Spectator

The spectator provides an eye into the virtual world from an external computer. Through a network connection the virtual world state is replicated and shown on the screen. The user can operate the camera with its mouse and keyboard. Spectators are not able to interact with the world

Launching the server

A simulator launched as 'server' will accept external viewers (spectators) to join the game. You can launch the simulation as a server in the main menu by pressing the 'TODO' button.

The server will run on port 7777 port, make sure spectators can connect to it. In most cases you will need to add a firewall rule to allow TCP and UDP traffic. When behind a router you might need to do some port forwarding.

To skip the menu and launch the game as server directly, you can use the following command:

FSDS.exe /Game/TrainingMap?listen

This opens the TrainingMap and allows external clients (spectators) to connect.

Within the settings.json you can configure the server password. Using the password is usefull to prevent trolls and curious people from connecting to the simulator and breaking the simulator.

{
  "SpectatorPassword": "password",
  ...

If the password is not configured in the settings.json, the password is set to password. At this moment it is not possible to start a server without password.

Launching the spectator

Spectators can enter the ip of the server in the main menu to connect to a running simulator. Multiple simultaneous spectators in a single world should work as well. If a spectator loses connection to the server it will go back to the main menu.

To skip the menu and launch the spectator directly, you can use the following command:

FSDS.exe 0.0.0.0?password=123456

Where 0.0.0.0 is replaced by the external ip of the server and 123456 is replaced by the server password.

If you enter a wrong password you are taken back to the main menu. No error will be shown.

Using the spectator

When starting the spectator it will be launched in follow-car mode. In this mode the camera will always point at the vehicle. When the vehicle crosses a triggerline, the camera will move to another viewpoint.

You can toggle the follow-car mode using the F key on your keyboard. When not following the car you can use the wsdaqe keys to move around and your mouse to look around.

Adding spectator points to the map

Spectator viewpoints are places in the world where the spectator can be teleported to. These locations are defined in the map and cannot be changed during the simulation. To create a new viewpoint, add a new CameraActor to the world and place it wherever you like. Next, add a AirsimSpectatorTeleportTrigger to the world. In the settings, set the camera to the one you just created. Whenever the vehicle touches this trigger object, the spectator will be teleported to the selected camera (in follow-car mode).

Running the spectator from Unreal Editor

During development you can use the following steps to run the spectator directly from the unreal editor, skipping the main menu:

1. In your settings.json, set the SpectatorServerPassword to an empty string like so: "SpectatorServerPassword": "".
2. In the run configuration, set the number of players to 2 and Net Mode to Play As Listen Server.
3. Play. Both play in selected viewport and play as standalone game work.