Scenario "Continuous Reality" Scenario Design

[EaslMar]

For the past couple of weeks I've been considering what I call the "Continuous Reality Scenario" idea. What this basically is is a scenario that involves all of the spacecraft and addons you have, satellites, probes, etc, at the same time in an approximation of the "real" conditions of space programs. You could fly a mission, land, and fly another mission in the same scenario, and launch an interplanetary probe too that stays on its course throughout the next missions you run. I should be able to add and remove spacecraft at will with the scenario editor, without having to save it as an entirely new scenario every time I use the editor (in other words make changes to the existing scenario instead of creating a new one). I would also like to be able to have it save itself, sort of like the Current State except that I can run a different scenario (to try out a new addon or something) and go back to the Continuous Reality and have it still be the way it was when I left it--the Current State does not do that. I would also prefer not to have to save or copy something in the Orbiter file directory after closing out every time.

I hope all that gives you a fairly accurate idea of what I am after, I'm not sure how well I explained it...

Presumably I would have to do something really special with the .scn file, but I'm still pretty new to Orbiter and don't have a clue what to do. It would be really great if some of you with a little more knowledge of programming than I have could give me a hand with this!

 

[N_Molson]

I understand very well, and I've such a "continous" reality scenario too. It's interesting to see the orbits of the satellites decay while sending probes on other planets, sending UmmU expeditions to the ISS, and so on. I've made a mission log and an astronaut roster on Word/Excel.

You can make multiple installs of Orbiter in different directories. I suggest you a "test" install, where you play with things, try add-ons, train yourself and so on, and a "reality" install, where you'll just have the scenarios and the add-ons you need. So you will be able to use QuickSave & CurrentState has much as you wish, without any confusion (put 2 shorcuts on the Desktop with different icons & names like "Orbiter 2010" & "O2010 - Continuous Reality".

That should help you to play the both ways. I don't think you need an add-on, that works well this way. The only thing I miss is the ability to "jump" the date forward & having the orbital elements updated. Trajectories can be altered by x1000 & x10000 time accel, and x100 is sometimes a little boring, even with lots of missions going on.

Of course I could go to work and let Orbiter run on x10 (see "You know you are playing Orbiter too much when...") :lol:

 

[insanity]

I have much the same scenario. I fly a mission, leave orbiter, open the /orbiter/scenarios/current state.scn and copy/paste the file over the old one. It works well enough. Then you have a current state that is separate from your base scenario, and you can combine them whenever you're done testing (or setting up)an addon or flying a mission.

 

[garyw]

I do exactly the same. My scenario has my space probes, iss, lunar base and so on. it's the basis of my "Orbiter Solar System".

 

[Fabri91]

I do something similar too.
If the ships cannot be added via scenario editor, it's not a showstopper at all: suppose you need to launch a space shuttle, all you need to do is copy the required lines of the vessel from a scenario that has got it.

 

[Izack]

It's not that hard. I do it too.
The main thing I have to give caution on is if you're putting stations in orbit.

 

[EaslMar]

It's interesting to see the orbits of the satellites decay...

In preparing for setting this up I asked about orbital decay - see http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?p=181669 - and was told it is not modelled in 2006 (which is probably what you have this in, since it sounds like you've had this going for a while). Is there something more about this I should know?

All, good idea about having another installation.... I didn't even think of that! :thumbup: (I suppose that's what forums are for, to tell you the one idea you didn't think of!)

Izack, what exactly do you mean about space stations? Is this a reference to orbit decay or some other possible problem?

 

[Izack]

Err, I seemed to have cut myself off in mid-sentence. :embarrassed:

If you have stations in orbit and then fly off to another planet in time acceleration, you may come back to find your space station scattered across the Pacific thanks to atmospheric drag.

 

[EaslMar]

What I did is copied the Orbiter base file and added "CR" on the end--for Continuous Reality. I only copied the Current State scenario so all the other scenario files wouldn't bog down my frame rate, and the whole thing works perfectly. To add another ship I'll just copy that ship's bit from another scenario file, etc. Thanks for the suggestions!

---------- Post added at 09:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:07 PM ----------

Izack, I wondered if that's what you meant....

So, like I said, I had already done this -- http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?p=181669 -- and was told that if I use the O2006 atmospheric model atmospheric drag-induced decay is not an issue. Is this correct?

 

[N_Molson]

Right. Orbiter 2006 models atmosphere up to 200 kilometers only. Orbit decay is more likely to be induced by the Moon & the Sun tidal effects.

Orbiter 2010, however, models atmosphere up to 2500 kilometers, which is more realistic.

 

[EaslMar]

Thanks, that's exactly the information I was looking for!:thumbup:


Now, this is unrelated, but as long as I've got helpful people answering my many questions....

On the Orbiter Change Log (http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/download/Change.pdf), for the 010901 edition it lists this:

Selectable ships: Whenever the user-controlled ship has safely touched down on a surface base landing pad, the user can jump into any ship currently parked at the same base by pressing F3. Try flying the glider to Cape Canaveral, hop into the little transporter, and return it to Habana.​

A little (Orbiter) history question:

What is the "little transporter?" An early version of the Shuttle-PB? Something else? This was long before I discovered Orbiter and I am just wondering!

---------- Post added at 10:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:19 PM ----------

Sorry, just realized that link doesn't work. Here is the good one:

http://web.archive.org/web/20070622122050/orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/download/Change.pdf

 

[Bloodworth]

I had such a scenario going for quite a while, right up until all my stations fell out of orbit. After that I didn't feel like fixing it

 

[EaslMar]

:idea: I think someone ought to make an addon that warns you when something is in danger of deorbiting.....

The ISS is in danger of deorbiting! Boosting is advised to avoid destructive reentry.

:thumbup:

 

[Bloodworth]

I had such a scenario going for quite a while, right up until all my stations fell out of orbit. After that I didn't feel like fixing it

 

[fireballs619]

Sorry for the noobishness that you are about to encounter with my question

What exactly is the 'current state' scenario? I had the impression that it was a kinda 'pick up where you left off' scenario, which would just run whatever scenario was running when you exited orbiter last. After reading this thread, I am now under the impression that it is a type of scenario that has all vehicles/addons currently installed. Are either of my guesses right?

I would like to start a continuous reality scenario, but I still don't quite understand what to do.
/noob

 

[garyw]

(current state) is exactly as you describe it fireballs. What people are describing here is a way of using orbiter and probably using the (current state).scn file for continuing a storyline or adventure in Orbiter.

I know that 99% of my orbiter sessions are kicked of by my launching (current state).scn. I save a backup copy at the start of every flight day when I've got an active mission and every in sim month.

 

[Hielor]

Sorry for the noobishness that you are about to encounter with my question

What exactly is the 'current state' scenario? I had the impression that it was a kinda 'pick up where you left off' scenario, which would just run whatever scenario was running when you exited orbiter last. After reading this thread, I am now under the impression that it is a type of scenario that has all vehicles/addons currently installed. Are either of my guesses right?

I would like to start a continuous reality scenario, but I still don't quite understand what to do.
/noob

Your first guess is correct. The "current state" scenario is just whatever state Orbiter was in when last it exited (assuming that it didn't crash).

 

[EaslMar]

I've been using this continuous reality scenario for a couple of weeks, but ran into a problem. I was adding vessels by typing their information into the scenario file, but when it got upwards of 20 ships the frame rate plummeted and lots of orbits literally went ballistic (and some vertical). Since I know Orbiter does not use RAM, what should (and can) I do to prevent this problem (apart from just having fewer ships, the obvious answer)? (Having so many vessels makes the continuous reality more realistic--I had space stations, several DeltaGliders, a few small satellites, Atlantis, and a few others all at once.)

 

[Richy]

Sounds intresting, but doesn't have Orbiter a problem with deleting vessels above 15-20 vessels, like EVA ingress of an UMMU? I had the problem, that Orbiter freezes, or is this fixed meanwhile?

 

[garyw]

No, that's UMMU 1.5 and it's fixed in UMMU 2.0