[DanSteph]

Congrat

And no sorry , Once on the ground you must send it to qualified
technician, your job as pilot just finished.
(ie: exit orbiter and edit the saved scenario to set failure to "0")

Dan

[Wilko]

Hehe, what I do is park it outside the NASA building someways away from the hoverpads, exit,
make changes, jump time ahead a few hours, and there you go

[MattNW]

>Author: DanSteph
>Date:   02-11-04 08:37

>Matt,

>I think the DGIII lost some sound because there is another ship (dragonfly?)
>in the scenary that use sound (I recall for now OrbiterSound allow
>60 sound slot for all the vessel, if two use the same slot the ship
>that is loaded the latest will replace the sound with it's hown.

>One things I never tried but that should work: try to copy/paste the ship section
>of the DGIII (ie: GL-01:DeltaGliderIII) in last position into the scenario, so it will
>be loaded the last and it will keep its sound.

>Dan


It was Vespucci that lost sound. It lost it's main engine and RCS sounds (particularly troublesome
when watching TransX trying to do a course correction). When I switched to the DG III it had all
it's sounds. Only caused a problem when I wanted to fly the Vespucci to another planet. Don't
need the DG III then anyway. It's just cargo so I edited it out and saved the DG III info in
Notepad. When I was ready to make a side trip to a Moon then I'd just edit the info back in.

[DanSteph]

Ah ok yes, it's not a bug but a "feature"

The DGIII forbid OrbiterSound to play thrust sound
because it have is own sound, this was done for the DGII
where it wasn't planned to fly multiple vessel.

Anyway this is still on my "todo" list


Dan

[Dave Grover]

Dan:

I attempted your rescue scenario!  LOL!  Boy am I going to have to study for this one!    
TransX manual, here I come!

I have never been farther than the Moon.  Now I am dealing with a completely different kettle of
fish regarding the Jovian System.  

Oh, I found what I think is a bug.  Yup, this could be another Orbiter limitation.  I set the antenna
to track the Mining DGIII.  Guess what!  It continues to track when it doesn't have line of sight.  
Europa is currently in the way.

Grover

[ChristopherT]

Dave Grover wrote:

> Dan:
> Oh, I found what I think is a bug.  Yup, this could be another
> Orbiter limitation.  I set the antenna
> to track the Mining DGIII.  Guess what!  It continues to track
> when it doesn't have line of sight.  
> Europa is currently in the way.
>
> Grover

  That's not a bug, it's a feature.  It was designed to overcome the distance limit of the Orbiter
IDS system.  It's meant to simulate the higher power systems of the AE35 over the conventional
Orbiter navigation systems.  

         Christopher

[Dave Grover]

Yah, sure, Christopher!  LOL!

This might, of course, be a nightmare for Dan to deal with!  

Grover

[EndeavourCmdr]

As for the rescue scenario, I was able to do it without the use of the transx MFD. Actually, it can be
done quite easily like this....

Go into level autopilot mode. Point nose at jupiter. Now you are pointing along the ecliptic. Use
hover thrusters ONLY to get about 600m/s vertical velocity. Raise nose until you are pointing
above IO. Thrust forward until Velocity vector is headed near IO, and keep burning until the
Eccentricity to Europa is 1.0000 or slightly greater. Then wait until the gravititional influence of
Jupiter is greater then Europa. Meaning you are actually orbiting Jupiter now. Next, open the Orbit
MFD with Jupiter as the reference, and IO as the target. Lower either apogee or perogee, so that
the Orbit comes close to IOs orbiter. Then use the Orbit MFD with IO as the reference, and the
Encounter MFD on the other side to get the periapsis to IO just above its surface. In no time, you
should be ready to retrograde to enter Orbit around IO. Set the apogee of io pretty high, like 15m.
Do your plane alignment at Apogee, and then when at perogee, thrust retro again to get into a
circular orbit.

Has worked for me...

[Dave Grover]

EndeavourCmdr wrote:

> As for the rescue scenario, I was able to do it without the use
> of the transx MFD. Actually, it can be
> done quite easily like this....
>
> Go into level autopilot mode. Point nose at jupiter. Now you
> are pointing along the ecliptic. Use
> hover thrusters ONLY to get about 600m/s vertical velocity.
> Raise nose until you are pointing
> above IO. Thrust forward until Velocity vector is headed near
> IO, and keep burning until the
> Eccentricity to Europa is 1.0000 or slightly greater. Then wait
> until the gravititional influence of
> Jupiter is greater then Europa. Meaning you are actually
> orbiting Jupiter now. Next, open the Orbit
> MFD with Jupiter as the reference, and IO as the target. Lower
> either apogee or perogee, so that
> the Orbit comes close to IOs orbiter. Then use the Orbit MFD
> with IO as the reference, and the
> Encounter MFD on the other side to get the periapsis to IO just
> above its surface. In no time, you
> should be ready to retrograde to enter Orbit around IO. Set the
> apogee of io pretty high, like 15m.
> Do your plane alignment at Apogee, and then when at perogee,
> thrust retro again to get into a
> circular orbit.
>
> Has worked for me...

Thank you very much, Sir!  

Of course, I want to learn to do it with the TransX MFD, too.  At least, as an exercise to learn the
TransX MFD better.  I am (mostly anyway) a newbie at Orbiter.  Maybe a fairly skilled newbie, but
still a newbie.  

So now to go find the EncounterMFD.  I have seen it, but have I downloaded it?  

Grover

[DanSteph]

Congrat EndeavourCmdr

Your the first to succeed in this mission

I think I will leave it in the final package but with a tag "hard"
trajectory with jupiter trying to grapple you is an interesting challenge
after all.

Dan

[Zamzara]

>> That's not a bug, it's a feature. It was designed to overcome the distance limit of the Orbiter
IDS system. It's meant to simulate the higher power systems of the AE35 over the conventional
Orbiter navigation systems.

Haha, that's some powerful antenna if it can transmit through a planet! If there was life on Europa I
think Dan's AE35 just fried it! :D

[Dave Grover]

EndeavourCmdr wrote:

> As for the rescue scenario, I was able to do it without the use
> of the transx MFD. Actually, it can be
> done quite easily like this....
>
> Go into level autopilot mode. Point nose at jupiter. Now you
> are pointing along the ecliptic. Use
> hover thrusters ONLY to get about 600m/s vertical velocity.
> Raise nose until you are pointing
> above IO. Thrust forward until Velocity vector is headed near
> IO, and keep burning until the
> Eccentricity to Europa is 1.0000 or slightly greater. Then wait
> until the gravititional influence of
> Jupiter is greater then Europa. Meaning you are actually
> orbiting Jupiter now. Next, open the Orbit
> MFD with Jupiter as the reference, and IO as the target. Lower
> either apogee or perogee, so that
> the Orbit comes close to IOs orbiter. Then use the Orbit MFD
> with IO as the reference, and the
> Encounter MFD on the other side to get the periapsis to IO just
> above its surface. In no time, you
> should be ready to retrograde to enter Orbit around IO. Set the
> apogee of io pretty high, like 15m.
> Do your plane alignment at Apogee, and then when at perogee,
> thrust retro again to get into a
> circular orbit.
>
> Has worked for me...

Well, this almost worked for me, too!  Things were going well until  . . .  during the encounter with
IO, I believed the numbers on the Orbit MFD instead of the graphic depiction of my flight path!  This
resulted in my crashing into IO!      Well, I learn something new every day.  

This was one INTERESTING flight.  You have to do a lot of manual flying as the autopilots "go
crazy".  What I mean is this:  In the relatively early part of the flight, the Orbit HUD tells you that
you are orbiting Jupiter, but the autopilots still think you are orbiting Europa.  So don't use them
until much later.  Also the Jovian environment is SO gravitationally complex.  I had to make almost
constant small orbital corrections due to various heavenly bodies (Europa, IO, and the big one,
Jupiter) continually changing my orbit.    I did an plane alignment maneuver with IO's orbit as
I approached it.  I was only 0.50 off plane, which required only a 15 second burn to align!  

I will try this one again soon.  

Grover

[DanSteph]

I'll add in the description: "don't believe too much your instrument"
or such warning.

And yes it was an interesting flight, I have done the rought method
but it worked for me.

Dan

[Krytom]

Dan

Only a minor spelling mistake , but i thought i would point it out anyway. In the DG3 config program in the Technician's
Advice it says 'thrust' instead of 'trust'.

Just thought you would like to know. Looking forward to the new DGIII. I can't
wait.

Krytom:)

P.S. Just found a useful MFD. The Orbiter Mini Bar. It's the kind of thing for those who like to feel drunk in zero gravity, find it here http://www.aibs.org.uk/orbiter/ . Maybe Joe could have some drink before EVA.



Post Edited (02-15-04 00:03)

[DanSteph]

The orbiter mini-bar look cool (didn't tried yet)
its in my link page.



Spelling error -> todo list , thanks for feedback.

Dan