The XR5 Vanguard and DeltaGlider-XR1 are cutting-edge, high-performance spacecraft for the Orbiter Space Flight Simulator.  The XR1 is a sophisticated rewrite of the DG-S mk-IV included with the Orbiter 2006 P1 release, and the Vanguard is an all-new spacecraft with a large payload bay. Both ships include new instrument panels that support 1280-, 1600-, and 1920-pixel-wide video modes, high-performance SCRAM engines, complex damage simulation, over 270 voice callouts and sound effects, and new highly precise autopilots just to name a few.  With just under 50,000 lines of C++ code, 155 animated mesh groups, and over 250 custom voice callouts performed by voice actress Sally Beaumont, the XR5 Vanguard is the most complex vessel ever developed for Orbiter to-date.

The XR1 and the Vanguard are designed to be pilots' ships, and with all the realism settings set to maximum each is significantly more challenging to fly efficiently (and safely) than the default DeltaGlider included with Orbiter; i.e., pilot workload is higher. However, both ships are fully configurable via configuration files, and with all the realism settings disabled both ships are as forgiving as the default DeltaGlider. The configuration files also include custom CHEATCODES sections that allow the user to directly set certain ship's values such as maximum engine thrust, fuel capacity, ship mass, etc.

Refer to XR Vessel Features section later on this page for details.

Latest News (updated 4.30.2008)

4.30.2008: New Vanguard Skins and Payload Modules Released

Two new Vanguard skins have been released by Marco G. Jansen and two new Vanguard payload modules have been released by Ryan S. Kingsbury.  Download them below in the Third-Party XR5 Skins and Third-Party XR5 Cargo Modules sections.

4.20.2008: XR5 Vanguard 1.0c Released

This incremental Vanguard release includes a fix for loading custom XR5 skins as well as a few cosmetic fixes.  Download it below in the Latest Releases section.

1.26.2008: XR5 Vanguard Flight Operations Manual Now Available in Spanish

The XR5 Vanguard Flight Operations Manual has been translated in to Spanish by Julian Soulages and is now available for download below!  Many thanks for Julian for his hard work translating all 70 pages of the flight manual into Spanish.

12.15.2007: XR5 Vanguard 1.0 and DeltaGlider-XR1 1.4 Released

The much-anticipated XR5 Vanguard and the newly-updated DeltaGlider XR1 1.4 have been released, featuring all-new voice callouts by voice actress Sally Beaumont.  Download the Vanguard and the XR1 1.4 below in the Latest Releases section.  To read more about the Vanguard, refer to this thread on the Orbiter forum.

10.13.2007: DeltaGlider-XR1 1.3 Released

Version 1.3 of the XR1 includes new a Center-of-Gravity-Shift feature as well as updated Attitude Hold and Descent Hold autopilots, which allow the ship to hold a rock-stable reentry attitude while using very little RCS fuel even under time acceleration.  Download it below in the Latest Releases section.  

9.9.2007: VistaBoost 1.0 Released

Are you running Vista and seeing an Orbiter framerate hit compared to your XP system?  VistaBoost can increase Orbiter's framerate under Vista by 60% or more!  Download it below in the Latest Releases section.

Click the thumbnails below for some high-res screenshots of the Vanguard and the XR1.  Note: if you cannot see some of the thumbnails you will need to configure your ad blocking software to allow thumbnails on this page.

XR5 Vanguard and DeltaGlider-XR1 Screenshots

Vanguard 1920-Pixel-Wide 2D Cockpit Composite (approaching ISS)	Vanguard Docked at ISS	Vanguard Payload Camera and Panel	Vanguard Payload Editor Dialog	XR1 1920-Pixel-Wide 2D Cockpit Composite
Vanguard 1600-Pixel-Wide 2D Cockpit Composite (approaching ISS)	Vanguard EVA at Brighton Beach on the Moon	Vanguard Payload Unloaded at Brighton Beach	Vanguard Payload Deployed in Orbit	XR1 1600-Pixel-Wide 2D Cockpit Composite
Vanguard 1280-Pixel-Wide 2D Cockpit Composite (approaching ISS)	XR1 Landing at Brighton Beach	Nikita on EVA	XR1 Final Approach w/1600-Pixel-Wide 2D Cockpit	XR1 1280-Pixel-Wide 2D Cockpit Composite
XR1 Touching Down at KSC	XR1 Ready For Takeoff!	XR1 Virtual Cockpit View	XR1 Approaching ISS	XR1 Undocked from ISS

Latest Releases (updated 4.21.2008)

Third-Party XR5 Cargo Modules (updated 4.30.2008)

Third-Party XR5 Skins (updated 4.23.2008)

NOTE: You must install the XR5 Vanguard Release 1.0c or newer in order to use custom Vanguard skins.

Third-Party XR1 Skins (updated 5.10.2008)

Add-Ons for Orbiter Build 060504 Only

XR Vessel Features

• Over 250 custom voice callouts performed by voice actress Sally Beaumont.

• A Center-of-Gravity-Shift feature that allows the ship to hold a precise attitude during reentry while using very little RCS fuel, even under time acceleration.

• 2D instrument panel native support for 1920-, 1600-, and 1280-pixel-wide video modes. To enable one of the new wide-screen panel modes, set 2DPanelWidth in your Config\DeltaGliderXR1Prefs.cfg or Config\XR5VanguardPrefs.cfg file.

• All-new instrument panels at native 1920x1200, 1600x1200, or 1280x1024 resolutions with 24-bit color. The main panel is low-profile in the center for maximum visibility.

• Virtual cockpit similar to the standard DG-S VC (XR1 only).

• Reentry heating simulation with realistic heat damage; e.g., overheating a hull surface will not cause that surface to fail instantly: the more a surface overheats, the higher the chances of a hull breach.  Typical failure within eight seconds.

• SCRAM engine overheating damage simulation.

• Full configuration of the XR1's or Vanguard's settings via the DeltaGliderXR1Prefs.cfg and XR5VanguardPrefs.cfg files; e.g., selectively disable/enable each different type of damage, set pop-up HUD colors and transparency, choose easy or realistic thrust levels, choose fuel setting for "ISS-only", "Moon", "Mars", etc., choose O2 and APU fuel levels.

• [CHEATCODES] support in the configuration files that allow you to directly set certain ship values such as the ship's mass, max engine thrust, fuel tank capacity, etc.

• Multi-Display-Area (MDA) touch screen on the main instrument panel with multiple modes showing custom autopilots, hull temperatures, ship damage status, etc.  For example, you can switch the readout between degrees Celsius, Kelvin, and Fahrenheit by clicking an area on the MDA screen.

• Efficient Attitude Hold autopilot to hold a given pitch/AOA and bank while neutralizing yaw; typically used during reentry or to hold attitude while braking with the hover engines in a vacuum.  Autopilot can hold a stable reentry even under time acceleration and can operate at 100x in space.

• Efficient Descent Hold and Auto-Land autopilot to hold a descent or ascent rate; engaging auto-land mode will land the XR1 in a hover efficiently and smoothly every time.  With a good frame rate (~100 fps), autopilot can auto-land even at 80x time acceleration and can operate at 100x in space.  This means you can auto-land with an effective frame rate of only 1.25 frames per second, and you can hold a set ascent/descent rate with an effective frame rate of only one frame per second.

• Efficient Airspeed Hold autopilot to hold a given airspeed within 0.1 meter-per-second. Useful during atmospheric flight and when taxiing.

• Reentry Systems Check MDA mode to verify that the ship is property configured for reentry.

• A pop-up data HUD listing all the new XR-class keyboard shortcut keys.

• Extensive damage and warning modeling including wing load limits, dynamic pressure and heat limits for different surfaces, and gear collapse on landing.  Crew may be injured or killed by a hard landing or crash.

• Altitude, speed, damage, warning, failure, and docking distance callouts.

• Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) with (optionally) limited fuel that powers hydraulic systems such as flight control surfaces, landing gear, wheel brakes, etc.

• APU and O2 consumables management.  Ship's mass is affected by LOX (Liquid Oxygen) and APU fuel loadouts in addition to main, RCS, and SCRAM fuel, and crew members.

• Internal systems coolant management; use the ship's radiator to cool internal systems.  Overheating the system by waiting too long to deploy the radiator will cause internal systems to fail.

• Two pop-up mini-HUDs: secondary HUD is fully configurable and shows flight data such as altitude, airspeed, etc. in Metric and/or Imperial units.  Tertiary HUD shows ship's status and warnings.

• Redesigned SCRAM (Supersonic RAMJET) engines that operate up to ~Mach 17 on the XR1 and ~Mach 20 on the Vanguard.  A good pilot can reach LEO with most of the main engine fuel remaining.  Or if you're in a hurry, push both the SCRAM and main engines to full power and accelerate into orbit at 2.5 G's (XR1) or 3.8 G's (Vanguard).  The SCRAM engines are also useful after reentry if you are short of your landing site and don't have enough main engine fuel remaining (assuming you kept some SCRAM fuel in reserve!)  New SCRAM engines operate at peak efficiency at Mach 7-8 (XR1) or Mach 9 (Vanguard).

• Over 270 new sound effects and voice callouts.

• Auto-starting Mission-Elapsed-Time (MET) timer plus two manual interval timers.

• Refueling and LOX resupply/dump support.  Configurable settings for main fuel, APU fuel, SCRAM fuel, and LOX levels.

• Fuel cross-feed available between main and RCS tanks.

• 51-page XR1 Flight Operations Manual and 65-page XR5 Vanguard Flight Operations Manual in PDF format.

• Support for the scenario editor.

• EVA support via UMmu from DanSteph.

• High-polygon astronaut meshes developed by Greg Burch; used with permission.

• Astronaut mesh is easily configurable; users can use Greg Burch's high-polygon astronaut meshes, the standard bulky astronaut mesh included with UMmu, or any other custom astronaut mesh.

• Supports direct crew member transfers while docked.

• Many other gauges, tweaks, and other changes too numerous to list here.

XR5 Vanguard Features

In addition to the standard XR-class vessel features above, the Vanguard also includes:

• All-new 3D model created by Russell Hicks; Russ has hundreds of hours of work invested in the Vanguard's mesh and textures.

• A large payload bay with sufficient space to hold 36 standard 20-foot shipping containers or other payload up to a maximum recommended mass of 432 metric tons.

• Crew complement of 18, with ample living space inside the ship.

• Rotating wheels animation.

• Nose wheel steering animation.

• Complex gear retraction/deployment animation.

• Independent front/rear gear compression animation.

• A top-mounted docking port that includes a docking camera panel view.

• RCS Docking Configuration that makes it easy to dock with other stations or vessels.

• Full payload support: the Vanguard can carry any payload module/vessel in Orbiter that can fit in the payload bay -- no special DLL or mesh is required.

New Projects in Development (updated 3.31.2008)

The XR2 Ravenstar is in development and features a new mesh and textures by Steve Tyler.  Stay tuned for updates.

Orbiter Links

Orbiter Home

Orbiter-Forum

Ascension International Aerospace

DanSteph's Orbiter Page

Orbiter Mars

Vinka's Orbiter Page

Acknowledgements

• Many thanks to Dr. Martin Schweiger for his outstanding Orbiter program.

• Thanks to DanSteph for his excellent OrbiterSound 3.5 and UMmu releases.

• Thanks to Greg Burch for kindly granting permission to use his high-polygon astronaut meshes for the XR1 and the Vanguard.

Email me or reach me on the Orbiter Forum as dbeachy1

Last updated 05.10.2008

Software on this page copyright 2006-2008 Douglas Beachy.

This software is FREEWARE and may not be sold.