I don’t s’pose they have a viewer program for vistor to watch the action? Since I can’t get in the action yet, maybe I can watch you guys go at it. thx
vsk4 does :bag::devil:
Well, OK… I broke down and got a copy of VSk3 from eBum. Maybe I can get in one day before my new job sux- I mean starts. 
I think I’ll be working 2p - 10p NYC time.
Whens the next regatta ?
I will get in on that, I tried it … seems to have been years ago… but everyone was on the other side of the Earth so it had to be 08:00 local which is probably about the most no fun time of day.
Post it here and I join in,
LL:zbeer:
What else is needed to make the game run? I noticed on the Amazon site that they sell game pads. Are these needed or recommneded?
I might join you guys and race.
Mitch
I just use the keyboard. Steer with the arrow keys and trim sails with numberpad keys. It is done in simulated time so not instantaneous, you input the command and it happens real time.
:zbeer:
CAN YOU TELL ME HOW ITS WORKS OR PLAY’S…
I am doing this from memory so don’t hold me to specifics, but in VSK 3 you have the choice of single player or online multiplayer. I think it also supports LAN multiplay but no one else here was interested in it so I did not put it on the LAN to find out.
You can start with single player, get the choice of a few different boats, the basic 3 are the AC Class of course, something akin to an Etchells and a Trimaran. I think there might be a 4th boat but again… from memory…
You can choose a challenge race against the clock, since a computer can duplicate the conditions of wind and wave, you can run against a preset time and see if you can better yourself.
You can race against a single boat, or a fleet of up to 6 (total) on the water, and are allowed to customize the race for type of boat, number of boats, course, wind conditions, amount of wind direction change (%) etc etc, you can turn on/off the News helicopters… you get the idea.
Then you can create your own custom race courses with the “mission builder” so you have complete creative control. Several different cities are featured as venues and you may chose them so you can see a familiar landmark such as San Francisco would feature the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz island, you may sail around and under them with some minor detail depicted.
The game has a nice feature in that you may chose to use the RRS or not, if you do (and of course you should) the rules are shown to be in effect by their number 18.3 10 etc… in the top right corner in a box in relation to two boats that are close enough for the rules to apply. The AI is the Committee in this case and will asses penalties/fouls/turns/DSQ’s as applied to the rules and it does a pretty good job. I am sure there are cases where it can be found to be wrong in it’s applications, I think I have seen a few… but I could be wrong as well.
Mechanically, you steer the boat with arrow keys, you can spin the helm faster than the boat responds… and it is depicted that way. Same with sail trimming. There is an autopilot mode for sail trim for the novice, or you can take it off and sail trim manually. I remain unconvinced as to which is faster. Typically game designers put auto help at around 90% so that the more skilled can beat them, but I guess I am not skilled enough to tell the difference. Also, if you are not a keyboard kinda guy, you can do almost everything with the mouse, you can select a heading (click on it) you can select amount of rudder deflection, you can select a sail trim point, etc etc with the mouse.
You may select from typical Main/Jib to Code 0, Spinnaker or something of a “B” main for heavy air, you request it using 1-2-3-4 keys or by clicking on the symbol and the crew does the work. Once a set is in motion, you can not abort it regardless of wind or helm.
You are supplied with all the telemetry that you would find on a modern boat plus the ability to zoom out with a helicopter type view of the race course. From here you can observe puffs spreading and shrinking, marks etc. You have all the standard “views” that you would find in a race sim from all the different angles, and the ability to move the camera free through space to look at your boat or others.
You can toggle the amount of info from the basic 6 pack of gauges of information Wind Direction (apparent, true,) Current direction, Boat speed, wind speed etc. Right up from Beginner/Advanced/Expert/Pro I should mention that this applies to the Single player races as well, you can scale the competion (difficulty) skippers to your skill level and increase them as you improve.
Lastly, you can go online and host or join a race. Your boat will be “greyed out” until everyone is set and computers happy, then the race begins. You can view the race conditions (boat/wind/start time/# in fleet etc before getting into a race so you can pick something that you are comfortable with.
Or… you can host your own race and set the conditions YOU wish and let others join your race.
We tried this every Friday morning for awhile (for me in USA Central) as I was racing with Wis and… wow…forgot our other partners name, Wis in Japan and I think the other was in NZ… so finding a time for us to get together meant someone was going to be at work, someone asleep and someone actually off.
We were not even all 3 on the same DAY… 
So, there you have it… a wonderful program for the price now that you can get it for about $10 on EBay, it is a lot of fun, there is a lot more to the program than I listed here. Of course, it has since be upgraded to VSK 4 which I have not owned/played… so it run a couple of times and it was more of this. One thing I can say, the water/motion graphic display is good enough… well modeled enough, that it has made a couple of older guys I know ill to the point they will not play it any longer. I find this rare, but it’s happened.
Good Luck with it, I don’t see how you can go wrong for the time/money invested to buy and learn the program, and it is not a bad way to learn some of the RRS.
:zbeer:
Thanks Larry for the informative over-view.
Always hoped they would write for PS2/3 or other game box systems - but so far, no luck. I wonder what the point of profit is for these sales wise?
We have a local company here in Minneapolis that has done some nice “first person shooter” games, and I would think if there was a shelf-item available, a lot of the sailing public might purchase, especially if it were included into a format that interspersed real video into a story-line perhaps. … maybe something along the lines of several different big races in which different sized boats would be used with their handling quirks.
Maybe an offshore Farr 40 one design, then on to a new venue sailing a Melges 24/32 in maybe Key West. Round Texel on a beach cat or Worrell 1000 challenge along Atlantic coast. Chicago to Mackinac on a TP52 (or to Hawaii) and finally a VOR event using 60-70 foot monohulls or multihulls. For the fun of it - how about a San Diego dinghy regatta followed up by an Optimist class race in Seattle? Wow - lots of possibilities. Too bad I know nothing about gamer programmming.
SIGH ! :rolleyes: :lol:
Game development is incredibly expensive. It is one of those things that looks as if it would be something you could undertake… but once you get into it… it’s a snake pit. You see so many offerings though… where individuals can put out a quality effort… but it really doesn’t do justice to those guys in the trenches that write the code and make the physics work.
The sad thing for me, and a lot of others out there is that I do not crave spectacular graphics… and a lot of other gamers feel the same way. I would play a doodle-bug race game with construction paper graphics if it was funny and I had a good time playing it.
I have asked around… but still do not have a definitive answer on VS 2 or 3… that being… does using the auto-trim on the sails produce the same speed as manual? If you can’t do better manually than the auto… it takes the fun out of it. Auto should be about 90% optimized, leaving room for us dumb hew-mans to still win out. I can beat the computer sure… but I have to wonder about online play if manual has the advantage it should or not.