General Question Help a Beginner: no sound + shuttle controls?

[Tex]

{...} It is not a game you can simply "jump in and fly", and learning only the basic controls will leave you sadly lacking a good chunk of what makes Orbiter Orbiter.

So true! It can take years to master this simulation. I've been playing it 6 years now and still can't do everything this amazing simulation offers.

 

[Xyon]

So true! It can take years to master this simulation. I've been playing it 6 years now and still can't do everything this amazing simulation offers.

Heh, at the risk of this turning into a discussion about it, me neither, though I haven't been flying for quite as long. >.>

 

[NSRacer]

ok thanks. but it would also take you less time to write down the throttle key then explaining my what i need to read

 

[Tex]

It's not as simple as explaining the throttle key. There are many keys one must know in order to control the spacecraft. To answer your question as basic as possible, the numpad is your thruster and engine controls.

In the Orbiter.pdf located in the 'Docs' folder inside your Orbiter installation, you will find the spacecraft controls start on page 32. Now, get to reading! :thumbup:

 

[Xyon]

ok thanks. but it would also take you less time to write down the throttle key then explaining my what i need to read

True, that it would. And then you'd come back and ask me what key you press to fire the forward underside RCS (pitch up), and that wouldn't take very long, and then you'd start asking how to lift the gear up, and that wouldn't take very long either...

All that is in the manuals. What is also in the manuals is an explanation of the physics involved in getting to Orbit, synchronising and docking with stations, landing, atmospheric flight, and so on and so forth. Complete understanding of these principles is not necessary to play Orbiter, but you will need to know some aspects of them.

Martin and every other addon developer, including myself, spend a lot of time writing documentation for a reason. Every person here on OF with purple names has spent time, in some cases several days, writing tutorials explaining various aspects of flying in Orbiter, ranging from the basic to the advanced.

These documents exist for the benefit of people like yourself, who are new to the simulator, and people like Tex and myself, who are reasonably proficient at least. I still continually find better and more efficient ways to do things in Orbiter after roughly two years of flying due purely to reading documentation and tutorials.

We have excellent documentation here, and good support, and we're always willing to help people who have looked through the manuals and not found their answers. But when the answer to every question you've asked is sat inside your Orbiter Docs folder untouched, and you don't have the time for it, why should we have the time for you?

[/rant] sorry -.-

 

[NSRacer]

I will. But first i have to do some take-offs and crash landings (if i will ever be near a crash landing)...probably i will burn and die in space. Anyway, thanks again for the help and hopefully i will manage to do a flight soon. See ya all later, have a good night !

---------- Post added at 06:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:03 PM ----------

True, that it would. And then you'd come back and ask me what key you press to fire the forward underside RCS (pitch up), and that wouldn't take very long, and then you'd start asking how to lift the gear up, and that wouldn't take very long either...

All that is in the manuals. What is also in the manuals is an explanation of the physics involved in getting to Orbit, synchronising and docking with stations, landing, atmospheric flight, and so on and so forth. Complete understanding of these principles is not necessary to play Orbiter, but you will need to know some aspects of them.

Martin and every other addon developer, including myself, spend a lot of time writing documentation for a reason. Every person here on OF with purple names has spent time, in some cases several days, writing tutorials explaining various aspects of flying in Orbiter, ranging from the basic to the advanced.

These documents exist for the benefit of people like yourself, who are new to the simulator, and people like Tex and myself, who are reasonably proficient at least. I still continually find better and more efficient ways to do things in Orbiter after roughly two years of flying due purely to reading documentation and tutorials.

We have excellent documentation here, and good support, and we're always willing to help people who have looked through the manuals and not found their answers. But when the answer to every question you've asked is sat inside your Orbiter Docs folder untouched, and you don't have the time for it, why should we have the time for you?

[/rant] sorry -.-

Why? Because i'm sure you were just like me when you started playing orbiter. Nobody is born a genius but of course it's very easy to talk about things when you know you're deal. I started my career as a rally driver 2 years ago and i can a sure you that there are many things that you need to read and learn. So if you ask me how to start the car and use the launch control i should tell you to start reading 10.000 pages. Problem is that at the end you will realize that you read 10.000 pages just for learning how to push 1 button and 2 pedals. So wouldn't be more easy for you if i had told you from the beginning to push those 3 things?

Sorry for my bad english but hopefully you will understand my point. Have a good night!

 

[Xyon]

Why? Because i'm sure you were just like me when you started playing orbiter. Nobody is born a genius but of course it's very easy to talk about things when you know you're deal. I started my career as a rally driver 2 years ago and i can a sure you that there are many things that you need to read and learn. So if you ask me how to start the car and use the launch control i should tell you to start reading 10.000 pages. Problem is that at the end you will realize that you read 10.000 pages just for learning how to push 1 button and 2 pedals. So wouldn't be more easy for you if i had told you from the beginning to push those 3 things?

Sorry for my bad english but hopefully you will understand my point. Have a good night!

The first thing I did in Orbiter was try and fail to launch Atlantis into orbit. And after that, the very next place I went was the documentation, and Go play in Space. I'm not telling you to do anything hundreds of other Orbinauts haven't already done, myself included.

 

[Wonderer]

I found the scenarios in the "checklist" section very helpful,just open the in game help file and follow it step by step.The shuttle is very difficult to launch harder to dock and even harder to land,so I wouldn't suggest using it as your learning craft.Reentry is a pain,but the new map mfd really helps.Getting to the moon isn't that difficult with "lunar transfer mfd".The learning curve isn't that steap I did a fly around of the inner solar system within a month,it is a great feeling to gett to another planet without warp drives,using warp drives kills all the fun.

 

[n122vu]

Why? Because i'm sure you were just like me when you started playing orbiter. Nobody is born a genius but of course it's very easy to talk about things when you know you're deal. I started my career as a rally driver 2 years ago and i can a sure you that there are many things that you need to read and learn. So if you ask me how to start the car and use the launch control i should tell you to start reading 10.000 pages. Problem is that at the end you will realize that you read 10.000 pages just for learning how to push 1 button and 2 pedals. So wouldn't be more easy for you if i had told you from the beginning to push those 3 things?

Sorry for my bad english but hopefully you will understand my point. Have a good night!

I was just like you. I had been flying MSFS for 6 years before I finally picked up Orbiter. And the very, very VERY first thing I did was read the tutorials in the manual. I flew the first tutorial to get the DeltaGlider in Orbit by looking at the manual the whole way (which tells you EXACTLY what buttons to press at what time) and got into orbit. Then I started the scenario over and flew it again, and again, and again, until I could do it without looking at the tutorial. Then I moved on to docking with the ISS, using that tutorial in the same way.

If you can't follow the most basic advice that pretty much everyone in this thread has given you, some of them multiple times, you may not get many more answers on the subject.

 

[ar81]

I'm afraid to say you seem to have the wrong attitude.

Where should his nose be pointing to have a good attitude? :lol:

Orbiter is like no other space simulation game. It's a focussed, realistic space simulator which takes patience and practice in abundance to learn, and a basic understanding of physics will certainly be of benefit. It is not a game you can simply "jump in and fly", and learning only the basic controls will leave you sadly lacking a good chunk of what makes Orbiter Orbiter.

Well in my Orbiter workshops for kids in 2005-2006 it was a lesson of 1 hour so they could take off and do basic atmospheric maneuvers.

For kids, it was a game...

 

[garyw]

Where should his nose be pointing to have a good attitude? :lol:

In the manual.... :lol:

 

[FSXHD]

I first started learning about Orbiter in January of this year. I did what many newbies would do. Launch up the scenario on the runway at KSC and took off. I did have about 9 years of flight sim experience, but that doesn't help one bit in the zero gravity vacuum environment of space. I turned to this website's tutorial section and found Go Play in Space. I sat down on a rainy weekend and did the first few tutorial flights over and over again until I could do them without looking at the manual. If you don't have patience to do one 20-page chapter a week (or a different interval) in Go Play in Space, you won't be orbiting anytime soon. After a period of about a month or two, I could launch, orbit, rendezvous, and dock without looking at the manuals. Then I tried them in the XR spacecraft. Only a few weeks ago I learned how to reenter precisely so that I didn't have to use engines to get back to base. It is a long process to learn this simulator, and I still have many years to go before I master it. My advice to you is to take it slow and have patience and a will to learn. Good luck on your new endeavor of learning Orbiter.

 

[Urwumpe]

The first thing I did in Orbiter was try and fail to launch Atlantis into orbit. And after that, the very next place I went was the documentation, and Go play in Space. I'm not telling you to do anything hundreds of other Orbinauts haven't already done, myself included.

The first I did was missing my target orbit by 100 km, despite having attended a "basic of spaceflight lecture" for two months at the time I got to Orbiter. I had much higher expectations on me, but Orbiter eventually made me better.

Everybody started as newbie, but: It is not about being a Newbie, it is about ceasing to be one. If you don't read manuals, don't follow the recommended standard tutorials, you are to be blamed yourself if you stay a newbie for longer. If you have done this and still have questions or do errors, you will at least do good (maybe even entertaining) errors. The better you become in Orbiter, the better you fail. Eventually you will do successful failures.

Also, burning up in Orbiter is not bad. Burning up in real life is. Orbiter is just a simulator. You burn up, get a new coke, start again, resume from the last quicksave (See manual how you do quicksaves).

 

[fireballs619]

I'm going to repeat what has been said by every poster here, only because I feel it still needs to be said. Manuals are your best friend. While you may have only wanted to know what the throttle is (+/- on the numpad), you still should have looked at the manuals everyone was throwing at you. If you had taken the time to, you would have found that there are complete control sheets in some, as pointed out by Tex, but also detailed descriptions of when and how to use the controls.

Which is better; "+/- is throttle. Have fun.' or '+/- is throttle, but if your vessel has scram jets, you are going to want to pitch to 70 degrees until you are about 25km in altitude...". Option one is what you wanted to know, option two if what you would have found in the manuals we directed you to. Not only would you then know what the controls are, but also when and how to use them. Sure it would be easier for you to tell us to use the pedals when driving, as opposed to reading a long manual, but what do we do when we can't find the brakes? Is that something that could've been found in the manual?

When I first started put with orbiter back in October, I had never flown another flight simulator, so I didn't even have that to fall back on. I found the orbiter.pdf quite confusing, so I was lost. But then, I found Go Play In Space, and, after multiple weeks of doing the tutorials found in it, I was able to launch into a steady orbit, dock with the ISS, do lunar transfers, and I recently had my first successful re-entry. Even after nine months, I'm still learning- because I had the patience to go through manuals. I will now point you in the direction of some great tutorials.
Tex's DGIV to ISS tutorial (you will have to download the DGIV here)
Go Play In Space (ESSENTIAL)
Orbiter.pdf (Comes with orbiter-look in the 'doc' folder)

Good Luck, and if you still have questions after reading the manuals or doing tutorials, feel free to ask.

 

[RisingFury]

Gotta love the Orbiter comunity... a newby says: "HI!!! HELP PLEASE!!!" and immediatelly there are 3 pages of help and advice...

 

[ar81]

Perhaps I should start an academy and hire you and use this as advertising "tired of reading manuals? Enter our academy!!!". :lol::lol:

 

[statickid]

I think i first downloaded orbiter in 2003. The first thing I did was open the program and move the camera around. then I pressed EVERY key on the keyboard to see if I could get any reaction. the throttle of the space shuttle engaged some how and it started to launch. "cool" i thought. then it pitched backwards and started to fly in a loop, it crashed on the ground and started to fly in circles until the srbs fell off and the shuttle floundered around on the ground spinning and rolling. I remember this made me laugh. when i was done, I closed the program, looked for the DOC, and tried to find a keymap. upon finding there were so many controls i wrote them on a piece of paper and tried again.

here is what I see: a keymap can be found in a table of contents.

technically (since the conversation opened the can of technically worms) it takes MORE time and effort to find and join a forum and start a thread about a keymap that is included in the zip file in an indexed help PDF.

the sound issue is forum material, for sure!

I think that anyone on the forum who sees a thread asking how to launch a shuttle assumes that the poster wants to know more than simply how to throttle up

 

[Tommy]

Why? Because i'm sure you were just like me when you started playing orbiter. Nobody is born a genius but of course it's very easy to talk about things when you know you're deal. I started my career as a rally driver 2 years ago and i can a sure you that there are many things that you need to read and learn. So if you ask me how to start the car and use the launch control i should tell you to start reading 10.000 pages. Problem is that at the end you will realize that you read 10.000 pages just for learning how to push 1 button and 2 pedals. So wouldn't be more easy for you if i had told you from the beginning to push those 3 things?

So you are saying all I need to know to be a Rally driver is how to push one button and two pedals? That I don't need to know what a traction circle is, or how to find an apex, much less know what the heck a Scandinavian flick is? You'ld think I might at least need to know what that wheel shaped thing in front of me does, or why the "parking brake" doesn't automatically lock on when you pull it. At the very least I need to know WHEN and WHERE to push those buttons. Seriously, give someone a Rally car, tell them only to push one button and two pedals, and see how long they live. Those 10,000 pages you mention didn't just teach you to push the button, it also taught you WHY, and WHEN to push the button.

Sure, with one button and two pedals I can get the car moving - until a tree stops it. I'm certainly not going to be successful, I'll be DNF, likely injured or dead, and my expensive car a mass of twisted metal. Then I'm frustrated - not knowing where I went wrong or how to do better next time - and I quit in disgust.

What you are asking us to do is much like trying to teach someone to be a Rally driver - without having to learn how to drive a car first. You want us to teach you what button to push - one button at a time, when that information has already been provided in the documentation. I don't train monkeys.

When you have a question that isn't already covered in the manual or GPIS, or have at least tried to learn from the manual and just don't quite get it, there are many of us here who are glad to help. We just don't like to waste our time helping people too stubborn or lazy to help themselves, because they don't stay around long anyway. That is what I think Xyon is referring to when he talks about your attitude. Th Orbiter Homepage states quite clearly that Orbiter has a steep learning curve.Asking us for a shortcut that doesn't exist is a waste of your time, and ours.

 

[ddom2006]

I'd have to say no but you'll have a better appreciation for what's involved.

Remember, Orbiter has a steep learning curve. As an example, it took me something like a month before I could dock to the ISS and 5 months before I got to the moon. You may well be a lot quicker than that.

I'd also suggest reading this -> Go Play in Space

I agree, I've been using Orbiter for a good year now, for about an hour a night, and I can only just keep a shuttle in stable Earth orbit :lol:. I'm sure if I commited more time to the simulator I'd get more done, but that's as much time as I've been able to. So think about how much you can commit to the simulator before you jump right in. Gary couldn't speak a truer word than advising you of the steep learning curve. But get it right... and it's amazing .

 

[NSRacer]

ok i started to read the damn manuals...not all the keys are present there (for example throttle and some others) but i managed to discover them...2 questions though :
1. does "play in space" work for orbiter 2010?
2. how can i zoom in our out in cockpit view

PS - i'm sorry if i offended anyone or stuff like that, yes manuals do really learn you how to do stuff (not 100% but they help a lot). So i hope you will be able to help me when i will need some answers...till then, i still have to read a lot