Ship Simulator 2008 Manual

Contents

General .................................................................................................................................................... 2

Free Roaming .......................................................................................................................................... 2

Viewpoint positions .............................................................................................................................. 3

Setting waypoints ................................................................................................................................. 4

Play Missions ........................................................................................................................................... 4

Example mission.................................................................................................................................. 7

Information panel ............................................................................................................................... 10

Chart .................................................................................................................................................. 11

Classes and Ranks ............................................................................................................................ 12

Mission objectives .............................................................................................................................. 12

Scoring ............................................................................................................................................... 13

Controlling a ship ................................................................................................................................... 13

Keyboard control ................................................................................................................................ 13

Mouse functions ................................................................................................................................. 14

Profile ..................................................................................................................................................... 14

Options................................................................................................................................................... 14

Graphic settings ................................................................................................................................. 14

Controls.............................................................................................................................................. 16

Sounds ............................................................................................................................................... 16

Troubleshooting ..................................................................................................................................... 16

Technical support .................................................................................................................................. 17

Epilepsy warning Notes ......................................................................................................................... 18

License Agreements .............................................................................................................................. 18

Credits.................................................................................................................................................... 20
Ship Simulator 2008 Manual 3 September 2007

General
Ship Simulator 2008 has the following possibilities:
Free Roaming, where you can select a ship and an environment, set the weather and time, and start sailing. In
this mode, there are no clear objectives and no ranks to be improved. Just go wherever you want with
whichever ship you prefer. If you reach the end of an environment, you get the choice where you want to go to
next. So you can start in Rotterdam, and end up in New York for example. You can set your own course with
waypoints, and follow it from waypoint to waypoint.
Play missions, whereby you have to reach certain goals without causing damage. Missions can be easy, with
just one ship to control and just a few goals. They can also be complex, whereby you need to control multiple
ships simultaneously, each with its own set of goals. There are even missions whereby you need to tow a large
boat into a harbour, using multiple small tug boats. You can earn ranks by completing missions without
causing damage. The more complex the mission, the more you add to your rankings.
Image 1 shows the user-interface screens that you should see if the game installs and functions correctly.

Image 1a. Main menu user- Image 1b. User-interface screen of Image 1c. Free roaming screen.
interface screen. Play menu.

Free Roaming
Click on Play, and then on Free Roaming. You should see the user-interface of image 1c. Select an
environment by double-clicking on one name in the list, or clicking on the name and then op Select at the
bottom. For example, San Francisco. Then select a ship, and choose one from the list of ships. For example,
select the Pilot boat Pioneer. Then set the weather and time parameters, or keep the default settings.

Image 2a. Free roaming, select an Image 2b. Select a ship. Each ship Image 2c. Time and weather
environment from the list. in the game should be shown here, configuration options in free-
rotating around its centre. roaming mode.

After selecting an environment, a ship, and adjusting the time and weather settings, click on Start. After some
loading time, you should see something like image 3.

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Image 3. In Free roaming, if you select the pilot boat in San Francisco, you should get something like this. The
actual position could be different, as the ships in free-roam mode spawn randomly at different locations. You can
zoom in and out of the chart with the slider on the right, and zoom further away from the ship with the mouse
scroll wheel.
You can steer the ship and control the engines using either the arrow keys of your keyboard, or by click-
dragging the mouse over the engine handles, the steering wheel and the bow thrusters. Clicking on the icons at
the bottom of the screen shows or hides the different elements of the user-interface: the information panel at
the top, the waypoints and player ships (in missions only), the chart, the mooring and towing options, the
different viewpoint positions, the engine and steering controls, taking a snapshot, the ship log (in missions),
the Globe, the settings, and reset to the start position.

Viewpoint positions
The standard viewpoint is the External viewpoint, which by default floats in the air behind the ship. Using the
mouse scroll wheel, you can zoom in and out of the ship. Pressing the right mouse button and dragging the
mouse left and right will rotate the viewpoint around the ship.
There are two alternative viewpoint positions. One is the helmsman viewpoint, and the other is the
walkthrough viewpoint. These are shown in image 4.

Image 4a. External viewpoint, Image 4b. Steering wheel Image 4c. Walkthrough mode,
which allows you to rotate around viewpoint, which puts you at the which allows you to fully explore
the ship you are steering. helmsman position. the ship.

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At any point you can show or hide the user-interface overlay with the Tab key. Hiding it is probably more
appropriate for the steering wheel viewpoint and the walkthrough viewpoint.
In the steering wheel mode and the walkthrough mode, with a hidden overlay user interface, you can still steer
the ship and control the engine handles directly, using the mouse pointer over the objects on the bridge.
In walkthrough mode, you can “walk” using the cursor keys and the mouse. Just like in the other modes,
pressing the right-hand mouse button and moving the mouse will change the looking and moving direction.
While walking forward, pressing the Shift key will let you “run” faster.

Setting waypoints
In free-roaming mode, the electronic chart has some possibilities that are not available in Mission mode. You
can set waypoints on the chart, and these will appear similar to waypoints in missions. You can see them on
the chart, and the information bar at the top will give information about the next waypoint, like distance,
location etc. Click on the Enlarge icon at the top-right side of the chart window. Image 5 shows how you can
set waypoints in the chart.

Image 5. In Free-roaming mode, you can show the chart full-screen with the icon on the left-top. Once full-
screen, you can enter waypoints using the icons in the left column. These will then appear as waypoints in the
3D game view, similar to how waypoints in missions are shown. The navigation information bar at the top shows
more information about the next waypoint in the list.

Play Missions
Click on Mission in the main game menu. When you first start playing, you will see a simple overview of all
available missions in the game. After some time, when you created a personal profile, an online forum profile,
and completed several missions, the mission overview will start to change. It will look like image 6. The
different elements of this overview are described below.

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Image 6. Mission overview window.

1. The green tick mark indicates whether you have played the mission before.
2. The timer icon indicates if you are currently the record holder of this mission.
3. The Sort selector allows you to sort the missions on the standard sequence (roughly a sequence with
increasing difficulty), environment, difficulty, personal rating, or on-line rating. Ratings are described
later in this manual.
4. Current record holder and his time.
5. Star rating. The white colour indicates the average user rating, as it was retrieved from the central
mission database if you made forum profile (see section on Profile in this manual). The green outline
indicates your current rating, which you indicated when you played this mission before.
6. Difficulty level of this mission.
Start mission “Assist the yacht with defect engines”. You will see image 7. Numbers are added to explain the
different elements of the user-interface.

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Image 7. Start of mission “Assist the yacht with defect engines”.

1. Active player ship. Zoom closer to the ship with the mouse scroll wheel. Turn around the ship by
pressing the right-side mouse button and dragging the mouse left and right, or up and down.
2. Icon for the active player ship. There are missions with multiple player ships. Each ship will have an
icon like this, and you can change between ships by clicking on these icons.
3. The mission objectives, or Waypoints, of the player ship. Moving the mouse over these icons will
bring up a text display with the waypoint’s objectives. Some waypoints don’t have textual objectives,
but they just indicate where to go to next on the chart. There are also waypoints for mooring, towing,
disconnecting towing ropes, and rescuing drowning people.
4. Information panel. Can be switched on or off with button number 8 of image 5, or with F2.
5. Engine controls. Click on the handles and drag the mouse up and down to set the amount of gas.
Click-dragging in the area between the two handles will control both of them simultaneously. Double-
click in the middle to bring them to neutral position. The engines can also be controlled with the
cursor keys up and down.
6. Steering wheel. Click-dragging on it and turning the mouse in a circle will steer the ship. Double-click
in the middle to bring it back to the neutral position. The ship can also be steered with the cursor keys
left and right.
7. Bow thrusters. Only usable for ships that actually have bow thrusters. Click-dragging left and right on
it will push the bow of the ship in that direction. This only works for slow sailing speeds, less than 3
knots. Handy for mooring or unmooring in tight places.
8. Show/hide the information panel at the top of the screen. Also possible with F2.
9. Show/hide the player ship and waypoint icons (3 and 4) at the top-left. Also possible with F3.
10. Show/hide the chart. Also possible with F4.

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11. Show/hide the mooring, towing and anchoring spots as little coloured spheres on the ships and
mooring points. If you click first on such a sphere on the ship, and then on a second sphere on another
ship or mooring boulder, a rope will be created between the two points. The rope will come up with
little red crosses. Clicking on such a red cross will take away the rope again. Also possible with F5.
12. Show/hide viewpoint icons. Standard is the external viewpoint (key 1), which hangs behind the ship.
Other options are the steering-wheel viewpoint (key 2) and the walkthrough viewpoint (key 3). Reset
the viewpoint positions with the 0 key. Show/hide viewpoint icons with F6.
13. Show/hide the engine and steering controls.
14. Take a picture, which will be saved in C:\Program Files\Vstep\ShipSim2008\Pictures\. Also possible
with F7.
15. Log. Shows all the events that happened with a timestamp, like collisions, environment changes etc.
16. Mission history. This shows you the times that you reached the waypoints of your mission. Also
possible with F8.
17. Globe, which you can use to go to other environments available in the game.
18. Save the game state, so you can exit the game and continue to play later.
19. Settings. This allows you to change the settings for sound volume, graphics quality and controls. More
on mapping keys or joysticks to game functions later. Also possible with F9
20. Reset mission to the start situation. Also possible with key r.
21. Electronic chart, explained later in this manual.
22. Waypoint objective text message. Pops up when you have reached a mission waypoint, with
instructions for the next.
Clicking on the Moorage icon at the bottom, or F5, will display three icons: MooringLine, TowLine, and
Anchor. These are shown in image 8a-c.

Figure 8a. Mooring lines. Figure 8b. Towline connection Figure 8c. Anchor points are shown
Connection points are shown as points are visible as green spheres. with a blue sphere at the bow.
orange spheres.
Clicking on the MooringLine icon will show orange spheres on the possible mooring connection points. The
TowLine icon will show green spheres on the towing connection, if the ship has these. The Anchor will show
a blue sphere at the front of the ship. Clicking on it will drop the anchor, which can be dangerous when you do
this at full speed! Whenever a mooring, towing, or anchor line is created, red crosses are displayed. Clicking
on these will remove the rope again

Example mission
In the following image sequence, we will show you how to complete the mission objectives, called
Waypoints, of this mission. A video tutorial of this mission is also available. A link to it was installed with the
game and can be watched with Start – Programs - Ship Simulator 2008 – Tutorial.

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Image 9a. Click on the Moorage icon at the bottom, Image 9b. Now the boat is loose and ready to go.
and then on the red crosses to disconnect the mooring Click-drag the mouse on the engine and steering
lines. controls at the bottom-left, or use the cursor keys.

Image 9c. Steer the ship to the yacht floating around Image 9d. Steer the ship inside the green circle, turn
with a broken engine. You can follow your ship’s around, and make the ship stop by reversing the
position on the electronic chart. The defect yacht, your engines.
Waypoint, is indicated on the chart and on the water
with a green circle.

Image 9e. Click again on the Moorage icon at the Image 9f. Red crosses appear at both ends of the
bottom, then on the Towline icon. Green dots will towing line. Clicking on these will disconnect the rope
appear on the front and back of the ship, indicating the again.
connection points. Now click on one of the green dots,
then on the orange dot on the yacht’s front. Now your
towing rope is connected.

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Image 9g. Now you can start towing the yacht to the Image 9h. Keep track of the chart. The little green
next waypoint area, close to the beach. arrow on the edge of the circle indicates the direction
you need to go to the next waypoint.

Image 9i. You can take the seat behind the steering Image 9j. If you come close to the next waypoint, you
wheel using keyboard key 2, or clicking on the steering see a green circle on top of the water. Moving the
wheel icon that pops up when you click on the mouse over the waypoint icon at the top-left pops up
Viewpoint icon at the bottom. Hide the overlay user- the objective. So here the objective is to disconnect
interface with the Tab key. Look around with right- the towing rope when you are inside the waypoint
mouse click-drag left and right. Use the steering wheel circle.
and engine controls with the left mouse. Click-drag the
mouse on top of these elements in the desired
direction.

Image 9k. Click again on the Moorage icon. When you Image 9l. Waypoint achieved. The green circle will
are inside the green circle, click on the red cross to disappear and the waypoint icon at the top-left will
disconnect the towing rope. become green.

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Image 9m. Next waypoints are to moor the ship again Image 9n. Also connect the second mooring line the
at its original location. Sail to the green circle, click on same way. Mission successful!
the mooring icon. Then click on an orange dot on the
ship and next on the orange dot on the mooring
boulder. A mooring line is created and the waypoint is
achieved.

Information panel

Image 10. Information panel. Using the bar at the bottom, you can shift left and right.

 GPS position, Location – geographical coordinates of ship position.

 Heading – The course you are steering on the compass.
 CTW: Course to waypoint - Compass course to the next waypoint in degrees.
 TWD: True Wind Direction
 AWD: Apparent Wind Direction. Combination of true wind speed and the wind effect of the ship
speed.
 Rate of Turn – Indication of how fast the ship is turning, in degrees per minute.
 Course Over Ground - This is the course that the ship actually moved over the last few seconds. Note
that this course may be different than the Heading, because of drift.
 Speed over Ground – Speed in knots, or nautical miles per hour, that the ship moved between fixed
positions. Note that this speed may be different than the speed gauge on the ship, which is usually
based on speed through the water, because of drift or current. 1 knot = 1.852 km/hour.
 Bow speed – This is important when mooring large vessels. It indicates the speed that the bow of the
ship is moving sideways, for example when the bow thrusters is used. Too much bow speed towards
the quay could damage the bow of a container vessel, for example.
 Aft speed – same story for the back end of the ship.
 Bow depth – Water depth in meters below the sea level at the bow of the ship.
 Aft depth - Water depth at the stern of the ship.

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 Waypoint location – geographical coordinates of the position of the next waypoint.

 Distance to waypoint – in Nautical miles. 1 Nm = 1.852 km.
 Cross track error – Distance you are located from the direct line between the previous and next
waypoint, in Nautical miles. 1 Nm = 1.852 km.
 Velocity made good – Component of the speed towards the next waypoint.
 Engine 1 – Thrust of engine 1 in rotations per minute (rpm)
 Engine 2 – Thrust of engine 2 in rotations per minute (rpm)
 Thruster 1 – Only for ships that have a bow thrusters, usually the larger ships. Thrust of the bow
thrusters in % of total thrust. Bow thruster is a sideways propeller located at the bow of some ships. It
only works at slow movement speeds, the lower the better. It is normally used for manoeuvring in
small spaces, like mooring and unmooring in harbours.
 Damage – In case of collisions, the damage is given here as a percentage. The ship will move slower
when it has damage. In case of damage below the waterline, it will slowly start to sink.
 Wind – True wind speed in Beaufort, and compass direction.
 Apparent wind – This is a combination of the true wind and the wind you feel because of the speed of
the vessel.

Chart
In the below image, an explanation is given of the elements of the electronic sea chart.
Image 11. Chart. Explanation of the numbered items:
1. Switch ship icons on/off
2. Switch waypoints on/off
3. Switch water depths on/off
4. Switch names on/off
5. Switch buoy icons on/off
6. Choose to display the chart North-up, or oriented in
the player ship heading.
7. Slider to set the transparency of the chart
8. Slider to set the zoom level
9. Switch between small chart window and full-screen
10. Player ship position and direction
11. Direction of the next waypoint
12. Location of next waypoint
13. Later waypoints

The chart has the option to orientate itself around the player ship direction, similar to car navigation systems,
whereby the chart rotates around the car which stays fixed in the centre. Radars also usually function that way.
Normally, sea charts are orientated North-South, or North-up, and the player ship icon orientates itself
according to its compass heading.
A blue color on the chart indicates a shallow area. At what depth exactly the charts becomes white is different
per environment, like on the commercial sea charts of those areas. On some charts this is 10 meter, on some
others 20 m.
Grey or yellow areas indicate landmass, white or blue indicates water. Numbers indicate water depth, in
meters.
The centre of the chart window indicates the position of the current player ship. The straight line shows the
ship movement or orientation direction. In missions with multiple player ships, clicking on another ship icon
at the top will show that ship’s position centred on the chart. The little green triangle indicates the direction to
the next waypoint.
Waypoints are indicated on the chart with little red and green circles. The next waypoint on the list is
indicated with two circles, one red and one green. Completed waypoints are indicated with a green check
mark (not shown in this image as no waypoint was completed yet).

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Other ship, both moving ships and moored ships, are visible with ship-shaped images. Blue images indicate
moving ships, and black images indicate moored ships. So in effect, the chart also has a radar function,
especially useful in foggy conditions.

Classes and Ranks

By playing missions, you can improve your rank. The ships in the game categorised in five classes: Special,
Motorboat, Cargo, Passenger, and Tugs. Each class has 5 ranks. The more difficult the mission, the more you
can improve your rank of the class of the player ship of that mission. In the table below, all classes and ranks
are shown. The icons correspond to the ones you will see in your game profile. You can upload your rank to
the ShipSim forum, in which case your rank will be shown next to your name on the forum. This is a forum
profile option, which you can also switch off if you prefer.
Special Class

Rookie Ship mate Apprentice Journeyman Master

Motorboat class

Rookie Ship mate Apprentice Journeyman Master

Cargo class

Third mate Second mate Chief mate First Officer Master Mariner
Passenger or yacht class

Third mate Second mate Chief mate First Officer Captain

Tugs class

Boatswain Officer Lieutenant Commander Captain

Mission objectives
There are different mission goals, or waypoints, that can be part of a mission.
1. Area or Buoy – You need to approach this waypoint at a certain distance indicated with a green
circle, to get it marked as Reached.
2. Mooring, towing, anchoring – You need to get very close to a mooring waypoint with your ship, and
stop the ship. Then moor the ship as explained above. Similar with towing and anchoring.
3. Taxi – At these waypoints, your ship needs to approach it very closely and stop completely (speed
less than 2 knots) for at least several seconds, the time people would need to step in or out. After the

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stop time at low speed, this waypoint gets marked as Achieved and you can continue with the next.
4. Rescue people – Here you need to approach the person very slowly, without hitting them. When you
hit the person, your mission will be stopped. Bring your ship very close to them at a speed of less than
2 knots and the person will disappear. You can continue your trip.
5. Ramps – With the speedboat and the water taxi, it is possible to jump in the air across a ramp. These
are counted as completed if you jump straight over them.

Scoring
When you finish a mission, you can give it a rating with stars, as an indication of how much you enjoyed
playing it. When you have made a personal profile in the game, and registered your license key on the
www.shipsim.com forum, your rating can be uploaded to the central mission database, and used to adapt the
average user score. The user scores of missions will be used by mission creators, as an indication of the type
of missions to make in the future. Image 12 shows the end of mission dialog box with the star rating.
Image 12. End of mission dialog box with the star
rating. Clicking on a star will set your rating, and
upload it to the mission server if you made a local and
an on-line forum profile. If you play the mission a
second time, you can change your rating.

Controlling a ship
You can steer a vessel in several ways:
1. With the keyboard
2. With the overlay controls, using the mouse
3. With a joystick
The assignments of keyboard keys and joystick elements to functions can be customized using Options –
Controls. This is described in more detail on the section Controls in this manual.

Keyboard control
Key Function
Tab Shows or hides all the interface elements.
1,2,3 Switch between external view, helmsman view and walkthrough mode
4,5 Other cameras rotating the ships that function in combination with the mouse
0 Reset viewpoint
P Pause
R Reset mission
Cursor keys More/less throttle on the engine controls (both engine simultaneously). With the smaller ships, the
up/down engine control returns back to neutral automatically. With the larger ships, the engine control stays
in position until you “push” it back with the mouse or the keys.
Cursor keys Steer left or right. With the smaller ships, the steering returns back to neutral automatically. With the
left/right larger ships, the steering stays in position until you steer back with the mouse or the keys.
Cursor key To set the engine throttle or the rudders in a fixed position, instead of letting them get back to
plus Shift key neutral position when you let go of the cursor keys, you can use the Shift key in combination with
the cursor keys.
, Bow thrusters steering port (left)
. Bow thrusters starboard (right)
+ Zoom into the chart

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- Zoom out of the chart

H Horn
F2 – F9 Each F key shows or hides one of the user-interface elements
F7 Take picture

Mouse functions
Button Function
Left Click on an active object in the scene, or on a top-row icon, (player ship or waypoint) centers the
viewpoint on that object.
Click-dragging the left mouse button on the engine controls will move the handle forward and
backward. Doing this between the handles and they will do this both simultaneously.
Double-clicking between the engine handles will center them back to neutral position.
Click-dragging the left mouse button on the bow thruster control left and right will activate the bow
thrusters. This only works at very low boat speeds. Double-click at the bow thrusters throttle to set it
back to neutral.
Right Click-dragging the right-mouse button to rotate the viewpoint around the ship. In bridge view, this
way you can look in all directions. This also works with the binocular view.
Scroll wheel Zoom in and out of the ship. When you get close to the ship, you switch to bridge view. Zooming in
even more and you get a binocular view.
In binocular view, scrolling will zoom in and out.

Profile
You can create a profile, where all your mission scores and ranks are stored. Also custom control settings are
stored in the profile which was active when the settings were made. You can upload your ranks to the ShipSim
database, after which they can become visible with your forum name when you make a posting.
Image 13. You can create a new profile with the green
+ button. All the ranks you obtain by playing missions
are stored in this profile. If you register on the Ship
Simulator forum (forum.shipsim.com) and add your
license key with your forum profile, your ranks can be
uploaded from the PC to the forum. Once uploaded,
your ranks can be shown with your name on the forum
when you make a posting.

Options
There are a number of ways in which you can fine-tune the game to your preference and to your system
performance. These are described in the following sections.

Graphic settings
In image 14, the dialog box is given which is used for setting the graphical features which influence the
quality and performance.

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Image 14. Options for fine-tuning the graphics quality and performance.
The Resolution listing should give the available options for your graphics card. The default is 1024x768
pixels, which should be sufficient to play the game.
By default, the game runs full screen. But you can run it in windowed mode, which makes it easier to switch
to other programs without closing the game.
If you have two monitors attached to your PC, you can run the game in “Split screen” mode. Set your graphics
card to Spanning view. Then you can choose a high resolution for the game, like 2048x768. The game covers
both monitors. If you the select the “Split screen” option, you can run the electronic chart on the second
monitor. You can divide the area covered by the game and the chart by dragging the vertical split between
these two areas left and right. If you drag it exactly to the middle and start a mission, you should see
something like image 15.

Image 15. If you have two monitors, you can run the game in Split screen mode, to see the electronic chart full screen on
the second monitor.
There are three basic quality settings: Low, Medium and High. If your PC specification is good enough for
this game, the Low quality setting should be always usable. The Advanced options allows you to fine-tune

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some settings to your taste. Most of these are self-explanatory. The bottom two options need some
explanation.
Ship Wakes – The white, turbulent wake water behind a vessel looks nice, but it can take some performance.
The slider lets you switch between no wakes for a fast performance, only wakes for the active player ship, and
wakes for all ships around you (sometimes referred to as AI ships).
Grid size – This is an indication of the quality of the ocean. The higher the grid size, the better the ocean
quality, but the lower the performance.
Particles settings – This is used for the viewing distance of the bow waves of ships. The higher the viewing
distance, the better the ocean quality, but the lower the performance.
You can use a separate software program like Fraps (www.fraps.com) to assess the performance, indicated
with framerate. Fraps will show the framerate in the corner of the screen. For missions with fast boats, like the
powerboat, you need a framerate of at least 20 – 25. If you like these missions most, you may need to turn the
graphics quality settings down. For larger ships, a framerate of 13 – 15 may be enough.

Controls
Ship Simulator 2008 has extensive functionality to customize the input controls in the game. Keyboard keys
and joystick keys and sliders can be assigned to all the functions in the game. Image 16 shows and describes
how this works.
Image 16. Options to change the default controls.
There are four sections, selectable with the drop-down
list box at the top: Interface, Ship Controls, Crane
Controls, and Camera Controls. Double-clicking on
each item brings up a dialog box, which asks you to
press the keyboard key or joystick button that you
would like to assign to that function. With the Set
defaults button at the bottom, you can always return to
the original settings. The option “Precision steering”
allows you to set the rudders and engine speed in
small increments, rather than at maximum value.

Sounds
Sound plays an important role in the game. There are four different categories of sound that can all be set
separately from each other. See image 17 for more on this.
Image 17. Options to change the sound volume of the
game. There are four different categories of sound.
Use the sliders to set the volume level. Click on Apply
Settings when you are finished.

Troubleshooting
Minimum system specifications:
Operating system: Windows 2000, XP or Vista
Processor: Pentium 4 2.4GHz or AMD equivalent
Memory: 1GB (Windows XP) or 2GB (Vista)
Graphics card: GeForce 5900 or ATI 9600 Pro / X600, 128MB memory
Audio devices: Sound card

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Input controller: Mouse with scroll wheel

Optional controllers: Joystick, Joypad or Steering wheel
If your PC does not fulfil the minimum requirements, Ship Simulator will run not at all, or it will run with a
low performance and graphics quality. We cannot provide support to PCs below the above minimum
specifications. Some elements of your PC can be upgraded quite easily, like the memory and the graphics
card.
There are general updates of the game available at the forum of www.shipsim.com .
Below some common questions and answers.
Q1: During loading, the game crashes.
A1:Crashes during loading the game are usually caused by a PC configuration which is not of the required
minimum spec, or by outdated drivers for the PC graphics card, sound card, or motherboard. It can also be that
the version of DirectX is too old. An easy way to find out about your PC specification and driver versions is to
run a program that was installed on your PC by DirectX, called dxdiag. This is how you can run dxdiag
(abbreviated name for DirectX Diagnostics):
1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. Type DXDIAG
4. Select OK or Run, the DirectX diagnostic tool should appear now.
5. Select the "Save all information..." button at the bottom.
6. A new dialog will open up; select the location where you want to save the information.
7. Inspect the dxdiag.txt file for your hardware configuration, driver version dates, and DirectX version. If
you see older driver dates than 2006, you should probably look on the corresponding vendor’s Website
for a newer version. Download and install it on your PC.
Lastly, game crashes during loading can be a sound codec issue. Maybe one of your software de-installations
took away a shared sound driver or other sound middleware component.
Try this codec pack:
http://www.k-litecodecpack.com
If you think your PC spec is above the minimum, your DirectX version is the latest, and your drivers are all
up-to-date, you can send an e-mail to [email protected] where you describe your problem clearly, and
attach the dxdiag.txt file, and possibly some screenshots of your problem situation.
Q2: The game runs, but the performance is very poor.
A2: If your PC has the minimum recommended spec, the performance can be improved by tweaking the
graphics parameters in the Settings. You can for example reduce the viewing distance, and un-tick the setting
Environment reflections. You can also optimize the settings of your graphics card, in Windows Control Panel.
Follow the instructions of the Owner’s Manual of your graphics card.
Q3: Why should I register myself at the ShipSim.com forum with my license key?
A3: Registering yourself with the license key will open up a few forum topics. New ships and environments,
for example, are posted at these spots. It will also make it possible for you to upload your scores, so you can
compare your mission scores with those of other players. Lastly, update patches are available at the forum of
shipsim.com.

Technical support
If you encounter a software problem when installing or playing the game and the particular quandary could
not be found in this manual, or solved by updating your computer with the latest audio or video drivers, you
may contact our helpdesk.
Before sending any emails to our helpdesk, we strongly advise you to visit the forum of our website at

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forum.shipsim.com and browse to your particular forum, or search through the forum for similar questions
that may already be answered before. Many issues, patches or updates are listed there. If your problem cannot
be found in this manual or our website, then please post your question under Technical Support or send an
email to [email protected]
When contacting us, be sure to include:
- A brief description of the problem.
- The hardware configuration of your computer. Attach the dxdiag.txt file that results from running
dxdiag (see section Troubleshooting for instructions).
- Information on the circumstances, under which the error occurred.
- A screenshot or video of the situation where the problem occurs. You can use a software program like
Fraps (www.fraps.com) for this. The resulting videos should be made smaller using for example
Microsoft Media Encoder or DivX.

Epilepsy warning Notes

WARNING READ BEFORE USING YOUR VIDEO GAME SYSTEM READ THIS NOTICE BEFORE
YOU OR YOUR CHILD PLAYS ANY COMPUTER GAME
A very small percentage of individuals have a condition which may cause them to experience epileptic
seizures or have momentary loss of consciousness when viewing certain kinds of flashing lights or patterns
that are commonly present in our daily environment. These persons may experience seizures while watching
some kinds of television pictures or playing certain computer games. Players who have not had any previous
seizures may nonetheless have an undetected epileptic condition. If you or anyone in your family has
experienced symptoms linked to an epileptic condition (e.g. a seizure or loss of awareness), immediately
consult your physician before playing any computer games.
We recommend that parents observe their children while they play computer games. If you or your child
experience any of the following symptoms: dizziness, altered vision, eye or muscle twitching, involuntary
movements, loss of awareness, disorientation, or convulsions, discontinue immediately and consult your
physician before resuming play.
FOLLOW THESE PRECAUTIONS WHENEVER USING COMPUTER GAMES
- When playing computer games, do not sit or stand too close to the monitor. Play as far back from the
screen as possible.
- Play computer games on the smallest available monitor.
- Do not play if you are tired or need sleep.
- Always play in a well-lit room.
- Be sure to take a 10 to 15 minute break every hour while playing.
REPETITIVE STRAIN WARNING
Some people may experience fatigue or discomfort after playing for a long time. Regardless of how you feel,
you should ALWAYS take a 10 to 15 minute break every hour while playing. If your hands or arms become
tired or uncomfortable while playing, stop and rest. If you continue to experience soreness or discomfort
during or after play, listen to the signals your body is giving you. Stop playing and consult a doctor. Failure to
do so could result in long term injury. If your hands, wrist or arms have been injured or strained in other
activities, use of your system could aggravate the condition. Before playing, consult a doctor.

License Agreements
LIMITED SOFTWARE AND WARRANTY LICENSE AGREEMENT
SHIP SIMULATOR 2008
IMPORTANT - READ CAREFULLY: THE ACCOMPANYING PROGRAM (WHICH INCLUDES COMPUTER
SOFTWARE PROGRAM, THE MEDIA AND RELATED DOCUMENTATION IN PRINTED OR ELECTRONIC
FORM) IS LICENSED TO YOU ON THE TERMS SET FORTH BELOW, WHICH CONSTITUTES A LEGAL

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Ship Simulator 2008 Manual 3 September 2007

AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND VSTEP BV ("Owner"). BY OPENING THIS PACKAGE, AND/OR
INSTALLING OR OTHERWISE USING THE PROGRAM, YOU AGREE TO BE LEGALLY BOUND BY THE
TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT WITH Owner. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS
AGREEMENT, OR YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO USE THE PROGRAM YOU SHOULD RETURN THE
PROGRAM TO THE VENDOR FROM WHICH YOU OBTAINED THE PROGRAM AND REQUEST A REFUND.
This program is protected by the copyright laws of The Netherlands, international copyright treaties and conventions and
other laws. The Program is licensed, and not sold, and this Agreement confers no title or ownership to the Program or
any copy thereof.
Limited Use License. Owner grants you the non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited right and license to use one copy of
the Program solely for your personal use on a single computer.
Ownership. All intellectual property rights in and to the Program (including but not limited to video, audio and other
content incorporated therein) and title to any and all copies thereof are owned by Owner or its licensors, and you receive
no right or interest therein other than the limited license in paragraph 1 hereof.
YOU SHALL NOT:
Copy the Program except a single backup copy.
Sell, rent, lease, license, distribute or otherwise transfer or make available to any other person the Program, in whole or in
part, or use the Program or any part thereof in any commercial context, including but not limited in a service bureau,
"cyber or Internet cafe", computer gaming center or any other commercial location in which multiple users may access
the Program. Owner may offer a separate Site License Agreement to permit you to make the Program available for
commercial use; see the contact information below.
Reverse engineer, derive source code, modify, decompile, disassemble, or create derivative works of the Program, in
whole or in part.
Remove, disable or circumvent any proprietary notices or labels contained on or within the Program.
Export or re-export the Program or any copy or adaptation in violation of any applicable export restrictions or other laws
or regulations.
LIMITED WARRANTY. Publisher warrants to the original consumer licensor of the Program that the recording medium
on which the Program is recorded will be free from defects in material and workmanship for 90 days from the date of
purchase. If the recording medium of a product is found defective within 90 days of original purchase, Publisher agrees
to replace, free of charge, such product within such period upon its receipt of the Product, postage paid, with proof of the
date of purchase, as long as the Program is still being manufactured by Owner. In the event that the Program is no longer
available, Publisher retains the right to substitute a similar program of equal or greater value. This warranty is limited to
the recording medium containing the Program as originally provided by Publisher and is not applicable and shall be void
if the defect has arisen through abuse, mistreatment, or neglect. Any implied warranties prescribed by statute are
expressly limited to the 90-day period described above.
EXCEPT AS SET FORTH ABOVE, THIS WARRANTY IS IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, WHETHER
ORAL OR WRITTEN, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY,
SATISFACTORY QUALITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND NO
OTHER REPRESENTATIONS OR CLAIMS OF ANY KIND SHALL BE BINDING ON OR OBLIGATE Owner.
When returning the Program for warranty replacement please send the original product disk only in protective packaging
and include: (1) a photocopy of your dated sales receipt; (2) your name and return address typed or clearly printed; (3) a
brief note describing the defect, the problem(s) you encountered and the system on which you are running the Program.
LIMITATION ON DAMAGES.
IN NO EVENT WILL Owner BE LIABLE FOR SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
RESULTING FROM POSSESSION, USE OR MALFUNCTION OF THE PROGRAM, INCLUDING DAMAGES TO
PROPERTY, LOSS OF GOODWILL, COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION AND, TO THE EXTENT
PERMITTED BY LAW, DAMAGES FOR PERSONAL INJURIES, EVEN IF Owner HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. Owner LIABILITY SHALL NOT EXCEED THE ACTUAL PRICE PAID
FOR THE LICENSE TO USE THIS PROGRAM. SOME STATES/COUNTRIES DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS
ON HOW LONG AN IMPLIED WARRANTY LASTS AND/OR THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF
INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS AND/OR EXCLUSION OR
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL
RIGHTS, AND YOU MAY HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY FROM JURISDICTION TO JURISDICTION.
TERMINATION. Without prejudice to any other rights of Owner, this Agreement will terminate automatically if you
fail to comply with its terms and conditions. In such event, you must destroy all copies of the Program and all of its
component parts.

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Ship Simulator 2008 Manual 3 September 2007

INJUNCTION. Because Owner would be irreparably damaged if the terms of this Agreement were not specifically
enforced, you agree that Owner shall be entitled, without bond, other security or proof of damages, to appropriate
equitable remedies with respect to breaches of this Agreement, in addition to such other remedies as Owner may
otherwise have under applicable laws.
INDEMNITY. You agree to indemnify, defend and hold Owner, its partners, publishers, distributors, affiliates,
contractors, officers, directors, employees and agents harmless from all damages, losses and expenses arising directly or
indirectly from your acts and omissions to act in using the Program pursuant to the terms of this Agreement.
MISCELLANEOUS. For authorized use of software You must possess a rightfully obtained License Key. Except as
expressly authorized by this Agreement, You shall not make available the Software, Accompanying materials, or any
License Key to any third party. You will use your best efforts to cooperate with and assist the Owner in identifying and
preventing any unauthorized use, copying, or disclosure of the Software, Accompanying materials, or any portion
thereof.
This software is for entertainment purposes only. The software must not be used as a training tool.
Use of this software or any part of it to transfer data to other third party software is prohibited without the written
permission of Owner.
The Owner maintains the right to block or otherwise disable License Keys if they are considered to be distributed over
the Internet or otherwise obtained illegally.
The system requirements for this game are based on version 1.0 of the game. Installing patches may influence the
minimum system requirements.
The Owner may drop support for a problem, when the problem has been fixed in a patch.
This Agreement represents the complete agreement concerning this license between the parties and supersedes all prior
agreements and representations between them. It may be amended only by a writing executed by both parties. If any
provision of this Agreement is held to be unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be reformed only to the
extent necessary to make it enforceable and the remaining provisions of this Agreement shall not be affected. This
Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of The Netherlands and you consent to the
exclusive jurisdiction of the Dutch courts.
If you have any questions concerning this license agreement, you may contact us at:
VSTEP BV
The Netherlands
E-mail: [email protected]
Please visit our website - www.shipsim.com

Credits
This Game is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters, and incidents portrayed in it are the work of
the developer’s imaginations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or localities is
entirely coincidental. Ship Simulator 2008 and the Ship Simulator 2008 logo are trademarks of VSTEP. All
Rights Reserved.
Microsoft and Windows XP are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks and
trade names are properties of their respective owners.

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Ship Simulator 2008 Manual 3 September 2007

Programming Special Thanks to:

Martijn Proost (lead) Act-3D / Quest3D
Jean-Paul Franssen (lead) www.quest3d.com
Morten Schönau Fog Newton Game Dynamics
Markus Hötzinger www.newtondynamics.com
Marcin Sarnowicz
KNRM
Ben Borrie www.knrm.nl
Guido Koolhaas
Studio Yacht
Mark Nolen
www.studioyacht.nl
Junior Programming Fairmount Marine B.V.
Rik de Leeuw www.fairmount.nl
Sander Maassen van de Brink P&O Ferries Holdings Ltd
Sander de Putter www.poferries.com
Red Funnel Group Ltd
3D Modeling, Texturing and Scene www.redfunnel.co.uk
Creation Zeehaven Politie Rotterdam Rijnmond
Ben Borrie (lead) (The Rotterdam-Rijnmond Seaport Police)
Jasper Vermaas (lead) Port of Rotterdam
Gerben van der Heijden www.portofrotterdam.com
Richard van Eck
Ocean Rig
Rob Hermans www.ocean-rig.com
Marc Reynaert
Huibert Groenendijk
www.huibertgroenendijk.com
Titanic
Bionatics
Jason De Donno www.bionatics.com
with research support from:
Bruce Beveridge Newton for Quest (Simon Sadler)
Scott Andrews Forum administrators:
Daniel Klistorner
Wout Boevé (Wout)
and the
Titanic Research and Modeling Association Michael Brinkmann (bottman)
Steffen Haubner (sturmfahrt)
Mission Creation Marc Reynaert (marcstrat)
Michael Brinkmann (alias Bottman) David Anderson (ariesDW)
Steffen Haubner Rhys Morgan (Captain Rhys)
Jan de Haan Carl Ferguson ([RWP]DJM)
Sander de Putter Stuart Taylor (Stuart2007)
Pjotr van Schothorst Jacob Grønnegaard (groennegaard)
Nub Cake
Project management
Pjotr van Schothorst Online
Sebastiaan Otten Ship Simulator Website VSTEP Website
www.shipsim.com www.vstep.nl
[email protected] [email protected]

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