SSMS2 ?

[MECO]

I would just like to congratulate the users here for restraining themselves from posting in this thread for a massive 37 days! You are a credit to the human race.

Actually guilty of PMSL haha

[vinny002]

Hi, guys!

I'm still here! Right now, I migrated to Shuttle and space engine. All in good time, the SSMS 2 will be released when it's released!

             Cheers,
           Vincent

[Moonwalker]

Vaporware is a term in the computer industry that describes a product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is never actually released nor officially cancelled.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware

[Mogget]

Only 9 days this time, lads. Standards are slipping

[Mogget]

It has been two or three years since I used SSM2007. I have been waiting for SSMS2 all that time, and I shall carry on waiting until it is released.

[Mogget]

Most of my spare time is spent with FSX at the moment.

[Moonwalker]

Most of my spare time is spent with FSX at the moment.

Same here. It is simply amazing how much this "old" simulator still is supported by companies and private people all over the globe. And there is no end insight. No matter if we talk about new payware and freeware aircraft addons, scenery addons, additikonal tools and software of any other kind, and last but not least up-to-date world navigation databases for FSX for free. One can keep this sim as up-to-date as if it was a new peace of software. And with the corresponding addons it even looks up-to-date

[Mogget]

Months drift by, and not a single word from the development team. I find it absolutely amazing to think that a product that is supposedly still "alive" is not being promoted by at least a few screenshots! It's all very well for moderators to appear once in a blue moon and say that "development is still ongoing", but this is getting ridiculous.

One day I hope I will know the reason why absolute silence needed to be maintained, and I damn well hope that it's a good one.

[Moonwalker]

i know what you mean. i have been flying FSX more then the space shuttle. i only have 3 missions done. and have not played it for 5 months now

I sadly couldn't use SSM for quite some time now, because my old USB stick quit working, and I depleted my number of activations. I got a new USB stick a few weeks ago however, but I hesitate to buy SSM a second time...

As for FSX: meanwhile I'm almost addicted to it since I got an Intel i7 in December 2012 I am flying the PMDG 737 NGX, which is the most amazing piece of a simulated "flying machine" I ever got so far. Currently I create new flight plans with Jeppesen software and Flight Sim Commander. Next flight will be on Monday from Dusseldorf, Germany to Barcelona, Spain (about 2 hours) at 06:35 local time...

Months drift by, and not a single word from the development team. I find it absolutely amazing to think that a product that is supposedly still "alive" is not being promoted by at least a few screenshots! It's all very well for moderators to appear once in a blue moon and say that "development is still ongoing", but this is getting ridiculous.

One day I hope I will know the reason why absolute silence needed to be maintained, and I damn well hope that it's a good one.

I personally still think that the reason is most likely related to the admin. Something happened to him (accident / disease...) or he may have left the team or stopped working on SSM for some other reasons, while the remaining staff doesn't really know or doesn't even have the know how to finish SSM2 / or continue working on further missions for SSM07 at least. But even this already stopped for years, although their goal was to provide almost all historic missions over time.

One thing is for sure: this silence is not a good sign in any case. And it's a very bad way of supporting a community. Who seriously believes that SSM2 is a still work in progress? I bet almost nobody.

[Moonwalker]

the game of SSMS2 should now be considered VAPOR ware.

Not really now. It already was foreseeable last year, due to the decreasing communication, no news and admin not posting anymore for some time. It all stopped after the release of the last preview video.

[Cras]

I can understand what you mean by it not really being a simulator.  It is an experience tho, it gives someone a glimpse of what it was like to operate the Shuttle during the various phases of flight, it has very realistic displays, the means that you manipulate them is also quite real.

Yeah the flights are on rails, it doesnt simulate orbital mechanics at all, but I can understand why they did it this way.  It would be very overwhelming for someone unfamiliar to flying in orbit to grasp what needs to be done, and I think it does a good job replicating the way things were done, where you are not just up there flying this thing on your own, you got constant feedback and guidance from Mission Control.

With that being said....there are of course ways for people to actually fly a Shuttle in a realistic simulation of orbital mechanics and have it not be on rails, where if you screw up your burns you end up in the wrong spot and hopeless in ever getting to the ISS.   I recommend trying this so you can get the full picture of what it actually took to get the Shuttle to where it needed to go.   SSMS does a bit of a disservice in this regard where it makes rendezvous and orbit changes seem very simple and straight forward when in reality, they were not.   

Not to mention it still kinda bothers me to see my speed continue to decrease during the post de-orbit burn coast period as I wait for Entry Interface.   That right there shows you how it is not simulating gravity at all.  But it doesnt bother me enough to not want to play the game.  Still a fun experience worth a look for any space fan out there.   SSM2 be real or not, the 2007 version still is hours of good fun.

[Pocci]

Hi Kenralyon,
we are not allowed to write the word 0rbiter in this forum.
This makes it complicated to discuss the shuttle and its components which are the solid rocket boosters, the external tank and the 0rbiter.
The 0rbiter is the white thing with the name Discovery, Challenger and so on which lands after the mission.
If you write "The 0rbiter Discovery lands at KSC.", the forum would change this to:
"The shuttle Discovery lands at KSC."
I don't know why we are not allowed to discuss the other game here.
To do that, we should use another forum.

/Armin

[bjbeard]

0rbiter is a freeware software title that semi-accurately reproduces orbital mechanics, and is this sim's prime competitor. That is why 0rbiter is banned from this forum. Quite possibly there could be a issue between that software and this one, and that is why SSMS2 has died.

In other news I am returning to college to take a Digital Media degree that includes both game and video production. I hope I can learn enough programming to create my own sim that picks up where this one left off. But no promises...

[Moonwalker]

0rbiter is a freeware software title that semi-accurately reproduces orbital mechanics, and is this sim's prime competitor. That is why 0rbiter is banned from this forum. Quite possibly there could be a issue between that software and this one, and that is why SSMS2 has died.

But 0rbiter and SSM are two different kind of things, and therefore I don't see how they are competitors. Especially how there could be issues between those two different simulators.

SSM offers the most detailed Space Shuttle "mission" and procedures simulation. But it is scripted. SSM does not really simulate orbital mechanics. While 0rbiter does simulate orbital mechanics, but does not offer a Space Shuttle with such comprehensive missions and procedures simulation like SSM. So there is no competition. You just want orbital mechanics? Go with 0rbiter. You want a detailed Shuttle sim and not worry about orbital mechanics? Go with SSM. But most space flight enthusiats within the 0rbiter community are not really interested in something like SSM anyway, I think. They're mostly interested in correct physics and orbital mechanics instead of pressing buttons and doing checklists. So, again, I don't see any competition here.

There is certainly another reason why SSM is on a halt. I don't think that 0rbiter matters at all.

[Cras]

I really dislike it when I see people say 0rbiter is SSMs competition.  It isnt.  Moonwalker had it right.   Anyone who loves space flight, would enjoy both, as both offer different experiences, and both I think are required to truly understand what it took to fly the Shuttle in LEO.

I also want to point out that 0rbiter doesn't semi-accurately simulate orbital mechanics, it simulates orbital mechanics extremely well, and if you have the hardware to do it, you can even remove some of the reductive safety nets put into the model to reduce frame stutters and make it an extremely accurate simulation of the solar system. 

There is an addon for 0rbiter that does aim to fully sim systems and buttons and all that, but as you can imagine, progress on such a freeware addon for a freeware sim is slow to the point that it will never happen.   SSM is still the best option out there for anyone who wants to know what it felt like to flip switches, see what the displays looked like, things like that.