open ocean voyages

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[fenta]

Hello first of all am just wanna make me clear , my english isnt a keeper but i was just wondering if only i have the same thought about the "open ocean voyages" i was really stuned when i saw that on the site but when i baught the game and tried it out it didnt feel like open ocean voyages because the gap between harbors or open sea. the loading gap i mean .. why dont make it to a whole map insted .. that would make it feal like real open ocean voyages but i can understand its maby hard to make something like that but can microsoft do it with airplanes then you can do it to with boats problebly .. hehe

iam really happy with the game overall .. just a few adjustment and it will be amazing.

I would really want real open ocean voyages so it takes time to get there ever i want to go
and and not just a new load of a map thats is bigger .. cant put it any better and that .. the down thing about this is when the load is complete the ship stand still that i didnt like but then again we cant get everything in this world but when someone is close to it why dont make a point of it.

well thats just my thought i think hehe but i read somewhere i think .. that you can put a topic up and make a few points of the game to be better.

like i said
1 Real open ocean voyages

other ideas
2 Free Loading/unloading "(container ships between harbors) too that would be really fun '
3 More and bigger ships but thats just what i like about boats! hehe

dont take this at the wrong way cuz my english isnt that good .. but thats my point anyone with the same thought?.

cheers

[Ship Sim]

I like the Idea of open ocean voyages. But we do not have the save function. And a ocean voyage could take over a week. And some peoples computers might over heat from running a game for a long time. But i like the Idea. Also the reason Microsoft Flight Simulator could do the whole globe was becase they have a team of modelers who only work on the global model. Also think Vstep is a smaller company with less modelers and programmers. But I think Vstep will do this over time.

[fenta]

oh okey .. but the save function can save peoples computers in the future then if it is open voyages and yeah cant spell the english language that good but thats what i meant with .. microsoft could and you to in a long term i mean .. how long have vstep existed and then take microsoft? .. so but i think if u keep doing what u do u will be able to do it sometime inte future and iam waiting for that as .... do you have an answer for free loading and unloading between harboors? is that an option or is it at stupid question? hehe

and yeah .. you dont creat a game overnight .. flight simulator x was worked on like 3-4 years before realse i think so its alot of work to do that model but it sure its nice when you get on the free roaming of the world in a game hehe

[[RWP]DJM]

Hiya

If you'd like to know more about Vstep, check their official website here (http://www.vstep.nl/).  You will find some interesting information about the company

Regards.

DJM.

[firewheel]

I'am totaly agree with author.  Totaly continious large sea enviroment is needed. 

[patriot]

Also keep in mind that Microsoft is a larger company, and is a little more money to spare than Vstep.

[alazose]

I previously questioned the feasibility of open ocean voyages in a separate post – until I actually tried it.  The result was that I think VSTEP’s solution is ideal:  Allow the player to roam the ocean area of his choice, in a ship of his choice, and under conditions of his choice for an hour or two, and then provide the opportunity of entering a harbour environment. 

To expect to pilot a ship endlessly within a computer simulation in a vast ocean voyage for days or weeks on end would be impractical and interminably boring.  If an hour or two of continuous and customized ocean steaming is not enough to satisfy one’s cravings, you have two choices:  (1)  Play it over again, or (2) get help.

[firewheel]

I am a programmer and I dont suspect that it is a real programming problem. 

Comparing with MSFS that have complex meshes and textures, ship simulators in 90% sailing time have simple repeateble water and wave textures that does not effect memory to much. 

[arrghh]

I can see that sailing a ship for hours on end in the open ocean might be a tad monotonous, but it would be good to see the option available sometime in the future. I suppose it's the achievement of sailing a ship from one continent to the next that counts.
I have MSFS and a handy tool it has is 'time compression' where you can speed up 'time' by 2x, 4x, 8x etc. Although this is cheating! 

[Agent|Austin]

max 2 minute loading times, or 2 hour loading times. If they had to put everything on one map then everything would take 6 times as long to load. I like it how it is.

[firewheel]

No.  Like MSFS it will load dynamically only when you will aproach on them. 

[mvsmith]

Having crossed the Pacific and Indian Oceans twice in research vessels, I have to ask: Why?
On a R/V there are a lot of interesting things to do to pass the time, but standing at the wheel is not one of them.
What about watches. What happens after four hours of staring at nothing through the windscreen? Do you grab some chow and take to your bunk for eight? Perhaps, in a multi-player game, three of you could stand watches. Otherwise, what does the ship do while you are off?
Or perhaps, as in B17, you could assume the various crew positions and break the monotony by titivatring the deck or chipping paint.
Often one does encounter interesting things in an ocean transit. In the Pacific, Japanese glass fish net floats. In the Atlantic, Dutch soccer balls.

[fenta]

well thats from person to person .. all iam saying is it would be really nice if it where an option of it .. those who doesnt want to sail far and for weeks with save function .. can choose not to in gameplay .. and those who want can change it to be .. and like firewheel and arrghh put it .. you can change speed of the time forward like in MSFS then i think open ocean voyages will rock for thos ppl who want it to be on the ocean on a massive ship.

but then a gain resorces and time is the question ://

but it shure is fun to think about .. makes u feel like you own your own container ship and want to get it to another continent to unload and get new load back.

[Subwolf]

You must enjoy boring yourself, crossing the Pacific in real time will take more than a week

I love the solution in SS08 with the sea environments. They take a couple of hours to cross and gives me the feeling of being at sea. And I'm not getting bored, but these sea environments are enough for me.

If SS08 was a global simulator like Silent Hunter there had to be a time speed option, otherwise it wouldn't make any sense.

[BlackBat]

I have been on board of a tanker as a cadet. We crossed several times the atlantic ocean. (average steaming time: two weeks). I can tell you about my watch times:

I was working in the 3-watch system, that means two times à 4 hours watch. While we were in costal areas keeping watch was an interesting thing. But when you are at sea and you only see one ship per day that is very boring. Furthermore you don't stear at all - at sea as well as in costal areas. Let my calculate = we only steared 2% or less on a voyage. All the time the autopilot is working. During the time at sea you may take a look at the radar every 15min. and all the other time you may correct charts or other bookkeeping things.

I tell you - and others may agree - 4 hours watch on a totaly black bridge in a totaly black night with only one ship at all is very boring and something I wouldn't like to see in a simulator.

In order to the compare with the FlightSim: A vessel steams between 15-26 kts and a plane with 800 kts. Just think about the time you need ;-)

mfg blackbat

[groennegaard]

BlackBat, you are absolutely right. The interesting parts of the voyage is already covered by the SS08 concept. I understand the psychological effect of being able to sail wherever you want, but I do not think that people will use this feature when they get it as they will find out how less challenging it is. People are already complaining over the lack of AI ships in the free roam mode... 

BTW This topic is already discussed here:
http://www.shipsim.com/ShipSimForum/index.php/topic,1359.msg13186.html#msg13186

Regards
groennegaard

[arrghh]

I think u'r right, comparing it to ms flight simulator maybe it would be too boring in a ship going at 15 knots for weeks, i didn't really think of that before 

In msfs i'm currently attempting to fly around the world  , of course I'm saving the game after every go and travelling at 160 knots. This way yes it is bearable, and i don't even continue this flight very often anyway!

Me and my global aspirations

[tman]

even with the 1 hour missions i would want to be able to speed up time becuase without it i want to speed myself up[as in knots] so that it doesn't take so long maynly because i don't like to sit around sarring at a screen in less i'm docking or doing a hard manuaver

[fenta]

subwolf hehe yeah that maby be true but i like that anyways and i can admit it can be a little booring if u play this game for several weeks but thats not really what i want the whole thing started with the gap between load of maps .. i sure want real open ocean voyages but just if u take the titanic route for an example .. skip the gap and load of the 2 maps together then it wouldnt be too long and you wont be just playing on a new map and you ship doesnt stand still when the load is complete thats likeley more possible to do i think then a global map and much shorter too

or even if the gap is still there i want the complete stop of engines away from the game thats just destroys it if u ask me cuz of the time to gain speed feels like you do the step again and yeah now i am saying that about time when in real global crossing would take longer but all iam saying is i like everything else in it except that the load is complete on a new map and the ship stands still

and i would like free loading and unloading the container ship too to a different harbor "maby on the same map?"

sry my english.

[Gertjan]

I think the reason most people want to be able to cross the ocean is the fact that ingmae the harour ends at the peer, if you would be able to go further out to sea that you dont see land anymore and then get the menu to switch environmentsit would be better but as long as you could see the coast you remain in the same environment.

[BlackBat]

Hey fenta,

in some points I agree with you. When I read your post I had an idea how to solve your problem - maybe.

I wouldn't like to have a complete world map, that's much to vast, but what's about the idea to receive an area? How about to get the whole north-/balticsea with the entrance of the English Channel as well as the Kiel Canal? The Caribean Sea, the Mediterean Sea or the Great Lakes would be nice to.

That's somethink I would prefer. Just imagine that you would have a mission where you enter with the MV Vermaas the English Channel, first call Rotterdam and then proceed to Hamburg! I would love it.
The traffic seperation zones in the English Channel or between Rotterdam and Hamburg sometimes bring up congestions and delays because they're totaly full of vessels. Furthermore this is interesting to navigate.

In conclusion to the noted points a radar with arpa function, a time skip function as well as the opportunity to save during the gameplay would be absolutley necessary!!

So I think that this could be the next step in the development of the ship simulator (just compare how long it took time before NFS:Underground had free roaming!). But I still fix my opinion that loading gabs between ports across the ocean will be the only opportunity.

mfg blackbat

[blortina]

fenta you are my new hero.

fenta is exactly correct and I'll tell you why: this is a Ship Simulator, not a ship game, and in simulators part of the fascination is letting it run for days and seeing where you end up.

earlier posters said 'get help' and 'interminably boring'

yeah: that's the point. it's an enormous, inconceivably large ocean: larger than we can imagine: like the 2-weeks across the Atlantic poster above.

one thing some simmers love is to aim their machine in one direction, set the heading-hold, and light it off.

I love coming back to fsx at times when I've left it running to find it in Budapest, or Borneo, the Baltics or Borneo: it's a giant world and wandering aimlessly with unlimited resources is great.

Obviously SS2008 would need to be extended, and if there is an SDK or a commercial add-on SDK opportunity available let's hope someome takes it: maybe you and me, Fenta.

My friend Peter Sunna is from Kiruna, and I think Sweden is great.

You could also do things like make various packs or extensions that allowed various flotsam and jetsom (sp?) to be out there in the mid ocean.

saying it's not possible to extend the reality of a computer game is like saying the only thing you can do with a knife is cut cheese.

it would be a long way off (no pun) but the Community and VSTEP could make at least parts of this happen.

frankly I'd pay money to be able to drive a ship between X and Y and see some weird things floating, or nothing along the way.... as long as I can watch a LAT and LONG scale and see that I am making progress.

Fenta's English is excellent enough that his point is well seen: this would give an added plausibility to our hobby, a reality based street-cred that would allow us to drive from Perth to Brooklyn.  It might take weeks, and yes time expansion would be pretty much essential there, but for some of us freaks out here, that is what we want: to be able to sail the hell away from the wife the kid the car the house the cat... and, you know, pretend it's like The Shining, but you're on a fake ship, drinking real beer...something like that.

Also, I love computers.

Cheers, and All Hail Fenta: The Swede Who Guides Us

--first officer blortina
--vermont, usa