Hi folks!
I thought I would start a new thread on features people would like to see added to VSNG. I'll go first. Here are my top three things I would love to see in VSNG! The first two are essential.
1:Preformance fixes! (I'm getting 10-20fps with ships in VSNG I would get 200+fps with in VSF) I have an RTX 3070ti and 32 GB of 3600mhz ram. I should not be experiencing such low frames on a DX9 game.
2: Fix the F5 Camera. When you press F5 you get placed in a camera which allows you to fly by your vehicle and move the camera by clicking and dragging the mouse. This part is great! However, if you try to zoom in while in this camera, it automatically zooms out instantly. This would not happen in VSF can you change it back so we can zoom in while in this lovely camera mode?
3: The menu. Is it really necessary? It looks kind of tackey perhaps it could be streamlined and made look more like the VSF and older VS menus. I don't think the 2D boats sailing around look good, but that is just my option.
Now I open the floor to you all! Have fun!
VSNG Wishlist
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Blue Star Line
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2023 6:38 pm
VSNG Wishlist
Blue Star Line on Youtube. Over 100,000 Subscribers, making videos with Virtual Sailor & Vehicle Simulator
Re: VSNG Wishlist
In-game downloading and installing of add-ons:
In both Virtual Sailor NG and in Vehicle Simulator add-on ships and add-on sceneries must be manually downloaded and installed. At first this is rather tedious and second it can clutter the installation folders of these programs. To cure these problems, it would be a good idea to incorporate an in-game download and install option for add-ons by which you can choose, download and install them. And also an uninstall option to safely remove any installed add-ons.
In both Virtual Sailor NG and in Vehicle Simulator add-on ships and add-on sceneries must be manually downloaded and installed. At first this is rather tedious and second it can clutter the installation folders of these programs. To cure these problems, it would be a good idea to incorporate an in-game download and install option for add-ons by which you can choose, download and install them. And also an uninstall option to safely remove any installed add-ons.
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Stephen
Re: VSNG Wishlist
Hello,
I want to suggest some things which are more technical that can be implemented/improved for the Virtual Sailor NG.
- The addition of mooring points forward and one more stern anchor for a total of 2.
- Real weather should include and actualize in-game the real current/drift.
- The ramp or cargo doors at the stern or the bow should interact with the objects. In real life the ship can hold onto the dock with the stern ramp only (for example ships in Greece).
- Set the bow thruster power according to KW or HP power (to be more accurate according to real life data of each vessel)
- Waterjet propulsion system (Kamewa for example). For now I am using the azipod feature to ''realistically'' maneuver my monohull/catamarans high speed ferries. These waterjets can only turn 30 degrees to port or starboard and have high response and thrust during maneuver or during departure.
- The rudder should not instantly turn when ordered to port or starboard. If you can implement a system of double steering gear pumps to simulate the rate of turn of the rudder during various conditions (for example we use 2 when maneuvering to dock at a harbor and only 1 when we are sailing in open seas). It can take up to 30 seconds more or less according to the type of vessel to turn hard over from port to starboard and half of that from hard over to centre.
- Ability to have 2 rudders (some ships have 2 in real life) and the ability to select setting for each vessel according to real life data. This should also affect the maneuverability in game. Also ability to have them turn independently and to also affect the maneuverability and stopping ability (if you set them in a V shape the ship can slow faster).
- More turning radius for the rudders (some rudders can turn more than 40 degrees, for example the Blue Star Myconos/Chios can turn to 70 degrees and independently also).
- Improve the motion of the ship when using the bow/stern thruster. When using them for longer the whole ship goes sideways in the direction we set the thruster. Maybe improve the pivot point so it's closer to the thruster.
- Direction of propeller rotation (side thrust). When a ship is sailing, the propeller blades bite more in their lowermost position than in their uppermost position. The resulting side-thrust effect is larger the more shallow the water is as, for example, during harbour manoeuvres. Therefore, a clockwise (looking from aft to fore) rotating propeller will tend to push the ship’s stern in the starboard direction, i.e. pushing the ship’s stem to port, during normal ahead running. This has to be counteracted by the rudder. When reversing the propeller to astern running as, for example, when berthing alongside the quay, the side-thrust effect is also reversed and becomes further pronounced as the ship’s speed decreases. Awareness of this behaviour is very important in critical situations and during harbour manoeuvres. Maybe this article can help: https://marengine.com/ufiles/MAN-Basic_ ... ulsion.pdf
- Make it possible to have 2 different types of ship propulsion systems. The CPP or Controllable Pitch Propeller system and the FPP or Fixed Propeller System. In the game there is no distinction between these and all the ships feel the same (also the RPMs of the engine instantly increase which is not realistic). For the FPP system when you give the orders to the engine to go ahead or astern the engine, shaft and propeller take some time to react and process the order, therefore there is a delay of at least 10 to 30 seconds (between the scales of orders which are dead slow ahead up until full ahead) depending on how old the engine is. This way we would have to time our orders and movement when maneuvering in port. Also the starting air of the engine is limited (this air helps the engine to reverse the shaft in order to go into astern). For bigger ships the consecutive engine starts is limited (for my ship it was 27, so about 27 movements from ahead to astern until the starting air is depleted).
- Add more sounds: thrusterOutside.wav (you can hear a distinct sound of metal rattling forward or aft when its in use) , thrusterInside.wav, windscreenWiper.wav (when it's raining or snowing it could help with the immersion), mooringlineTension.wav (a squeaking sounds when the mooring line is tensioned when the boat is docked or towed).
- Add box areas in which different sounds (which you can specify in a combination) can be played. For now when you go into F1 perspective which is the inside (and its inside for the whole ship) only one inside.wav sound is played. What I want to be implemented is when you are in a different position inside the ship to hear different sounds according to the perspective and the box boundaries (this can be set just like the existing box function already but for sounds). For example not all ships have their bridge including the wings on each side in one compartment. To access the wings you have to go outside and you no longer hear the inside.wav. Now you should only hear the outside.wav and the thrusterOutside.wav (the thrusterInside.wav should only be heard when you are inside). The same should be for the change.wav when you are at the stern when you are opening the ramps it should only be heard at that area. I have thought of this as it may improve the realism and make it a better experience.
That's all for now. I hope this helps! I would like to thank you in advance and wish you the best!
I want to suggest some things which are more technical that can be implemented/improved for the Virtual Sailor NG.
- The addition of mooring points forward and one more stern anchor for a total of 2.
- Real weather should include and actualize in-game the real current/drift.
- The ramp or cargo doors at the stern or the bow should interact with the objects. In real life the ship can hold onto the dock with the stern ramp only (for example ships in Greece).
- Set the bow thruster power according to KW or HP power (to be more accurate according to real life data of each vessel)
- Waterjet propulsion system (Kamewa for example). For now I am using the azipod feature to ''realistically'' maneuver my monohull/catamarans high speed ferries. These waterjets can only turn 30 degrees to port or starboard and have high response and thrust during maneuver or during departure.
- The rudder should not instantly turn when ordered to port or starboard. If you can implement a system of double steering gear pumps to simulate the rate of turn of the rudder during various conditions (for example we use 2 when maneuvering to dock at a harbor and only 1 when we are sailing in open seas). It can take up to 30 seconds more or less according to the type of vessel to turn hard over from port to starboard and half of that from hard over to centre.
- Ability to have 2 rudders (some ships have 2 in real life) and the ability to select setting for each vessel according to real life data. This should also affect the maneuverability in game. Also ability to have them turn independently and to also affect the maneuverability and stopping ability (if you set them in a V shape the ship can slow faster).
- More turning radius for the rudders (some rudders can turn more than 40 degrees, for example the Blue Star Myconos/Chios can turn to 70 degrees and independently also).
- Improve the motion of the ship when using the bow/stern thruster. When using them for longer the whole ship goes sideways in the direction we set the thruster. Maybe improve the pivot point so it's closer to the thruster.
- Direction of propeller rotation (side thrust). When a ship is sailing, the propeller blades bite more in their lowermost position than in their uppermost position. The resulting side-thrust effect is larger the more shallow the water is as, for example, during harbour manoeuvres. Therefore, a clockwise (looking from aft to fore) rotating propeller will tend to push the ship’s stern in the starboard direction, i.e. pushing the ship’s stem to port, during normal ahead running. This has to be counteracted by the rudder. When reversing the propeller to astern running as, for example, when berthing alongside the quay, the side-thrust effect is also reversed and becomes further pronounced as the ship’s speed decreases. Awareness of this behaviour is very important in critical situations and during harbour manoeuvres. Maybe this article can help: https://marengine.com/ufiles/MAN-Basic_ ... ulsion.pdf
- Make it possible to have 2 different types of ship propulsion systems. The CPP or Controllable Pitch Propeller system and the FPP or Fixed Propeller System. In the game there is no distinction between these and all the ships feel the same (also the RPMs of the engine instantly increase which is not realistic). For the FPP system when you give the orders to the engine to go ahead or astern the engine, shaft and propeller take some time to react and process the order, therefore there is a delay of at least 10 to 30 seconds (between the scales of orders which are dead slow ahead up until full ahead) depending on how old the engine is. This way we would have to time our orders and movement when maneuvering in port. Also the starting air of the engine is limited (this air helps the engine to reverse the shaft in order to go into astern). For bigger ships the consecutive engine starts is limited (for my ship it was 27, so about 27 movements from ahead to astern until the starting air is depleted).
- Add more sounds: thrusterOutside.wav (you can hear a distinct sound of metal rattling forward or aft when its in use) , thrusterInside.wav, windscreenWiper.wav (when it's raining or snowing it could help with the immersion), mooringlineTension.wav (a squeaking sounds when the mooring line is tensioned when the boat is docked or towed).
- Add box areas in which different sounds (which you can specify in a combination) can be played. For now when you go into F1 perspective which is the inside (and its inside for the whole ship) only one inside.wav sound is played. What I want to be implemented is when you are in a different position inside the ship to hear different sounds according to the perspective and the box boundaries (this can be set just like the existing box function already but for sounds). For example not all ships have their bridge including the wings on each side in one compartment. To access the wings you have to go outside and you no longer hear the inside.wav. Now you should only hear the outside.wav and the thrusterOutside.wav (the thrusterInside.wav should only be heard when you are inside). The same should be for the change.wav when you are at the stern when you are opening the ramps it should only be heard at that area. I have thought of this as it may improve the realism and make it a better experience.
That's all for now. I hope this helps! I would like to thank you in advance and wish you the best!
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CommanderNili
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2021 7:13 am
Re: VSNG Wishlist
1. First of all it would be nice to add smoke effects when a gun (cannon) is fired. I mean the smoke of the blast when the shell exits the barrel. Something like the video in the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hly9rli ... avyLookout.
2. The second request is perhaps more complicated. It would be nice if you could include firing radars (as a weapon configuration option) that can actually lock on targets and guide the weapons (i.e. missiles) to the target instead of the missiles homing on themselves. For example I have made a MEKO frigate which carries vertical launched missiles. At the moment the missiles can only be launched to space unable to be fired against aircraft. But if they could accept guidance from a firing radar the efffect would be superb.
2. The second request is perhaps more complicated. It would be nice if you could include firing radars (as a weapon configuration option) that can actually lock on targets and guide the weapons (i.e. missiles) to the target instead of the missiles homing on themselves. For example I have made a MEKO frigate which carries vertical launched missiles. At the moment the missiles can only be launched to space unable to be fired against aircraft. But if they could accept guidance from a firing radar the efffect would be superb.
Ships and more: https://www.virtualtechart.com/home/pro ... loads_file
Re: VSNG Wishlist
'Saveable' pop-up panel locations:
Being able to scale and position the radar, gps and conning displays, and be able to save their position would be nice (I generally don't use a 'virtual bridge' view...
Deployable vessels:
It would be cool to be able to define a location, relative to your vessel to 'spawn' another boat, like the dingy off the stern of your yatch, or the captains gig from the port side of Frigate... that kinda thing. It would be great if there was a pop-up panel, like the docking screen, to select and deploy and recover the other boats... I really like spawning by RHIB and going ashore... be nice to be able to define where it spawns, and what sort of vessel.
External data API:
I'd love to be able to write external apps to talk to, and interact with VS:NG, in much the same way as SimConnect or FSUIPC works for Microsoft FSX et al. Would be an opportunity for 3rd party programmers to add to the sim. Being able to write an app to inject traffic for example
Scenery Priority 'Configuration' file/system:
I'd like to see a way to force the priority of scenery, again, similar to the way FSX/P3D/X-Plane etc have a mechanism where you can tell the sim which scenery takes priority. I know VS:NG does it pretty well now, but sometimes I'd like some sort of control over overlapping scenery areas
Enough from me... basically, as the sim sits *right now* I'm very VERY happy with it!
SeanG
Being able to scale and position the radar, gps and conning displays, and be able to save their position would be nice (I generally don't use a 'virtual bridge' view...
Deployable vessels:
It would be cool to be able to define a location, relative to your vessel to 'spawn' another boat, like the dingy off the stern of your yatch, or the captains gig from the port side of Frigate... that kinda thing. It would be great if there was a pop-up panel, like the docking screen, to select and deploy and recover the other boats... I really like spawning by RHIB and going ashore... be nice to be able to define where it spawns, and what sort of vessel.
External data API:
I'd love to be able to write external apps to talk to, and interact with VS:NG, in much the same way as SimConnect or FSUIPC works for Microsoft FSX et al. Would be an opportunity for 3rd party programmers to add to the sim. Being able to write an app to inject traffic for example
Scenery Priority 'Configuration' file/system:
I'd like to see a way to force the priority of scenery, again, similar to the way FSX/P3D/X-Plane etc have a mechanism where you can tell the sim which scenery takes priority. I know VS:NG does it pretty well now, but sometimes I'd like some sort of control over overlapping scenery areas
Enough from me... basically, as the sim sits *right now* I'm very VERY happy with it!
SeanG
Re: VSNG Wishlist
Things I'd like to see improved in VSNG:
1-Sextant.
The telescope is fine but a true sextant for the sole purpose of
celestial navigation would be a very welcomed feature. There isn't
one game that I know of that has done something similar. You would
even have to "rock the body" just like a real one to make sure it
would take the sight.
2-Sky view.
I did test the sky and compared it with Stellarium's and the
altitude of the celestial bodies were off by 10 degrees. For
celestial navigation it is unusable. This must be fixed ASAP.
3-Panels.
Two things here: Resizing done within the game and also it would
keep the other panels at their current places. Simple things when
loading the weather menu or any other one the Sails, Radar and
the autopilot panels go back to their default screen positions then
I have to place them again where they were. Very annoying.
4-Show controls menu.
Options to display the information we want. I usually just need
the wind speed and direction from it. I also use the sails panel or
the radar panel to have it partially cover the current position
from my ship because I am sailing without the use of the gps/map.
5-Weather.
The weather should change in a slower pace. The "update weather"
is too instantaneous. This should also be an option for the user.
6-Script.
A "Follow me" command would be perfect. There could be the option
as to not overtake, select formation to follow etc.
7-Loading the situation.
I have to turn off all sailboat's engines after loading a
situation with many sailboats. This should be an option.
8-Shared waypoints.
I don't know how to do it or if it can be done. But if I want all
the vessels to follow a specific route I use the "sail to" script
command. A shared waypoint to all vessels in common would be great.
9-I can actually raise the main sail when not facing the wind.Also an option for the user.
10-Sails.
Raising/lower would take some time. Up to the user to decide (Options: Set raise/lower sails in X seconds)
1-Sextant.
The telescope is fine but a true sextant for the sole purpose of
celestial navigation would be a very welcomed feature. There isn't
one game that I know of that has done something similar. You would
even have to "rock the body" just like a real one to make sure it
would take the sight.
2-Sky view.
I did test the sky and compared it with Stellarium's and the
altitude of the celestial bodies were off by 10 degrees. For
celestial navigation it is unusable. This must be fixed ASAP.
3-Panels.
Two things here: Resizing done within the game and also it would
keep the other panels at their current places. Simple things when
loading the weather menu or any other one the Sails, Radar and
the autopilot panels go back to their default screen positions then
I have to place them again where they were. Very annoying.
4-Show controls menu.
Options to display the information we want. I usually just need
the wind speed and direction from it. I also use the sails panel or
the radar panel to have it partially cover the current position
from my ship because I am sailing without the use of the gps/map.
5-Weather.
The weather should change in a slower pace. The "update weather"
is too instantaneous. This should also be an option for the user.
6-Script.
A "Follow me" command would be perfect. There could be the option
as to not overtake, select formation to follow etc.
7-Loading the situation.
I have to turn off all sailboat's engines after loading a
situation with many sailboats. This should be an option.
8-Shared waypoints.
I don't know how to do it or if it can be done. But if I want all
the vessels to follow a specific route I use the "sail to" script
command. A shared waypoint to all vessels in common would be great.
9-I can actually raise the main sail when not facing the wind.Also an option for the user.
10-Sails.
Raising/lower would take some time. Up to the user to decide (Options: Set raise/lower sails in X seconds)
Re: VSNG Wishlist
More stuff:
AI Traffic: Option for the game to choose random ships/boats/aircraft as AI traffic. Groups would be selected as well. As far as I know, today we have to select the traffic vehicles ourselves. At least in my pc, I am limited to load 21 vehicles at the same time. With this random feature, the game would load all the vehicles in the library randomly and not just the 21 I've selected.
AI Sails handling: I've noticed that the Auto-Sail does not reef at all any sails. In strong winds conditions, I need to reef the sails and/or repair the AI boats. An auto-reef would be welcomed.
The sky must be fixed ASAP. Celestial bodies are way out of the correct positions, so Celestial Nav is a no-no for now.
AI Traffic: Option for the game to choose random ships/boats/aircraft as AI traffic. Groups would be selected as well. As far as I know, today we have to select the traffic vehicles ourselves. At least in my pc, I am limited to load 21 vehicles at the same time. With this random feature, the game would load all the vehicles in the library randomly and not just the 21 I've selected.
AI Sails handling: I've noticed that the Auto-Sail does not reef at all any sails. In strong winds conditions, I need to reef the sails and/or repair the AI boats. An auto-reef would be welcomed.
The sky must be fixed ASAP. Celestial bodies are way out of the correct positions, so Celestial Nav is a no-no for now.
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Blue Star Line
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2023 6:38 pm
Re: VSNG Wishlist
Still waiting on getting the Wave Displacement Performance and overall Performance fixed in VSNG... I was getting over 120 FPS in VSF now only getting 10 in VSNG. Same models, same scene.
Blue Star Line on Youtube. Over 100,000 Subscribers, making videos with Virtual Sailor & Vehicle Simulator