Solar-Sim Devlog

Thanks for your interest in Solar-Sim!

This page describes how to login to the free Demo.

Disclaimer: Please note this is a functioning “Demo” and not a completed product.  Certain features are missing from the Demo (such as: planet’s don’t spin on their axis yet, none of the ringed planets have rings yet, and so on).  Other features, such as character models and user interface, will be changed significantly or replaced before Solar-Sim begins Beta Testing.  No end-user support is offered at this time for bugs or other issues encountered.

(And with that out of the way…)

Steps to access Solar-Sim’s Demo:

1. Register for a free Multiverse user account
2. Download the installer for the Multiverse World Browser: MultiverseSetup.exe
3. Run MultiverseSetup.exe. This requires an active Internet connection as it will go out to Multiverse’s site and download additional files. Additional information regarding minimum hardware/software requirements can be found at Multiverse’s site
4. Once finished, you’ll have a Multiverse World Browser shortcut icon on your desktop.  This allows you to access any game in the Multiverse network that has elected to be viewable by the public.  Solar-Sim isn’t at that point yet, so we have another step to do:  Make a copy of the Multiverse World Browser’s icon on your desktop.  To do this: right-click the icon, pick “Copy”, then right-click on any open space on your Deskop, and pick “Paste”. Right-click the copy you just made and pick Properties from the pop-up menu.  Go to the Shortcut tab and add–world solarsim to the end of the Target, so that it looks like this:
   “C:\Program Files\Multiverse Client\bin\MultiverseClient.exe” –world solarsim
   Please note there are 2 dashes and no space in front of the word “world” (Microsoft sometimes displays 2 dashes as 1 long dash. Please type 2 dashes and not 1)
   
   
5. You can now login to Solar-Sim by double-clicking the new icon you edited in the previous step.You should see a screen like this:
   
   Enter your Multiverse username and password from Step 1 above, and then click the Log In button.  As before, your Internet connection needs to be active.The Multiverse splash screen will come up, and after a few moments you’ll be connected to Solar-Sim’s server. You’ll see a ship and a set of buttons in the upper-right corner labeled “Create”. Click one of the “Create” buttons as pictured below to create a character.
   
6. Type a name for your new character. You can click one of the gender buttons, however that won’t impact anything. Click the left and right arrow buttons beneath the word “model” to cycle between different ships and color options.
   
7. This sends you back to the previous screen. Your character name should now appear in place of one of the “Create” buttons. Click your character’s name and then the “Play” button in the bottom-right corner.
   

Congratulations, you’re now inside Solar-Sim!

Here’s a few recommendations on what to do next.

• Press the “F1” key to hide the mini-map at the top-right corner of your screen.

• Use your mouse scroll wheel to change to 1st-person view (so that you are looking through your ship instead of behind it.
• Click and hold your right mouse button, and then move your mouse side to side.  This spins your ship around.  You can also do this by pressing the “a” and “d” keys.  You should be able to spin around until you see the Sun, as in the above screenshot.  (You will be close to the Sun the very first time you login to Solar-Sim.  Your position will be saved from that point forward, and you will re-login to wherever you were when you last logged out).
• Move your ship forward and backward by pressing “w” and “s“, respectively.  You can move side to side by pressing “q” and “e“.
• Your ship can fly up or down by pressing your keyboard’s PageUp and PageDown keys.
• Click and hold either your left or right mouse button and then move your mouse in any direction to look around.  (The left mouse button controls the camera, while the right mouse button controls which direction your ship is facing).
• The Solar System is HUGE!!!! You probably won’t be able to find the planets by just walking around and looking for them.  Use the /warp command to instantly go to any solar object you want.  Try typing /warp earth or /warp jupiter
• Press the “Print Screen” key on your keyboard to save a screenshot to your Windows clipboard.  After a few moments a message will appear saying where Solar-Sim saved a file as well.
• Moons and smaller planets like Pluto and Mercury may be hard to see.   To work around this, you can change your camera’s field of view with these commands:  /zoom in, /zoom mid and /zoom out. The “/zoom out” command restores your field of view to the default.  While you are zoomed in, your movement speed is decreased as well.
• Finally, when you’re ready to logout for the day, type /quit to exit.

Feel free to post in the Comments section below on how the Demo went for you. If you’re an educator and would like to request a specific feature, I’d love to hear from you as well. (Please note that due to spam prevention, comments for first-time posters will be held in queue until reviewed)