spacecraft3.dll what is it all about

[joshua01793]

in orbiter hanger evry 2 or 3 add on's it says spacecraft3.dll Required or spacecraft.dll or spacecraft2.dll and multistage.dll i dont no what they are i no were to get them but for the life of me i can not get them to work i used a little diagnostic tool called OrbiterDiagnostic v0.2 this is the info it gives me

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scenarios directory found: OK.
Meshes directory found: OK.
Config directory found: OK.
Base.cfg found: OK.
Vessels directory found: OK.
VINKA's SPACECRAFT ADDON
----------------------------------------------------
Multistage directory found: NO.
Spacecraft directory found: OK.
Spacecraft.cfg found: NO.
Spacecraft.dll found: NO.
Spacecraft2.cfg found: NO.
Spacecraft2.dll found: NO.
Spacecraft3.cfg found: OK.
Spacecraft3.dll found: OK.
INSTALLATION ISSUES
--------------------------------------
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Config\Base.cfg
MISSING TEXTURE Cape21.dds.
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\PodAatCelestium.scn
MISSING CFG FILE Spacecraft/spacecraft.cfg. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\PodAatCelestium.scn
MISSING INI FILE Celestium.ini. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\PodAatCelestium.scn
MISSING CFG FILE Con1.cfg. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\PodAatCelestium.scn
MISSING CFG FILE Spacecraft/Spacecraft.cfg. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\PodAatCelestium.scn
MISSING CFG FILE UMod.cfg. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\PodAatCelestium.scn
MISSING CFG FILE Spacecraft/Spacecraft.cfg. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\PodBay.scn
MISSING CFG FILE Spacecraft/spacecraft.cfg. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\PodBay.scn
MISSING CFG FILE Spacecraft/spacecraft.cfg. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\PodBay.scn
MISSING CFG FILE Spacecraft/spacecraft.cfg. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\PodBay.scn
MISSING CFG FILE Spacecraft/spacecraft.cfg. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\PodBay.scn
MISSING CFG FILE Spacecraft/spacecraft.cfg. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\PodBay.scn
MISSING CFG FILE Spacecraft/spacecraft.cfg. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\PodBay.scn
MISSING CFG FILE Spacecraft/Spacecraft.cfg. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\PodLandersAtTTM24Base.scn
MISSING CFG FILE Spacecraft/spacecraft.cfg. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\PodLandersAtTTM24Base.scn
MISSING CFG FILE Spacecraft/spacecraft.cfg. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\PodLandersAtTTM24Base.scn
MISSING CFG FILE Spacecraft/spacecraft.cfg. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\PodLandersAtTTM24Base.scn
EMPTY LINE IN SHIPS SECTION (Remove empty line)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\PodLandersAtTTM24Base.scn
MISSING CFG FILE STATUS.cfg. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\Space Station Building Blocks 41\Station with BSP4 and SpacePlane2.scn
MISSING INI FILE BSP4.ini. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\Space Station Building Blocks 41\Station with BSP4 and SpacePlane2.scn
MISSING INI FILE BSPC1.ini. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\Space Station Building Blocks 41\Station with BSP4 and SpacePlane2.scn
MISSING INI FILE SPP01.ini. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\Space Station Building Blocks 41\Station with BSP4 and SpacePlane2.scn
MISSING INI FILE SPP02.ini. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\Space Station Building Blocks 41\Station with BSP4 and SpacePlane2.scn
MISSING INI FILE SPP03.ini. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\Space Station Building Blocks 41\Station with BSP4 and SpacePlane2.scn
MISSING INI FILE SPP04.ini. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\Space Station Building Blocks 41\Station with BSP4 and SpacePlane2.scn
MISSING INI FILE SPP05.ini. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\Space Station Building Blocks 41\Station with BSP4 and SpacePlane2.scn
MISSING INI FILE SPP06.ini. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\Space Station Building Blocks 41\Station with BSP4 and SpacePlane2.scn
MISSING INI FILE SPP07.ini. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\Space Station Building Blocks 41\Station with BSP4 and SpacePlane2.scn
MISSING INI FILE SPP08.ini. (Do not use this scenario)
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Scenarios\Space Station Building Blocks 41\Station with BSP4 and SpacePlane2.scn
MISSING INI FILE SP204.ini. (Do not use this scenario)
------------------------------------------------------------


i think the things at the bottem are gust add-on's but the stuff at the top might be a help to help me. good luck i no this is asking a lot but i realy need to get my head round it . thanks for reading if you need to exspane it in more detale ask for my msn name and we can chat .

 

[ar81]

Notice this...

VINKA's SPACECRAFT ADDON
----------------------------------------------------
Multistage directory found: NO.
Spacecraft directory found: OK.
Spacecraft.cfg found: NO.
Spacecraft.dll found: NO.
Spacecraft2.cfg found: NO.
Spacecraft2.dll found: NO.
Spacecraft3.cfg found: OK.
Spacecraft3.dll found: OK.

Spacecraft.dll and Multistage.dll is a series of addons that make generic vessel creation easier for developers who do not know C++.
You have 5 addons created by Vinka:

Spacecraft.dll
Spacecraft2.dll
Spacecraft3.dll
Multistage.dll
Mutistage2.dll

Those addons have slight differences between them and slight incompatibilities in advanced features. So they were kept separately for compatibility purposes for old addons.

Essentially Spacecraft.dll series allows a mesh to be flyable. Multistage.dll allows multistage rockets to be created. Basically a developer must create an INI file containing text with the parameters of each vessel and then the vessel could be usable using a special syntax for Spacecraft and Multistage vessels when editing scenarios.

+ Vinka addon
+ Mesh
+ INI file
+ Specific code in scenario to use vessel
-------------------------
= Flyable vessel

INI files use different parameters, depending on the addon and version.
Vinka website is located at http://users.swing.be/vinka/

The rest of the diagnostic suggests me that you have 2 missing addons:
-Greg Burch's Big Space Plane 4 (BSP4)
-Greg Burch's Celestium space station

 

[Master of Blades]

Nevermind... Ar81 got there before me

 

[joshua01793]

i think i get it wouldent it make more seens to have one Spacecraft.dll and one Multistage to do it all

 

[Black dog]

Background stuff (such as rules for aerodynamics) changes as new Orbiter versions are released, the end result is that different vinka dll's work for different addons that were made for different Orbiter versions.

 

[ar81]

i think i get it wouldent it make more seens to have one Spacecraft.dll and one Multistage to do it all

No. That was the initial idea, but as coding progressed, Vinka had problems of compatibility with older addons. So he decided to preserve these versions.

If someone is running Orbiter 2005 and only one Spacecraft and Multistage is there, you would have problems.

 

[joshua01793]

Notice this...

Those addons have slight differences between them and slight incompatibilities in advanced features. So they were kept separately for compatibility purposes for old addons.

what are the incompatibilities then ?

 

[Black dog]

"No. That was the initial idea, but as coding progressed, Vinka had problems of compatibility with older addons. So he decided to preserve these versions.

"If someone is running Orbiter 2005 and only one Spacecraft and Multistage is there, you would have problems."

Yeah, that's what I was trying to say:speakcool:. What we basically mean is that you can still use old but good addons if you use the different versions of spacecraft and multistage.

 

[ar81]

what are the incompatibilities then ?

Incompatibilities between old and new versions of Orbiter. Those required code fixes.
Old versions of addons run in old versions of orbiter. New versions do not.

 

[Black dog]

Incompatibilities between old and new versions of Orbiter. Those required code fixes.
Old versions of addons run in old versions of orbiter. New versions do not.

...but old addons (made with vinka's dlls) can be made to run on newer versions of Orbiter by using the right version of vinka's dll, in the vast majority of cases. As you get deeper into playing around with Orbiter, you'll suss these sorts of things out more and more. I hope you are having fun with it

 

[joshua01793]

well there you go i think i have it now thanks

 

[ar81]

Not only there are people who like to play newer versions of Orbiter. Ther are people who do not have the hardware to run newer addons, so they might like to have older versions.

There are Orbiter addons that can't be used anymore. People who want to revive their usage might want older versions of everything.

Orbiter is unlike the market of software.

 

[joshua01793]

hay look at this i think i have this down to a T now

-----------------------------
Meshes directory found: OK.
Config directory found: OK.
Base.cfg found: OK.
Vessels directory found: OK.
VINKA's SPACECRAFT ADDON
----------------------------------------------------
Multistage directory found: OK.
Multistage.cfg found: OK.
Multistage.dll found: OK.
Multistage2.cfg found: OK.
Multistage2.dll found: OK.
Spacecraft directory found: OK.
Spacecraft.cfg found: OK.
Spacecraft.dll found: OK.
Spacecraft2.cfg found: OK.
Spacecraft2.dll found: OK.
Spacecraft3.cfg found: OK.
Spacecraft3.dll found: OK.
INSTALLATION ISSUES
--------------------------------------
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\My Documents\orbiter mods\orbiter060929_base\Config\Base.cfg
MISSING TEXTURE Cape21.dds.

 

[ar81]

Looks good.

 

[joshua01793]

thanks for the help


-----Posted Added-----


sorry spoke to soon look

**** WARNING: Mesh not found: .\Meshes\.msh


-----Posted Added-----


no sorry fixed it

 

[Biscuit]

Look for .cfg files in your <orbiter-directory>\config\vessels directory that have a 0 (zero) file size.

If I have a CTD (Crash-To-Desktop) during a scenario load, they seem to get created and cause me all sorts of odd problems.

As far as I know the ones with 0 file size can be deleted (it hasn't caused me any problems yet).

 

[joshua01793]

wow nice one thanks