General Question XR2 Ravenstar Oxygen

[Alexrey]

Hi guys,

I'm trying to learn how to use IMFD by going through tutorial replays, but the spacecraft that is always used in the tutorials is the XR2 and the crew always dies because of hypoxia even before take-off. I've look everywhere in the cockpit to try and find the oxygen switch but can't seem to find it. The manual doesn't seem to have much information either. Anyone got any ideas?

 

[Loru]

From XR flight ops manual page 37:

Replenishing Fuel and LOX Tanks
1. After docking (or landing and coming to a full stop), switch to the lower panel
and open the fuel and/or LOX hatches depending on whether you want to
resupply fuel, LOX, or both.

 

[Alexrey]

Ahhh, I saw that but thought LOX was used exclusively for oxidizing the fuel. Thank you!

 

[blixel]

...the XR2 and the crew always dies because of hypoxia even before take-off.

If you're suffocating while on the ground, try turning on External Cooling.

 

[Donamy]

Couldn't you just open a window ?

 

[Alexrey]

It looks like the clickable cockpit is disabled in the playbacks that I use, this is driving me nuts!

 

[dbeachy1]

That is by design; a playback is a playback of a recorded flight, not an interactive session.

Regarding LOX usage after takeoff, don't forget you can set your LOX loadout and/or consumption rate by tweaking LOXLoadout, LOXConsumptionRate, and LOXConsumptionMultiplier in your $ORBITER_HOME\Config\XR2RavenstarPrefs.cfg file.

 

[Alexrey]

Is there a way to turn of all "advanced" sub-systems (i.e. make it nice and simple like the DG) since I get a ton of failure messages before we even take off and there's nothing I can do to fix them.

 

[blixel]

Is there a way to turn of all "advanced" sub-systems (i.e. make it nice and simple like the DG) since I get a ton of failure messages before we even take off and there's nothing I can do to fix them.

The XR2 is extremely versatile. You can edit your $ORBITER_HOME\Config\XR2RavenstarPrefs.cfg file to make the kinds of changes you are talking about. It would be a good idea to make a backup of the file first so that you can revert back to the defaults when you've learned more. (Though, you can always pull a fresh copy from the zip archive.)

Alternatively, you can make a copy of the XR2RavenstarPrefs.cfg file and save it as an xrcfg file. Then, in your scenario file, you associate your XR2 with the xrcfg file. For example, if you copy XR2RavenstarPrefs.cfg as XR2-Simple.xrcfg, then in your scenario file, instead of having a section like this: XR2-01:XR2Ravenstar, you would need to have: XR2-Simple:XR2Ravenstar

The things you would want to edit in the cfg file would be:

MainFuelISP=2 (set it to 4 to be like the DG)
LOXConsumptionRate=-1 (set to 0 to disable LOX consumption altogether)
APUFuelBurnRate=2 (set it to 0 to disable APU consumption)

Set all the following to =0 to disable ship damage
WingStressDamageEnabled=1
HullHeatingDamageEnabled=1
HardLandingsDamageEnabled=1
CrashDamageEnabled=1
DoorStressDamageEnabled=1
ScramEngineOverheatDamageEnabled=1
EnableDamageWhileDocked=1

CoolantHeatingRate=1 (Set it to 2 so that the cooling system never overheats)

 

[n122vu]

I get a ton of failure messages before we even take off and there's nothing I can do to fix them.

It can be overwhelming, especially with all those alarms and lights flashing. You're not alone. We've all been there.

Once you feel confident enough in getting the XR2 to orbit with the 'DG-style' settings, I'd suggest reverting to the default config, either one setting at a time, or all at once, your choice. And I also strongly suggest addressing these messages you're seeing one by one. Don't try to solve every problem at once.

Because I can assure you, there is a solution for each message you're seeing. And there's help and advice available here, but we need specifics.

We also tend to remind folks to read documentation. Thoroughly.

[insert lecture about complexity of spaceflight and spacecraft systems here]

Good luck, and happy XR orbiting!

 

[Tommy]

I assume you are using the IMFD Full Manual/Playbacks recordings. These were made before the XR vessels had the config override in the scenario file. See the above advise to set the Fuel and O2 settings appropriately for the mission - IIRC there is a section in the Full Manual PDF that gives the correct settings to use for the playbacks.

 

[SpaceVulture-007]

I have a question about the Lox Consumption rate in the cfg file. If setting the value to a higher number, let's say 4 (realistic) would that reduce my lox consumption rate and add more lox mass to the ship, or increase lox consumption rate with additional lox mass?