Game or Sim .. ? Either way its not SOLAS compliant.

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[craigster1]

thats a lot of writing there guys

[KiwiSailor]

Sorry my Ozzie mate you are way off the mark here! As I have said like my other friend here I too have spent a lot of money upgrading FSX to an awesome product. It too came from a small base price just like this game. I think what we are all saying is once the bugs are ironed out we are more than willing to pay for add ons to this game as well.

Nick.

As I have said above I will put my money where my mouth is. I have purchased the latest add on to SSE this morning. So far I find it pretty good and can't wait for more vessels and missions. Vstep: keep working on those bugs and we will have a great product. Keep up the good work.

[bsm2003]

Hello, bsm2003. You can be sure that I`m very patient person and I support VStep in this project. I`m not interested in ruining this project. At any case VStep can ruin or succeed in this project with their policy, not a few hotheaded people in this forum.

You are a professional seaman. I don`t know exactly what are you expecting about a game simulator. I don`t know either if you knew the previous editions of ship simulator. In SS08 you had a complete information on the top of the screen. The map; which never was a wonderful thing, included more information than now. It had many icons on the bottom right corner on the screen with many functions. It had too more sight options. You could change the settings without to abandon a mission...

I have been playing this game since 2008. I have The standard and New Horizons. They(V-Step) can only do so much at a time. I Cannot Run 2008 due to the fact Windows 7 wont run it on my computer. I gladly paid the money for the chance to get Extremes. I have had very little problems with it. Most problems with the actual running of the game are due to hardware not meeting the specs. If you had paid attention to what I said I bought it for the mere fact that since I am physically unable to get back on the water I use it and pretend I'm right in the boat or ship for therapy purposes. And My avatar is a Scanned Copy of my License. I couldn't figure out if you were asking a question or making a statement even though you wrote it as a statement.

Yes, of course, I know your answer and the moderators answer... In next patch... without to specify what patch.

You must admit, at least, that is not a good business policy to release a new version and that version be less playable than previous version.

Less playable is in the eye of the person playing. It runs perfect on my computer and has done so since it was released. It's a sim that lets you drive boats. plain and simple. If you have ever spent time working a harbor you would know that the majority of the knuckle heads out on the water don't have a clue what there doing. That is not a reference to the Pros. That is a reference to the id10t's that get on pleasure craft and think they own the water.

My support for VStep, yes, but if VStep is a bit more generous with us and with our wishes; many times shown in this forum, and reasonable wishes, I think.

[Tinchu]

Sorry, bsm2003. Of course, I didn`t pretend bother to you. Perhaps my english is not very good on expressions sometimes.

When I talk about the Ship Simulator Extremes is less playable than Ship Simulator 2008, I`m talking about the options to make different actions. In SS08, for instead, we had more options and informations than now. It had, for instead a rudimentary radar which worked simultaneously with the nautical chart. I used the walkthrough mode to see, from the helmsman the two images (chart and radar) removing the image on the top right corner. It was more realistic. You could do the functions of the helmsman and the officer watching those displays. I talk from the point of view, I think, the simulation gamer. There are others things like this that we are missing in this simulator. Not only more "nautical issues", but software utilities, to make more comfortable the life of the "long-suffering" gamer.

I beg your apologizes again and I hope your soon recovery.       

[CaptainM]

Well said, Vige.
My SILF project got a hit.
(Search for Intelligent Life on the Forum)
Regards,
Marty

I find that quite rude, especially as your a moderator mvsmith.
When someone buys a product or service, they are entitled to their opinion, whether it be right or wrong. To say that these people have "Little Intelligent" as it seems that is what you were refering to, I find wrong.

To the die-hard ship simulator forum lovers, while I understand you may hate people refering FSX to Ship Sim on here, you have to remember that Flight Sim made people interested in simulators in the first place and you will find that many people who have brought Ship Sim is because they got onto simulation through Flight Sim.
Also I think people have every right to compare two "simulator" games together, people do it all the time in real life, for example when buying a car people compare two car manufacturer's together.

What the average Ship Simulator user can't understand is how can one simulator can replicate 'basic' gauges, while another simulator can't. I'm sorry, but it doesn't matter what size company VSTEP is, I think people would rather have a more detailed ship, more gauges to use, or more systems to find out, than have 10+ more basic, useless unrealistic ships, or another scenery.

The simple fact is, this is a game and I think that is what annoys people most of all, is that VSTEP deliberately used 'simulator' in the name to con people into thinking this was a average ship simulator with some basic real life naval training put into the simulator, yet as far as Realism go's all one must do is push the throttle forward and steer, 0% of any real life naval training added.

If it had of been called "Ship Explorer" or "Sea Master" and the whole concept was it being more based around a game than a simulator, I would of expected many people to say that this was a very good game in its own right.

And lastly I hate it when you constantly keep bringing up "this is the best ship simulator on the market", yeah because it's the ONLY ship simulator on the market, minus Virtual Sailor. Just because Ship Simulator is the only ship simulator at the moment, doesn't make it automatically become's the best ship simulator.

What makes a simulator become the best is my opinion is the community which plays it.

Finally, I don't think the community will ever built around this game because everytime someone comes on the forums to express there opinion, you lot, the moderators and die-hard ship sim fans make out their stupid. Even in the flight sim community everyone is allowed to express how they feel about the sim.

Thanks for reading.

[Vige]

The simple fact is, this is a game and I think that is what annoys people most of all, is that VSTEP deliberately used 'simulator' in the name to con people into thinking this was a average ship simulator with some basic real life naval training put into the simulator, yet as far as Realism go's all one must do is push the throttle forward and steer, 0% of any real life naval training added.

What utter BS my friend. It's your perception of the term and your horror misnomer of being duped by an "evil game developer" that is laughable. Get over it.

You know what I find offensive? FSX. An inferior flight model and physics to IL-2, but yet it is referred to by so many on this forum as the yardstick of flight sims, but it is NOT what it should be. So please, spare us your comparisons vis a vis FSX vs SSE, as you are worshipping a false god - I don't care if you're a pilot, FSX would not be my choice if I was.

Back to SSE. If what you want in a sim becomes reality as per your previous sim purchases, my guess is you will eventually be charged $50 per ship by an external small mod maker, so you can say you have spent thousands on the game. Oh and of course you'll have SOLAS compliance after you purchase the $100 add-on. $30 for lit buoys, $80 for the QM2 and $20 for the port of Blackpool.

Do you see where this is going? VSTEP can only do so much at a time. It's not a huge developer with unlimited funding and resources. It needs the community's support to grow. Not negativity. You did not purchase a commercial grade ship sim.

You paid the equivalent of $40USD for this product. Half the cost of a new release XBOX or PC game. That IS value. I have got my money's worth out of it already. It won't get me in the Merchant Navy, but....that's not what I bought it for! I bought it for fun... 

 

[bsm2003]

that's not what I bought it for! I bought it for fun... 

BINGO We have a Winner here. That is the only reason to purchase any game TO HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!

[Tinchu]

Yes, of course, we have bought SSE because we want to enjoy it. To spend a fun while. We never pretend to be Chief Master, playing with SSE; or plane pilot playing with FS. But at the very beginning to enjoy it we need SEE work in good conditions. In the present situation of the simulator, many times you play... Russian roulette. Many crashes, missions unable to be resolved...

Even more, we are asking for new functions and performances for the simulator because we are "greedy people"; I say this with sense of humour. We want more and more fun... That`s we are trying to spur on VStep with our critics and suggestions.

Greetings.

 

[Ballast]

To proof that VSTEP actually listens to ShipSim community.. 

possibility to use the lifeboats.

Autopilot (like in the Virtual Sailor) for long distance passages;

Wawes not restricted in the areas where are the harbour and the part of sea (Marseille, The Solent, etc.), like in the Virtual Sailor... same like option when the wawes are stopped by breakwaters and moles so they cannot run into the inner roadstead of the harbour;

Several large vessels and new sailing areas;

things like lights in the city

A on/off button so we can take on and off lights in the ship

How about Firefighters for a) burning ships missions and b) saluting other vessels e.g. a big Cruiseboat on her maidentrip.

Have a wildlife enviroment of flying birds and marine life.

More realistic ocean wave motions

I only looked in the first 5 pages of the suggestion topic, i beter there are even more 

[CaptainM]

Vige I do agree from the last post I may of been slightly wrong,

First I can confirm that Simulator can be placed into the Ship Simulator Extremes title as from the dictionary, it does do what the term saids which is, 4b. Representation of the operation or features of one process or system through the use of another

And ship simulator does do that, as it does simulate how a ship would react in various conditions, for example in a thunder storm.

All I was trying to get as, was not to bash Ship Simulator or VSTEP, but all I wanted was just a more complex bridge in terms of graphics, you know like the big VLCC bridge would look like to that of a real oil tanker's bridge, I wouldn't even care if it was just a still image (no moving objects or screens other than the basic ones in which we have in Ship Simulator Extremes already)

I just wanted something to look at, feel like I was there, commanding this massive ship into harbour, or through the rough seas, as at the moment all that appears is what two screens one radar the other a map?

Can I quickly say that i'm not angry about any of the Ship Simulator's as without them there wouldn't be a Ship Simulator on the market today, I was just hoping with the release of "Extremes" we would see a more graphical, detailed bridge for the first time on the larger ships in game.

Other than that I am quite happy with the simulator/game, i'm holding off from playing it at the moment due to the problems with graphics cards as I read about it somewhere, and there being problems with even high end machines not being able to run SSE smoothly.

I didn't mean to argue with you Vige, nor try and make you hate the game, as I see you are a great fan of the series, I was meerly trying to explain how I felt at the time of writing when I had the problems and what I thought was a lack of attention from the designers to the game which so many of us like.

I've said my part, just hope SSE turns itself around into the marvel its meant to be, Ship Sim 2008 was the same and look where that turned out.

Thanks for reading,

CaptainM

[Traddles]

As an old chap who actually spent many years at sea I find no real problem with the wheelhouses of the ships in the game. You see, for example, my first ship, the M.V. "Interpreter" had a wheelhouse containing the following equipment:- One steering wheel with telemotor, one magnetic steering compass, one clock, one helm indicator, and two speaking tubes, one going down to the masters bunk side and one going up to the standard compass (again magnetic) on the monkey island, and five windows facing for'd. The engine room telegraphs were outside the wheelhouse and the chartroom was behind the wheelhouse accessible by leaving the wheelhouse and walking outside to the chartroom door. If the mate on watch were found by the master even leaning on anything and not keeping a very good lookout there would be trouble. Chairs to sit on??, you must be seriously joking.  As to fiddling about with any kind of controls, that was easy, there were none to fiddle with. Ain't life grand.

[vin_sun]

As an old chap who actually spent many years at sea I find no real problem with the wheelhouses of the ships in the game. You see, for example, my first ship, the M.V. "Interpreter" had a wheelhouse containing the following equipment:- One steering wheel with telemotor, one magnetic steering compass, one clock, one helm indicator, and two speaking tubes, one going down to the masters bunk side and one going up to the standard compass (again magnetic) on the monkey island, and five windows facing for'd. The engine room telegraphs were outside the wheelhouse and the chartroom was behind the wheelhouse accessible by leaving the wheelhouse and walking outside to the chartroom door.

Hi Angus,

My first ship as a cadet was exactly like what you have mentioned. We accepted every thing the way it was and as technology took over we eventually accepted the conveniences (and complexities) of the modern day integrated bridge systems.

I suppose it is the same with simulators when it comes to choosing what really pumps the adrenaline in you. I prefer to be brief and rather say it with pictures !!

SSE


Flight Simulator


Space Shuttle Simulator



Regards
vin_sun

[CaptainM]

We can all be honest with one thing, Ship Simulator is beautiful, the environments in it are amazing, and the graphics are superb.
I think what most people are annoyed of is that like vin_sun showed, the large ships (cruise ships) have a very limited control functionality. And in terms of graphics on the bridge I think it lacks that graphical impact that one see's on the real life ships.

Im only saying this for the large ships, the majority of the small ships as far as I know simulate that of the real thing and do look very nice, it's just for many of your non-hardcore fan, the big ships are always the favourites and its just a shame tha they don't look like (from the bridge) the same as they do to their real life counterparts.

But other than that, im very impressed with the game.

CaptainM

[Vige]

All good CaptainM, you seem to like elements of SSE and that's great. I do too  

The original poster of this thread's issue was that the 'game' was not SOLAS compliant, see the Wiki definition for details.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Convention_for_the_Safety_of_Life_at_Sea

This is a HUGE treaty that covers endless aspects of sea safety and is a great thing. But for someone to come along and rant about how ripped off they were that it wasn't included in SSE is unreasonable beyond any doubts and has caused a great deal of confusion here. I would have loved to have seen the poster's suggestions on exactly how he would have implemented all conventions into SSE without missing anything and at the same time not bog down VSTEP from carrying out their planned updates which will mature the game.

I think that realism in sims is a great thing. Just look at the interfaces for DCS:Ka-50 and A10 Warthog now, clickable cockpits and proper startup sequences are really bringing that genre along and that will permeate into other sims like this one as time goes on. VSTEP has created a wave system that is not available in other games.
1C is working on a dynamic weather system for Storm of War that includes turbulence and storm cloud formations that will making flying on par with real flying bar the G forces that are exerted on the pilot.

And not long from now - we will wonder what we were arguing about - because it will be here.

Happy simming  
  

[vin_sun]

like vin_sun showed, the large ships (cruise ships) have a very limited control functionality.

..... and that is what I like about SSE. The pictures I posted were certainly not to undermine SSE. It was more to emphasize the simplicity of the controls when compared to the consoles of the ones in FSX and Space Shuttle.

CaptainM , you certainly have the freedom to voice your opinion and please do not view my above clarification as offensive. I do not wish to use this Forum as a "battleground for words".

Vstep in developing Ship Simulator has followed the KISS principle -
Keep It Simple Sam  - when it comes to controls.
I think most of us when on a mission with either SS 2008 or SSE are hardly "on the bridge". I am sure most prefer the "bird's eye view" and by default SS always opens any mission with an external view.

As a seafarer, I join many others who are thankful to Vstep for having produced a simulator for the merchant marine community.

And as BSM2003 puts it ... "I see it as a way to relax and treat it as therapy" . With an attitude as such one can happily look forward to being involved with SS on a daily basis and have something to smile about !!!

Regards
vin_sun

[CaptainM]

Hey Vige,

I read the SOLAS Wiki link you sent me, thats a LOT of items to include for a very small developer to do. Not even Microsoft has all the safety features included in today's flying present in their simulator's (for example de-icing the aircraft in wintery conditions).
Maybe add some safety things into Ship Simulator, but VSTEP have already done that with the life boats.

And to be honest who really wants to be going through all the lists and requirements, I just want to set off and sail.

Sorry I didn't look at the thread more closely, and sorry for having a go, if I had of understood what the thread maker what talking about, I would of had a very different stance.

Also I agree Vin_Sun about the keeping it simple bit and I do like it that way, I just wanted a bit more control with this massive thing, like to control how to balance it using water, by controling how much water I want in either side of it etc.. and I was more meaning graphically, by just placing images of like computer screens and buttons on the bridge etc.. it would make it look like its real life counter part.

But I don't really mind, these could just be considered improvements, i'm happy with SSE as i've said before and don't mind about what is improved as I just like to sail the sea and look at the environment

CaptainM