Lots of Newbie Questions and a few Wish List items

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[Barnacle]

I’m a real newbie to Ship Simulator.  I downloaded the demo version, ran the demo mission a couple of times…and bought the program.  I printed the User Guide and reviewed it, then took a deep breath and started the program.

I started with a free roaming session.  I chose the harbor tug, New York Harbor, and a bland but pleasant day with no wind and excellent visibility.  I steamed to the Statue of Liberty, rounded it to port, and tried to tie up at the dock.  Then I pulled away from the pier and tried to anchor.

I came up with a bunch of questions, a couple of comments, and a couple of wish-list items.  They’re listed below (in no particular order:  the numbers are for reference).

Definitions needed
There are a number of terms and acronyms I don’t understand and can’t find definitions for in the Ship Simulator 2008 User Guide:
1.   On the Information Panel at the right of the compass:  CTW (Course to Waypoint?), TWD and AWD.
2.   Precision Steering
3.   What is the difference between rotating the camera and panning it?

I’m sure there are others, but I haven’t noticed them yet.
Questions and Observations

• 1.  I couldn’t get to the Helmsman’s view with the mouse wheel.  (I found it with the 1 key.)  Is this a documentation error?
• 2.  The binoculars work in Helmsman’s View only.  Shouldn’t they work in the external view?
• 3.  I couldn’t move the chart or resize it except to make it full screen.  (I was able to zoom in and out.)  This may be a wish list item, but it would be very nice to be able to place the chart anywhere on the screen and make it whatever size I wanted it.
• 4.  The ship is always in the center of the chart, which lost all texts (labels would be a better word in English) when I zoomed out, before I could see Liberty Island.  I could see the Statue of Liberty in the external view, and simply steered for it.  But suppose it had been dark, or foggy?
• 5.  I couldn’t move my starting position or current position, or speed up the simulator to get there faster.  Is there a way to do those things?
• 6.  I saved the mission, but could not restart it.  I got to the Mission Overview screen, but the word “Start” was in grey, and clicking on it had no effect.  Did I do something wrong?
• 7.  There is no description of the control panel.  I tried to do a Snag-It screen capture to make a picture of it, but it didn’t work.  I figured them out empirically.  I think. :O)
• 8.  When I got to the pier at Liberty Island I tried to moor, but wasn’t able to because, I suppose, there were no mooring points on the pier.  When I tried to anchor a bit later I was unable to do so.  I did see a little red X near the bow of the ship.  Did that mean I was anchored?
• 9.  I couldn’t turn off the music that plays incessantly while I was setting up my mission.  Is there a way to turn it off?
• 10.  I took several pictures, but I can’t find them.  I am running the program from a second hard drive, my D disk, but there is no Program Files\Vstep\ShipSim2008 Pictures folder. There is a Vstep folder under Program Files on my C disk, but there’s nothing in it. What happened and how can I make sure I get the next pictures I take?
• 11.  This is definitely a wish list item:  I’d like the ability to run the simulation in a window instead of in full screen mode.
• 12.  Another wish list item, I’m sure:  I’d like to be able to make additional log entries.

I’m enjoying the program.  I know I’ve asked a lot of questions but if you could answer them or point me to the answers I’d be grateful.

Good sailing!

[goodles]

• 1.  I couldn’t get to the Helmsman’s view with the mouse wheel.  (I found it with the 1 key.)  Is this a documentation error?
• 2.  The binoculars work in Helmsman’s View only.  Shouldn’t they work in the external view?

Yes, Binoculrs only work in the Helmsman / Internal view only

• 3.  I couldn’t move the chart or resize it except to make it full screen.  (I was able to zoom in and out.)  This may be a wish list item, but it would be very nice to be able to place the chart anywhere on the screen and make it whatever size I wanted it.

You can only zoom in and out, there is not an option to make the chart bigger

• 5.  I couldn’t move my starting position or current position, or speed up the simulator to get there faster.  Is there a way to do those things?

No your unable to speed up the simulator.  Its made to be as relastic as it can be

• 10.  I took several pictures, but I can’t find them.  I am running the program from a second hard drive, my D disk, but there is no Program Files\Vstep\ShipSim2008 Pictures folder. There is a Vstep folder under Program Files on my C disk, but there’s nothing in it. What happened and how can I make sure I get the next pictures I take?

Your picturs are found under My Documents / ShipSim 2008 UserData / Picuturs

• 9.  I couldn’t turn off the music that plays incessantly while I was setting up my mission.  Is there a way to turn it off?

Go to Options > Sound and turn down the GUI option and that turns of the background music for the game

[Barnacle]

Thanks, Goodles.  I appreciate the answers, and I found my pictures...the location given in the documentation is wrong and I hope they'll update the manual soon.

As for the questions you didn't answer...I wonder if there's anybody around who would like to take a crack at them?

Good sailing!

Barnacle

[goodles]

Thanks for the thanks 

Happy Sailing to you as well, why not get the latest patch and join us in the MultiPlayer Games

[Dave M]

• 2.  The binoculars work in Helmsman’s View only.  Shouldn’t they work in the external view?

If you press the '3' key on most vessels you will be able to move about on the ship. On the larger ships it is handy if you walk out on the bridge wing, you can use the binoculars in this mode. There are controls for steering and engine power on the bridge wings and so you get a clear view and full control.

• 3.  I couldn’t move the chart or resize it except to make it full screen.  (I was able to zoom in and out.)  This may be a wish list item, but it would be very nice to be able to place the chart anywhere on the screen and make it whatever size I wanted it.

This is a wish list item. You can get rid of all on screen info by pressing 'TAB' and get it back again in the same way. I think that most people would agree with you that it would be handy to be able to reposition the chart.

• 4.  The ship is always in the center of the chart, which lost all texts (labels would be a better word in English) when I zoomed out, before I could see Liberty Island.  I could see the Statue of Liberty in the external view, and simply steered for it.  But suppose it had been dark, or foggy?

If, (in a mission), it is dark or foggy then you have to take particular notice of any messages that you get at each waypoint. The message may tell you to take a particular heading or other information.

• 5.  I couldn’t move my starting position or current position, or speed up the simulator to get there faster.  Is there a way to do those things?

You can't put the ship on 'autopilot' or 'x256 time' at the moment as all the harbour and ocean areas are small. Who knows what will happen in the 2009/2010 version.

• 8.  When I got to the pier at Liberty Island I tried to moor, but wasn’t able to because, I suppose, there were no mooring points on the pier.  When I tried to anchor a bit later I was unable to do so.  I did see a little red X near the bow of the ship.  Did that mean I was anchored?

If there are no bollards then you can't moor. The little red x does mean that you have anchored.

• 11.  This is definitely a wish list item:  I’d like the ability to run the simulation in a window instead of in full screen mode.

You can run the simulator 'windowed' by going into the game;
Goto [Main Menu>Options>Graphics] and tick the box at the top left labelled [Run Windowed], the next time you start the simulator it will be in a window. This is not recommended apparently but I did it for a couple of days and it worked with no problems.

Item 12 is a wish list item.

When you start doing the ingame missions then be aware that there are about 7 missions that can't be completed. If you do a search on their names in 'Missions' then you will see an explanation or an alternative to that mission.

If you like ships and controlling them as much as I do then you will enjoy this simulator.

Best regards, Dave

[Barnacle]

Dave, I don't know how much you like ships and controlling them, but I could sail before I could walk...that was many, many years ago, and I've enjoyed boats and ships ever since.  I am enjoying the simulator, learning how to handle the various vessels in Free Roaming mode, using NY Harbor as my environment because that's the one I'm most familiar with--and having a great time.  When as and if I learn how to handle these ships I'll take a wack at the missions and even multiplayer.

Thanks for answering my questions!

Barnacle

[Barnacle]

Goodles, most of my last applies to your message too.

I have V1.4.2, Build 1038.  Do I need the patch too?

Thanks again,

Barnacle

[TerryRussell]

Hi Barnacle and welcome to the game and the forum.

I think most of your questions have already been answered, but "precision steering" is a setting that makes the controls "sticky". That is, if you turn the helm to starboard and let go then the wheel stays there. If you put the throttle ontrol forward (or backwards) and let go, it stays there.

That can be useful if you steer using the keyboard controls (as I often do). People either love it or hate it, apparently.

If you have V1.4.2 that is "the" patch (currently - Vstep spend a lot of time improving the game and releasing free updates)

[Dave M]

Hi Barnacle/ 1 of 16,
I was born and brought up in Portsmouth UK, so I have been around boats/ships since I was about 8, (not as long as you it seems), and I love them.

Hi  O exalted one , I have never tried the 'sticky' option, that sounds as if it might be useful for the 'Red Cat' controls.

Regards, Dave

[Barnacle]

Hi Terry, Dave,

Dave, I've been reading the C.S. Forrester (Hornblower), O'Brian, and Alexander Kent series of 18th Century naval novels, all of which feature Portsmouth.  Wish I'd been able to visit it (and Falmouth) when I was in the UK, but it didn't happen. <sigh>

Yes, the sticky option could be useful; thanks, and I'll try it.  I've started using a CH Flight Yoke for steering and throttle, but haven't figured out how to reverse the engines with it.  And since it has only one throttle, there's no way to handle engines separately.

There are a few things that haven't been answered yet...


• The definitions of CTW, TWD, and AWD (I suspect that CTW is Course to Waypoint).
• The difference between rotating and panning a camera

I guess I can find out the difference between rotating and panning by trying them... but TWD?  AWD?

Anyway, thanks for the help, gentlemen!

Barnacle

[LucAtC]

Hello Barnacle, 
TWD is True Wind Direction
AWD is Apparent Wind Direction
Regards,
Luc

[mvsmith]

Hi Barnacle,
The difference between rotating and panning depends upon context. In cinematography, panning is usually done by rotating the camera. In the simulator, panning is lateral movement normal to the lens—or viewpoint—axis, accomplished via the L&R arrow keys in walkabout mode.
Rotation about a vertical axis through the camera—or viewpoint—is done by dragging the mouse.
Regards,
Marty

[Barnacle]

LucAtc... Thanks for solving the mystery!

mvsmith... I was in video for a number of years, so I'm familiar with panning.  Never have heard the term rotation, though, so thanks for giving me the answer!  (Maybe they should have called it elevation instead of rotation.)

Barnacle

[TerryRussell]

Hi  O exalted one , I have never tried the 'sticky' option, that sounds as if it might be useful for the 'Red Cat' controls.

Regards, Dave

Lord High & Mighty here. I will permit you lowly Earthlings to communicate with me on this bright and sunny day, but you must understand that this is a privilege not a right... Heh heh.

I use it with all the large vessels. No use with the jetski, great for Freedom 90. On Red Eagle and Bugsier I find it a plus as well.

[mvsmith]

Terry, real men steer only by dragging the wheel around with a stylus—held by ones teeth—on a tablet.
Regards,
Marty

[TerryRussell]

Yeah, I know.

I'm just a feeble wimp, really. 

[Barnacle]

Wheel?

Real men use a steering oar!

Barnacle

[Dave M]

Steering oar?

Why, when I was a boy they would throw me over the stern and I would have to swallow 50 gallons of water and eject it out of another orifice to steer the ship.

You don't know you're born these days. (Monty Python?esque).

Regards, Dave

[TerryRussell]

Water? You don't know you were born, lad. Eeee. Ecky Thump.

When ah were a lad, ah'd be thrown over t' side, wearing concrete wellingtons into concentrated sulphuric acid and expected to tow the QE2 along with the hawser held between your teeth.

You youngsters just don't know how lucky you are.

[[RWP]DJM]

Ecky Thump.

I've not heard that phrase for absolutely ages

Yorkshire if I recall correctly

[TerryRussell]

Yes.

Heard in TV programs such as

• "Shouldn't Happen to a Vet"
• "Last of the Summer Wine"

and others

[sadsid (†2016)]

Ecky thump blinking eck that takes me back a bit 
anyway back to my sugar butty's
                                                  Eric

[TerryRussell]

Ecky thump blinking eck that takes me back a bit 
anyway back to my sugar butty's
                                                  Eric

Well, ah'll go t' foot of our stairs!

Sugar? You don't know you were born, lad. When ah were a lass......

Oh dear, long way off topic now. Sorry.

Barnacle, I use a Saiko game ad. It's got twin yokes (one for each engine) and about 14 buttons, and 16 further buttons arragned in two sets of circles (for directional "clicking"). With that lot, I can assign a unique buton for almost every action. Using the settings/controls menu in Ship Simulator, you can easily program each button to perform a secific action.

Or, you can set up the gamepad itself to "pretend" to be a particular keyboard press. So between the two menus, you can do anything, I think.

[Barnacle]

Terry,  thanks.  Not sure what a "Saiko gem ad" (Seko game pad?) is, but I'll look it up.  Thing is, what we need is a gearshift lever.  You know: push and you're going ahead, pull and you're in neutral, pull more and you're going astern.  Then two buttons or two throttle controls (CH Products makes 'em for aircraft) would do the trick.

Got lost in your dialect. :O)  Reminds me of when we were in a third floor flat in Yorkshire...no problem communicating with the landlord, but I heard him (three floors down) talking to a workman.  It was loud enough, but I couldn't understand a word they were saying!

I think it was Winston Churchill who said that the US and the UK are "two countries divided by a common language."  Now if you'd only learn to drive on the right side of the street...

Barnacle

[TerryRussell]

Hi.

New brains please Matron. I meant Saitek. Sorry. Been working with a technical client today and one of their suppliers is Saiko.

And yes, I meant game pad. I've had a problem with my keyboard recently. Every now and again it was highlighting text and deleting part of it as I was typing. Keyboard is now pushing up daisy roots!

My Yorkshireman impression is quite good, I think. Considering I am a Southerner, through and through (Portsmouth is "up north" as far as I'm concerned), anyway.