For you Simulation Enthusiasists out there...

Hey guys, just wanted to post about a nifty little program I stumbled across on one of my google searches. It's called Orbiter, and it's a space flight simulator. But you can actually land on airstrips on earth (at least one that I know of, anyway) as well as the moon, mars, and the Jovian system. I've tried the program, and I have to say the simulation is... well, its really really fun. No sounds, (in atmo I mean ) but theres an SDK released for the program, and people have been making their own ships for download (some are pretty fantastic... ever wanted to dock at that circular station from A Space Odyssey 2001, or even... u guessed it... SS1 , or the Canadian Arrow) The visuals are absolutely stunning, as well. I posted this here cause I figured if anyone would appreciate this kinda software, you guys would be them.

http://www.orbitersim.com

A surprising amount of content in this game. I have yet to go anywhere but orbit (turns out my orbital mechanics a re a bit rusty, lol) and theres a lot to read on the simulation controls and such, but its nuthin overly difficult. I just realized as I type this that a bunch of you probly know about this already, being the space buffs you are, but I'm this far along, so I might as well just post it.

I take back my statement about it not having sound, I simply misplaced my sound folder somehow. eheh.

every spacefan has to play with orbiter!

i discovered it 10 days ago and i'm still impressed by this game.
it seems dificult becouse there are several strange & frightening "multifunctions displays"
one for synchronizing orbit
one for transfert orbit
one for docking to space station
and so on

and so lots of doc to read but in fact, the game is not very difficult and everybody is able to discover it and enjoy with only a few days of efforts.



the force of this FREE simulator is the huge number of addons, for instance:
- DeltaGliderIII : if you want to have a panel with 3000 buttons
- ariane 5 (didn't try)
- nassp (apollo) : anniversary today... but i'm not able to use t yet:-)
- even the space elevator or the famous starwars xwing

( you can download the sound-addon here: http://orbiter.dansteph.com/index.php?disp=d becouse it isn't available on the orbiter official website)


for the French whe are reading this post:
if you aren't really motivated for reading 100 pages of technical doc in english, you can go here:

http://orbiter.dansteph.com/forum/list.php?f=3

there is lots of docs translated into french and this url is also a french-speaking forum for orbiter with lots of motivated/well-informed members.


i know my english isn't perfect and sorry for that but if you want to increase your level, you have to speak!



about SpaceShipOne : my best altitude: 114 km (every week, i give private lessons to mike melvill but he still has efforts to do )

i've been messing with orbiter on and off for years now. It is a great program,especially since it is absolutely free.Also a great educational tool.
So far my biggest acheievemnt in the sim was to achieve an almost perfectly circular orbit.That was a while ago and I haven't accomplished that since.
Guess it's too complex for me, I'll stick to dogfighting.

downloading it now
Boy the files are not small arn't they! especially if you onlu have dial up internet like me!!! gonna take a while but it sounds like its worth it.

Iain