User manual fo 2008

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[Dellboy]

Hi all,

I have installed 2008 and patch 1 to 1.3. Is there a manual to show me how to control the different types of ship as well as telling me all about the sim , as 2006 did. If there was supposed to be one on the installation disc mine hasn't got one?

Thanks

Dellboy

[Mad_Fred]

Hello Dellboy,

If you look in the ShipSim2008 directory on your harddrive, there should be a manual included.

Although this only takes you through the basics and will not specifically mention all the different ships.

Regards,
Fred

[Dellboy]

Hi Mad Fred,

Thanks for your reply.

I have already looked on the hard drive at the 2008 program and there is no manual. The reason I asked this question is I want to know which keys work the crane and their function and the same for the hovercraft.

If the manual only takes me through the basics how do I find out how to operate everthing that I can't work out? thats if I ever get a manual!!

Dellboy

[Shipaddict]

Look in the controls section of SS08

[Mad_Fred]

Hi again, Dellboy  

Strange that you don't have the manual, as I do, in myn SS08 root. But it may have come with a patch.. I don't recall.

What version are you running?  V1,0, V1.1 or V1.3?

As far as the crane is concerend, when you are ingame, click on the second icon from the right in the menubar in your lower right corner, marked with a wrench.

Then, in the popup, select the "controls tab"
Then at the right side near the top of the next popup is a box marked with "select controls"
Pull it down and select "crane controls" and there is the list of controls you are looking for!


And the Hovercraft basically steers like any other ship. As far as the controls go. With the exception of the skirt.

You have the rudders, they are behind the aft props. use the steering wheel for those.

You have throttle levers, for forward propulsion, they are the smaller levers to the left of the steering wheel.

You have thrusters (those funnels on the front) use the knob to the right of the wheel for those.

And the bigger levers on the far left control the skirt.

The skirt is unique to the hovercraft. As I said, they are controlled with the big levers on the left. Up inflates them, down deflates them. If you want to travel at speed, you need to inflate it. Deflate it to lose speed rapidly or to moor on the beach or something like that.
These skirt levers are also the throttle for the thrusters if I am not mistaken.

Point the trusters in the opposite direction from where you wish to go and you can push the nose around or go backwards, when you point the nozzles forward.

The rudders and the throttle are just used as with any ship.

You have to anticipate corners early because it will drift sideways when you steer, but with practise you can get the hang of it pretty quickly.

I hope this helps!

Regards,
Fred

[Shipaddict]

You could come second for the longest post on the forum!!

[Mad_Fred]

Nah, I 've seen plenty more that are longer... 

But who knows.. maybe.. one day.. with practise.

 

Fred

[Shipaddict]

With practice!

[mvsmith]

Operating the Crane:
In the upper left corner are two icons, one for the crane and one for Vermass. Click the crane.
You can switch between various views by using the number keys above the main keyboard:
1 Is a view outside the crane and orbits the crane cab as it would a ship.
2 Is the cab view, and can look straight down at the spreader (the thing that grabs the container),
3 Is the same as two because the arrow keys control the crane and are not available for walkabout.
4 Is another exterior view that orbits the dock containers.
5 Stays centered on the hoisting cable and rotates around it while over the dock.
By switching among these views, you should be able to see what you’re doing.

As for knowing what you’re doing…
The Page Up key raises the spreader.
The Page Dawn key lowers the spreader—right through the ground.
The Up & Down arrow keys move the crane cab toward the ship.
The Left & Right arrow keys move the entire crane along the dock.
The Home key causes the spreader to grab or release the container.
The insert key raises and lowers the jib—the thing that sticks out over the ship. Leave it down while loading.

You can see this list from in the sim by clicking the wrench in the lower right corner and selecting Crane controls from the drop-down list.

Use cab view looking straight down, and lower the spreader onto a dock container with Page Down.
Position it carefully with the arrow keys. When it is centered on the container, press the Home key.
A green light on the spreader tells you when it has the container.
Raise the container just high enough to clear the containers on the ship, and then move toward the ship.
A green arrow points down at the place for the container; lower the container into the space and then press the Home key to release the spreader.
The rest is skill acquired from practice.
It’s just a sim! You won’t break anything.
Oh yeah, one other thing: Raise the jib when you are done. The Vermaas’s Master will be unhappy if he loses his masthead light.

[mvsmith]

Hovercraft:
Left throttle controls the fan that inflates the skirt; full forward to lift and move, full back to sit down.
Right throttles control the after fans for forward thrust—like twin screws on a ship.
Wheel controls thrust diverter vanes behind the fans. Works more like an azimuth drive than a rudder—requires power, but not way.
Knob rotates the two forward thrust ducts—like an azimuthing bow thruster. Use it to back up.
The High Idle position on the Skirt Fan keeps the ship up, but reduces the bow thrust.
The buttons below the green lights shut down the respective fan engines.
The buttons below the red lights start the respective fan engines.
The red lights light if you prang the boat.

Jetski:
Start slow—notch 1—until you get a feel for steering. Go up one notch at a time.
At high speed it is almost impossible to steer with the L/R keys. Use the mouse on the wheel instead.
Keep rudder angle below 2 degrees to maintain course. You need a very light touch. You might consider reducing the mouse sensitivity via the Windows Control Panel.
If you start overcorrecting wildly, recover by chopping the throttle.
I recommend disabling precision steering so you can chop throttle with one tap of the down arrow, and so you have self-centering with the L/R keys.
Wear a flotation vest!

[Dellboy]

Hi Fred and MVSmith,

Thanks for your guides to operating the vessels. They are better than the manual, which I haven't got, me thinks. Very comprehensive and I am sure that I will be having a lot of fun now

Thanks again.

Dellboy

[mvsmith]

You are welcome, Dellboy (or Dude as the TV adverts used to say),
Those instructions were posted months ago and are difficult to find even for those who bother to search. I decided to bring them forward for newer members.
There are some posts on steering Red Eagle that I might resurrect also.
Regards,
Marty

What Fred said:
http://www.shipsim.com/ShipSimForum/index.php/topic,4511.msg45328.html#msg45328

[capt kieran]

thanks for the tips i just started and im starting to get the hang of the game.
but the graphics run porlly  should i update my graphics card or what did you do to make it run smoothly and with nicer looking

some tips please
thanks catp kieran

[TerryRussell]

Marty said:

The red lights light if you prang the boat.

I've never found any way to damage the hovercraft. I've even got it airbourne (over the ski ramps), crashed into the side of a "small" containership and then been run down by Ocean Star. Damage level = 0%.

Can we have a competition to see who can get those red lights to come on through damage to the hovercraft? 

[MarkyMark]

Hi, I'm new to this, Thanx for the info
Has anybody used a joystick for steering. it very hard to steer with the mouse and use the throttle.
I seen the post on real controllers looks interesting.
Mark

[TerryRussell]

Hi.

I've tried a joystick, but for me the problem is that you really need two joysticks, (one for each engine/rudder) on many vessels.

The best one I've found is a Saitek dual yoke game pad with about 36 switches. (I'm sure it's out of date by now and many newer versions available) I like the wireless ones. You can program the various buttons to to pretty much everything you want. There will still be a few functions for which you'll need the mose:

Hovercraft Skirt engine - not possible to map this one
Camera zoom via the mouse scroll - probably no suitable control available on the game pad

And so on.

But 90% of the functions you'll ever want to use will be available on the gam epad.

[Captain Spencer]

Marty said:
I've never found any way to damage the hovercraft. I've even got it airbourne (over the ski ramps), crashed into the side of a "small" containership and then been run down by Ocean Star. Damage level = 0%.

Can we have a competition to see who can get those red lights to come on through damage to the hovercraft? 

lol we'd all loose