Urwumpe
Not funny anymore
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2008
- Messages
- 38,965
- Reaction score
- 3,937
- Points
- 203
- Location
- Wolfsburg
- Preferred Pronouns
- Sire
After a longer break with broken computer, a follow up to this thread here:
http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?p=22850&postcount=1
(First of all, it is more about Donamys great meshes, next, it feels like necroposting)
And for not answering questions about it in the screenshots thread:
Yes, but it will still take a moment. I am happy that it only took one evening to fix many bugs related to Orbiter NG.
Now I am looking at refactoring and cutting down the extreme bloat in it first, then to reduce some excessive performance (especially the main and hover engines are far too good). Then, before release, the scenarios have to be fixed and the infrastructure needed for the scenarios has to be included.
And then it can be released as 0.x version (I would use semantic versioning there). There is still a lot of work that has to be done before it could be called a 1.0 version.
The good news: Many old trouble spots now work better than before, thanks to using the Orbiter_NG functions... especially the tricky wheel blur effect is now more reliable.
There will be a lot of changes, after some pondering what kind of purpose the Black Dart can actually have:
The capabilities of engines and airframe had been so fantastic, that this vehicle would have been better called Aerospace-Wolf. Not really fun. I'll tone it down a lot, so the external fuel tanks have a good role.
Instead of being an Über-Deltaglider, I think it works better as spiritual ancestor of the Deltaglider. In some aspects better than the DG (and its XR/ DGIV brethren), in many inferior, all a bit more touchy. Like a military prototype vehicle, that requires extreme care to function (unlike the sheeply civilian DG), but rewards this care (Think of a P-51D in that sense). The fluff text explanation of why the Black Dart exists can be read like that:
Started out as secret US-European defense project, a plain technology testbed to join US technology and European technology together in one platform, should have been supposed to only have a very short life because of various problems and limitations that got discovered during the secret test flight phase. (A bit like the X-31). Then a (still unspecified) crisis developed on the Moon and the Black Dart turns into the only available vehicle that can compete there (Like Operation Black Buck), resulting in it being built in higher numbers than ever intended, with small improvements sneaking in during the production, until better and properly designed vehicles replace it in its military role. The end of the crisis results in a large number of Darts being available in the world, outdated by modern technology and changed military demands, which then enter the civilian market in a booming space flight economy, after being stripped of their military hardware.
So, the add-on will also contain the vehicle in such phases of improvements and customization. It will start a test bed, turn into a makeshift solution, and then be a cheap oldtimer for young aspiring space jockeys.
"This ship will stay with you for the rest of your life."
(That also explains the Luftwaffe colors well. :lol: )
So:
The old idea of using a virtual machine for permitting to program custom applications and custom drivers for custom payloads is now shelved, it just delays things without adding anything now. Maybe I will later look at it again, when things are already flying and the capability is really needed.
The main engine will stay about the same, but loose some specific impulse during high-thrust mode. Some details of the engine will change, but I will not explain them beyond what will be in the manual. Find out yourself.
The hover/balance engine will drop radically in specific impulse, but keep its maximum thrust. Same for the RCS.
The OMS engines will be kept. And that for a good reason. But their specific impulse will also drop. Maybe there will be later an OMS-less version of it.
Weapons, armament etc. -> Shelved. Can be added later, if really needed for a scenario. I now doubt it. I see no purpose there.
The heat shielding will still be much better than what a XR-family vehicle likes, but it will not be magical anymore. You can scorch yourself badly and you will.
Payload bay will be that... installing weapons and such there just does't make much sense.
And after some lot of talking about the world in that the Black Dart plays: It would be nice to add more of this world into the add-on later. Like having other spacecraft, bases, opponents, see what replaced the Black Dart and maybe also have a theory how the Shuttle-A came into being. But for now, I feel like this part will be something for my retirement. Let's press for 0.x release and forget about it for a while.
http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?p=22850&postcount=1
(First of all, it is more about Donamys great meshes, next, it feels like necroposting)
And for not answering questions about it in the screenshots thread:
Yes, but it will still take a moment. I am happy that it only took one evening to fix many bugs related to Orbiter NG.
Now I am looking at refactoring and cutting down the extreme bloat in it first, then to reduce some excessive performance (especially the main and hover engines are far too good). Then, before release, the scenarios have to be fixed and the infrastructure needed for the scenarios has to be included.
And then it can be released as 0.x version (I would use semantic versioning there). There is still a lot of work that has to be done before it could be called a 1.0 version.
The good news: Many old trouble spots now work better than before, thanks to using the Orbiter_NG functions... especially the tricky wheel blur effect is now more reliable.
There will be a lot of changes, after some pondering what kind of purpose the Black Dart can actually have:
The capabilities of engines and airframe had been so fantastic, that this vehicle would have been better called Aerospace-Wolf. Not really fun. I'll tone it down a lot, so the external fuel tanks have a good role.
Instead of being an Über-Deltaglider, I think it works better as spiritual ancestor of the Deltaglider. In some aspects better than the DG (and its XR/ DGIV brethren), in many inferior, all a bit more touchy. Like a military prototype vehicle, that requires extreme care to function (unlike the sheeply civilian DG), but rewards this care (Think of a P-51D in that sense). The fluff text explanation of why the Black Dart exists can be read like that:
Started out as secret US-European defense project, a plain technology testbed to join US technology and European technology together in one platform, should have been supposed to only have a very short life because of various problems and limitations that got discovered during the secret test flight phase. (A bit like the X-31). Then a (still unspecified) crisis developed on the Moon and the Black Dart turns into the only available vehicle that can compete there (Like Operation Black Buck), resulting in it being built in higher numbers than ever intended, with small improvements sneaking in during the production, until better and properly designed vehicles replace it in its military role. The end of the crisis results in a large number of Darts being available in the world, outdated by modern technology and changed military demands, which then enter the civilian market in a booming space flight economy, after being stripped of their military hardware.
So, the add-on will also contain the vehicle in such phases of improvements and customization. It will start a test bed, turn into a makeshift solution, and then be a cheap oldtimer for young aspiring space jockeys.
"This ship will stay with you for the rest of your life."
(That also explains the Luftwaffe colors well. :lol: )
So:
The old idea of using a virtual machine for permitting to program custom applications and custom drivers for custom payloads is now shelved, it just delays things without adding anything now. Maybe I will later look at it again, when things are already flying and the capability is really needed.
The main engine will stay about the same, but loose some specific impulse during high-thrust mode. Some details of the engine will change, but I will not explain them beyond what will be in the manual. Find out yourself.
The hover/balance engine will drop radically in specific impulse, but keep its maximum thrust. Same for the RCS.
The OMS engines will be kept. And that for a good reason. But their specific impulse will also drop. Maybe there will be later an OMS-less version of it.
Weapons, armament etc. -> Shelved. Can be added later, if really needed for a scenario. I now doubt it. I see no purpose there.
The heat shielding will still be much better than what a XR-family vehicle likes, but it will not be magical anymore. You can scorch yourself badly and you will.
Payload bay will be that... installing weapons and such there just does't make much sense.
And after some lot of talking about the world in that the Black Dart plays: It would be nice to add more of this world into the add-on later. Like having other spacecraft, bases, opponents, see what replaced the Black Dart and maybe also have a theory how the Shuttle-A came into being. But for now, I feel like this part will be something for my retirement. Let's press for 0.x release and forget about it for a while.
