Simviation Forums

hi peeps, i just downloaded orbiter, but cant for the life of me figure it out!! i can get to the spacecraft bit where you're in space, but all im doin is floatin around! how do i make it go, stop, just move!!!!!! etc?  i cant find anything on the help readme's...cheers nick

I can only tell the main thruster controls to you

The key pad has most of your thruster controls I don't know what each key does just try using them and learn or wait for some other people who know the game inside and out to give better instructions then me

I haven't had time to download Orbiter 2005 yet.  If you have gotten into orbit you're doing pretty well.  It took me about a week just to figure out how to do that.

I can assure you that your spacecraft is moving - at about 17,000 miles per hour.  If you had no forward motion gravity would pull you down.  If you have an unstable orbit it may take you 3 or 4 or 4 orbits before gravity and atmosphere do their things.

Since it takes about 90 minutes to orbit the earth you're not going to see a lot of ground moving underneath you.  The only way you can really determine your status is from your instruments.

That's one reason I lost interest in it.  Nothing much happens in real time and there is not a lot to see.  Once you have a stable orbit there is literally nothing to do unless you want to go somewhere else (earth, moon, planet).

I have heard that 2005 will allow you to configure the keyboard - a nice idea since they didn't make a lot of sense in the earlier version.

And you could probably pick up a lot better tips at the official Orbiter forum http://orbit.m6.net/v2/forum.asp?forumid=1

Well, I downloaded it about a week ago and have been playing it since. I can say that I have a NEW addiction. It is awesome.

You are right, there is nothing much about how you fly, controls etc.

There are different scenarios that you can load up that are more or less tutorials on how you fly, all the different MFDs and how to use them. Mind you, this is a complex program and I have found the learning curve is VERY....shallow. It is going to take some time in learning this thing. But so far, it has been a blast for me and well worth it.

I can tell you that you can use your stick and with that, your throttle control on your stick will work. Start Orbiter Laundhpad, in the Joystick section see if your stick is listed. If it is, then select slider 0 in the window below.  Now give it a try. If your throttle doesn't work, go back into the Launchpad in Joystick and select a diff. "Slider".

Now there are tons of key commands to this sim. It would take me forever to list them. I can only say, go into the launch pad and click on the different scenarios. The description will tell you what you are about to do. Find those that state they are going to teach you this or that. Then in flight, hit Alt + F1. This will bring up a help window and many of those scenarios have a guide you can follow.

Here is the link to the Orbiter main forum. Very good info can be gathered here:  http://orbit.m6.net/v2/boardtalk.asp

You can download the .pdf manual here: http://www.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/~martins/orbit/manual.html

I got the newer High Res. Earth textures and let me tell you, I fell out of my chair when I got into space. The view is just so real!!!! First time I sync-ed orbit with the ISS, International Space Station and then in a couple of orbits it started to come into sight...............HOLY COW!! Just plain beautiful!!!

Hope this helped you a bit. Be patient, it is going to take some time to learn this Space Sim.