Please ask any questions about SpaceEngine here.

Useful links:
F.A.Q.
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How to pilot a space ship
How to make mods and addons
Troubleshooting and bug reports
Suggestions for SpaceEngine

Is Space-Engine coming out on mac soon? because you've reached you're goal

AidanTBM, it is not coming out very soon, there is still a lot of work to do. And as is mentioned on the donations page, a goal being met doesn't mean that the features of that goal are instantly implemented, just that there's enough money to pursue that goal. The only way everything could be released as soon as the goal was met would be if all of the things mentioned on that page were already finished, which of course they aren't.

Never in my life have I had such a weird mixture of feelings about any computer program before.

My level of excitement is through the roof! My level of frustration is astronomically higher though. I am literally pulling hair out of my head. I'm screaming at family members trying to bring me food, kicking the pet dog, and I think I broke my pinky finger bone slamming the desk with my fist.

I must say this simulator has taken over a large part of my free time, and I enjoy most of it. This is something I've wanted to see since I was a young kid. Anyway, Mucho Props to Space Engineer, the designer of SE and anyone else involved. If we were to meet in person I would hug you, then kiss you, and then maybe body slam you.

That aside, the controls for moving the camera are like a game of Twister on my keyboard. They are however, usable, and I can position myself wherever I need to get a view of what I want, explore the universe as I like, and make it back home to Earth in time for dinner. The frustration I feel though becomes a knot in my gut whenever I try to orbit a planet to make a movie or just coast through the clouds. My question is: WHERE IS THE "EASY" GO INTO ORBIT BUTTON!?!?!?

Having poked around the forum and not finding a recent solution I could understand, I've written this newer question in hopes there is something I am missing, some easy solution I just can't grasp. I'm not going to calculate escape velocity, mass of planets, distance from the center, or oblateness of planets to find the sweet spot where I don't slam into the ground or blast off for a different solar system. I really don't have the time to calculate this for a billion billion billion planets. Using Tracking just points my nose in the ground, and rotating the camera clockwise or counter clockwise while tracking is utterly useless. Space-craft and air-craft modes have me fiddling with a flight simulator with nut-ball keystrokes and I, again, end up crashing or slinging off the planet into space. 

Then we get into binding to objects, which I assume is done automatically whenever approaching a selected object. You can bind by Following an object (binding to its center point) or you can bind to an object with the Sync Rot Mode (binding to the surface of an object). I don't know what difference there really is between the two, but I think I can notice when it switches automatically if I have landed on the surface or if I am some distance away from it.

What I want is an Orbital View mode that is hands free, rather than dragging the mouse while holding down the right button, causing a horrible drifting and other odd movement directions that are no where near what it is like being in orbit. Pick a planet, pick a direction to face on the horizon and an altitude, press some tagged button, and Wham-o, you are in orbit, tied to the object so you never fly away, and no random miss typed button sends you into a nose dive.

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SO, now the BIGGGG question I have is... How did I make this video?
This is a shortened 30 second version cut down from 3 minutes, which showed more of the left right camera panning in the beginning of the clip. At the very end you can see I tilt the view downward without losing altitude.



I am in orbit, at a stable altitude, I am able to turn to the left and right without veering off course, even though it is a bit jerky when I try that. I am obviously not Tracking since I am not pointed downwards to the surface. I am sure I am not just hovering at a point and the time sped up, since turning left or right is kind of difficult, not smooth like normal. This developed accidentally for me when I hit some wrong keys, so I took a video, I was so excited! My only guess is I am in Space-craft mode (pressed button 2) and then Shift - F, but I can not repeat this "accident" anywhere else.

I cannot thank you enough!

Gnargenox wrote:

I am literally pulling hair out of my head. I'm screaming at family members trying to bring me food, kicking the pet dog, and I think I broke my pinky finger bone slamming the desk with my fist.

I seriously hope you're exaggerating.

Gnargenox wrote:

That aside, the controls for moving the camera are like a game of Twister on my keyboard.

WASDRF + Mouse isn't any more a game of Twister than any other game's controls.

Gnargenox wrote:

My question is: WHERE IS THE "EASY" GO INTO ORBIT BUTTON!?!?!?

Go into spacecraft mode [2], hold right mouse button and move the mouse a little (just a single movement is necessary, no need to drag continuously). As long as you keep holding the mouse button, the camera will continue to move at a constant speed at a fixed distance from the planet's center.

Gnargenox wrote:

Then we get into binding to objects, which I assume is done automatically whenever approaching a selected object. You can bind by Following an object (binding to its center point) or you can bind to an object with the Sync Rot Mode (binding to the surface of an object). I don't know what difference there really is between the two, but I think I can notice when it switches automatically if I have landed on the surface or if I am some distance away from it.

Follow = camera stays fixed relative to the planet's center. Rotate = camera stays fixed relative to the planet's surface. Try using Rotate mode while far from a planet and speed up time, or try using Follow mode while on a planet's surface (most noticeable if you're not on a tidally locked planet and not at the poles). You'll quickly see what the difference is.

Gnargenox wrote:

What I want is an Orbital View mode that is hands free

Unfortunately this doesn't exist right now, and I'm not sure how easy it would be to add.

Gnargenox wrote:

My only guess is I am in Space-craft mode (pressed button 2) and then Shift - F, but I can not repeat this "accident" anywhere else.

It's because you're in Follow mode and you have time sped up. Spacecraft mode isn't contributing. The camera itself isn't orbiting the object. The object is rotating beneath the camera, and its orbital motion is causing the planet to apparently rise. This is the difference between Follow and Rotate mode. If you'd been in rotate mode, your camera would have remained fixed above the surface. Instead you're fixed relative to the object's center, so the camera moves with the object through space but doesn't rotate with it.

Thanks HarbingerDawn, for the clear and concise explanation! Yes, I was exaggerating for a little levity. I can't wait to try your description of both Spacecraft mode (2) with holding the right mouse button, and with repeating how I did it previously while in Follow mode with Time sped up. I'll also try the Sync Rot mode while far away, hopefully without the need for Dramamine.

Maybe in the future it won't be necessary to keep holding the mouse button, so not only will I have the best ever universe simulation, but also the world's best live wallpaper!

Gnargenox wrote:

Maybe in the future it won't be necessary to keep holding the mouse button, so not only will I have the best ever universe simulation, but also the world's best live wallpaper!

With a little bit of work you can do this now, by spawning a spacecraft and using cheats to help put it into a circular orbit at the desired altitude and inclination. And one day there may be an option to do what you want, just press a button or two and the camera orbits the object.

How do I stop piloting a ship? I can control it, but how do I stop controlling it and go back into freecam, without having to delete my ship?

"Google Maps" sort of Planet Map

Basically you can select and planet and find a location on it. For example, I can say I want to go to Olympus Mons on Mars, and it would take me to that, location?

Any ideas?

press 1 at the top of your keyboard to return to freecam

To orbit a planet, select the planet, go into spacecraft mode (mode 2 i think? where no matter where you look you always go in the direction you accelerated only), then press T to target lock the planet, then tap the D or A until you're strafing around the planet at the desired speed. Keep in mind, as long as you are target locked, you will not be able to look around anywhere else, but you will be able to rotate around the planet hands free. When you're done, just hit T again to unlock target object, and then you can go into the other camera modes as needed to travel elsewhere.

Proteus wrote:

Keep in mind, as long as you are target locked, you will not be able to look around anywhere else, but you will be able to rotate around the planet hands free.

That seems simple enough, but it feels like you're a communications satellite. I'm looking for more of a flying in a hang-glider feeling, where your direction can be changed slightly, but the camera (your head) can swivel about, even 360 degrees, but I would also like to do this hands-free. Meaning once I like the direction I can just sit back and watch. I just now have a moment to run SE and try out HarbingerDawn's suggested methods. Thanks for your help!

Is there a code I can use in my planet scripts that removes already existent objects in the engine? I've seen it before but I forgot what to type in my script.

I know there was a feature to add objects with models at stable orbits (but I'm not sure if it was just a test of Vladimir or a released feature), wouldn't be possible to put an object in "orbit" without mesh so it appears like a label?