Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: I have the demo, I want to fly all airplanes and competitions don't work.  What can I do?
A: You either have to qualify for your Silver "C" in the game , or visit the forums to look for the "cheat" (edit chris.txt)

Q: When I have joined a online game, how the heck do I find others online?
A: If you press the "L" key, a label will be displayed for all other airplanes in the sky.  All computer-flown airplanes will be displayed with a RED label and all planes flown by humans will show up with a BLUE label.  Look for BLUE labels, they are your friends or competitors.

Q: Can I get rid of the computer planes altogether?
A: Yes, simply press the "K" key to remove computer flown planes, press it again, and they re-appear.

Q: How can I see which other players are connected?
A: As explained in more detail in the documentation, pressing the O key in the game will show you, in the upper left corner, the status and numbers of connected players.
If the following is displayed:
Players: 1 3 19
It means that 3 players are successfully connected, and have the numbers 1, 3, 19.
If the following is displayed:
Players: 1 3 [19]
It means that player 19 has dropped the connection. He or she may reappear again if they reconnected.

Q: I have problems with the sound?
A: Try lowering the hardware acceleration. This will have almost no affect on the performance of the game.

SETTING UP THE AMBIENT NOISE .

In order to create an authentic flight sound effect, it is necessary to adjust by means of KEY4 and SHIFT+4 (not the numeric keypad ) the volume level of 'aero surface noise' to obtain a difference between 'slip noise' caused by YAW and, ' aero surface noise ' . Both vary with velocity but KEY 4 affects only the ' aero surface noise' and should be adjusted down so its level is lower than that of 'slip noise' or YAW noise. Overall volume control should be done by means of the wav and volume controls inside the windows operating system.

1. Select automatic speed and rudder and fly with the wings horizontal. Adjust airspeed [ key 1 and 2 (not the numeric keypad)] so the glider is close to stalling 50-70 kph depending on the model of glider.

2. SHIFT+4 and 4 until the wind noise is barely perceptible.

3. Fly at cruising airspeed [ say 100- 150 kph] still maintaining horizontal flight and automatic speed & rudder. Note windnoise.

4. Maintaing automatic speed & rudder and listening carefully to windnoise, make a 45 degree bank and note the difference in noise levels. If KEY 4 volume is set too high then there will be little or no difference btween the 2 noise levels. If KEY 4 volume is set too low, ' slip noise' will be excessive in comparison with aero surface noise. The ambient noise can be fine tuned in this way to enable the pilot to achieve what he is accustomed to in real flight. Overall volume is controlled by external amplifier or by windows volume controls.

KEY 4 and KEY SHIFT+4 should never be used to adjust the overall volume of Sots, as this will alter the differential between, 'wing slip' or YAW windnoise, and the windnoise from aero surfaces.

This is a example of a right tuning

SotS reorder.mp3

Somtimes when using a idenpent voice intercomunication system you may want to increase the volume to hear somebody voice and would like a lower SotS wind volume you can change the sound file and use this instead of the one in the SotS installation directory \Sounds

Wind.wav

 

Q: My program crashes?
A:
1) Set up desktop color and resolution to 800x600 and 16-bit color,   Then use the same configuration for the game by selecting the “Configure” option in the main menu.
2) Remove (delete) any unwished entry to the device list. You will find it in the “Configure” option of the main menu.

Q: I have a Logitech joystick and I can’t configure the buttons?
A: When you define the new profile, be sure you select SotSNow.exe as the executable that the profile is associated with.

Q: Can I add 3D object to the scenery?
A: Yes, if they have the Microsoft x format.  Use Microsoft's “conv3ds.exe” utility (included in the delivered SotS’s CD) to convert from the popular 3ds format to the x format.  The 3D objects have to be included in the /Structures folder of the scenery and in the Structure.txt file. See Mafikeng scenery as an example.  It has three lions placed close to the runway.

Q: The game seems not to recognize my graphic card?
A: Run the DirectX diagnostic program (DxDiag.exe). Even if the Direct3D test status is ok, try to disable and then reenable Direct3D again. It sounds crazy but it sometimes works.

Q: I'd like to know if it is possible to create a full "home" club environment with the tools that I would receive.
What I'd like to do is to re-create my entire club's environment and politics This means planes, terrains, buildings and last but not least the "politics"
A: Terrain3D is a humble tool include in the full version that theoretically will allow to do many things. Although every new scenery put the software under trial. I will help with your problems.
The game allow to enter 3D objects if they are in Microsoft x format. There is a Microsoft tool called "conv3ds.exe" that allows you to convert from the very popular 3ds format to x format. You have to put it in the /Structures folder of the scenery (or create it if it doesn't exist yet) and define some parameters in the structures.txt file (or create it). Mafikeng scenery has an example how to do it (three lions closed to the runway).
If you are not qualified you have to get your Silver C badge in a club. There you can't select the glider or fly any task, you are asigned a glider (usually Blanik or similar for training and Swallow or Ka8 for Silver C trials) and you have to fly a task imposed by the club. I think politics are quite similar for every club.

Q: The "Flaps" setting seem to be always 100% ? Is this correct ?
A: Yes, this version only allows for 100% positive flap settings.  An upgrade might come soon to and allow for negative- and staged settings.

Q: Sometimes I go into a Spin or Spiral, and I cannot get out of it.  I crash and die :(
A: As a newbie I crashed lots of times with SotS , after a while I learned the right movements for every plane to get out.  Mostly opposite rudder and small aileron deflection will do the job.  Sometimes I had to press the nose down vigorously.   Using the "F"laps while thermalling saved most of my "problems"

Q: What use does it have to edit the pilot's lists?   I have seen that they are editable textfiles.... what situations can you describe for me in which it could be usefull to manually edit the text files?  Will I get into problems when I try and fly with others, online ?
A: Yes you can edit them.  You can create new sceneries for your club, and define
your pilot list to include your friends.  One caution, if you want to fly in a multi-player session with your friends, the player list for all participants must be the same.  This means you will probably want to distribute your newly created pilot list to your friends for them to use.

Q: Can I do some aerobatics with Sailors of the Sky ?
A: Yes you can..Turns, loops, chandelles, barrel rolls, lazy eight's you name it.. You can also loose your wings when pulling too many G's , and crash.  You can also crash into another glider as well.

Q: The GPS-NMEA output via comport, can I attach my LX4000/Zander?pal/Ipaq or other FAI approved logger, to generate IGC files?. in other words, could I fly a record 300Km FAI triangle in SotS (7m/s thermals all the way) with my logger attached, and produce a real IGC file from it ?
A: Yes, you can do as you described , for instance using my PalmOS soaring program, SoaringPilot attached to a serial port on my computer while flying. You could also make use of any other PDA that reads NMEA information After I finished flying, I downloaded the flight info in IGC format to my computer and plotted it using another program which reads IGC data called WinIGC_to_POV. You could also use SeeYou, Flight Display or any of the other flight display programs which will display IGC data. As you said, you could also attach a logger or super vario which takes GPS input (ie doesn't have it's own internal GPS) and do the same. As long as the device will use the standard GPGGA and GPRMC lines, then it will work fine

Q: I have a firewall (ZoneAlarm, Norton, Hardware Cisco Firewall etc) , can I play SotS ?
A: In most cases , where people use a software Firewall solution at home, the firewall software will detect and allow for SotS to join a game over the internet. However, connections might get slow and intermittent depending on your firewall software. It's best to temporarily "pause" the firewall, or have a decent protocol rule added to it.
In the case of a company firewall, or other solution you have no control of, it's best to ask the administrator of your network to open ports
9231 and 9232 (UDP and TCP)

Q: I'm behind a Windows2000 NAT / WinProxy / ISAserver / ROUTER / Firewall. I want to host a game but nobody can connect ?
A: Open or "portmap" ports 9231 and 9232 on your firewall. If you want to host a game on a specific server on your LAN, you can use portmap. If you want to play with more than 1 client from behind a firewall, to the internet, open op the ports on your firewall, that's all

Q: I just got the CD-ROM with SOTS, 3D-Tools but I am looking for the 4 SCENERIES:Kufstein, Mafikeng, Ocana and Minden.  I am no designer and take what I get.  Where are the Sceneries, or are they somewhere in the 3-D TOOLS.  I haven't found any mention of this in the documentation.  Sorry maybe I didn't see it.
A: If you have downloaded the DEMO, and you receive your CDROM, you still have to "setup" the game, again.  Only then will the new scenery be added to your installation. The serial number stays the same, but you have to install the full version over the DEMO.  If you have not downloaded the demo, you will probably not ask yourself this question

Q: (Suddenly) My framerate is very, very poor, less than 10fps. I have a Pentium 800MHz , a 32MB 3D VideoCard, and I play in 1024x768 16bit.
A: Set your landscape distance to 15 kilometers in the configuration screen, check again, reduce further if necessary and set your antivirus software off.

Q: If I take a lot of pictures with my high resolution digital camera from within my cockpit, while flying over my local airfield, could I then use those pictures and make a scenery out of them ? Or do you have to take Encarta/Atlas maps?. My idea is to take a motor-glider, go to exactly 3000 feet, and make foto's from the surroundings of my airfield (I take care in using the same angle all the time etc.) Is this (in theory) possible My surroundings are totally flat. Only a bridge and a river (Rhine) are there. Please try and feel what I want to do, and explain.
A: Aerial pictures can be used for textures. For example TF140120.bmp bitmap is used for the Minden field. This texture was prepared from a real aerial picture. Some streching was needed to compensate visual distortion. It is placed on the scenery grid at position (140,120). This coordinates are given by the scenery utility Terrain3D. It would be possible to tile all the scenery with real pictures, the problem is to get them and that they match each other.

If you have not found an answer to your problem above, please select the User Forums button to the left .  You can post your problems/questions on the various forums and someone will answer them promptly.