Your Favorite Orbiter Advantages

[misha.physics]

Here are my points, although they are all general. You can write your own.

- Community People: of course, the wonderful community that continues to develop and improve Orbiter;

- Globality and Realism: space flights (the entire Solar System) and atmospheric flights (over any point on the Earth, or any other сelestial body) with realistic physics of simulation;

- Performance: good performance (I’m very happy with 60 FPS on my not very powerful laptop);

- Graphics: pretty pleasant and neat graphics, especially after the recently added MIP Maps for all tile levels. Texture flickering has been greatly reduced;

- Own Additions: the ability to create your own addons, sometimes even without special programming skills (tiles, textures, objects; bases, vessels, new features). As it's saying, "if you want a good game, make it yourself";

- Simplicity: I really like the glass cockpit with two MFDs. As well as 3D cockpits, 2D panels and instrument readings.

 

[Snax]

For me it's just like you, i like Orbiter because it's light, customisable, portable, moddable, and as you said, the community is helpful !

I run it on my laptop when I'm travelling, it's great !

 

[misha.physics]

The non-commercial aspect of Orbiter is another reason why I like it.

I think the fact that it's based on enthusiasm and has no deadlines is one of its advantages.

Orbiter gives a lot of freedom of action and I would like its great perspectives to continue to develop.

 

[n72.75]

The API is pretty sweet.

 

[jedidia]

I mean, advantages over what exactly? There isn't really anything comparable that has a full solar system sandbox with a realistic physics core...

 

[Urwumpe]

I mean, advantages over what exactly? There isn't really anything comparable that has a full solar system sandbox with a realistic physics core...

KSP with mods could come close, but I am not really trusting the realistics physics there.

 

[misha.physics]

I mean, advantages over what exactly? There isn't really anything comparable that has a full solar system sandbox with a realistic physics core...

Agree, maybe "advantages" isn't the right word, I just saw varoios meaning of it (just like pluses) which doesn't require comparing.

 

[Urwumpe]

I would say, its the community after all those years.

 

[GLS]

The API is pretty sweet.

I said it before: it isn't perfect, but it puts APIs from some big companies to shame.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

I see Orbiter less as a dedicated spaceflight simulator and more as a general physics universe that can be a playground for all sorts of things. Certainly the ability for spaceflight is what drew me and many others to it, as there were few other softwares out there that would allow that with any realism. KSP is probably one of the closer contenders, but for rigorous physics realism Orbiter wins hands down.

It has great potential for atmospheric flight modeling and surface exploration. The only downside are that the eye candy, though good and improving, isn't at the level of MSFS or DCS, and the effort needed to research and construct realistic atmospheric flight add-ons quickly gets deep into math and engineering which starts to feel like work pretty quickly, so that doesn't attract much interest except for the weirdos like me who like to tinker with the physics models. There were a lot of add-ons developed with lovely meshes and textures which unfortunately all flew exactly like the DG or PBShuttle because making the mesh and textures is the easy part.

 

[Urwumpe]

There were a lot of add-ons developed with lovely meshes and textures which unfortunately all flew exactly like the DG or PBShuttle because making the mesh and textures is the easy part.

Which one would you like to be different? If its no aircraft, of course.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Which one would you like to be different? If its no aircraft, of course.

The DG and PBShuttle models are fine. But there were several aircraft add-ons that just used their modules so you'd have a mesh for a maybe a light aircraft or small jet but it flew like something that could achieve hypersonic speeds and orbit.

 

[misha.physics]

I just want to believe that Orbiter can really take all the best for its realism and improvements, because its specificity attracts some people. And there are really no analogues. KSP is very cartoonish and simplified (it's not bad, it's just a pretty different concept, so it's good for many people). The Reentry seems to be very good in systems, although Orbiter gives much better performance and opportunities for actions for now. And in particular, atmospheric flights and aircraft could attract other people do dive into development and improving.

 

[Urwumpe]

The DG and PBShuttle models are fine. But there were several aircraft add-ons that just used their modules so you'd have a mesh for a maybe a light aircraft or small jet but it flew like something that could achieve hypersonic speeds and orbit.

Well, not my focus right now, because I think, the solar system needs more spacecraft...