Usage & Controls Guide

Learn how to operate the interactive cockpit, possess crew members, and test life support systems in BioSim Next-Gen.

🎮 Launching the Simulation

1. When the page loads, you are presented with the Startup Crew Selection overlay.
2. Select a Crew Archetype (Commander, Bio-Engineer, or Science Officer).
3. Use the slider to select a Crew Size (1 to 5 members).
4. Click Start Simulation to initialize the habitat systems.

🕹️ 3D Viewport Controls

• Rotate View: Click and drag with the left mouse button.
• Pan View: Click and drag with the right mouse button.
• Zoom In/Out: Scroll the mouse wheel.
• Hover Rooms: Move your mouse over different rooms of the habitat wireframe. The active room will highlight, displaying its name (e.g., Aeroponics Lab, Algae PBR Chamber, Crew Quarters).
• Click Room: Left-click on a room to center the camera on it.

👤 First-Person Possession Mode

To possess a crew member:

1. Click the ENTER FIRST-PERSON (POSSESS) button in the top menu bar.
2. The camera locks into the eyes of the selected crew member.
3. Move around the cabin to inspect the modules in first-person.
4. Click EXIT FIRST-PERSON to return to orbital camera controls.

⚙️ Time Speed Controls

You can speed up the simulation to observe long-term trends in metabolic consumption:

• PAUSE: Suspends all life support consumption and crew updates.
• 1x: Real-time speed.
• 5x / 20x: Fast-forward speeds (great for seeing oxygen depletion during failures).

⚠️ Malfunction Injection

Test your habitat’s stability:

1. Click the MALFUNCTION INJECTOR button in the top right.
2. A critical alarm will sound, a system failure log will appear, and telemetry indicators will begin to drop.
3. Monitor how different crew archetypes adapt to resolve the critical failure.