OpenSkies
FAQ
The
most commonly asked questions about OpenSkies:
What
are the hardware requirements for OpenSkies?
OpenSkies requires, at minimum, a Pentium 200 (or comparable
model from another vendor) processor, 64 megs of RAM, and a graphics
card that supports OpenGL drivers. Video Cards that OpenSkies has
been tested on include:
Other
cards that support OpenGL MAY function, but have not been tested
at this time. Cards that do not support OpenGL cannot run OpenSkies.
Specs
listed above are minimums. Better performance will be seen with
better hardware.
What
screen resolutions does OpenSkies support?
OpenSkies supports screen resolutions of up to 1600x1200 with full
graphics and a frame rate of up to 30 Hz, depending on graphics
hardware. You frame rate may also be affected by processor speed,
amount of memory, and hard drive speed.
Frame
rates can be increased by selecting lower resolutions if performance
is unsatisfactory.
What
is the status of OpenSkies development?
The OpenSkies alpha version was released on March 19th, 1999. The
Beta 1 version was released January 18th, 2000. No release date
has been set for the next version at this time.
Will
I be able to create custom aircraft/panels/terrain/buildings/behaviors?
The OpenSkies Training System was designed to permit customization
of just about everything, and it is possible for you to edit these
items. Customization tools are not included with the beta release,
but documentation and tools exist to facilitate such customization.
We may release a beta of these tools in the future.
Graphics,
land, objects, sounds, behaviors, etc. are all open for modification
and customizations. Customization of some of these items is complicated
enough that a programmer may be required to do them.
Is
OpenSkies only for aircraft?
OpenSkies is not limited to aircraft like other simulators are.
The initial focus of OpenSkies is flight simulation, but the underlying
OpenReality engine is suitable for all types of simulations -- including
simulations with a mixed set of air and ground vehicles over a network!
Rather than using pictures of the ground, OpenSkies uses feature-based
terrain which allows for the addition of ground and/or sea vehicles.
You can explore these possibilities in the beta version by driving
the Hummer.
What
is the difference between feature-based terrain and image-based
terrain?
Features describe information about a terrain characteristic, such
as the properties of a road or a runway. Images contain only visual
information that make things look nice to a human viewer. There
is a current trend in simulators to take photos of the ground and
lay them out below you. We believe that to create a truly expandable
simulation system, visual information is not enough. Roads need
to be real roads and not gray pixels, and the simulation should
read water as water and not as a blue texture map. OpenSkies is
preparing for the future by gathering as much information about
the environments we simulate in as possible.
How
do you prevent OpenSkies from crashing when first starting?
If OpenSkies crashes when you first bring it up, you probably need
to update your OpenGL drivers. The most recent release version of
these drivers is in the downloads directory (be warned, it's 50+
MB). Most problems can be fixed by simply installing these drivers
first, then reinstalling OpenSkies.
Can
OpenSkies run under Windows 95?
Yes, but you will need the Win95 winsock patch from Microsoft's
website. It's called "W95ws2setup.exe".
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