Virtual Sailor 8.3 is out

[admin]

Hi Everyone,

I am very happy to announce the release of version 8.3 of Virtual Sailor NG.

This version contains so many changes that I will have to explain each one individually below.
these changes are the results of your feedback, many good people reported these bugs to me and
I had worked a long time to fix them.

So, here is the list:

1) Added see_panel_outside to vehicle options.

Some boats have their panel as an important part of their exterior detail, in such cases I have added the option
"is_panel_outside" into the vehicle.cfg or properties settings, this effects this ship only, and other ships can be
still used with the global setting of "see panel outside".

2) Toggle lights key bug fixed.

I have added many new default key mappings, to activate them, use Settings->Keyboard->Set Defaults.
this will update your default key mapping.

3) Added anchor animation. (anchor.x)

I have added anchor.x animation, it animates like the gear.x for example, from closed state to open state as you toggle the anchor.
this enables more detailed animations of anchoring.

4) Flames size made relative to throttle.

Some ships, like the HSC_BENCOMO have used flames as jets underwater, these did not show properly on boats, also in VSF
Now i have made them relative to boat throttle, so they look better.

5) Saved splash_threshold and splash_scale in vehicle.cfg

Some boats had too big splashes, and also splashes that happen too often, to change this behavior you can now edit boat properties
to make splash size smaller make the splash_scale smaller, to make the splash less often, increase the value of "splash_threshold"
the splash_thershold is relative to the boat_alt parameter wo when ever the bow of the boat submerged by splash_thershold*boat_alt
the bow wave will splash.

6) Array is dry added to the land options.

Some time arrays like trees and plants were seen on wet places, to make these arrays appear only on land use the "Arrays are dry"
option on the land setting screen.

7) Added option to hide replay.

Added the option to hide the replay window, same as in VSF.

8) Added elevation limit to avoid strange scenery problems.

Some scenery like Norway, had artifacts in its binary matrix, these could cause walls extending to infinity, to avoid such cases
I have added a check of elevation between -10,000 to +10,000 meters, if elevation is not within these values it is reset to zero.

9) Added external camera as window.

I have added another external window for the second camera.
All the external windows render in the same size and resolution of the main screen, so they should be used maximized on the additional
monitors that you have, for the moment I do not have an option to make them smaller than the maximum size.
you can resize the windows but the resolution will not change, so i do not recommend it at the moment.

10) Thrusters do not return to zero when not picked.

People have asked for thrusters that keep their positions until the center command is pressed, so now you can use thrusters, but
when you are done, press space to center them.

11) Sail dialog fixed wind direction arrow disappearing.

I have fixed the needles on the sail dialogs, which sometimes disappeared, now they keep some size always.

12) Added anchor and reef state to saved situations.

Situations now include the sails reef, and anchor state.

13) Added sails reef keyboard commands.

I have added the Insert/Delete and Shift + Insert/Delete to reef or open the main and jib sails, use default keyboard options to enable.

14) Fixed bug with vegetation removal from roads.

Vegetation appeared on road because of a bug, i have fixed this bug.

15) Added Objects Always in View.

On some rare cases some very large objects were hidden from view, in such cases i have added option called "Objects Always in View"
to the land options screen, when active the objects will not be hidden when you look away, this reduces the frame rate somewhat.

16) Added scan scenery option.

I have added the option to select any scenery you wish to load, even if a smaller scenery exists in the same area, to use this option all
you need to do is turn off "Scan Scenery", and also select from the map the other scenery that exists for the same position,
no matter what is your location, when you select the other scenery from the map ( you can double click to select it ), you will load
that scenery.

17) Allow selecting scenery inside a scenery.

You can always select from the map the other scenery that exists for the same position,
no matter what is your location, when you select the other scenery from the map ( you can double click to select it ), you will load
that scenery.

18) Added keys to moving parts and lights.

I have added the Control+D and Control+F and Shift+A commands, to activate select the Default Keyboard Actions.

19) Added pass under bridges.

I have added an option called "Pass Under Bridges" to vehicle options, when enabled the boat can pass below a bridge that is at least 10 meter
above the water level ( actually above the bumper of the boat ), but normally collisions with docks are still detected.

20) Added missing ship icon.

When boats do not have vehicle.jpg file, a default Viking ship icon will be used.

So, I hope you will enjoy this update, it had been a huge work,

Thanks for your continued support !

Ilan

[Altair-RT]

Thank you for the 8.3 I will try today.. thanks a lot. Gianluigi Altair-RT

[Sailorjohn]

Bravo, Ilan! Can't wait to try it out!

[i_i_andrew_i_i]

Nice!

[kityatyi]

Wow! This is what I call a responsive developer! Thank you, Ilan!