Project XR2 Ravenstar - Mk II

[Spicer]

I'm pretty psyched for this release. I was a long-time DG-IV fan, but converted in the last few days to XR-1 and XR-5. Wow. I can't wait to see XR-2.

 

[dbeachy1]

ok will it be closed beta testing for beta one ?

Yes; it won't be open Beta until the Release Candidate stage, at which point it should be close to official release.

Also, as a heads-up to everyone, I already have more than enough Beta testers for Beta-1, so I don't plan to add any more testers for the time being; if I need more testers I will put out a call. Thanks, all, for understanding.

Could the XR2's APU fuel tank be recognized as a propellent tank in Orbiter? It would be helpful for Scenario Editor and fuel MFDs and things of the like to be able to manage APU fuel.

Unfortunately that won't work because APU fuel is not tied to any thrusters nor defined as a propellent. What I will do, though, is add an APU fuel setting to the XR2's scenario editor dialog.

As for refueling in-flight, you can use the XR vessels' built-in refueling support to refuel the APU when you are landed or docked. Or if you want to cheat, just edit the scenario file and set APU_FUEL_QTY to the fraction of a tank you want (from 0.0 to 1.0). For example:

APU_FUEL_QTY 0.95

...would set the APU fuel level to 95%.

 

[SlyCoopersButt]

Sounds perfect, It's own scenario editor dialog will be more than sufficient. But in that case oxygen may as well get it's own dialog while at it since I think it works almost the same.

 

[yagni01]

But in that case oxygen may as well get it's own dialog while at it since I think it works almost the same.

Watch out! Those may as wells could delay the release.

 

[filozofio]

Looks great! I hope it is ready soon!

 

[Scarecrow]

Yes; it won't be open Beta until the Release Candidate stage, at which point it should be close to official release.

Also, as a heads-up to everyone, I already have more than enough Beta testers for Beta-1, so I don't plan to add any more testers for the time being; if I need more testers I will put out a call. Thanks, all, for understanding.

Will the beta team be the same as for the XR5?

 

[dbeachy1]

Will the beta team be the same as for the XR5?

Not initially, at least: the XR2 team is different and somewhat smaller than the Vanguard team. However, I may be adding more testers in the future if I need them. If and when that happens, the XR5 team members would be on the short list.

 

[Linguofreak]

Probably a bit late to be mentioning it (should have been mentioned when the XR1 was in development), but I recently noticed something a bit irksome about the panel for the whole XR classl: It's not possible to have the hull-temp display and the settings display for the Attitude-Hold AP in view at the same time, since they're two different pages on the same display. This makes reentry management a bit of a pain since hull temps influence what attitude you want to set.

 

[dbeachy1]

Probably a bit late to be mentioning it (should have been mentioned when the XR1 was in development), but I recently noticed something a bit irksome about the panel for the whole XR classl: It's not possible to have the hull-temp display and the settings display for the Attitude-Hold AP in view at the same time, since they're two different pages on the same display. This makes reentry management a bit of a pain since hull temps influence what attitude you want to set.

There is simply not enough panel space to show more than one MDA screen at once, and in any case, all you have to do is leave the hull temperature MDA display up and use hotkeys to adjust your Attitude Hold target pitch and bank as desired; it is not necessary to switch back and forth between the Attitude Hold and the Hull Temps MDA modes, although if you want to do that anyway you can just use the '2' and '3' keys (or D and ALT-D). Attitude Hold hotkeys are detailed in the section titled XR1 Attitude Hold Shortcut Keys on pages 22-23 of the XR1 Flight Operations Manual. The tertiary HUD will display your new attitude target as you adjust it, so you don't need to refer to the Attitude Hold MDA mode at all during reentry except when you want to set your initial attitude at entry interface. You can also hold ALT-SPACEBAR or hold the Data HUD button for a complete list of hotkeys in-sim.

Here is the hotkey list for Attitude Hold taken from the flight manual:

XR1 Attitude Hold Shortcut Keys
===============================
L               Toggle Attitude Hold on or off
CTRL-L          Engage Attitude Hold and sync to current attitude
NUMPAD2         Increment pitch/AOA hold by 2.5 degrees
NUMPAD8         Decrement pitch/AOA hold by 2.5 degrees
ALT-NUMPAD2     Increment pitch/AOA hold by 0.5 degree
ALT-NUMPAD8     Decrement pitch/AOA hold by 0.5 degree
NUMPAD6         Increment bank hold by 5 degrees
NUMPAD4         Decrement bank hold by 5 degrees
CTRL-NUMPAD3    Zero bank (reset bank to level)
CTRL-NUMPAD7    Zero pitch (reset pitch to level)
CTRL-NUMPAD1    Zero both (reset bank and pitch to level)
NUMPAD9         Toggle between AOA Hold and Pitch Hold modes.

Note that there are hotkeys for pretty much every flight function; in fact, I almost never need to click the main panel in flight because I just use hotkeys and a joystick.

 

[yagni01]

There is simply not enough panel space to show more than one MDA screen at once, and in any case, all you have to do is leave the hull temperature MDA display up and use hotkeys to adjust your Attitude Hold target pitch and bank as desired; it is not necessary to switch back and forth between the Attitude Hold and the Hull Temps MDA modes, although if you want to do that anyway you can just use the '2' and '3' keys (or D and ALT-D). Attitude Hold hotkeys are detailed in the section titled XR1 Attitude Hold Shortcut Keys on pages 22-23 of the XR1 Flight Operations Manual. The secondary HUD will display your new attitude target as you adjust it, so you don't need to refer to the Attitude Hold MDA mode at all during reentry except when you want to set your initial attitude at entry interface. You can also hold ALT-SPACEBAR or hold the Data HUD button for a complete list of hotkeys in-sim.

Or you could create an MFD using the XRVesselCtrl interface

 

[TSPenguin]

...all you have to do is leave the hull temperature MDA display up and use hotkeys to adjust your Attitude Hold target pitch and bank as desired...

Note that you can see the value you last changed to in the upper left display.
I fly that way and always see that I am going to die soon. One more reason to have a big red "Hail Probe" button

 

[Coolhand]

speaking of re-entry... I hope this will work in orbiter...

 

[willy88]

speaking of re-entry... I hope this will work in orbiter...

Maybe Doug could do something like what Dan did for the DGIV.

 

[SlyCoopersButt]

That looks amazing! That will leave dgiv's re-entry effect in the dust if it works!

 

[Coolhand]

i should think that it will... i just made it earlier on a whim and in the interests of experimentation. it's essentially a low detail mesh that sits over the model with an alpha mapped texture applied. I know doug can hide bits of mesh if needed but i don't think he's coded this before. Either way i guess i'm effectively twisting his arm into coding the effect by posting this here... Doug, if you're reading this it would awesome if it could fade in and out... but with the other entry effects going it would still look cool if it couldn't.

 

[dbeachy1]

Consider it done! I'll sneak the visual hull heating effect into the upcoming Beta-1. I am hoping to have Beta-1 ready to go in a week, which, it just so happens, would be on a Tuesday... :beach:

 

[Coolhand]

kewl.

I've been tooling around with the alpha version a bit tonight, thought i'd share a screen grab.

 

[tblaxland]

kewl.

I've been tooling around with the alpha version a bit tonight, thought i'd share a screen grab.

Looking very nice

 

[Zatnikitelman]

HOLY CRAP! That seriously looks like something from Star Trek or Star Wars, which is code for: Professional VFX company! I seriously can't wait to fly this thing!

 

[TSPenguin]

MEGADROOL

:sorry: sorry hthedrama: