Long Distance - Reatime voyages?

[NZ6258]

I'm a big fan of real-time simulation, so I have VS running 24/7 sailing around by 'remote control'. I have it setup so that I can access my vessel from my tablet when I am away from home.
My VS machine is also streaming on twitch 24/7, and has a real-time map available on the web so that I can see where it' s at..

https://www.twitch.tv/nz6258 For the Twitch Live Stream


http://ta4ksim.com/tacops/vs_map.php For the Zoomable Live Tracking Map


I'd love to hear other stories of long distance sailing in this magnificent sim!

SeanG

[Sailorjohn]

Sean, way back in the dark ages of VS and MF, former member jt3d (his avatar was the pirate cat with patch over one eye) sailed Joshua Slocum's "Spray" around the world in real-time, following the actual route. That took a lot of pc time, always running in the background! A few years ago, I sailed HMS "Bounty" from UK to Tahiti, around the horn. Problem was ship kept capsizing in heavy weather, because there's no auto reefing...you need to spend a lot of time monitoring wx.

[RobNeath]

I love doing these type of voyages.

From time to time I do real world cruises in VSNG, usually with P&O Cruises UK as I travel with them on my real cruises.
They are also my choice as about 98% of their regular ports of call and the entire fleet can be used in both VSF and VSNG.

I only usually do 7 nights to 14 nights at a single time, with my next being a 14 night round trip from Southampton to the Med, following the real ship as she makes the same trip, using the same berths and other ships (where available) in port.


To me it's one of the reasons why I love these simulators so much as I'm able to recreate REAL cruises I've been on or are booked on, onboard the same ships.
For example this next "Virtual Cruise" I'm doing is a real cruise I'll be doing in September.

To add that bit more realism to it I also include the flight within MSFS from here (Guernsey) to Southampton, then the return at the end of the cruise. It's a full on virtual cruise!

Below is from a previous Virtual Cruise to Norway, this was taken on the final night/morning as we approach Southampton after our run down the North Sea.

[NZ6258]

Well. I am so glad I among friends!

My sailing is a lot less structured than those above, I just point MV Moana Roa in a new direction as the mood takes me. I've actually just arrived in Cairns (thanks Rob!), and I'm sitting here, *virtually*, at Hemingsway's Brewery contemplating where I head to next... Might have to look at available scenery before I make that call!

Sean

[hjsmuc]

Sean, if I may ask, how do you get control over VS from a tablet and how do you broadcast the voyage to Twitch? Which tools are needed for that?
Cheers, Hans.

[NZ6258]

Hi Hans!

For remote access/control from my iPad/Tablet/Phone/Laptop I use Google Chrome Remote Desktop. Easy to set up and easy to use
And for the Twitch broadcast I use OBS Studio https://obsproject.com/

I'm also working on a more universal 'map sharing' tool. The one I have for my own sim use requires a webserver etc


On that subject; If I was to make a tool which you could connect to a server and show where everyone is... would that be of interest?

Sean

[hjsmuc]

Hi Sean,

Thank you. I had an idea that you access your whole PC remotely to control VS.
Now, if there was a tool which enables us to see our ship and its waypoints through a server, this would be great.
Similar to how Sailaway does it, in a perfect world the option of an offline mode would be added to VS so that the PC doesn't have to run all the time.
That would make long distance sailing so much easier.

Cheers,
Hans

[NZ6258]

Now, if there was a tool which enables us to see our ship and its waypoints through a server, this would be great.

That's something I'm keen to try and do. First will be some way of 'live tracking', then the ability to also upload your waypoints, and have those displayable would be a nice addition.

Similar to how Sailaway does it, in a perfect world the option of an offline mode would be added to VS so that the PC doesn't have to run all the time.
That would make long distance sailing so much easier.

Oooh, I didn't know Sailaway did that, I've not used it, but it sounds cool... Let me have a think about how I could make that work too!

In other news, I've added another 'Social' link to my Twitch stream, which will take you to Windy.com (my goto weather site) at the current location of my ship http://ta4ksim.com/tacops/wx_brief.php This is simple php script which takes the ships location from VS, and uses that to create the link to Windy... Shows how good Ilan's weather implementation in VS really is!

Sean

[hjsmuc]

That's a nifty feature with the Windy map. I think there are lots of options to deal with ship movement data.

[NZ6258]

That's a nifty feature with the Windy map. I think there are lots of options to deal with ship movement data.

Thanks

This is what happens when I am left alone unsupervised

My next *big* project is to try and create an online-position logging tool, with trip-logs... but that will be a much bigger project than these little applications

Sean

[hjsmuc]

Truly looking forward to this.

In the meantime, do you think it would be possible to write a script which takes the position, speed and course of a vessel upon shutting down VS and from there doing sort of a dead reckoning to get the position updated regularly, finally writing back the new position to the VS situation upon relaunching the sim?

[NZ6258]

In the meantime, do you think it would be possible to write a script which takes the position, speed and course of a vessel upon shutting down VS and from there doing sort of a dead reckoning to get the position updated regularly, finally writing back the new position to the VS situation upon relaunching the sim?

That's something I've been thinking a bit about.. It shouldn't be *that* hard.. surely


Ultimately I'd love to do something like this...


From here: https://fshub.io/radar

but my skills are not *that* good

Sean

[NZ6258]

In today's 'Discoveries in VS' I found out that in the VS:NG world you can sail to a Longitude of East 181°.... and I *didn't* fall off the edge of the world. I did however have to reposition to West 179°to continue my trans-pacific route

More to come as this journey unfolds, now back to you in the studio

Sean

(I apologise... I need more sleep)

[AlbinoKiwi]

I do long voyages (I'm currently sailing the SS Batlic of 1870 on White Star's Liverpool -> Queenstown -> New York route). However, I don't have the sim in realtime unless I'm in port or <2 nm from my next waypoint or I'm going AFK to do some stuff. I tend to have the sim in realtime for longer if I'm in a high quality ship such as Alex Beaut's Olympic Class because I can explore the interior of the ship.

[NZ6258]

I do long voyages (I'm currently sailing the SS Batlic of 1870 on White Star's Liverpool -> Queenstown -> New York route). However, I don't have the sim in realtime unless I'm in port or <2 nm from my next waypoint or I'm going AFK to do some stuff. I tend to have the sim in realtime for longer if I'm in a high quality ship such as Alex Beaut's Olympic Class because I can explore the interior of the ship.

So do you run accelerated time when you do these voyages, or do you do it in 'parts' when you are at your PC?

Interested to know how others use this sim

Sean

[AlbinoKiwi]

Hi Sean
Regarding your question; I do most of the Voyage with time compression. I only slow the sim down to realtime or a lower time compression setting when:

• In a port/harbour for piloting and docking (realtime or 8x-12x if I'm in a rush/can't be bothered)
  <10 nm from next waypoint (x12)
  <5nm from next waypoint (8x)
  <2 nm from next waypoint (realtime, at this point I would refresh the weather, then read a bit of a book, go AFK and 'ave a brew or explore the decks/interior if I'm sailing one of Alex's BEAUTiful ships)

When I'm in open sea, I use 300x if I'm >100 nm from my next waypoint or 60x-100x if my next waypoint is <100 nm away. The reason I slow down my sim for waypoints is because I place them at the edges of scenery boxes, so I know when to slow the sim down and avoid being yeeted into space. Under the rare cirumstances that I'm further than 1,000 nm from my next waypoint, I use 300x-600x.
Hope this helps
Shanley

[Pilot_76]

I am sailing from Angra dos Reis, Brazil to the Falklands only on Dead Reckoning, Coastal Radar Navigation and Celestial Navigation. No GPS map at all. So far it is good. Most of the time I call it a day, lower the sails, turn the lights off except the running lights, then turn off the pc. During the day, I do leave the boat on auto sail mode but sometimes I sail it myself. Every 2 hours I note the speed and update my DR navigation and 3 times daily I reduce the sights at Nautical Rise/set and try to shoot for a noon sight if the sun is unobstructed. All in real time. I left Angra on Jun 21st and I am 160 nm to arrive at my destination. (NE part of the Falkland Islands)

[KubikLife]

Regarding realtime voyages, can you sail across the whole world? Like from New York to Hamburg or Sydney in one session? Only saw the scenery tiles so I wondered if you can sail across the border to the next tiles without going back to main menu.

[GolfTango]

This sounds really fun. Will have to try.

[NZ6258]

I am sailing from Angra dos Reis, Brazil to the Falklands only on Dead Reckoning, Coastal Radar Navigation and Celestial Navigation.

WOW! That's epic, and well beyond my level of commitment!

Regarding realtime voyages, can you sail across the whole world? Like from New York to Hamburg or Sydney in one session? Only saw the scenery tiles so I wondered if you can sail across the border to the next tiles without going back to main menu.

Yes. VS:NG handles the scenery tile changes pretty well. I've been sailing in one continuous session for weeks now with no problems. Just broke out into the Atlantic from the Caribbean heading for Portsmouth a 11 knots

This sounds really fun. Will have to try.

Warning: It can become addictive... you find yourself just 'connecting to my PC at home to check on my boat'....

Sean

[Partan]

Long distance voyaging does appeal to me. Is there a 'global' scenery available? I've installed the 'world scenery' files, but there are no ports to call in at or any towns, cities landmarks etc. I am aware of some regional sceneries, such as the free southwest Europe, but is there a larger scale 'global' package available anywhere?

[Blue710]

Long distance voyaging does appeal to me. Is there a 'global' scenery available? I've installed the 'world scenery' files, but there are no ports to call in at or any towns, cities landmarks etc. I am aware of some regional sceneries, such as the free southwest Europe, but is there a larger scale 'global' package available anywhere?

Ahoy, check the links below...
https://robsvsfaddons.weebly.com/

https://www.simpsonslipways.com/scenery.html

[Partan]

Thank you, I've installed a few of Rob Neath's sceneries. I embarked on my first long distance trip from Edinburgh to Portsmouth....got a bit further than expected. Sudden change in delta-V on approach to the Isle of Wight, now appear to have escaped earth's gravity.

I'll have to watch that time compression on approach to scenery changes

[Whippy]

When I first bought NG, I purposely never learned where the increase time button was. I do all my virtual sailing in real time. Most of what goes on is in autopilot and while I sleep or am at work

Here's my log to date:
Departure port Destination port Ship

Charleston, SC USA Jacksonville, FL USA MV/Ken Koku
Tampa, FL USA Mobile, AL USA S.S. Californian
New York, NY USA Liverpool UK R.M.S. Celtic
London UK Lisbon Portugal R.M.S. Campania
Lisbon Cape Town R.M.S. Campania
Cape Town Perth Australia R.M.S. Campania
Mobile Tampa M.T.S. Oceanos
Tampa, FL USA Key West San Lorenzo
Key West Miami San Lorenzo
Liverpool Bremerhaven S.S. Seeandbee 1919
Charleston, SC USA Hamilton Bermuda San Lorenzo

[NZ6258]

When I first bought NG, I purposely never learned where the increase time button was. I do all my virtual sailing in real time. Most of what goes on is in autopilot and while I sleep or am at work

Here's my log to date:
Departure port Destination port Ship

Charleston, SC USA Jacksonville, FL USA MV/Ken Koku
Tampa, FL USA Mobile, AL USA S.S. Californian
New York, NY USA Liverpool UK R.M.S. Celtic
London UK Lisbon Portugal R.M.S. Campania
Lisbon Cape Town R.M.S. Campania
Cape Town Perth Australia R.M.S. Campania
Mobile Tampa M.T.S. Oceanos
Tampa, FL USA Key West San Lorenzo
Key West Miami San Lorenzo
Liverpool Bremerhaven S.S. Seeandbee 1919
Charleston, SC USA Hamilton Bermuda San Lorenzo

That's some cool trips! You should come and join us at Southern Charter, post photos and stories of your voyages
https://southerncharter.net