COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado USA — PC owners running Microsoft Windows XP® need to hold up on upgrading to Microsoft's new Vista® OS software.  According to Tim Van Milligan of Apogee Components, Inc., the current version of RockSim will not work with the new operating system.  Yet.

Van Milligan stated that Apogee is working on a fix, but that "it may be a while."  Apparently the operating system's new security features are interfering with RockSim's security features, which results in RockSim be prevented from completely initializing. Users of the Apple MAC OS X® operating system as well as older version of Windows® are not affected.

RockSim is a computer program that allows you to design any size rocket, and then simulate its flight to see how high, and how fast it will fly. You can also use it to find the best rocket motor combinations for your existing kits, and to teach yourself and others about the physics of rocket flight.

According to the Apogee Components website, RockSim was the first software that combined both "design" and "simulation" into one seamless program. That means you can create a drawing of a rocket and simply click a button to see how that design will perform, making it easy to check the feasibility of your ideas. 

RockSim was created from the beginning to be a true "design tool." Using RockSim, you specify the components of the rocket (including all the components and recovery devices carried inside), and the software pre-calculates the weight of the rocket as you are in the process of designing it. At the same time, it is also calculating the "center of pressure" (CP) location of the model and determining if the rocket will be stable. RockSim was the very first model rocket program to do this "on-the-fly" computation. With the software, you can make changes to your design, and see how the CP and "center of gravity" (CG) are affected.

RockSim sells for $99.95 at the Apogee Component's website: http://www.apogeerockets.com

MAC OS® is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
Windows®, Windows XP® and Vista® are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries.

02-20-2007 05:34 AM  #1
hatter New Member   Joined: Feb 2007 Posts: 1	Another victory for copy "protection" Once again the customer pays financially to have this unwanted feature included, and pays again when it causes more problems further down the line. No wonder, when the protection racket programmers have to try and be smarter than the multibillion dollar OS programmers and the determined, resourceful crackers with a lot of time to sink into their hobby. the hatter

02-20-2007 10:19 PM  #2
MDennis New Member   Joined: Feb 2007 Posts: 1	RockSim works with Vista For me Rocksim works great with Vista and has since November! Just run the Application Compatibility Wizard and tell it to emulate WinXP-SP2, and to run as Administrator. I've had zero issues... Michael

02-20-2007 11:56 PM  #3
linux203 New Member   Joined: Feb 2007 Posts: 1	Vista alternative I have been running RockSim 8 successfully under SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop for some time now. (Using Wine) Who said you have to throw everything out when you upgrade.

02-21-2007 01:33 PM  #4
andysrockets New Member   Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 5	I didn't even manage to get RS8 (demo) working properly under 2000/XP, although to be fair that is probably more related to rubbish ATI drivers and/or DirectX. RS7 works happily under Linux with a bit of an installation "frig". Or at least the useful functional parts function. Does anybody actually use the 3d stuff? No upgrade to Vista or RS8 for me.

03-07-2007 10:44 PM  #5
Mach1 Certified Level One   Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 27	Quote: Once again the customer pays financially to have this unwanted feature included, and pays again when it causes more problems further down the line. No wonder, when the protection racket programmers have to try and be smarter than the multibillion dollar OS programmers and the determined, resourceful crackers with a lot of time to sink into their hobby. the hatter Ain't that the freaking truth!!!! The harddrive in my my old Toshiba laptop died on me, and and took everything (including my Rocksim files) with it!! I went and got a new laptop last Friday, with Vista Home premium on it. I have RS 7.04 and it won't even install, much less run. I'm so sick of M$ and their 'trustworthy computing' bullcrap. Trustworthy? You have to prove your copy of Winblows is 'genuine' via Winblows Genuine Advantage before they'll let you download something as simple as a network protocol update. Guilty until proven innocent! Joe Michel

04-23-2007 07:58 PM  #6
ddmobley Administrator   Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 2146	Here is the way to get Vista to install RockSim: 1. Right click on the "RockSim" shortcut icon, 2. Select "Properties"... 3. Click the "Compatibility" tab. 4. Under "Privilege" level, check the "Run this program as an administrator". The registration screen should now work so you can finish the installation of RockSim. Once that is complete, switch back to non-admin account. RockSim should now run fine in the non-admin account. If RockSim is already installed and you upgraded to Vista, right-click on the Rocksim shortcut in the Start menu and select "Run as Administrator". Another way is as Michael Dennis suggested, run the "Application Compatibility Wizard," tell it to emulate "Window XP Service Pack 2," and to "Run as Administrator."