Update Arrow Freighter version 2012 updated (screenshots)

[TerraMimic]

Wow. So much new stuff. Tuesday is so far away

 

[Fisherman]

Wow. So much new stuff. Tuesday is so far away

Ha ha! Yep! Can't wait!

 

[dansteph]

DEV NEWS

As the front screen's displayed datas were in double with the new right screen I've replaced them with hull temperature (shadow side and sun side), atmo temp, pressure and G.

The calculus for températures are a bit complex as it's a mix of sun effect vs pressure, atmo temp and sun power but it work not too bad. Planet's shadow & night have an effect of course. I've included also vessel limit for temps and pressure. Forget your "nice trajectory right behind the sun" your re-entry at 45° or your holidays on Venus. (All those limits are in the Arrow's configuration file)

Ascent on Titan: The sun start to warm one side (at lower altitude the pressure diluted the difference) and the hull is slightly warmed by speed.

A reentry on earth's shadow that is not well engaged.

You're dismissed !

Dan

 

[Mojave]

DEV NEWS

As the front screen's displayed datas were in double with the new right screen I've replaced them with hull temperature (shadow side and sun side), atmo temp, pressure and G.

The calculus for températures are a bit complex as it's a mix of sun effect vs pressure, atmo temp and sun power but it work not too bad. Planet's shadow & night have an effect of course. I've included also vessel limit for temps and pressure. Forget your "nice trajectory right behind the sun" your re-entry at 45° or your holidays on Venus. (All those limits are in the Arrow's configuration file)

Ascent on Titan: The sun start to warm one side (at lower altitude the pressure diluted the difference) and the hull is slightly warmed by speed.

A reentry on earth's shadow that is not well engaged.

You're dismissed !

Dan

Cool, now we can crash the Arrow. ! :tiphat:

 

[KuatYards]

Lol, guess I'll have to think reentry with the arrow through more

 

[Izack]

Very cool! The Arrow is quickly outstripping the other vessels of its class in immersion and usefulness! :thumbup:

I foresee problems creating Arrows with the scenario editor in third-party solar systems, which by default drop the created vessel in a close solar orbit. I haven't found anything in CELBODY or default config files to help developers fix this issue.

 

[dansteph]

DEV NEWS

The in-line help is almost finished. Don't mind the typo it will be corrected.

(In particular the intro text should sound strange with the mix "he/she")

Extract, the page 6 "important tips"

This one is special as it's dynamic unlike other. "Vessel limitation chart"

I foresee problems creating Arrows with the scenario editor in third-party solar systems, which by default drop the created vessel in a close solar orbit. I haven't found anything in CELBODY or default config files to help developers fix this issue.

Effectively I don't think I can do anything here, particularly the previous version was a common Orbiter vessel with nothing particular.

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

Darn, now I'll have to pay attention on reentry. Is the max reentry angle still 2.0, like on the DGIV, or can we go in a little steeper? And I know everyone is saying this but, BETA TEST SOON!!! Sorry just so excited . Im planning on using this for my first Mars Mission.

 

[csanders]

Is it possible to code an alarm if one is about land with a docked vessel still attached?

I would think (altitude above nearest body < 500m) would be sufficient for the test.

 

[donatelo200]

DEV NEWS

Effectively I don't think I can do anything here, particularly the previous version was a common Orbiter vessel with nothing particular.

Well i'll just pause and move the ship away before any damage happens.

 

[SolarLiner]

Well i'll just pause and move the ship away before any damage happens.

Yes, you can do something like in the DGIV: When the DG is spawned, the games pauses immediatly. This can be an easy-to-code solution.

 

[Interceptor]

Wow Dan! amazing updates.thank you.

 

[dansteph]

Darn, now I'll have to pay attention on reentry. Is the max reentry angle still 2.0, like on the DGIV, or can we go in a little steeper? And I know everyone is saying this but, BETA TEST SOON!!! Sorry just so excited . Im planning on using this for my first Mars Mission.

The Arrow is absolutely not done for re-entry on earth, 2° would not change anything you take too much speed at any angle. The only chance is cheating with configuration values, either super-hover and descending vertical either pushing up the limits. (EDIT: This said I've made a successful re-entry on Venus using stock Arrow, see below)

About testing I'm afraid it will not start before almost 7 days as I'll not be able to work on the arrow during this time.

Is it possible to code an alarm if one is about land with a docked vessel still attached?
I would think (altitude above nearest body < 500m) would be sufficient for the test.

There is already one alarm for such case in the previous version.


DEV NEWS:

I just finished the warning/danger code, you have a message, a nice alarm sound, a display on the roof screen and you can stop the alarm sound with a click on the display.

I included also doors in temp & pressure test. The resistance is lowered with one door open. The line that display temp & pressure show "door open" text in case of warning. (You have a chance of closing it)
Those "door open" limits are shown also in the "Limitation chart" screen.


Well, one screen worth thousands words : Hover descent on Venus with gear lowered open:

The new "Limitation chart"

 

[Hlynkacg]

The calculus for températures are a bit complex as it's a mix of sun effect vs pressure, atmo temp and sun power but it work not too bad. Planet's shadow & night have an effect of course. I've included also vessel limit for temps and pressure. Forget your "nice trajectory right behind the sun" your re-entry at 45° or your holidays on Venus. (All those limits are in the Arrow's configuration file)

A bit off topic but would you be willing to share the functions you used to do all this?

They sound like they'd be an excellent asset for other addons.

 

[dansteph]

They sound like they'd be an excellent asset for other addons.

It's a reusable class so I thought already that some snippet or helper class posted here and there can help. I have a topic post about Orbiter C++ tutorial with some example on my forum unfortunately it's in french.
http://orbiter.dansteph.com/forum/read.php?f=5&i=10129&t=10129

(There is some really cool class as the "save/restore" one that I use in every ship now) Later I may add some classes on my blog here in English.


While I'm here, hi-res of the "vAtmoDelta" mission:

Using only the stock Arrow: high brake in Orbit for low speed vertical reentry on main engine then flight on hi Venus atmo without endangering the ship. (no landing)

I've done this just for testing the new "pressure & temp" function but it might be a cool mission to add to scenario. The view is superb.

Dan

 

[Interceptor]

Hi Dan, any chance at particle effects,such as hover,thruster dust when landing?

 

[dansteph]

Hi Dan, any chance at particle effects,such as hover,thruster dust when landing?

I was thinking about that while flying Venus, the problem is performance.
I pushed already the Arrow far over my natural use of resources, it still run at 400 fps on my computer but I'm afraid for the low end computer.

The problem with thrusters is that there is 18 of them, 18 trails would not give anything good to low end computer.

I can of course add a parameter in config with trails disabled by default but I'm also afraid that someone will kill me if I don't release soon, so I must stop adding things for this version

 

[Interceptor]

thanks for the answer Dan,please take your time,I think most of us here at OF,appreciate you taking your time,and making this an even better version,and it's done when you decide.

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

but if we kill you we wont get our arrow freighter :lol:

 

[SolarLiner]

I'm also afraid that someone will kill me if I don't release soon

*Crack cling* Release, hurry ! :lol: