Virtual Mission Control v2.0 Release Notes ------------------------------------------ 1.0 Introduction Virtual Mission Control (vMC) is a software application designed to support remote telemetry and flight control operations using Martin Schweiger’s Orbiter space flight simulation software. A remote telemetry viewing application (vMC/Workstation) is provided, but other programs using the vMC core components can also be created using the vMC SDK Manual. The vMC/Workstation program supports the creation of new display pages using either a built-in page editor, or by use of compiled plug-ins (ActiveX custom controls). vMC consists of four software components that need to be installed on your PC: * vMC/Workstation - the front end of vMC, where you can view telemetry in a wide variety of different formats, and send commands to a spacecraft in Orbiter. * vMC/Server - the communications control element of vMC, that handles all network traffic between components (and allows you to use vMC over a LAN or the Internet, if you wish). * Orbiter.dll - an ActiveX in-process server component that translates vMC messages into something that Orbiter can understand. * Orbipc.dll - an Orbiter plug-in module that links Orbiter.dll to Orbiter itself. Please note that in order to allow these components to communicate, vMC requires that you have a TCP/IP network connection configured on your PC, even if you are only ever going to use vMC on the same PC as Orbiter. This connection can be a local loopback adapter, but presumably if you downloaded Orbiter and vMC, then you have an Internet connection anyway this will serve the purpose. Note to users of previous versions: Please note that the data files used by the new version of vMC is not backwards compatible with those of older versions. There have been a number of significant improvements throughout vMC, and you should read this manual to fully understand what has been modified. Particular changes you must be aware of are: * Change from Workspaces to Pages. * Change in the use of vMC/Server. * Removal of "distributed" mode. * Expanded and redesigned programming interface (significant for programmers only). Users from virtual space agencies should particularly benefit from several new features, particularly better support for a greater number of remote users, and the ability to create customised display pages specific to a mission. 1.1 Installation To install vMC, run the setup.exe program supplied in the Zip file you downloaded. You can install vMC in any location you prefer, but it is recommended that you install into the same folder as your Orbiter installation (no existing files will be overwritten). You will also need to activate the OrbIPC plug-in when you run Orbiter (refer to the Orbiter manual for more details on how to activate plug-ins). 1.2 Quick Start Once you have installed vMC and activated the plugin, you can get a quick introduction to the program by following these steps: * Run Orbiter (in window mode, so that you will be able to switch between programs easily), and start a scenario (I suggest one where the focus vessel starts landed at a spaceport on Earth). * If you have installed and activated the OrbIPC plug-in correctly, you will also see a minimised vMC Server window in the Windows taskbar. * Run vMC/Workstation, and click the toolbar button LINK. * A dialog box will appear - just click OK for now. * After a second or two, the LINK button will appear depressed - that means you have made a connection to Orbiter. * Click the TIMER toolbar button. You should see the "Mission Timer" page in the vMC window, showing the name of the active spacecraft, the mission elapsed time and any debug messages displayed. This is a good test to check that your connection is operational. * Next, click the "BOOSTER" toolbar button. The main vMC window will now display information useful for launching your spacecraft. * Click the "FLIGHT" button. You will see the Flight Dynamics page, with four graphs that track the spacecraft’s altitude, airspeed, pitch, and distance from launch site (or any other base you want). * Click the "TRACK" toolbar button. The tracking page will appear, showing a map of the Earth and the current position of the focus vessel in Orbiter. Over time, the track will trace a plot of the vessel’s orbital path. * Click the "COMMAND" toolbar button. The remote control page will appear. This page has a number of buttons to let you remote control a spacecraft. * Switch to Orbiter and launch the vessel. Switch back to vMC/Workstation and watch the displays. * Now download the User Manual (if you have not already done so), and read it :-)