The Unofficial Virtual Skipper 4 FAQ

Version 1.3
Last updated: Wednesday November 30, 2005

Copyright © 2002 - 2005 Keith Suderman

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections with the no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license can be found at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html.

Introduction

The latest HTML version of the FAQ can always be found at http://www.suderman.com/vsk4faq.html and the XML version at http://www.suderman.com/vsk4faq.xml

The Questions

Q:Why can't I host/create races?

Q:Why does VSK 4 crash when I try to start it?

Q:Why do I get a BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) when I start VSK 4 with ZoneAlarm running?

Q:Why does VSK 4 crash every time I try to play Multiplayer on the Internet?

Q:Why don't my VSK 3 skins work in VSK 4?

Q:Why shouldn't I edit the skins created by other people?

Q:How do I make a new skin?

Q:I have a new skin, where do I put it?

Q:How do I watch replays?

Q:How do I edit replays?

Q:Why don't my VSK 3 courses work in VSK 4?

Q:How do I add AI boats to courses I create?

Q:How do I add a custom avatar to my player?

Q:How do I change my avatar?

Q:What does the Clock shift detected message mean?

Q:How can I play without the CD in the drive?

Q:How do I create new boat models for VSK 4?

 

The Answers

Q: Why can't I host/create races?

A: The number one question of all time. You've been racing in other people's races and want to host your own. But no matter how long you wait people either don't join, or your friends tell you that they receive a "Cannot connect to host" message when they try to join your race.

This means you have a firewall (of some sort) and a port forwarding problem. (Note: a router is a hardware firewall). Please see this page for a full description of how to host races from behind a firewall in VSK 4.

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Q: Why does VSK 4 crash when I try to start it?

A: This is a close second for the number one question, and the answer is almost always your video card drivers. Make sure you have the very latest drivers and get them directly from the makers of the chipset used by your video card. Do not wait for Windows Update to tell you when new drivers are available. You may also need to update the firmware on your video card, but that is unlikely.

Also note that the minimum requirements listed on the box are a bit optimistic. The most important part to note is that the video card should support DirectX 9.0c and older cards have some problems with this. You're going to need good to excellent hardware if you want to run VSK 4 on a laptop.

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Q: Why do I get a BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) when I start VSK 4 with ZoneAlarm running?

A: This is a known problem with the StarForce drivers. You will need to update the StarForce drivers.

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Q: Why does VSK 4 crash every time I try to play Multiplayer on the Internet?

Look in the VSK 4 directory for a file named LogCrash-*.txt that is zero bytes in size. Delete this file and VSK 4 should be able to connect to the internet.

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Q: Why don't my VSK 3 skins work in VSK 4?

A: VSK 4 requires that skins be saved with mipmaps. If the VSK 3 skin you are using does not contain mipmaps it will not be usable in VSK 4.

If you created the skin yourself then you will need to reload the files into your graphics editing program and resave the files to include mipmaps. Most graphics programs should generate the mipmaps automatically. If you are not the creator of the skins you will need to download a new version of the skin from the original creator. You should not edit skins that others have created.

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Q: Why shouldn't I edit the skins created by other people?

A: Aside from the fact that it is copyright infringement there is an excellent technical reason you should avoid editing the skins that others have created.

Let's say that you are in a small club of 20 skippers and everyone uses one of two skins. One skin was created by SkipperX and includes mipmaps, and one skin was created by SkipperY and does not include mipmaps. Both skins worked fine in VSK 3, but now that everyone is using VSK 4 they find that SkipperY's skin does not work. Rather than getting a new version of the skin from SkipperY everyone simply edits their copy of the skin and resaves the files with mipmaps.

The problem is that now VSK 4 will not recognize everyone has a copy of SkipperY's skin; as far as VSK can tell all these copies look like unique files. So everyone will have to download what is essentially the same skin from everyone else and now everyone will have one copy of SkipperX's skin and 20 copies of SkipperY's skin!

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Q: How do I make a new skin?

A: The answer to that question is beyond the scope of this FAQ. However, you are not the first person to make a skin for a DirectX game! Hopefully this will be enough to get you started in the right direction.

You will need graphics editing software such as Adobe PhotoShop, Paint Shop Pro, or Pixia. Then visit the nVidia web site and grab the PhotoShop plugin if you are using PhotoShop or PSP, otherwise you will need the DDS Utilities (you may want these anyway). If you are using PSP read this article to learn how to use the PhotoShop plugin with PSP. If you are using Pixia or some other program you will have to export/import the images from the .dds files to be able to edit them.

Then visit the Virtual Winds web site and get the skin templates from their download section (free registration required).

Save the templates into a new folder, load them in your graphics editor, and edit to your heart's content.

Notes

  • When you are saving/exporting your skins be sure to save the .dds files with mipmaps, otherwise they will not be usable in VSK 4
  • Since VSK 4 uses DirectX any tutorial you can find for creating skins for a DirectX game will also apply to VSK 4 (for the most part).

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Q: I have a new skin, where do I put it?

A: Start the VSK 4 Launcher and instead of clicking on the Play button click on the Help button and then Custom Data. In the panel on the right you will see a button labeled Boat skins, if you click on it a Windows Explorer window will open in the VSK 4 skins folder. Place you custom skin's zip file in the appropriate folder for the boat type (ACC, Melges etc.).

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Q: How do I watch replays?

A: From the VSK 4 main menu select Replays, then navigate to Replays/MyReplays and select the replay you would like to watch. A dialog will open with the following options:

  • View : This allows you to view the replay. However, by default this isn't very useful unless someone has edited the replay already.
  • Edit : This launchs the replay editor and is actually the best way to watch unedited replays. More information is provided below.
  • Play : This allows you to re-sail the course... the only problem is you're all alone.
  • Shoot video : This records the replay to a .avi so it can be viewed with any media player. This is the most useful if you have used the replay editor to make a little video clip.

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Q: How do I edit replays?

A: That is a topic that is beyond the scope of this FAQ. Hopefully someone will post a nice little editor tutorial that I can link to, but for now here are a few pointers.

  • Quickly move to any point in the replay by dragging the red indicator.
  • Each object in the replay has a track. For example, there is one track for the camera, one track for each boat in the race etc. You can add tracks to the replay by clicking on the "Add Track" button. You can add tracks to add text messages, sounds, images, etc at certain points in the replay.
  • The camera is controlled by the Camera Track. If you click on the camera track you can change the setting for the camera. In particular you can change the view (Inside, Aerial, or Follow) as well as the boat the camera follows.
  • If you delete the default camera you can watch the replay by using the arrow keys and mouse to control the camera position.
  • You can change the replay speed by adjusting the length of the Time Track. For example to double the play back speed drag the end of the time track back to the halfway mark, to triple the speed drag it to the one third mark, etc.
  • You can create "scenes" by adding blocks to the time and camera tracks. By default the each track has one block that goes from 0:00.00 to the end of the race. However, you can change this by either clicking on the track and editing the values for Block Start and Block End, or by clicking and dragging the yellow markers at the start and end of the block. Note that the markers at each ends of the block have a Time Value, these are reference points (in seconds) to the points in the replay that this time block covers. For example, if you want to start out with a 30 scene that showed an incident five minutes into the replay (that is seconds 300 to 330 in the replay) you would set Block start to 0:00.00, Block end to 0:30.00, the time value for the start marker to 300 and the time value for the end marker to 330.
  • You can create multiple scenes by adding multiple time blocks to the time track. For example you could add a second scene to the above that showed the same 30 seconds of the replay in slow motion:
    1. Drag the red marker to an empty position on the time track
    2. Select the time track by clicking on the word Time and add a new block
    3. Click on the starting marker for the new block and set Block start to 0:30.00, Block end to 1:00.00, and the Time value to 300
    4. Click on the end marker for the new block and set the Time Value to 330
    This will play back the same 30 seconds of the replay in 1 minute of real time.
  • You can also resize the default camera block and add new cameras to the camera track.. To add a new block to the camera track drag the red indicator to an empty part of the camera track, select the camera track by click on the word Camera, and click on the Add Block button. You will be presented with a list of three types of cameras to add:
    1. Camera Custom : Adds a static camera at a given postion that follows an assigned boat.
    2. Camera Race : This is like the default camera. This will follow a specified boat around with the given view (Aeiral, Inside, Follow).
    3. Camera Path : Presumably this adds a camera that follows a path of some sort, but I haven't figured out how it works.

Note: When you are entering values for the block start, end, time value etc. always make sure to hit the enter key before moving on to the next value. If you simply move on to the next value by clicking on it the changes you made to the previous value will not be recorded.

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Q: Why don't my VSK 3 courses work in VSK 4?

A: Set up a race for eight, or fewer, skippers and you can use any VSK 3 course.

VSK 4 will only display the courses that have enough starting positions and VSK 3 allowed a maximum of eight starting positions on a course. So, if you set up a race for more than eight skippers VSK 4 will not display the VSK 3 courses.

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Q: How do I add AI boats to courses I create?

A: Before starting the course editor hold down the right mouse button and type in the word friends. Now when you go to the Params section in the course editor you will see settings for the AI boats (number and skill level)

Note : The AI can not see land so don't put any in the way of the AI boats unless you want to watch them pile up on the shore.

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Q: How do I add a custom avatar to my player?

A: In the VSK 4 Launcher instead of clicking on the Play button. Click on the Help button, then the Custom Data button, then the Avatar button in the top left under Data Importer. This will open a standard Window's file selection dialog box. Navigate to the image file you want to use for your avatar and click ok. VSK 4 will resize the image and place a copy in the correct location for VSK 4 to use. You should now be able to change your avatar

Note : While VSK will resize the image you select for you avatar for the best results you should use a relatively small image. The more resizing VSK has to do the poorer the image quality will be (i.e. don't use a 1600x1400 image for your avatar and execpt it to look very nice).

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Q: How do I change my avatar?

From the Main Menu in VSK 4 select Settings. In the top right of the Settings screen you will see you current avatar. Click on it to change it.

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Q: What does the Clock shift detected message mean?

A: It means one of two things:

  1. That skipper has/had bag lag. (most likely)
  2. That skipper is cheating (very unlikely)

If everyone in the race is getting the message it is either the host with lag, or that is cheating.

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Q: How can I play without the CD in the drive?

A: The only way is to buy the downloadable version of the game. The CD version of VSK 4 requires the CD in the drive everytime it starts. As far as I know no one has found a way of breaking the copy protection used by VSK 4. (and I hope they never do!)

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Q: How do I create new boat models for VSK 4?

A: That is a very good question.

You can download the tool used to import boat models into VSK 4 here. You will also need a program like FREE!Ship or Blender3D to create the 3D boat models. How all this works together is still a bit of a black art, however Focus has set up a forum on the topic of model building and Nadeo has promised more information on the subject. Stay tuned.

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