Hello community

[TomForkay]

Hello everyone, I'm new here. I have now downloaded Orbiter 2024. I came across Orbiter because of a tip from my buddy Rich Wall, who built a Mars ship with Orbiter several decades ago and even discussed it with Dr. Zubrin.
Rich and I are currently working on a feasibility study for a direct Mars mission based on Dr. Zubrin's book “The Case to Mars”. I have already done quite a bit in the KSP simulator (invested a total of about 5,000 hours).
I would now have to familiarize myself with Orbiter in order to be able to assess whether it is at all suitable for our investigations.
Based on the Starship Booster v3 in the first stage, I have constructed an ERV (Earth Return Vehicle) and a HAB (Habitation module) in the heavily modified KSP. The mission is then to be carried out from Florida, 9 months flight, landing, mining resources on site etc. etc., then flight with crew to Mars and at some point return flight with the ERV.
Rich said that in Orbiter you can program a lot on a C-code basis, that would be very favorable. For example, I would like to improve the cryo-cooling system in the KSP. However, I don't know exactly how to create mods there, so built-in support for the user would be very helpful.
Okay, one thing at a time.

My question :
- Is there a nice introduction to Orbiter that I could work through to get started?

Unfortunately Orbiter always crashes for me (current Win11), or I can only use a low resolution (1900x1200 or so), so something is wrong. Hard to start in this way. But I'm sure there are good installation instructions.

Best regards !
Tom Forkay

 

[n72.75]

Hello everyone, I'm new here. I have now downloaded Orbiter 2024. I came across Orbiter because of a tip from my buddy Rich Wall, who built a Mars ship with Orbiter several decades ago and even discussed it with Dr. Zubrin.
Rich and I are currently working on a feasibility study for a direct Mars mission based on Dr. Zubrin's book “The Case to Mars”. I have already done quite a bit in the KSP simulator (invested a total of about 5,000 hours).
I would now have to familiarize myself with Orbiter in order to be able to assess whether it is at all suitable for our investigations.
Based on the Starship Booster v3 in the first stage, I have constructed an ERV (Earth Return Vehicle) and a HAB (Habitation module) in the heavily modified KSP. The mission is then to be carried out from Florida, 9 months flight, landing, mining resources on site etc. etc., then flight with crew to Mars and at some point return flight with the ERV.
Rich said that in Orbiter you can program a lot on a C-code basis, that would be very favorable. For example, I would like to improve the cryo-cooling system in the KSP. However, I don't know exactly how to create mods there, so built-in support for the user would be very helpful.
Okay, one thing at a time.

My question :
- Is there a nice introduction to Orbiter that I could work through to get started?

Unfortunately Orbiter always crashes for me (current Win11), or I can only use a low resolution (1900x1200 or so), so something is wrong. Hard to start in this way. But I'm sure there are good installation instructions.

Best regards !
Tom Forkay

Are you launching Orbiter.exe or Orbiter_NG.exe. you'll want the NG one. it sounds like a DX7 max resolution issue. With orbiterNG (no graphics), you can enable the D3D9 client.

There was an old (20 years now?) guide, called "Go play in space". It's still on the Orbiter wiki and a few other places around. Very outdated feature wise but still a good intro.

 

[TomForkay]

Are you launching Orbiter.exe or Orbiter_NG.exe. you'll want the NG one. it sounds like a DX7 max resolution issue. With orbiterNG (no graphics), you can enable the D3D9 client.

There was an old (20 years now?) guide, called "Go play in space". It's still on the Orbiter wiki and a few other places around. Very outdated feature wise but still a good intro.

Thank you ! 1900x1080 resolution is working. 2K is o.k. ; I would prefer 4K but minor problem.
I will start with to study "Go play in space". Looks promissing so far. Rich told me, there are high resolution grafics for Mars for the Orbiter 2016 version. Are they already integrated in 2024 release ?
Most interesting for me is construction & designing and mod creation. I hope I will find out how to do. Thanks! Tom.

 

[TomForkay]

My next question would be: how to include the multi-body gravitational library VSOP87.DLL into Orbiter 2024 ?

 

[misha.physics]

- Is there a nice introduction to Orbiter that I could work through to get started?

I would recommend you to read the "Orbiter User Manual.pdf", that can be found in \Orbiter2024\Doc\

Rich told me, there are high resolution grafics for Mars for the Orbiter 2016 version. Are they already integrated in 2024 release ?

No, the high resolution textures for Mars (and some other planets/moons) should be installed additionally from the Orbiter website: http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/download.html

Most interesting for me is construction & designing and mod creation.

You may specify what exactly you would like to start for mod creation from. By the way, there is the developer manual in \Orbiter2024\Doc\. Also, you may take a look at the "Addon Development" subsection: https://www.orbiter-forum.com/forums/addon-development.31/

 

[TomForkay]

I would recommend you to read the "Orbiter User Manual.pdf", that can be found in \Orbiter2024\Doc\

No, the high resolution textures for Mars (and some other planets/moons) should be installed additionally from the Orbiter website: http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/download.html

You may specify what exactly you would like to start for mod creation from. By the way, there is the developer manual in \Orbiter2024\Doc\. Also, you may take a look at the "Addon Development" subsection: https://www.orbiter-forum.com/forums/addon-development.31/

Great ! Thanks alot

 

[TomForkay]

O.K., I found the high resolution textures site (http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/mirrors/orbiter_radio/tex_mirror.html), thanks. Hope, they work in 2024 as well as in 2016

 

[misha.physics]

I use these textures with my Orbiter 2024 installation, and don't see any problems, but read the installation instructions.

 

[TomForkay]

With that "D3D9Client" (whatever it is) even my favourite 2560x1440 screen resolution works. Great. O.k., one CTD, but no problem. When I start the Orbiter_ng.exe as Admin it seems to work now. A little bit strange, that Ctrl-Q is needed to end this simulation, and nothing happens when pressing the <ESC> key, but I am just starting this journey. Great, thanks for helping me !

 

[DaveS]

With that "D3D9Client" (whatever it is) even my favourite 2560x1440 screen resolution works. Great. O.k., one CTD, but no problem. When I start the Orbiter_ng.exe as Admin it seems to work now. A little bit strange, that Ctrl-Q is needed to end this simulation, and nothing happens when pressing the <ESC> key, but I am just starting this journey. Great, thanks for helping me !

Ctrl-Q has always been the key-combo to quit the sim, has never changed. You can change this by editing the keymap.cfg, it's just a standard text file, so any text editor can open it.