An Idea: Orbiter Starter Pack

[nasakid]

Well Here Is A Thought: for people who arent good at installing addons for orbiter and are new to orbiter there could be a orbiter starter pack. it would include orbiter sound delta glider 4.0 Shuttle Fleet and a Hi-rs KSC to go with it. and it would come woth a addon installer so it would be easy to get new addons.

 

[Tex]

nasakid,

I renamed your thread from "An Idea!" to "An Idea: Orbiter Starter Pack". Please, be more specific when giving your thread a title, it is a rule of this forum...

http://www.orbiter-forum.com/misc.php?do=cfrules

 

[nasakid]

ok and nice avvy

 

[FalconAF]

What I think would be very useful for new(er) users would be user-generated "upgrade" packages. Not just an "addon" that has to be installed by the user (which may involve manual modifying of .cfg files and the resulting "loss of interest" and frustration new users encounter doing this), but a complete "package" of sorts that can just be dropped in to an existing Orbiter installation, and works right from the get-go with no .cfg file alterations needed, etc.

Granted, this would require a "base" installation of Orbiter, and the "base" installation could vary from user to user (hi-res textures installed or not, etc), but it seems possible that it could be done.

For instance...an experienced user has an Orbiter installation for all the Space Shuttle addons, including the KSC hi-rez textures, hi-rez launch complexes, addon bases (Edwards, Vandenburg, etc), Shuttle Expansion Packs, etc. Couldn't they create a download of the entire package for the community so it could just be "dropped into" a base Orbiter installation?

The most frustrating thing about Orbiter for me is always trying to have to figure out what .cfg files need to be altered, etc, to get a conglomeration of separate addons to work with each other.

Maybe I'm just dreaming....

FalconAF

 

[ryan]

Orbiter itself is pretty easy to install and all, i think having a starters back is not really necessary. Alright idea though.

 

[jedidia]

It's a nice thought, but I really don't think anyone these days has problems unzipping a bunch of files into a specific directory. The only backdraw is that it feels like the programmer didn't put much work into it. However if a file with links to the most popular addons (like NASSP and SSU aso.) would be included, it might stirr attention to the fact that there's much more to the sim than comes with the base package.

 

[Urwumpe]

I think, if you are not capable of installing orbiter by unzipping a zip file, and repeat the task for most add-ons, why should there be a beginner pack to require the same from you?

I see no problem in bundling orbiter into distributions, these could be very useful, especially if they would come with package management and installer. But who wants to do that?

 

[nasakid]

What I think would be very useful for new(er) users would be user-generated "upgrade" packages. Not just an "addon" that has to be installed by the user (which may involve manual modifying of .cfg files and the resulting "loss of interest" and frustration new users encounter doing this), but a complete "package" of sorts that can just be dropped in to an existing Orbiter installation, and works right from the get-go with no .cfg file alterations needed, etc.

Granted, this would require a "base" installation of Orbiter, and the "base" installation could vary from user to user (hi-res textures installed or not, etc), but it seems possible that it could be done.

For instance...an experienced user has an Orbiter installation for all the Space Shuttle addons, including the KSC hi-rez textures, hi-rez launch complexes, addon bases (Edwards, Vandenburg, etc), Shuttle Expansion Packs, etc. Couldn't they create a download of the entire package for the community so it could just be "dropped into" a base Orbiter installation?

The most frustrating thing about Orbiter for me is always trying to have to figure out what .cfg files need to be altered, etc, to get a conglomeration of separate addons to work with each other.

Maybe I'm just dreaming....

FalconAF

Yes. Fustration is the key! I made this idea because i myself have had many failures with orbiter's great addons.

 

[Apollo 11]

While the Idea is "useful" creating an ex. type file with all these addons is ALOT harder to do than someone simply downloading them as zips and learning how to install them and to edit cfg. files. Usually, there is a read me file to let you know what to change to what. Also think of how big a download of a file with all those addons wuld be! And the bandwith it would take to support it! OH probably (correct if I'm wrong) could not upload it!

 

[dbeachy1]

The major problem I see with a "starter pack" is the problem of the "starter pack" having older versions of some add-ons as time goes by. It's better to just have a list of essential add-ons (for which Tex already has a sticky thread, BTW) that users can read. Then the user can decide which add-ons he wants and then download the latest version from each add-on developer's Web site.

In any case, if anyone does end up making a "starter pack" bundle, please check each add-on's documentation before packaging it with the "starter pack." For example, the XR vessels' terms of terms of use prohibit redistribution of any kind (the full copyright is on page 4 of the XR1 and XR5 flight manuals.)

...You may not redistribute this software or host it on your own Web site; however, you are free to link to my Web Page.

In other words, it is fine to link to the Altea Aerospace web page, but you cannot bundle any Altea Aerospace add-ons inside another archive or host them on another web site. The reason is simple: I don't want old versions floating around out there for download.

 

[Jumper_001]

The major problem I see with a "starter pack" is the problem of the "starter pack" having older versions of some add-ons as time goes by. It's better to just have a list of essential add-ons (for which Tex already has a sticky thread, BTW) that users can read. Then the user can decide which add-ons he wants and then download the latest version from each add-on developer's Web site.

I experimented with making an NSIS-based installer for Orbiter at one point, with the intention of expanding it to incorporate add-on installation once I could talk to a few add-on authors and secure permission.

The nice thing about the installer I made was that it was only 500KB - it goes out and downloads the files that the user selects (Orbiter base package, High-res Planet Textures, SDK) at install-time. I put all the M6 and Sourceforge mirrors into a mirror rotation, so if a bunch of people used the installer, it wouldn't hammer once of the Orbiter mirrors. It creates Start Menu icons for Orbiter and all of the important documentation .PDFs, and a Desktop icon if you want it.

My thinking was that Orbiter is a great, polished product, deserving of a polished installer.

If you did add-on installation that way, it would be easy to make sure that users always received the latest version.