About a week ago I downloaded AMSO. It's Brilliant! It's all I've been doing in Orbiter since. It's not within my nature to poke fault at something which, really, doesn't have any. So this a list of things which I believe are either: inaccurate and fixable OR possible improvements relating to greater accuracy. Most of these points relate to the launch/staging, I'll try to go in order chronologically.
1] Tower jettison is done manually. I know this isn't a big issue, but the tower jet is performed by the commander flipping a switch in the cockpit. I know "J" initiates an abort. But, how about K? It would be nice to actually have something to do during the launch. Skirt sep, wait 5 seconds, then "K" and wwooossh, tower's gone.
2] VC vibrations. They sure are cool! But, I think they should scale during the launch. Essentially from very high frequency at ingition and lift off, and then beginning to become less violent after passing through max-Q, scaling down as the atmosphere thins, and then being practically non-existent throughout the latter parts of the second and third stages. VC vibrations would not have occurred during the SIVB's burns, or firings of the SPS. It would have been a straight even G force in one direction. Much like the "riding on glass" that I've heard Shuttle astronauts describe after SRB jettison.
3] The ullage motors at the bottom of the SIVB stage are jettisoned after third stage ignition to save weight. Again it's not important, but it did happen, and would be quite cool to see.
4] All ignitions of all stages during launch do not immediately jump from 0-100% rated thrust. For instance the SIVB's J-2 Engine takes around 3 seconds to reach full thrust.
5] The SIVB's engine is essentially one of the second stages J-2 engines, and so, the exhaust texture would be the same. They are very different in AMSO.
6] The 'glow' seen around the engine exhausts would not be seen in a vacuum. This glow would only be seen if atmosphere was between the exhaust and the viewer. So, really, the second stage's glow would hardly be noticeable, even early during it's burn, and after that no engine should have a glow around it's exhaust. Again, not a big issue, though. Also, is it possible to make changes to the exhaust textures so that there is no blue box around them whilst viewing from a distance?
7] In AMSO, after LM extraction from the SIVB after the LOI burn, the SIVB stage waits about 10 minutes and then performs it's burn to either escape the Earth or impact the Moon. Realistically, well, at least during Apollo 11, about 20 minutes after LM extraction, the CSM/LM stack performs a separation manoeuvre, and some time after that the SIVB performs it's burn. I would say to increase the wait time on the SIVB burn from 10 minutes to around 40.
8] In my opinion, RCS rotation of the CSM is too sensitive. Especially in roll.
9] I love the idea of LM 'activation'. However, this extends the LM's landing gear, which was actually done by the LM pilot after undocking from the CSM.
There! Sorry if you think I'm being a bit too particular But, at least to my knowledge, most of the points above can be achieved, and would only add to the realism of an already great addon! I look forward to hearing what you guys think.
1] Tower jettison is done manually. I know this isn't a big issue, but the tower jet is performed by the commander flipping a switch in the cockpit. I know "J" initiates an abort. But, how about K? It would be nice to actually have something to do during the launch. Skirt sep, wait 5 seconds, then "K" and wwooossh, tower's gone.
2] VC vibrations. They sure are cool! But, I think they should scale during the launch. Essentially from very high frequency at ingition and lift off, and then beginning to become less violent after passing through max-Q, scaling down as the atmosphere thins, and then being practically non-existent throughout the latter parts of the second and third stages. VC vibrations would not have occurred during the SIVB's burns, or firings of the SPS. It would have been a straight even G force in one direction. Much like the "riding on glass" that I've heard Shuttle astronauts describe after SRB jettison.
3] The ullage motors at the bottom of the SIVB stage are jettisoned after third stage ignition to save weight. Again it's not important, but it did happen, and would be quite cool to see.
4] All ignitions of all stages during launch do not immediately jump from 0-100% rated thrust. For instance the SIVB's J-2 Engine takes around 3 seconds to reach full thrust.
5] The SIVB's engine is essentially one of the second stages J-2 engines, and so, the exhaust texture would be the same. They are very different in AMSO.
6] The 'glow' seen around the engine exhausts would not be seen in a vacuum. This glow would only be seen if atmosphere was between the exhaust and the viewer. So, really, the second stage's glow would hardly be noticeable, even early during it's burn, and after that no engine should have a glow around it's exhaust. Again, not a big issue, though. Also, is it possible to make changes to the exhaust textures so that there is no blue box around them whilst viewing from a distance?
7] In AMSO, after LM extraction from the SIVB after the LOI burn, the SIVB stage waits about 10 minutes and then performs it's burn to either escape the Earth or impact the Moon. Realistically, well, at least during Apollo 11, about 20 minutes after LM extraction, the CSM/LM stack performs a separation manoeuvre, and some time after that the SIVB performs it's burn. I would say to increase the wait time on the SIVB burn from 10 minutes to around 40.
8] In my opinion, RCS rotation of the CSM is too sensitive. Especially in roll.
9] I love the idea of LM 'activation'. However, this extends the LM's landing gear, which was actually done by the LM pilot after undocking from the CSM.
There! Sorry if you think I'm being a bit too particular But, at least to my knowledge, most of the points above can be achieved, and would only add to the realism of an already great addon! I look forward to hearing what you guys think.