Stuffing my face like a kid in a candy store.

[Capt. Speirs]

I am getting very frustrated with myself, I originally installed Orbiter 2006 P1 and then like a kid in a candy store, started stuffing Orbiter with everything I could find. All was going well, careful to pay attention to build date 060929 for compatibility and Orbiter started to blossom. Then it happened, The Shuttle Atlantis was being launched free standing out in the open, no launch pad insight, the culprit; Arvydas Četyrkovskis’ Hi-res KSC. This add-on is beautiful and yes I did have Shuttle Fleet installed first as it says in the readme. So away the add-on went to recover my launch pad, have no idea what went wrong. Then I launched Atlantis with the Shuttle fleet expansion and was amazed at the sound track that followed, but soon baffled again as the sound track from AMSO Apollo 11 chimed in “ not receiving you Neil” right alongside the Atlantis launch sound track. I also starting noticing thin blue outlines where thruster textures should be, even with a clean install they were there. After playing around a bit I was able to get correct most of the thruster textures just by changing the distance the camera was from the thruster. So I decided to make multiple clean Orbiter folders for each mod, good idea?
Now my question is, what basic install should accompany each mod, I am guessing Orbiter Base, Sound Pack 3.5, Planet enhancements, a number of MFDs? Is there an install guide for each mod or is it all trial an error. So far AMSO is going well; here is a list of my installs;
Orbiter 2006 P1 base
msvcr71.dll in orbiter root folder (gets rid of disappearing ship at stage separation)
msvcp71.dll in orbiter root folder (gets rid of disappearing ship at stage separation)
Orbiter Sound 3.5
AMSO 1.17
AMSO Expansion Pack A11-100
Planet High Res 060504
Earth L10
Moon Level 9
Contrail Texture (for AMSO)
IMFD 5.1m
Attitude MFD V3.2
Camera MFD 0.12Beta
Apollo 8 Scenario Pack
Apollo 14 Scenario Pack
Apollo 15 Scenario Pack
Apollo 16 Scenario Pack
Apollo 15 Landing Sound Pack Landing Sound Pack2
Apollo 17 Landing Sound Pack
Apollo 12 Sound Pack
I am not sure what to install for the Shuttle Fleet or the Space Shuttle Ultra. Last install I lost my launch pad.

 

[Chupacabra]

You can get away with running it all in one "install", I haven't had too many issues where one add-on overwrites another. (When it does it says it specifically in the description/readme, such as SSU or texture packs) However, many do separate their "installs" the way you mentioned above. The add-ons listed don't seem incompatible to me. Here are some random hints:


The "Not receiving you Neil" line I think is part of Orbiter Sound 3.5. (Try disabling ATC chatter in the options to make sure).

For the Launch Pad troubles have you tried [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2965"]this[/ame]? It might solve your problem.

You can also put the system .dll's into your sys32 folder I believe.

Thruster texture problems might have to do with not enough RAM(or other hardware-do-dad). Try to see if you still have the issue without installing the planet enhancements.

Good luck!

 

[Capt. Speirs]

You can get away with running it all in one "install", I haven't had too many issues where one add-on overwrites another. (When it does it says it specifically in the description/readme, such as SSU or texture packs) However, many do separate their "installs" the way you mentioned above. The add-ons listed don't seem incompatible to me. Here are some random hints:


The "Not receiving you Neil" line I think is part of Orbiter Sound 3.5. (Try disabling ATC chatter in the options to make sure).

For the Launch Pad troubles have you tried this? It might solve your problem.

You can also put the system .dll's into your sys32 folder I believe.

Thruster texture problems might have to do with not enough RAM(or other hardware-do-dad). Try to see if you still have the issue without installing the planet enhancements.

Good luck!

Thanks for pointing out the patch for the launch pad issue, don't know how I overlooked that.

Those 2 .dll's have to be in the root folder for my install, it is that way for other games too. They are also in my sys32 folder.

This issue with the thruster textures is in a clean install, Ram 2GB system and 512 MB video. I read a post somewhere about a fix for that problem, just don't remeber where.

 

[Chupacabra]

Do the thruster problems persist with any other add-ons? Have you tried different textures?

 

[Capt. Speirs]

Do the thruster problems persist with any other add-ons? Have you tried different textures?

Yes it does happen to other ships, not as obvious though. Different textures? Haven't seen replacement textures. The further you move the camera away, the more obvious it becomes. The Project Gemini 4.5 it is very obvious, unless you move in real tight. Almost to the point of clipping.

 

[FordPrefect]

Wasn't that thruster texture problem related to anti-aliasing being used while running Orbiter?

 

[Capt. Speirs]

Chubacabra, I downloaded the KSC Hi-res Patch for Shuttle Fleet V3.9.3 but i have version 4.0.1 will this make a difference? The .scn files are a few months apart and looking inside they have different info and not sure what I would have to change. I will give it a shot and let you know.

 

[Chupacabra]

As I haven't used it in quite some time I cannot tell you right now. But if the add-on does what I think it does, you might be able to launch with the same scenarios included in Shuttle Fleet 4.0.1. (after installing the patch) Again, you'll have to try and see. If it doesn't work, you'll have to copy-paste the shuttle description in 4.0.1 .scn to the correct area in the Patch .scn.

Edit: FordPrefect, I think you are right. I recall something like that. Ah, here we go. Found this and this. Also this might be of help.

 

[clive bradbury]

The alternative to multiple installs is to use the jones mod enabler, which, as the name implies, allows you to install and uninstall any mod at will. That way you can use one version of orbiter.

However, I still think that a few installs are a good idea, if only to reduce loading times. I have one called 'LEO' for example, so that I don't need to load lots of planetary textures when I only want to work in earth orbit. I use the jones enabler on every install, though, as it is really good for removing troublesome files as needed if you have a ctd or similar.

 

[n122vu]

The alternative to multiple installs is to use the jones mod enabler, which, as the name implies, allows you to install and uninstall any mod at will. That way you can use one version of orbiter.

However, I still think that a few installs are a good idea, if only to reduce loading times. I have one called 'LEO' for example, so that I don't need to load lots of planetary textures when I only want to work in earth orbit. I use the jones enabler on every install, though, as it is really good for removing troublesome files as needed if you have a ctd or similar.

I agree with Clive, and would recommend this approach if you have more than two "installs" that you want to keep separate. I only use two myself, one for AMSO and one for everything else, but I have separated everything in the past and the JSGME was a great tool to keep everything sorted out. Also, in addition to an installation for LEO as you are using, you could enable/disable level 10 Earth textures when working on the moon, etc, without limiting the entire sim to a certain planetary texture level. All you do is create a MODS folder in your Orbiter directory,then create a folder for each addon and unzip the addon to its folder in the MODS directory instead of the root Orbiter one, then run the mod enabler and pick what you want activated. Really slick little tool.

 

[Capt. Speirs]

The stinkin' blue boxes are gone!

Wasn't that thruster texture problem related to anti-aliasing being used while running Orbiter?

Well, I messed around and found the solution to the blue boxes around the thruster textures.

In nHancer you can force Anti-Aliasing, so I did and behold, the blue lines (boxes) around the thrusters are gone. To boot I get fantastic textures at 150+fps.:speakcool:

These are the nHancer settings that work for me if anyone cares;

Enhancements
Anti-Aliasing - Checked
Multisampling - Selected
16xQ - Selected
Enhanced in-game AA setting - Checked
Multi - Checked
Anisotropic Filtering - Checked
16x - Selected
Vertical Sync - Off

Optimizations
Texture Filtering - High Quality
Trilinear optimization - on
Aniso sample optimization - off
Negative LOD BIAS - clamp

 

[Chupacabra]

Glad to hear it went well. I don't even get half that FPS.

 

[Belisarius]

Also glad to hear it went well, but I would definitely advise other users to keep AMSO (maybe with NASSP too) separate from the other installs.
I use 6, maybe too many, but it keeps my separate "worlds" apart.

 

[Donamy]

That's about how many I have, not including beta, sometimes makes it hard to remember, which ones will run ,when I power them up.