XR2 Public Release Candidate Testing

[dbeachy1]

I know you can disable the heat damage.
It's just that with the XR1 and XR5 I rarely pass 1100 degrees, so I don't get that nice plasma. :sorry:

Remember that the reentry plasma is rendered entirely by the Orbitier core -- an XR vessel's heating algorithm (and limits) have no effect at all on when and how the Orbiter core renders the plasma. In other words, the plasma you see (or don't see) with the XR1 is exactly the same as you will see (or not see) with the default DeltaGlider.

Does the XR2 get hotter than the current XR1 and XR5?

The absolute temperature limits are unchanged for all three ships. However, you will notice a different heating curve with the XR2 as well as the next versions of the XR1 and XR5. Remember, however, that this has nothing to do with (and no effect on) how the Orbiter core renders reentry plasma.

Also, is the plasma rendered by the orbiter core as well as computerex's reentry flame addon visible from the interior of the cockpit? My concern is that it won't get hot enough to see the plasma effects (which would be REALLY COOL from the XR2 virtual cockpit).

I can't speak for other people's add-ons, but with a clean installation reentry plasma is only rendered by the Orbiter core; it is not affected by the ship's heating algorithm at all. XR vessels do not manually generate extra reentry heating plasma.

Hmm...not sure you understood me correctly. I didn't mean that easy or medium would disable damage -- I just meant that easy would make it less difficult to over-temp, while on hard you would have to come in very gently to avoid over-temping the vehicle.

Ah, so you are asking for a way to make the hull heat up faster so you can see more reentry plasma. This is a moot point because the Orbiter core renders the reentry plasma independent of the ship's heating algorithm. Therefore, if you want more plasma effects you will just have to reenter with a steeper slope and/or more fuel mass.

 

[markl316]

Thanks for the clarification, Doug. I thought that the plasma would appear as soon as the temperature reached a certain degree.

 

[tl8]

Small Bug

When the landing gear fails on the ground (At takeoff speed), the rear gear over rotates and embeds its self halfway into the top of the landing gear well.

On a side note I got a CTD when returning from the Bottom panel to the middle. I am trying to replicate that now.

 

[dbeachy1]

Regarding the gear, what happens is that when the gear fails and the ship is within 100 meters of the ground the animation state to is set to between 20% and 50% deployed to show gear failure. The reason is that 95% of the time the failure occurred due to a hard landing or a crash. In other words, what you are seeing is by design.

Regarding the CTD, are you running any other add-ons at all?

 

[tl8]

Regarding the gear, what happens is that when the gear fails and the ship is within 100 meters of the ground the animation state to is set to between 20% and 50% deployed to show gear failure. The reason is that 95% of the time the failure occurred due to a hard landing or a crash. In other words, what you are seeing is by design.

Regarding the CTD, are you running any other add-ons at all?

The Beta is on my base install at the moment. I have yet to replicate it so I'm not concerned until I do

 

[orwellkid]

I would just like to say that I love my XR2.

Period.

 

[Countdown84]

I would just like to say that I love my XR2.

Period.

Here, here!

 

[Redburne]

Ah, so you are asking for a way to make the hull heat up faster so you can see more reentry plasma. This is a moot point because the Orbiter core renders the reentry plasma independent of the ship's heating algorithm. Therefore, if you want more plasma effects you will just have to reenter with a steeper slope and/or more fuel mass.

You can change the pressure limit at which Orbiter starts to render the reentry flames with a call to VESSEL2::SetReentryTexture().

Or so I've been told by the API docs ... haven't used it, yet.

 

[Cornflake]

Did I miss the beta signup somewhere? Sorry to just burst in here and ask that, but I followed the XR2 threads for a while and didn't see any mention of it until this thread came up and said "XR2 Beta Team: please check your inboxes for the download link" :huh:

 

[dbeachy1]

Actually there was no open call for XR2 beta testers because the team was pretty much invitation-only this time around. Hang in there, though -- the ship should be ready for open RC1 testing next month.

 

[tl8]

I have been playing around in the atmosphere lately, and I have a problem with control.

In the transition zone between 20-40km the control system gets very sloppy.

Once you have lost control, you can't get it back.

I don't know what or if it can be fixed but it could be a problem.

Also I have not been able to reproduce the CTD or a skin change error.

 

[dbeachy1]

Can you be more specific? Also, can you post a scenario demonstrating the problem along with a step-by-step of how to reproduce it?

Also, regarding the custom skin problem, there is an Orbiter core bug with switching vessels when a custom skin is loaded, which affects all vessels (including the default DG). Details are in the Orbiter Beta forum.

 

[tl8]

Start with a normal landed scenario, ascend to about 20-30km.

Turn RCS on. Do an extreme manoeuvre like a 90 degree pitch or yaw. Stop user input for about 5 seconds. And try to return to the Vel indicator.

I will see if this happens on the other XR vessels, but I don't recall it.

Right the XR5 doesn't do it.

 

[dbeachy1]

Sorry, can you be more specific? Are you turning off AF Ctrl when you switch to RCS mode? I have been playing around with hard turns and pitch here at mach 4-5 @ 25 km and the ship is behaving as expected so far. What is your velocity and what, exactly, is the maneuver that is causing the problem? Are the throttles still engaged?

 

[orwellkid]

I have been playing around with hard turns and pitch here at mach 4-5 @ 25 km and the ship is behaving as expected so far.

Same here.

Even ~Mach 10-12 @ ~45km it still responds well. AF-Ctrl is rather non-existant at that altitude (as it should be) and RCS take a little to respond... again as expected. I also have not been able to reproduce this issue.

Are you using a joystick or keyboard? I have tried with both and don't experience this.

 

[tl8]

It could just be me (which is probably is).

I think it might only happen when one pitches down.

I will record a scenario with the XR's.

With that in mind I could be going to slow for the altitude.

Note this also occurred when I was reentering. I pitched down and I lost all control as such.

Something related that I said to myself is that it doesn't quite feel the same as the other XR's do. I can't put my finger on it yet but I will keep hunting.

EDIT: It could be my config file settings. I'll change this too.

I an using a joystick.

I'm sorry for this nitpicking (If you stuff up your accent I think control is the least of your problems)

 

[dbeachy1]

Hmm...that is odd -- it flies like a dream here. However, the XR2 is much more responsive than other XR vessels, so it is less forgiving as well. It is certainly possible to lose control of the ship depending on the forces acting on it and/or control inputs.

In any case, Beta-2 is in final testing here, so I hope to release it tomorrow night. Stay tuned... :speakcool:

 

[tl8]

Err good news and bad news:

Tried to lose control again(Edit4:X2), it didn't work.:chair:

Edit5:Testing this I was recording my flights: When starting the recording process the "Recording" box didn't come up until I cycled the F1 views.

Bug:I don't know if this is an orbiter bug or unique to the XR's or 2D panels.

When the Orbiter sim loses focus (Alt Tab, Windows Update etc) and you return the Main panel is black (I expected that), So I went down to the lower panel and Returned. I CTD's when I returned to the Main panel.
Edit2:Recreated successfully, Now onto the XR1 and XR5
Edit3: The XR1 and XR5 does not do this. The panel still goes black but does not CTD when returning from the bottom panel

Another interesting point: When the XR5 is created via Scenario Editor the APU is off

When the XR1 is created via Sceario Editor the APU starts up.

I haven't seen where the XR2 fits in (I recall that I think it is like the XR5)
Edit:Confirmed, The XR2 is like the XR5: APU off

And Finally a family photo:

 

[dbeachy1]

Bug:I don't know if this is an orbiter bug or unique to the XR's or 2D panels.

When the Orbiter sim loses focus (Alt Tab, Windows Update etc) and you return the Main panel is black (I expected that), So I went down to the lower panel and Returned. I CTD's when I returned to the Main panel.
Edit2:Recreated successfully, Now onto the XR1 and XR5
Edit3: The XR1 and XR5 does not do this. The panel still goes black but does not CTD when returning from the bottom panel

I have been trying to reproduce that here on both my XP dev box and my Vista box, but it works fine on both systems both in windowed and full-screen modes. Are you running in a completely clean installation? Also, can you post your systems specs? In particular, what video card are you running? It is quite possible the problem is a video driver bug.

Another interesting point: When the XR5 is created via Scenario Editor the APU is off

When the XR1 is created via Sceario Editor the APU starts up.

I haven't seen where the XR2 fits in (I recall that I think it is like the XR5)
Edit:Confirmed, The XR2 is like the XR5: APU off

How are you spawning the vessels? All three vessels use the same code in a common base class to enable the APU on vessel creation; however, if the vessel loses focus (as happens when using the scenario editor and "set input focus" is not checked), by default the ship automatically shuts down so APU fuel is not wasted. However, this behavior can be changed by setting 'APUAutoShutdown=0' in the XR2RavenstarPrefs.cfg file. If the APU is shut down, you should see the messages "APU powering down" and "APU offline" on the tertiary HUD. From testing here just now both with 'APUAutoShutdown=0' and 'APUAutoShutdown=1', everything is working as designed. If you are seeing different behavior between the XR1/XR2/XR5, double-check that your APUAutoShutdown settings match for all three vessels and that you are spawning all three vessels with the exact same options (the same "Set input focus" setting, in particular).

And Finally a family photo:

The photo was cool.

 

[tl8]

I have been trying to reproduce that here on both my XP dev box and my Vista box, but it works fine on both systems both in windowed and full-screen modes. Are you running in a completely clean installation? Also, can you post your systems specs? In particular, what video card are you running? It is quite possible the problem is a video driver bug.

I will see on a clean install.

PC:
Core 2 E6650
4Gb ram
Nvidia 8800GTS 640Mb
Driver:7.15.11.7516
Which is I think 175.19
The thing that gets me is that the other XR's don't do it

Weird. Very weird

No bug that I can see. It works fine now. (Clean and Main)
Some other third party must be to blame (on my PC)


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

How are you spawning the vessels? All three vessels use the same code in a common base class to enable the APU on vessel creation; however, if the vessel loses focus (as happens when using the scenario editor and "set input focus" is not checked), by default the ship automatically shuts down so APU fuel is not wasted. However, this behavior can be changed by setting 'APUAutoShutdown=0' in the XR2RavenstarPrefs.cfg file. If the APU is shut down, you should see the messages "APU powering down" and "APU offline" on the tertiary HUD. From testing here just now both with 'APUAutoShutdown=0' and 'APUAutoShutdown=1', everything is working as designed. If you are seeing different behavior between the XR1/XR2/XR5, double-check that your APUAutoShutdown settings match for all three vessels and that you are spawning all three vessels with the exact same options (the same "Set input focus" setting, in particular).

Me->:chair:<-Doug