While starting up Sail Simulator 5 I get the message 'No suitable Directx 9 graphics adapter was found'. What to do ?

This message is shown because the graphics card in your computer does not meet the minimum system requirements to run Sail Simulator 5

To use Sail Simulator 5 your computer needs to have a graphics card that at least supports the so called Shader Model 3. The support for this Shader Model 3 is implented in the NVIDIA GeForce 6 serie, Ati Radeon X1300 serie and higher. A lot of newer graphics chipsets in laptops support this as well, but there are also a lot of laptops available that have graphics chipsets which do not support this.

Unfortunately the problem can only be solved by installing a newer, better graphics card in your computer.

To find out what kind of graphics card you have, you can download and start the System Checker. Here you will see if your computer meets the minimum system requirements.

Download System Checker

What is the difference between Sail Simulator 5 and Sail Simulator 2010?

Beside the difference in name the versions are technologically speaking identical with the only difference being that the 2010 versions will no longer be multy-lingual. There will be 4 different language versions made Iceberg of Sail Simulator 2010 (Dutch, German, English and French) As the versions are technically equal it is possible with both versions (5 & 2010) to sail against each other in online multyplayer sessions.

How long after buying does a license include free updates?

As long as the updates are made for version 5.x these will be free (gratis). A new lisence will be needed only when Stentec publishes a new version (e.g. Sail Simulator 6). Updates published by Stentec for version 5.x will also be fitting for the 2010 version.

What does the european publication of Sail Simulator 2010 mean for the developmentmodel?

The developmentmodel will not be changed by us.

Will there be an expansion as update?

A boat expansion is planned but that will be sold seperatly not as an update. For this expansion an update of Sail Simulator will be necessary to support the expansion. The update to Sail Simulator will be free (gratis).