"Manifest" an SGU Ancient Star Gate seed ship.

[Jon]

The Manifest
The Manifest is a ship inspired by the Destiny  as seen on the TV series Star Gate Universe. It is not the Destiny but rather a ship of Ancient design that was part of the Star Gate distribution flotilla. According to the TV series the Destiny is following a Star Gate seed ship which is placing Star Gates  throughout the galaxies. The Manifest is my representation of such a ship. Why the name Manifest? Well I don't really know. Maybe because of the phrase "Manifest destiny" which is kind of a play on the name Destiny. Maybe because it's a cargo ship and manifest refers to a cargo list. Who knows but in any case I asked for suggestions  and Manifest was suggested and won with the greatest number of votes.   It features an  FTL  drive as seen in the series as well as Sun diving for refueling if you are daring enough. and don't use unlimited fuel.
Compatibility:
It was compiled against the 2010  (100606) release version of Orbiter. Although I did test it in the 2006 version and it did seem to work but you are on your own if you decide to use it in the 2006 version.

Dan's UMMU and UCGO are required installs in order to have that functionality although it should work without them. It should go without saying that you will have no cargo or EVA without Dan's add-on.
The cargo capacity is 40  of the standard 1.3x1.3x1.3 meter cargo containers used by Dan's UCGO add-on.  In addition to the UCGO compatibility it has minimal UMMU support in that it can carry 4 UMMU astronauts.  Dan's site for download of UCGO: http://orbiter.dansteph.com

A word of warning: The ship was not really designed to be landed and flown in atmosphere and if you land and eject cargo it will fall very far to the ground. If you decide to EVA while landed your astronaut will fall far to the ground and most likely die when impacting the surface.

Installation:
You do this at your own risk. I am a computer support professional and there is nothing that I can see that would harm or disrupt your computer. That said; it is expected that you have a certain level of ability in the install and removal of software and especially in Orbiter add-ons. Don't go blaming me or my add-on if you frack up your system. If you are unsure about installation then JUST DON"T INSTALL IT. It is that simple.

Installation pretty simple really. I keep the folder structure intact so all you have to do is decompress into your Orbiter folder and over write files when asked.
Removal is a little trickier because I use  common folders for docs, textures and scenarios. If this is the only add-on of mine you have then remove the following folders and files.
Folders:
In the Doc folder remove the Rag Tag Fleet  folder.
In the Scenarios folder remove the Rag Tag Fleet  folder.
In the Textures2 folder remove the JTM folder.

Files:
In Meshes remove the QJSGU2.msh  and QJSGU2S.msh
In Modules remove the QJSGU2.DLL
IN Config\Vessels remove the QJSGU2.cfg

If you have other add-ons of mine and only want to remove this one then remove the files above. DO NOT remove any folders but do remove  the relevant QJSGU2 files from the Rag Tag Fleet Scenario folder and Rag Tag Fleet Docs folder. Do not remove anything from the Textures2/JTM folder.
Using the add-on.

I've included a basic scenario file with the Manifest  in space fully loaded with cargo and UMMUs. I've also included one with a full complement of shuttles. Oh did I forget to tell you it also carries three of my SGU shuttles? My bad.  I'm still working on which suits and sex goes with which UMMU people meshes so the current assignments are functional but off as far as the sex assigned to the names I used. The  cargo doors  must be open to add and remove cargo or  enter and  exit UMMU astronauts.
Flight characteristics in atmo  leave a bit to be desired. It's a spaceship and doesn't have  aerodynamic  control surfaces. This means that  it relies completely on RCS and pure power to fly. That said, it does handle quite nicely but just be aware that  you are not going to glide her in or fly level without using hover thrust.

Here are all the keyboard functions:
SHIFT key with:
3  Cycle debug FTL values of 1 and 10 meters which can be handy to use at times.
G  Toggle beacons on/off
5   Select Shuttle PAD

CONTROL  or Ctrl key with:
B    Open/Close Sun Scoop for refueling
F8    Shut FTL  HUD on and off
F11  Spool up/down  FTL Drive
F12  Jump

Just the Key:
3  FTL Scale factor down
4   FTL Scale factor up
J   Launch Ship
K  Open/Close doors
G   Enable/disable auto-dock
5   Cycle though views
F8 Show FTL star animation display from cockpit.

All standard  Orbiter keys are supported.
UMMU keys are supported.
UCGO keys are supported.
***WARNING***
Nothing stops you from doing an EVA or launching shuttles or cargo  while traveling with FTL drive. The problem is that you will leave behind whatever you launch  because it is no longer with the ship and thus in normal space. Of course a big challenge is to eject something while in FTL and then turn around to recover it. I've never been able to do it. Can You?

FTL drive.
On the left side of the main screen is the FTL HUD information. The display is default on. The display is as follows.
Line 1: FTL STATUS
Line 2: OFF-LINE, ON-LINE, OFF-LINE IN: or ON-LINE IN:
Line 3: FTL FACTOR:    ( 1 through 10 and adjusted via the 3 and 4 keys)
Line 4: FTL DRIVE: ENGAGED or DISENGAGED

FTL Navigation
The FTL drive will allow you to travel outside of normal space were normal physics don't apply and you can travel great distances very quickly.

"Flying though hyper space isn't like dusting crops"
Well in this case it kind of is. My FTL drive will get you into the general area of your objective rather than precisely to your objective. The direction of travel  is where you are pointed so target alignment is subject to your skills.

FTL distance traveled.
At FTL factor 1 you travel 100000 meters every Orbiter time cycle. This doesn't sound like a lot but it does get you from the Earth to the Moon in about 1 minute. For the other FTL values I multiply by a number I just picked as reasonable to get you around the solar system. Factor 10 is insane and will get you to Jupiter in minutes. These FTL speeds are nothing like the ones on the TV show because on the show they traveled between solar systems and for us I 'm limited to ours. If at some point in the future Orbiter supports travel between multiple star systems I will adjust my FTL drive accordingly.
FTL  Table
FTL          Distance traveled in meters
   1             100000
   2             100000 * 3
   3             100000 * 5
   4             100000 * 10
   5             100000 * 15
   6             100000 * 20
   7             100000 * 100
   8             100000 * 250
   9             100000 * 500
 10             100000 * 10000 (Jupiter in minuets)

FTL navigation is quite simple and only approximate. I wanted to offer at least some challenge so basically you point and engage the drive. If you are in Earth orbit and want to go to Mars all you do is spool up the drive by pressing Ctrl F11, set the FTL value using the 3 & 4 keys, point yourself at Mars and press Ctrl F12. You will then eventually get into the general Mars area where you will press Ctrl F12 again to get out of FTL.  Getting into a stable orbit is your problem from that point on. All of your velocities at the point of Warp entry are intact so you may have a challenge to get into orbit. You can leave the FTL drive ON-LINE  but it does use fuel so keeping it always ON-LINE is not a good idea unless you like Sun diving. Ctrl F11 toggles between ON-LINE and OFF-LINE.

FTL Key recap
Ctrl F11   Put ON-LINE or OFF-LINE.
3            Decrease FTL value.
4            Increases FTL value.
Ctrl F12   Engage or Disengage the FTL drive.

Sun diving
So you want to refuel using the Sun. Brave you are. Sun diving is not for the weak. No, really it's just 3 easy steps.
1. Get close to the Sun.
2. Open the sun scoops
3. Leave when full.

When the Sun scoops are open you will see some new information on  the HUD.
SD: Is the Sun Distance or distance to the surface of the Sun.
D: Is your Sun scooping target distance. You must be less then this value to refuel.
FUEL: Is a more accurate fuel value then the one in the upper HUD.

Be careful because the Sun has mighty gravity  and if you linger you may impact the surface.

Shuttle operations.
Very simple really. Select the shuttle pad using Shift 5. If there is no shuttle docked you will see a white beacon light at the front of the selected pad while in external view. The HUD will also show  the selected pad. If there is a shuttle docked then pressing J will release the docking clamps and free the shuttle.  If you are setting the pad up for auto-dock then pressing G will do that for you. G will also toggle off auto-dock if on.  With auto-dock enabled you will get a nice holographic glide slope display that will help to guide you to the pad. The shuttle will auto-dock when it is within 2 meters of the pad center. The orientation of the shuttle doesn't really matter but it should be at least upright.  In the HUD you will see each pad number and an X or O under it. The X means there is a shuttle there and the O means it is free.

Special parameter for the SCN file.
There is a FTL FX display that may cause a problem with some graphics cards because it uses a semitransparent texture.  If this is the case you can set the SCN param WSFX to 0  to disable the effect. So in the QJSGU2 section of the SCN file enter the param WSFX 0 to disable the effect . The default is set to 1 or enabled.

Credits etc.....
I wish to thank the following for their programs and inspiration.
Dr. Schweiger for letting us play with his toy.
All the people that are continuing his work and that have worked on this latest version.
All the people involved with Star Gate Universe  for their TV show.
R. Steven Glanville  for the Anim8or modeling program.
Dennis Krenz for his Anim8or to mesh script.
The members of the Rag Tag Fleet that tested this prior to release.
A special thanks to Fleet member  Seahawk72s who helped to make it far better than it would have been. I raise a glass to you sir.

Disclaimer
This is a work of fiction intended to compliment SGU. No infringement on copyrights, ideas or products is intentional on my part. All models other than the ones in Orbiter and Dan's add-ons were created by me based on information and pictures found on the Internet or derived from watching the TV shows. All textures were created by me from scratch or derived from freely available images on the internet. If you are a copyright holder and feel that I have infringed on your rights then feel free to contact me so that we can rectify any issues.  

Everything in this add-on is a Copyright by Jon Marcure 2010 and cannot ever be sold for any reason. Models and textures can be used with my permission although I'm pretty easy on that and only would like credit for them if you do use them.

You can contact me via jtmarcure( at )gmail.com

Have fun with this add-on and remember to keep the blue side up. Wait.... There is no blue side in space. Heck, there isn't even up in space......

Jon Marcure.
July  22, 2010