Hello JHB,
You surely remember the SDK R.I.P. topic of Michael and this extract of Pjotr's reply,
The reason why we are not able to release a ship SDK is not because we want to keep a monopoly on new ships or anything. It is purely a technical matter. I tried to outline this pretty extensive in my posting I thought.
And I also never stated there would not be a ship dynamics editor. we may well release our internal dynamics editor in a few months, when it is stable and suitable for external use. ....
It is quite clear that the development of an application usable by end users and able to check, debug and compile to Quest3D any model cannot be done by VStep. Why, has also been explained extensively (although in small steps perhaps). To sum it up, the models are quite complex, and there exists no program or SDK (or whatever its name) now. I think VStep would heartily welcome such an application, at least for internal use, and would prefer that someone would offer to make it, instead of offering any nice ship. But they dont have it, and decided to concentrate on more important things in their view.
Some say that the possibility of modding would attract many players... I suppose VStep is aware of that, it has been repeated often enough, but they made a different choice. Dont fight the problem.
Also, many good model designers have no idea of ship design, hydrostatics or hydrodynamics. What kind of data would they use if they had a SDK, or will they transmit to VStep? Surely, the consistency of the data will need some checks.
Releasing an editor of the dynamics of the ships was envisaged in July 2007, perhaps is it still true, I would welcome it very much, but it is a totally different question.
Indeed, in my view, the aim of a simulator is (in part) to accurately reproduce the handling of different ships, somewhat like
Portsim (http://www.sspa.se/), but in 3D, with many niceties like having ships walkable, external views, and .... not the same price (although I dont know how much it is), of course, and with enough fun!
My preferences go to more accurate manoeuvring characteristics, more realism in handling possibilities of the ships, for others their playground is to design nice looking and shining ships, others the time challenges, or chatting about ships or ...
All the people who ask for new ferries, new harbors, etc... know well that their chances to get it done are small, nevertheless, they are not bitter about it, (dreaming is part of the game) and will be happy with what comes, although their requests will be ignored? I am sure you already agreed with that!
But I support your request for an ship parameters editor wholeheartedly (correct?), but "SDK requiescit in pace."
Regards,
Luc
