This update will improve many of the in-game features and campaign flow. You will find improvements in the Orbit View, campaign flow, systems and procedures, and a lot of bug fixes.
Note: If you are experiencing issues with this build you can roll back to the previous using the Steam Betas Tab accessible from the Steam client (games properties).
Wilhelmsen Studios changes its name to Lyra Creative
Let's face it, my surname is not ideal for a company name and I have been wanting to change the name of the company for many years. It's both long and hard to spell/pronounce for non-Norwegians.
The name Lyra (based on the constellation) has been the name of my game engine that Reentry has been built upon and was a natural choice for me.
The name change will be an ongoing process for the next few weeks as a lot of processes are in transition with both the government, Steam and assets.
NASA logos
After a long process with NASA, I have received permissions to use the NASA logos where they were used in real life. This update will roll out NASA logos to various places. It will also apply to for example the Space Shuttle where the logo was used both on the exterior and inside the cockpit. Big shoutout to Daniel Surber (Scorch) who kickstarted and helped me with the process!
Orbit View improvements
A large section of this update is a generic improvement to the Orbit View (F3). The orbit view is now more stable, and all key points are rendered with an icon. You can now easily see the Apogee, Perigee, asc/desc nodes and the position of the space crafts. For apollo, a planned maneuver point is rendered correctly, as well as the entry interface marker. I have also fixed some of the zoom limits in the Apollo Orbit View, and made a smoother transition when changing between for example the CM and the LM view modes.
Hovering the mouse cursor over one of these markers will in some cases show more information of the marker such as the altitude of Ap/Pe.
The icons used to show where the spacecrafts are is based on what icons they used in mission control.
I will continue iterating on the Orbit View, and maybe change some of the icons and coloring, etc.
I have also fixed a blocking issue where the CM/LM zoom levels on the Mission Pad MAP gets stuck if zooming in all the way.
Ocean landing requirement
I have added a setting in Main Menu -> Settings -> Realism Settings that will let you decide if landing on land will complete the mission. Typically during Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, the spacecrafts are designed to land in the ocean, and an atmospheric entry trajectory should be planned with a landing in the ocean.
However, sometimes you might land on land. In the previous update I started working on this, but landing on land did not complete the mission.
You can now choose this yourself, and the toggle is set by default to accept both ocean and land landings.
I have also continued to work on the land landing logic and connected it to the sequencer to cut the chutes and evaluate mission completion (based on the setting above).
Gemini Hydrogen (H2) tank
I have improved the logic of the cryogenic system in Gemini. The Hydrogen and Oxygen consumption has been balanced, and the O2/H2 heater circuit breakers is properly connected to the heater system.
I have also fixed some issues related to the H2 draining as reported by some players.
Apollo "BBQ roll" (PTC) procedures and logic
I have improved the logic around achieving PTC roll in the Apollo CSM. This is a procedure that typically runs most of the coasting period between TLI/T&D and LOI, and during coasting back to earth between TEI and entry. The goal of the procedure is to align the space craft with the sun so the spacecraft sides points towards the sun, and then start a slow roll (typically 0.3 deg/sec) so that the sun and the shadow side "BBQs" the CSM evenly on all sides.
The general procedures for this is to:
1) First set the computer to P00 and accept uplink.
2) Then you need to open the CREW MEMBERS -> REQUEST REFSMMATs -> REQUEST PTC REFSMMAT.
This will uplink a PTC REFSMMAT to the computer. Once uplinked, you need to align to it using P52 Option 1.
3) Use V49E to maneuver to the PTC attitude, this is typically roll=0, pitch=90, yaw = 0.
4) Key V79E on the DSKY:
- N16 shows the time of the maneuver. Leave it to all zeros to start the maneuver immediately and press PRO.
- N79 shows the target rate and dead band. Leave the default values of 0.3 deg/s of roll and press PRO. The maneuver will start.
I have updated the G&C GENERAL -> (V79) ORBRATE/PTC checklist. This also contains how to get out of the PTC roll.
General checklist and campaign fixes
I have been playing through the entire campaign and made updates to both mission files and checklists, and improved the general flow. Major improvements has been made to Mission 2 in campaign 3 for example.
The career tree has also been updated with various fixes (such as missing CM lesson 10 (T&D) etc).
VR: Recenter view
I have started working on an experimental recentering function. Unfortunately, as I am unable to reproduce the "head starts outside the cockpit" issue, I am working in the blind. I have added some more data related to this into issue the logs, and have added a new function that might solve it (or make things worse, let's see!).
Bind the Recenter VR binding (think default is SHIFT+F5), and once you have loaded into the Mercury capsule in VR, press this hotkey and if possible, give me a report of what happens or if it solves the recentering issue or not. :)
The key problem behind this is that there is no standard way or recentering the view in OpenXR, this has been offloaded from their APIs into the hardware of each HMD. Calling the OpenXR APIs to recenter the view are basically empty functions that does nothing. The method I am testing here is my own recentering function.
Patch notes:
- Require ocean landing toggle in Realism Settings
- Continued implementing the land landing logic and connected it with sequencers
- Fixed: Gemini EPS: FC O2/H2 cbs wired heater to bus
- Found the H2 draining issue in Gemini
- Apollo CM/LM hatch eq. Psi. fix
- Apollo: V79E to set orbrate/ptc roll rate
- Apollo CM PTC REFSMMAT procedures
- Apollo Crew Members REFSMMAT section changes
- Fixed: Apollo map zoom can get stuck on full zoom
- Started to improve the Orbit Vew with better and more stable icons and graphics
- Career Tree node fixes
- Campaign 3 fixes
- Minor fixes to the CM SECS logic
- Fixed some inverted normals in Gemini cockpit (culling)
- Applied the NASA logos where they should be.
- Experimental: VR, Recenter View