OHM DarkEnergy Spaceplane

[Mandela Effect]

Well, it is way more unrealistic and simplified. Physically, it is fueled by fairy dust, not a fusion or nuclear powered engine. The aerodynamics are just subsonic with some wave drag, in reality, the DG would be way less tame at high speeds (but it should fly pretty well there, with FBW and treating it like a raw egg). Also, it has an extremely low weight for its size, in reality in could not land on Venus, because it would just float high above the surface.

So if you want a more realistic spaceplane or a more challenging complex vehicle, the DG would be a bad role model, even though many created intermediate versions of it that are a bit less unrealistic and a bit more complex.

That’s fair. I understand it’s not the most realistic type of craft.

My request is more so from the point of view of just wanting to be able to fly something as detailed as the Dark Energy like an airplane in the atmosphere of Earth but also be able to take off into space at will (like the Delta Glider).

 

[Urwumpe]

My request is more so from the point of view of just wanting to be able to fly something as detailed as the Dark Energy like an airplane in the atmosphere of Earth but also be able to take off into space at will (like the Delta Glider).

Sorry,my business is rather like that.



Have you ever considered designing your own spacecraft?

 

[Mandela Effect]

Sorry,my business is rather like that.

View attachment 41598

Have you ever considered designing your own spacecraft?

I haven't considered it yet but I may!

 

[Max-Q]

Sadly, it was never released. The Italian group disbanded (while not officially) some years ago and the project remained unfinished. I was in charge of the descent stage mesh and all the weight, fuel, delta V calculations, by the way. Currently I'm at work to a new addon (link in the signature) that includes a lander. In the Forum Orbiter Italia group I was a designer and modeler, not the programmer, and to this day I am not able to program at good levels (I dislike it), so this project will remains pretty crude and simple, compared to yours, unless in future I can "hire" a programmed in order to expand the work.

Ah, I see. Your current project looks awesome though, can't wait to check it out!

I'm not entirely familiar with Dark Energy (btw, I think that tecnical details of the vehicle and launchers would be welcome in the addon) but it seems realized as a fairly realistic vehicle. I think that switching to a Delta Glider style would be a step backwards.

There are technical specs for the DarkEnergy vehicle in the flight manual, for the Ion-4 there are tech specs in that addon's documentation.

@Max-Q , with how awesome this addon is, have you ever thought of creating a Delta Glider style version of the Dark Energy space plane?

And what I mean is, the ability to take off on a runway and fly right into space or just cruise in the atmosphere. Also hover thrusters.

In essence a Delta Glider "clone" but with that Dark Energy flavor such as a beautiful virtual cockpit, and detailed systems and physics.

Essentially what Urwumpe said. I am not a fan of unrealistic designs, anything I build is soundly based in real engineering. (I am in college for engineering haha)
The DarkEnergy project took about two years to get to an initial release, I don't think I would have anywhere near the motivation needed to finish a project that relies on handwavium like the DeltaGlider.

 

[K_Jameson]

re are technical specs for the DarkEnergy vehicle in the flight manual, for the Ion-4 there are tech specs in that addon's documentation.

Jeez, I haven't found them, how it is possible? Thanks, I'll double-check!

 

[Max-Q]

Jeez, I haven't found them, how it is possible? Thanks, I'll double-check!

Flight manual section 1 has a nice overview, Sections 2 and 5 go into more detail. There's not really an overall table of specs, they're all in their respective systems sections.

 

[GodAtum]

Hi again, also getting this error when I try to load the vehicle in Open Orbiter x86's Feb 1 2024 build:

000046.239: D3D9ERROR: SurfNative: GetDC() Failed
000046.244: D3D9ERROR: Surface name is [DarkEnergy\DarkEnergy_2.dds] OAPI_Handle=0x15B4AC80
000046.249: D3D9ERROR: OAPI_Attribs: OAPISURFACE_TEXTURE,
000046.253: DX9_DUMP: Mips = 12
000046.258: DX9_DUMP: Type = Texture
000046.263: DX9_DUMP: Usage = DEFAULT
000046.268: DX9_DUMP: Pool = D3DPOOL_DEFAULT
000046.272: DX9_DUMP: Format = OAPISURFACE_PF_DXT5  (894720068)
000046.276: DX9_DUMP: Multisample = 0
000046.281: DX9_DUMP: Size = (2048, 2048)

I'm getting the same error. How did you fix it?

 

[GodAtum]

I've tried in a fresh install of orbiter 2016 but get an error when loading

D3D9: ERROR: ^^ Font is too large for pre-rendering
D3D9: NewShader [MeshIdx-8]=FFFF

FYI I fixed it by unblocking the zip in Windows, unzipping it and copying the contents.

But still have problems with Orbiter 2024 above.

 

[Max-Q]

@GodAtum Unfortunately none of my stuff is updated for Orbiter 2024 yet.
I do plan to work on it, but based on the limited testing that I did even Ion-4 alone is broken, and DarkEnergy is orders of magnitude more complex then Ion-4.
I would also have to port the sound system from OrbiterSound to XRsound, and that could be a pretty significant change.
So short answer, I will update for Orbiter 2024, but I don't have a timeline estimate yet.

BTW if anyone seeing this knows how to use XRsound and would want to help me port the DarkEnergy/DarkMatter projects, please let me know! This is the biggest issue blocking the update.

 

[K_Jameson]

Oh wow that does look remarkable similar! Funny how the design process works sometimes haha
Was this addon ever released? I'd love to check it out

Sadly, no. The Forum Orbiter Italia team mostly disbanded before the lunar lander was released.

 

[Max-Q]

I have started the process of updating my addons to Orbiter 2024. I am working on the Ion launchers and other simpler addons for now, but DarkEnergy/DarkMatter is in the works.
In the mean time, the Orbiter 2016 versions of the Ion launchers are still available under the 'history' tab on their pages. v1.2 is the version you want for Orbiter 2016/DarkEnergy.

 

[toto76math]

Do you have news on Dark Energy/Dark Matter updates? I would be so pleased to fly'em on Orbiter 2024!

 

[Max-Q]

It's the summer now, hopefully I can get to the updates relatively soon.
No promises though, still pretty busy