Scenario Management

[SystemsLock]

Whenever I do a flight in Orbiter I tend to just open up a pre-made generic scenario and delete my quick saves when I'm done. After reading about all the cool space stations and such people build I realized it might be fun to have some continuity in my scenarios. Like where I could put something into orbit and then keep it there for use in all my missions. It would be one continuous scenario (or universe) which I always use, adding new spacecraft and removing old ones, but for which I always keep a continuous timeline. Thinking ahead even more, rather than skipping time a few years to get to a distant planet I could run other missions in the mean time, switching focus to whichever craft needs it.

Anyway, I was wondering if this was how other people fly their missions. And if so, could someone give me some pointers on how to manage it? If not, then how do people generally manage their scenarios and flights? Do you write up a new one for every mission with only the spacecraft you need? Or do you have a template prepared with all your favorite spacecraft ready to go?

 

[Hurricane]

As far as I get it, they make some scenario, do some stuff, quicksave it and then copy-paste and rename the quicksave so that it will be the "current state" of the mission.

 

[garyw]

Nope.

You just exit orbiter and that scenario becomes the (Current state).scn When you launch orbiter again just double click on that scenario to carry on from where you left off.

As for planning and flying - have a look at the link below in my sig.

 

[Hurricane]

Nope.

You just exit orbiter and that scenario becomes the (Current state).scn When you launch orbiter again just double click on that scenario to carry on from where you left off.

As for planning and flying - have a look at the link below in my sig.

Pretty much what I said, isn't it?

 

[garyw]

Pretty much what I said, isn't it?

No. You said to rename the quick-save and there is no need to do that. However, I would recommend something like statesaver in case of a crash or something.

 

[Izack]

I use Gary's (Current State) method, but occasionally save the current state to a second scenario simply called Last. That way I can mess around with other scenarios without losing progress.

 

[TMac3000]

I was kicking around an idea a while back, called the "Orbiter Forever Project". It involves a series of trips to the outer planets. Time compression allowed, but no going back in time! Would be interesting to see what year I make it to

 

[SystemsLock]

Can someone be be a little more specific?

Let's say you want to fly to Mars. Would you prefer to:
A) [Continuous scenario] Open up the current state of your last mission, refuel and use the vessel you used last time, and fly to Mars. This would allow you to utilize all the custom objects you've already sent into Orbit, such as refueling at a station you've already built on an earlier mission. When you're done, keep the scenario in it's current state for your next mission.
B) [Template scenario] Open up a template scenario with a couple XR-2s and DG-IVs scattered at every base in the solar system and with several strategically placed space stations already in orbit. Choose a vessel and fly it Mars. Delete your quick saves when you're done but keep the original scenario.
C) [Custom scenario] Fire up the text editor and make a brand new scenario. Place only the vessels you need. Fly to Mars. Delete the scenario and quick saves when you're done.

If you do something else entirely, I'd love to heard about that too.

 

[garyw]

I always follow option A with tweaks.

For example, if I've landed an XR-2 I might spend an afternoon in orbiter refuelling, tidying up, removing the payload and generally turning the XR-2 around for maintenance and then preping it for another flight. I keep tabs of the status on my ISA site.

To me, Orbiter isn't just about spaceflight it's about all the other bits in between flights that still need doing. I find it fun to know that the XR-2 I've got sitting there being prepped for another flight really is the same XR-2 that docked to the space station.

 

[Rtyh-12]

Something you might find useful (and kinda interesting ) is [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=4331"]Real Time Update[/ame] on OHM. It automatically updates your scenario's time to what it would have been if you had left the scenario on. For example, you could send a ship on the way to the Moon, shut down your computer, and three days later fire it up again and perform the LOI burn.