May 6, 2022

Reentry has been updated to 0.9 - Game Mechanics and Infrastructure

Reentry - A Space Flight Simulator - wilhelmsenstudios

I'm happy to share that Reentry has been updated to version 0.9! This is mainly a bugfix, infrastructure and game mechanics update.

If you need to revert back to the previous version, you can use the 0.87-branch under the game properties/betas-tab.

Thanks to the Test Pilots, Community volunteers, contributors and alpha-floor testers. and everyone who has been a part of testing!

Adaptive UI
Massive changes to the User Interface system to make it more adaptable to various screen resolutions. Most of the user interfaces has been modified, but the look and feel should remain similar to what you are used to. Most settings related menus has changed to a single column rendering method instead of a dual column, so you will need to re-learn where some of the settings are located.

This has been a big pain-point for many, so I hope this improves things for those with both older screens, and ultra-wide screens.

Text-To-Speech System
I have received quite a few requests for a text-to-speech system. A new option (disabled by default) will use a voice synthesizer available on your system to read out the mission commands given during tutorials and missions. You can toggle the setting on the main menu:
SETTINGS -> Audio section -> Untoggle Text-to-Speech

Improved the Mercury Academy
The Mercury Academy is the entry-point to the game for many, so I have made a revisit to some of its academy lessons to cover basic game mechanics a bit better or differently. It should now better highlight the gauges and switches that are being discussed. The on-screen switch indicator that will show a dot in the direction of the currently highlighted switch will also work with this.

Improved Save States
I have continued to work on the save state system, especially focusing the complex nature of saving and loading a state in Lunar Orbit. If you have tried to save a state here when the LM and the CSM is in close proximity, like during docking, for then to discover that when loading the state, the two space crafts suddenly are a few degrees apart. This should now have been improved to be within fractions of a degree.

More Game Overs added
Flying a space craft is hard. There is a lot of things to monitor and check. In the 0.9 update, I have implemented some more Game Overs to Mercury. This includes suffocation of O2 is depleted, fires in various cases. I will keep adding more and more ways to fail and die in space, including Gemini and Apollo.

Pause Game
Pressing ZERO [0] on the keyboard will pause the game. A "PAUSED" text will render below the time and date UI to indicate that the simulation is paused.

Language Support
The major aspect of this update is all around language support. Most (but not all) important UI text elements is moved into a file-based lookup system. There is one system responsible for the User Interface, and another responsible for mission content and checklist content. Almost any mission and User Interface should now be translatable to any language you wish to support.
To test the language tools, I wish to set the target for 1.0 that A) the User Interface system to support both Spanish and Chinese, and 2) Mercury Academy will support Spanish and Chinese.

It is quite easy to translate the game. You can follow these guides to contribute, or to just make some changes locally on your own PC (without contributing):
https://github.com/ReentryGame/Languages

We are looking for help to translate the game, please reach out on Discord if you are interested!
Current focus is Spanish, French, Chinese

File based storage, Save Games and System Mechanics
Another major aspect of the 0.9 update is that the save games has been moved into a file-based storage system. This will allow Steam Cloud integration, so your save state is stored online, as well as taking a backup or moving your save to another computer.
Most of the game settings are located here, as well as progress. Another settings-file has been made for graphics settings. This should not be Steam Cloud enabled.
I have also started the process of enabling Steam Cloud Play to test the online storage and the Cloud Play services, including GeForce Now (hopefully, if it gets accepted).

Other
- More unit conversions from metric to imperial
- Option to disable the Highlight renderer so the blue box is invisible, while the Checklist Guidance UI (triggered by RUN) is still functional
- Added "Hold Countdown" to Gemini and Mercury (from cockpit)
- Fixed a Mercury Retro firing bug causing the mission script and cockpit shake to happen, even if the individual Retro Rocket No. 1, 2 and/or 3 was off.
- Option to disable the radio noise filter on voice radio communication (multiplayer)
- MOCR TV channel logic correction
- MOCR/MCC sitting animation fix (offsets still needs tweaking)
- Mission Accomplished text wrapping
- Fixed some P01 IMU alignment issues

Small note about 1.0

As we move into the 0.9 update series, you will mainly see game mechanisms and game system changes such as language support. Language support will be iterative as contributors submit their changes. If you wish to contribute with translation, please reach out! We wish to support as many languages as possible, even if it’s just the User Interface files, or various missions. The language system will fall back on English if it’s not able to locate a translation for the selected language.

Once we reach the 1.0 milestone, the game will leave the Early Access tag, and move into its journey towards 2.0. The main goal of 2.0 is to improve existing space craft implementations and their systems, add new capabilities to them, focus on multiplayer, Virtual Reality, and introduce new space crafts to the game. I will soon publish more information related to my plans for Reentry - An Orbital Simulator between 1.0 -> 2.0.

You can see a little video where I cover some of the new features and improvements:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMPKHObgMX0&ab_channel=Reentry-AnOrbitalSimulator

Thanks for playing Reentry!
// Petri Wilhelmsen

Feb 27, 2022

Reentry has been updated to 0.87 - Tools, Checklist Guidance, Free Play missions

Reentry - A Space Flight Simulator - wilhelmsenstudios

This patch is all about improving the data and in-game experience, and is a preparation for the upcoming 0.9-update series. In addition, multiple bug reports has been corrected since the previous patch. It will come with new tools to create checklists and improve the in-game data, and prepare for language support. The game engine (Unity) has also been upgraded to a new version. Due to the critical changes, this might bring some side-effects. If you experience this, please report them so I can fix them, and if needed, you can always revert to the 0.86 build through the Steam betas tab in the games properties.

Simpler to create checklists
I improved the checklist creation tool for all supported spacecrafts. The checklist tool is available from the in-game menu and can be used to create new custom checklists.

A new toggle is available in the tool to automatically append a procedurally generated checklist based on the available RUN steps. You can open the image in full by pressing it to learn the details.

To create a new checklist, use the tool from the in-game menu. Then add an optional checklist text that will be visible when the checklist is opened. If the automatic checklist generator is enabled, the procedural steps will be added below this text.

The STEPS page supports recording the previous switch that has been interacted with, a manual step that requires the player to press the checkmark button on the Checklist Guide UI to proceed, and a Text Only field that will only be used to render custom text, line breaks, headers etc, into the automatic checklist generator. Text Only will only be used when rendering the checklist itself.

Cockpit dictionary
Improved the Mercury, Gemini, Command Module and Lunar Module cockpit dictionary data structure. This now supports automatically creating checklists from the RUN steps. This is the data that will be used when a checklist is automatically generated, or by the Checklist Guide UI.

In the image below, notice that the actual switch position labels are used instead of "Left/Right/Up/Down/Middle". This also applies to the selectors, to prevent it from asking you to "set DC VOLTS to 4" etc.

I have completed adding all the switches for the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo Command Module and the Lunar Module into the dictionary, as well as each of the possible positions for every switch, circuit breakers and selectors.

A cockpit dictionary tool for advanced users has been added to each of the available spacecrafts and can be opened from the Create Checklist option in the in-game menu. This will toggle a simple tool that will show the data of the switch you interacted with last such as its Display Name and the possible labels. Warning: This has direct write access to the dictionary so any changes made here will be applied to your own local checklist.

Pre-Backup Crew Ingress panel configuration (checklist)
Created a checklist using the automatic checklist generator that contains a list of the entire Command Module panel configuration for Backup Crew Ingress, as seen on page 380: https://www.ibiblio.org/apollo/Documents/AOH_A16_VOL2_Part_2.pdf

This checklist can be used to verify the entire cockpit configuration for C&D setup and Backup Crew Ingress.

New Apollo Free Play missions
Added two new Apollo Free Play Missions, one for Backup Crew Ingress (continues from the panel state set by the above checklist) and one for Prime Crew Ingress (continues from the completion of the Backup Crew checklists). The old C&D mission is still available and can be used to set up the cockpit as Ground Crew, before Backup Crew Ingress.

AGC/LGC DSKY input improvements
I also added support into the LGC and AGC for "shorter" inputs, so the logic adds leading zeros. For example, if you want to enter +00001 into P52, R2 (to align IMU with pref), you previously had to Key V37E 52E V22E +00001E. Now you can Key V37E 52E V22E +1E and it will translate into 00001.
Another example is during V49. Say you want to maneuver to 0, 90, 0, but all registers had something in it and would need to be replaced. Previously you had to key V25E and then +00000E +09000E +00000E to set all the registers.

Now you can simplify this:
V49E V25E +0E +9000E +0E
vs
V49E V25E +00000E +09000E +00000E

Cockpit Cursor changes
The cockpit cursor will now render the switch you are currently hovering and interacting with by looking up data data from the Checklist Dictionary. I have also supplied all the remaining data for the Mercury, Gemini, Command Module and Lunar Module spacecrafts.

0.9 preparations
A lot of internal changes has been made to the game as well. The rendering engine (Unity) has been upgraded to a newer version, and I have moved a lot of the hardcoded text data for Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, as well as the Main Menu, into files that can be localized/translated. Translation tools has also been made available from the CONTRIBUTE-screen on main menu. These tools are there just for testing while they are being developed and is only considered for advanced users.

LC39 exhibition

In celebration of the Reentry Discord server hitting 2000 members, I decided to release a fun little side-thing. You will now find a new Main Menu option called EXHIBITIONS. This will give you first-person (FPS) view of the dev-environment I have been using to test some 3d models. In this case I will let you walk around and explore the Apollo-era Launch Complex 39A in first person. Keep in mind this is almost a direct dev-tool, and is not a big priority for Reentry - An Orbital Simulator. You will fall through the floor, and there are not much that will prevent you from venturing towards the infinity - it's just a fun little thing for those interested. If you press ESC during the experience, you will find a RESPAWN button, and some other settings you might enjoy.

How fast can you climb the stairs? Who knows, maybe other "digital museum"-like experiences will reach this menu too?

Thanks to everyone who are part of the Reentry Discord community!

Other bugfixes and improvements

Corrected the inverted burn direction in the CSM when returning home, after TEI burn and Earth SOI entry
Corrected the 90 degree inclination offset that happens in some cases after TEI. You need to plan a mid-course correction to tune your trajectory/entry angle after Earth SOI entry.
Corrected some logic related to APS ignition
Corrected a lot of panel texture issues and typos in the Apollo Command Module
Corrected regional differences related to TEI and AGC/LGC input, causing strange side-effects
Corrected the dark/black shadows issue in the Balanced Graphics settings
Increased the render distance on the CSM & LM camera sources
Fixed clipping issues with the Orbit View in Apollo
Fixed the issue that caused Master Alarm with the C/W PWR lt illuminated when setting the LM Ordeal LIGHTING sw to DIM
P63/P64 Lunar Descent improvements
Lunar Descent and Landing academy lesson fixes
Fixed the 1202 issues with the LGC
Fixed some GSE issues related to the startup procedures for the CSM
Added female versions of the various Mission Control vests
Made some changes in the CSM C/W system related to the SM and CM RCS warning lights and master alarm
Fixed some logic that caused side effects when using the LM ROD during Lunar Landing
Corrected the electrical system wiring to the CSM C/W lights

Thanks to everyone who has been part of testing and reporting issues!

Feb 3, 2022

Reentry has been updated to 0.86 - Guidance, Ascents, Systems, Physics

Reentry - A Space Flight Simulator - wilhelmsenstudios

Reentry has been updated to 0.86! I know this update is way overdue and that it has been a good while since the previous update, but it comes packed with a lot of good things.

The 0.86 update is all about iterating on existing systems, tools and game mechanics. Below is the list of the main aspects of the update, and a list of other issues that has been fixed. Keep in mind that this is an update that dives deep into the core of the game, so you might encounter issues or strange things. Please let me know of these on Discord - it's easy to revert back to 0.85 if you wish, see below.

Thanks to the Test Pilots, Alpha-Floor testers and everyone else who has reported issues or has provided suggestions.

Major changes in the Command Module IMU and inertial platform, and P01 alignment
When you prepare the CSM/Saturn V for launch, you typically start by running P01. This will align the platform with the planned launch Azimuth. This entire program has been rewritten to reflect some major changes in the IMU.
Note: You should never use timescale during P01.

You should no longer experience that alignment rotates multiple times, and during ascent, the FDAI attitude will typically start at 90 degrees pitch and move down towards 0, heads down. Earlier you might have seen this moving towards 180 degrees, but still heads down and correct way. This was due to an issue internally in the IMU logic, leading to quite a few strange "180 degree roll" issues scattered around the entire mission in the CM.

FDAI during P11 - notice the heads down and pitch relative to 0 and 30 degrees

FDAI during P01

Major changes in the LVDC (Saturn V computer) used during ascent and TLI
A similar update to the CM IMUs is seen in the LVDC. The ascent guidance logic has been change, as well as how it behaves both before and during TLI. It should now much more precisely hold the attitude during TLI burns (less ping/pong), and the TLI calculations and guidance has received a huge level up. Still far to go on the TLI burns but a good step in the right direction.

Saturn V during Liftoff by YourHistorian

The S-IVB holding attitude through the IU/LVDC

Improved LM P12 ascent logic
The LM ascent guidance has been improved. This is executed by P12 after liftoff from the Lunar Surface. The thruster issue where a thruster could get stuck firing for long periods of time has also been fixed, and the entire staging mechanism has been fixed so the ascent stage and the descent stage will separate (you should no longer be able to lift-off with the descent legs still attached, even if you have properly separated from it).

Apollo Maneuver Planner improvements
The Maneuver Planner has received a lot of internal changes. The Maneuver Planner has been made context aware, and has received preliminary support to plan LM DPS burns. It tries to automatically take the weight into account (CSM only, CSM+LM, LM only, LM ascent stage, ..) to calculate the burn time. To create LM maneuvers, open it with the LM as the active craft, and for CM maneuvers, open it in the CM as the active craft as previously.

CM and LM jet physics improvements
The CM and LM jet physics has been improved to reduce the ping/pong effect between the configured deadband (DAP setup). It also reads the DAP setup to better calculate thrusting durations to compensate rates into desired, within the deadband. It should still ping/pong but stabilize and be able to hold the attitude much better than before. Most of this work has taken place in the PGNCS (CM) and the PNGS (LM).

R62 - Crew Defined Maneuver and R03 - DAP Setup
On both the Apollo Guidance System (AGC) and the Lunar Guidance System (LGC), V49E will now realistically call R62. R62 is Routine 62, and will require a few more steps than before.
The CM Academy Lesson: AGC & AUTOMANEUVERING has been rewritten and updated to cover the R03 and R62. I highly suggest you to retake this lesson.

The earlier procedures was to manually change N18 to the desired attitude and execute with V49E. Now V49E must first be called to run R62. R62 will first show N22 where the desired attitude should be inserted/accepted, then N22 is copied to N18 and V50 N18 will require a PRO to start the maneuver. The CSM will have a direct mapping from N22 to N18 as both nouns are RPY. In the LM, N22 is YPR, while N18 is RPY. This is an important detail to know about.

The DAP setup has been improved with more options. A DAP setup checklist exists for both the LM and the CM, so you can follow this to set up your desired automaneuvering parameters.
To do this, key V48E to start R03. This will first ask you to input the DAP setup strings into R1 and R2. Proceed will ask you to enter weights. These weights are used to calculate jet thrusting. A new circular button named "Request Weights Data" has been added to the CM and the LM. This will give you the weights you need to input into the DAP Load. This should be frequently updated.
- New/updates checklists are available for the CM and the LM for R62

V34E will terminate any running Routine. If you run a routine without completing it, strange things might happen, so use V34E if you experience this.

Lunar Guidance Computer
P30 has been updated for the LGC to reflect the latest changes, and P40 has been added to execute DPS burns. P52 opt. 1 has also been added to let you align the inertial platform with the preferred burn direction.
Added support for V24 and V25 (AGC and LGC)

Apollo Guidance Computer
Added support for V24 and V25 (AGC and LGC)

Command Module Electrical System updates
I have rewired and change some logic related to the DC busses internally. Some strange behavior in the EPS related to the batteries, battery busses and the flight bus has been located to these issues that now has been fixed.

Panel 275 FLT/PL bus cbs incorrectly appear to affect battery availability entirely (DC Voltmeter reads zero on bat a/b if the FLT/PL Bat Bus A/B CBs are open)
EDS appears to be non-functional if Panel 275 FLT/PL BatA/B cb open

Command Module "Cold & Dark" updates
Some of the checklists and runnable steps has been updated to make the C&D setup better. Some circuit breakers was easily missed if running the checklist, and some things has been added to the activation checklists. More improvements will be made here as we have an ongoing C&D focus group in the #alpha-floor channel on Discord. If this is your thing, feel free to join!

CM SPS Injector Valves
The SPS injector valves should now be visible and functional depending on the system you use to ignite the SPS. All 4 valves should point towards the right when closed, and left when open (burning).

Improved Gemini Rendezvous burn calculations
The rendezvous burn has received some improvements to make the rendezvous burn more precise.

Gemini on its way to LEO - by YourHistorian

Improving the Checklist Guide
Checklist System has now received support for naming the labels. Myself and contributors are working on adding this data to the new system. This allows the Checklist Guide show you "Set ASCS to AUTO" instead of "Set ASCS to Left", or "Set DC VOLTS to Main Bus A" instead of "Set DC VOLTS to 4" etc.

The PRO button has been rebound to B instead of T (due to a conflict in the Lunar Module ROD) and the PRO label in the button has been replaced with a check-icon.

Unit Standardization to Imperial
Started to standardize everything to imperial (nautical miles, pounds, feet). This is a huge task and will be an ongoing process as many missions still refer to this. The main radio comms and tools should be updated in this patch. If you stumble upon a place that uses Metric (except for the console and some orbital mechanics readings), please report them so I can convert it.

Experiment: Preserve field of view on the different cockpit cameras (CSM only)
I have started to test a common request by users. This is that the field of view is preserved between camera changes in the CSM only. As usual, double-click the middle mouse button (wheel) to reset it whenever you want.
I think the next step in this experiment will be to also preserve the camera orientation. This will let you move from the COAS to the AGC and back without having to readjust both orientation and zoom.
Let me know what you thing about this idea. It could be a setting that is toggleable.

Earth seen through the CSM window by JFast

Not finding your resolution?
I started the work to try and find the issue that prevents some users to find their monitor resolutions. If you are one of them, please try to use the new console command to list all detected resolutions and see if you find it there. During alpha-testing, this has made the missing resolution appear (more data needed). If not, you can use the tool to set the resolution directly.

Added a command to list the detected resolutions supported by your monitor:
s -resolution -list

Added a command to the console for setting a screen resolution (test).
The command is:
s -resolution w h fullscreen
Example:
s -resolution 1920 1080 1
This will set it to 1920x1080 in fullscreen

Being blocked in this version compared to the 0.85?
Use the BETAs page on the game properties in Steam to switch back to the 0.85 branch, I have stored it there.
Note: A branch containing an old version can be deprecated at any time for various reasons.

Other bugfixes:
In the list below I have stripped away most of the things covered above.
For a full history, see the alpha-floor thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/882140/discussions/0/3118160027737663624/

Mercury

Lots of Mercury checklist updates
Mercury Checklist Dictionary updates

Gemini

Lots of Gemini checklist updates
Gemini Checklist Dictionary updates
Checks for the retro burn circuit breakers

Apollo: Command Module

DAP is now integrated with the save state
Fixed so that P40 automatically sets the deadband to 0.5, overriding the DAP
ASCP/ATT SET tw should now go between 0 - 359 again
ATT SET 180 roll offset hot fix
New CSM checklists and section changes
Fixed multiple typos in the Virtual Cockpit labels
Huge CSM ECS rebalancing
Changes to the CSM T&D checklists and removed the old deprecated NO LM version
Updated the CSM Deorbit and Entry lesson
The Burn Planner should now prevent interaction with the panel behind it
Fixed so MOCR renders the CSM attitude rates in deg/s instead of rad/s
TLI calculated dV should now be visible in the MOCR RTCC program, previously it rendered as zero
Fixed the time to SOI in TLI tool and MOCR, it used the wrong calc and was showing time to LOI or time to return SOI instead. This explains the 49h vs 60h seen in MOCR Monday.
Fixed so the Apollo Current Objective tool does not get stuck on drogue and chute deploy. Corrected a couple of other states that had the same issue as this.
Changed the CSM RCS Command switch to a spring switch. Both this and the SM Transfer switches should now be spring loaded
LOI and SPS burn physics fixes
TLI burn physics fixes

Apollo: Lunar Module

DAP is now integrated with the save state
Removed the red band on the Thrust Indictor. It should be all yellow.
Fixed multiple typos in the Virtual Cockpit labels
LM Water Separator caut lt fix
Fixed so the LM Event Timer Seconds-Units increase it with 1 and not 10 seconds.
The Burn Planner should now prevent interaction with the panel behind it
Added Helium regulators instructions to the LM descent and ascent lessons
Fixed so the ascent stage does not lift off with the descent legs (visual issue), if unable to ignite due to He pressure. A race condition made it partially "possible". Thanks, good find folks!
Made some fixes with the He pressurization on the LM RCS, as well as oxid/fuel consumption.
Made some tweaks to the RCS quantity indicators
LM DSKY remains lit when powered off

Jan 10, 2022

Updates to MOCR Monday! Season 2 started. Two events: one for US and one for EU

Reentry - A Space Flight Simulator - wilhelmsenstudios

I'm happy to announce that MOCR Monday now has expanded to having two hosted sessions, one for the EU timezone, and one for the US timezone.

Curious of what MOCR Monday is? https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/882140/view/3072012083349984263

The first Season of MOCR Monday is complete. This season had one scheduled session in the EU timezone every Monday where an Apollo 10 style mission and a Mercury orbital mission was completed over 10 "MOCR Monday" sessions.

The first season was all about testing and improving the network logic in addition to improving systems and bugs in the spacecrafts. MOCR Monday lets real players monitor systems and spacecraft behavior, making it an ideal tool for developing the spacecrafts.
The first half of the sessions had a lot of connectivity and technical networking issues. I was able to gather and analyze a lot of data and monitor network load/timeout data in real-time. Some of the major issues has been solved and for the last few MOCR Monday sessions, we have had zero timeout issues and very stable sessions. Thanks to everyone who as joined or tried to join a session, as this has been a critical factor on solving some of the basic networking logic issues needed to have more reliable and stable sessions.

MOCR Monday Season 2 has started and we welcome everybody to participate. You do not need to have been part of the season before, or have joined a previous session, to be able to join. Even if a session is a continuation from the previous session, the roles and participants will change. The veteran and high level players has always been helpful if new and inexperienced players has joined, so do not be afraid, it's all fun! :) Each Season will have a major mission focus such as for example doing an Apollo 11 or Apollo 8 missions, where each session will continue from where the crew left of last time. One episode might be ascent and LEO insertion, while the next will be TLI, etc.

So when are the MOCR Monday events hosted?
Every Monday at:
- EU: 18:30 UTC
- US: 00:00 UTC (5 hours 30mins after the EU time)

Feel like participating or watching one of the streams for the events, or want to get into the details of the event? Checkout the #mocr-monday channel on the Reentry Discord where all the event planning and execution takes place: http://discord.gg/reentrygame

Thanks to all the volunteers who are making this happen!

Dec 23, 2021

Happy Holidays from us at Wilhelmsen Studios!

Reentry - A Space Flight Simulator - wilhelmsenstudios

I was thinking we could start by taking a brief journey through the year so far, focusing on the biggest new features that has been added to the simulator.

2021 started with the 0.75 update, where Apollo received its huge TSS-update. In addition the Command Module Optics Subsystem with its Telescope and Sextant was created, and the 3rd campaign was added, an Apollo 8 type of mission focusing on the CSM.

P52 was also added so you could use these scopes to align the IMU, and to align it with the preferred or nominal direction.
It also added Trans-Earth Injection burn to get back to Earth from Lunar Orbit, and a complete update to the Apollo Command Module interior with the laser-scan by Smithsonian.

And lastly the Cloud Rendering System was added.

Next was the 0.80/0.81 update where we saw many updates to the CSM and LM systems, Saturn V abort modes and CSM/LM basic failures, a full Lunar Module exterior update, the addition of the last campaign, Campaign IV: The End of the Decade, covering the Lunar Module, and the first version of the Apollo Mission Control Multiplayer Mode was added. Both Gemini and Mercury had multiple new iterations to their systems as well.

Then the 0.82 continued to add a lot of improvements to the CSM and LM systems and to the AGC/LGC DSKY rendering. It also added the first preliminary VR implementation for Apollo.

The 0.83 continued to iterate on the CSM systems, Gemini systems and Mercury systems. It's main feature was the CSM ECS update, and the EECOM station in MOCR received a new channel to monitor it. The COAS reticle texture was also updated.

We then started to host an official event called MOCR Monday, with the primary goal of testing the Apollo Mission Control multiplayer module at a larger scale to fix networking issues. The first few sessions had some major technical difficulties but the logic slowly evolved to correct these. MOCR Monday have had 9 sessions so far, where a full Apollo 10 style mission was performed with various results. Each monday, one part of the mission was played. For the last two sessions, most of the technical issues related to networking and stability was solved and we had zero disconnects and loading issues. I recommend all of you to try it out again as we start a new Mercury and Apollo mission next year. We are hosting a MOCR Monday session next Monday as well.

The 0.84 updated continued the ECS path and added the Lunar Module ECS system and Lunar Stay operations. A new crew management interface was added to help with some basic crew related tasks, and the Lunar Module interior received some big corrections and changes. The TELMU station in MOCR also received a channel to monitor the LM ECS. In addition, multiple Mercury and Gemini old-timer issues was resolved.

Lastly, the 0.85 update came with many tweaks to the Mercury ECS, and updated many of the Mercury and Gemini checklists. Gemini procedures was improved and made more realistic.

In the latest patch, I added a new holiday special "event", and fixed the MOCR Room Settings screen. Your settings are now stored between sessions.

Reentry is part of the Winter Sale and is 25% off. During the sale, there will be a seasonal special mode that will render some decorative elements to the Mission Control Centers as well as a Santa Hat on your avatars head. This is to test a new system that we can use to have some fun on the various seasonal events over the year.

This feature can be toggled off from the Graphics Settings in Main Menu, or the Room Settings in MOCR.

Thank you all for following the project during 2021, for providing feedback and bug reports, and for taking part in the Reentry Community here on Steam and Discord, and a special thanks to all the Test Pilots, community moderators and all the contributors who has been working hard to help out with the project.

Happy Holidays!
- Petri

Dec 22, 2021

Reentry has been updated to 0.85: Gemini & Mercury procedures, Mercury ECS

Reentry - A Space Flight Simulator - wilhelmsenstudios

The 0.85 comes with a full overhaul of the Gemini checklists and procedures, improves checklist formatting, and adds RUN features to the Mercury and Gemini checklists. I have also improved the old Mercury ECS system to fix some of the major issues it had with temperature control, and general loop dynamics. Mercury and Gemini missions (Academy, Campaign) has been changed the reflect the updated procedures.

Gemini Procedures

Thanks to Jon C aka. papymaj5 for contributing a big overhaul to the Gemini & Mercury checklists. My access to realistic Gemini checklists has been limited when I first started, but this update will change this. I have now spent a few days tailoring these into the game, while revisiting the old Gemini Academy lessons and the Gemini Campaign to update some of them based on these new procedures.

The reference of these checklists has been the "Handbook, Final Gemini 10 Flight Plan": http://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/Ms1989-029/Ms1989-029_B03_F7b

Some of the new features are powering up or down the spacecraft in Orbit, post landing procedures and shutdown. The Gemini Deorbit, Entry and Landing checklists has substantial changes to the procedures, as well as EVAs.

I have also added a radio message that will be communicated as the Gemini spacecrafts crosses the Entry Interface at 400.000ft altitude.

If you are a Gemini commander, I would recommend you to revisit the Deorbit, Entry and Landing Academy lesson to get the major changes to this.

The general procedure is to run PRE RETRO at 30 minutes before entry burn, then the TR 256 SEC TO RETRO to execute the burn, then post jettison, entry and Landing for a safe entry and splashdown. Top if off by powering down the spacecraft while floating in the ocean by following the POST LANDING checklist.

There might still be some procedural differences that has not been detected in various missions. If so, let me know so I can iterate, but also refer to the checklists. If you are stuck in a mission, you can use the Console command:
s -mission -proceed
This command will complete the current mission instruction and move to the next. Only do so if you are stuck, time scaled past a point, or due to a bug.

Gemini Checklist Guide
A complete version of the Reentry Checklist Dictionary file for Gemini has also been added. This will improve the readability of checklist instructions when using the RUN feature. As you can see in the image below, the checklist guide UI now shows the full name and location of the switch, instead of a cryptic identifier name.

Thanks again to Jon C for contributing this.

Mercury Checklists
The Mercury checklists has received a reformatting and should be more readable. Most of the checklists has a RUN feature too now.

Slight changes has been applied to the Ascent checklists where a split between the Redstone and the Atlas checklist happens at booster cutoff. In addition, a Pre-Day checklist has been added to cover the procedures needed to change from a night configuration to a day configuration.

Mercury ECS

Some major changes has been applied to the Mercury ECS. Issues such as temperature control issues (suit loop would always be burning hot) has been addressed, and the temperature settings has been overhauled. The temperature control selectors range from 1 to 7, and configures the amount of cooling. If you set it to 7, it put a lot of strain on the ECS evaporators and water accumulator to maintain a cold cockpit, while setting it to 1 will not provide any cooling at all.

As long as you ensure that the ECS loop has flow by ensuring one suit fan is operational, most of the ECS will be fully automatic.

Gemini entry effect
I have also applied the reentry effects to Gemini. It is a fusion between the old and the new as I'm still experimenting with some things, but it should at least look a bit better!

Bugfixes
- Blocking issue: Mercury C&D missions such as Campaign mission 1: Corrected the ECS H2O SUIT and CABIN warning light issue
- Corrected so the Gemini EVA buttons are hidden after entering the cockpit again
- Corrected the issue where the RR section of the Gemini capsule would still be visible after chute deploy.
- Corrected states where the CSM SPS was armed on load
- Corrected the TIEMR -> TIMER label on CSM Panel 306
- Corrected some of the CSM and LM DAP default values
- Corrected the strange behavior in Mercury when ascending related to the Gyros and Maneuver switch
- Corrected so you wont unlock the CSM/LM rendezvous achievement when loading the Coasting scenario
- Adjusted the LM FDAI rate band sensitivity to more correctly indicate attitude rate
- Several typo corrections in missions and checklists