CaptainSwag101
Addon Developer
This post will serve as a home for all the important information and "frequently-answered-questions" we tell people after they install NASSP, before they start actually flying missions. Since we as developers have spent countless hours using NASSP, it's easy for us to subconsciously omit details in other guides or explanations. We know these processes and habits by heart but they might not be apparent to most people, especially newcomers. You might consider this an "Installation Guide, part 2" in a sense, but the points I'll discuss are more related to how to actually use and interact with the simulator once you've gotten your installation up and running, general guidelines for getting started with NASSP, as well as common pitfalls to avoid. This post will be kept updated with new information and suggestions occasionally.
Change log:
2025-02-19: Added additional tips about moving around the cockpit, interacting with the switches and controls, and about screenshotting PADs.
2025-01-15: Initial post.
Change log:
2025-02-19: Added additional tips about moving around the cockpit, interacting with the switches and controls, and about screenshotting PADs.
2025-01-15: Initial post.
- What mission(s) should you start with? That's ultimately up to you, but we generally recommend Apollo 8. While Apollo 7 is chronologically first, it's a very long mission that is meant to test vehicle systems and procedures from the relative safety of low Earth orbit. As such, it involves a very unusual and often repetitive schedule, with procedures that are rather unrefined. Apollo 8, by contrast, is a relatively short mission with more straightforward goals and mission design. You get to experience most of the lunar mission milestones without needing to worry about managing two separate vehicles on your first journey. After Apollo 8 concludes, Apollo 11 or 12 would be our next recommendation. You get to use the LM and land on the moon, and the procedures have been improved and optimized thanks to the lessons learned on all the previous missions.
- What mission(s) might not be suitable for beginners? We generally do not recommend Apollo 13-17 for beginners, since they have not yet been given automatic mission control support or mission-specific checklists, meaning you'll need to do a lot of things manually, including planning the entire mission trajectory and maneuvers via our virtual RTCC. This is its own challenge in addition to flying the mission, and we recommend you only attempt it when you feel you have adequate experience with NASSP and Apollo. Once you feel comfortable enough to give it a try, consult the included documentation for an overview of how to interact with the RTCC to perform various mission tasks.
- Once you load into a fresh "Launch" scenario, you'll be presented with an external view of the Saturn launch vehicle stack. "How do I actually get into the cockpit?" you might ask. Simply press the F1 key to switch between the internal and external view.
- Now that you're inside the cockpit, you'll notice it's a classic-style 2D panel. While this panel works fine, we've made huge improvements to the graphical quality and immersiveness of NASSP over the last few years, so we strongly recommend using the 3D cockpit whenever possible. To switch between the 2D cockpit and the more modern 3D cockpit, press the F8 key. You will need to do this occasionally, because the CSM and LM optics views are only functional in the 2D view. We do hope to add optics support to the 3D cockpit, but adding this functionality is complicated and we don't currently have the knowledge to do so. Also, be sure to use the lighting knobs inside each vehicle's cockpit to adjust the lights to your liking.
- How do I move around the cockpit? The 2D and 3D cockpit views are divided up into multiple viewpoints, usually centered on a specific panel or group of panels. Think of these a bit like choosing which "seat" you're positioned at in the spacecraft. In each view, you can use the arrow keys to move the camera up, down, left, and right. You can switch between these seats by holding the Control/Ctrl key and pressing an arrow key. It may take some time to get used to where each of the viewpoints are located within the cockpit. In the 3D cockpit specifically, from any "seat" you can hold Ctrl and Alt and press an arrow key to adjust the camera to one of several preset angles, to help get a better view of certain switches or components in that area. For example, from the left seat of the CM, you can press Ctrl + Alt + Right Arrow to zoom the camera in on the DSKY, or Ctrl + Alt + Left Arrow to look to your left, at the side panels near your armrest. Every "seat" has its own set of preset views, many of which are very helpful in finding switches that are out of sight or not as easily viewable.
- How do I interact with switches? Most switches can be controlled by left-clicking. Click slightly above the switch to push it up, and slightly below to push it down. Some switches may have three positions, so to move the switch from its "up" position to the "down" position, you'll need to click twice. If a switch has a guard or cover, right-click the switch to open or close its cover.
- How do I interact with circuit breakers and computer keys? These are pretty easy. You can left-click circuit breakers to close or open them. For computer keys like the DSKY or DEDA, just click on each button to press it. If you find that the computer isn't always responding to your key presses, you may be letting go of the button too quickly. Each computer key needs to be held for a small fraction of a second, and sometimes a fast click doesn't hold the button down for quite long enough. You don't need to hold them for a long time, only for a brief moment to ensure they register.
- How do I interact with rheostats/knobs? A "rheostat" is one of the gray knob-like controls. Some of these work differently than others. Certain rheostats for controlling the cockpit lighting or the S-Band antenna angles are continuous, meaning they can be rotated freely to any position. To adjust these, click and hold on the knob, and then drag left or right to adjust its position. For other rheostats with discrete positions, left-click to rotate the knob to the left, and right-click to rotate it to the right.
- How do I interact with thumbwheels? Thumbwheels are the vertical numbered controls, found on the gimbal trim control panel and the attitude set control panel. Left-click the upper or lower part of each thumbwheel to increase/decrease its value by 1, or right-click them to increase/decrease by 0.1. The dV/Range Set switch on the EMS works similarly: hold the switch on the top or bottom to increase or decrease the value, and left-click or right-click to do so fast/slowly.
- While the 2D cockpit has MFDs built right into its main panel, the 3D cockpit does not. To open an MFD in the 3D cockpit, move your mouse near the top of the Orbiter window. A menu bar should drop down. Click on "Function" and then choose "External MFD". If this option does not appear, make sure the "ExtMFD" module is enabled in the Orbiter settings.
- When looking at the Checklist MFD, you'll notice the text has multiple colors. Green checklist entries will automatically proceed once the relevant switch, circuit breaker, button, etc. is in the correct position. Yellow entries need to be manually verified/completed, and then proceeded past with the "PRO" button on the MFD. Blue entries indicate a jump to another checklist within the current one. Sometimes these happen automatically, or you may need to click "PRO" or "FAIL" to decide whether you want to activate the new checklist or skip it. To enable or disable the auto-proceed function of the checklist, click the "AUTO" button on the MFD.
- If you need to navigate to another part of the current checklist being displayed, you can use the UP/DN or PG UP/PG DN buttons to temporarily move the cursor to a different entry in the checklist. Then, click "GOTO" to confirm you want to move to this new location, or "BACK" to return to the previous location.
- For optics sightings, you'll need to enable the AGC star markers. To do this, move your mouse near the top of the Orbiter window. A menu bar should drop down. Choose "Options", then choose "Visual helpers > Planetarium". Make sure to enable "Planetarium mode (F9)" and then enable "Celestial markers", and ensure "Apollo AGC navigation stars" is selected. Now, you should be able to see green markers indicating the positions, ID numbers, and names of the stars that the AGC knows about. Once you've enabled the markers in the settings window, you can quickly toggle them on or off with the F9 key.
- Take screenshots of your PADs, always! On missions with automated MCC support, you'll periodically receive Pre-Advisory Data (PAD) on the left side of the screen. Whenever you receive one of these, it's a good idea to take a screenshot of this data and save it somewhere. Each new PAD will replace the previous one, and certain parts of a mission might send you several over the course of a few minutes, so you will often need to keep track of them longer than the automated system keeps them there. Additionally, if you ever encounter problems with a burn or a trajectory calculation, sending us your PAD for that maneuver can be useful for debugging and troubleshooting.
- Save frequently, and keep your save files organized! While we work hard to make sure the sim is stable and the instructions are clear, glitches and human errors can cause problems. Saving often and organizing those save files will help ensure that any issues don't result in losing hours of progress. I find it's helpful to periodically rename my latest save file to the mission time when I saved, plus a short remark about what I was doing.
- Be careful with timewarp! NASSP does a lot of complex calculations in the background, and timewarping too fast can cause these calculations to fail, which can cause your current simulation session to temporarily glitch or completely break. As a rule of thumb, if you notice that the simulator's framerate is dropping significantly when you use timewarp, it probably means you are going too fast. We developers have moderately powerful computers, but they're far from high-end, mega-expensive machines. We can usually manage somewhere between 50x and 100x timewarp at the absolute maximum.
- Be careful with timewarp, part 2! If any vessel is actively maneuvering or holding attitude (attempting to rotate or remain stationary with RCS turned on), be aware that high timewarp levels can cause them to waste fuel or even spin out of control. This is a limitation of how we simulate the physics of RCS, and it may happen even if your computer is able to deal with fast timewarp normally. It will even affect vessels that you're not currently controlling: timewarping in the CSM while the LM is trying to hold attitude will cause problems for the LM. Usually going up to about 5x or 10x is safe. If you want to timewarp faster, be sure to disable any kind of attitude-hold mode in the CSM and LM before continuing, but watch out to make sure you don't slowly drift into gimbal lock!
- Remember the CSM O2 Hose. When you're performing LM activation, be sure to use the Project Apollo MFD's "ECS" section to connect the O2 hose from the CSM. This creates a flow of fresh oxygen into the LM so that the cabin doesn't fill up with deadly CO2 and poison your crew before the LM ECS is activated. Having this O2 hose connected also prevents you from closing the CSM forward hatch, so if you can't get it to close, make sure you've disconnected the hose.
- Pay attention to whether your LM crew should be in the cabin or their suits. Some of the most common causes of sim crew death are accidents involving your LM ECS configuration. In addition to the controls in the spacecraft itself, there's also some important options in the Project Apollo MFD, in the "ECS" section. If you're de-pressurizing the cabin, be sure both your crew members are in the suits! If the suit hose knob is set to "suit disconnect" for either crewmember, they should probably be in the cabin! If the suits are hooked up to the ECS but the crew are in the cabin, CO2 might be building up without the gauge on the panel being able to detect it, because the airflow is only going through the suits. The checklists should steer you in the right direction, but it is easy for mistakes to happen, so be vigilant. In the future, we intend to overhaul the Command Module ECS to also simulate the crew being suited or unsuited, so getting in the habit of paying attention to this is highly recommended.
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