Celestia Alternate Texture Problems

[Phil OCon]

I need major help. I have installed and tried many alternate textures for Earth ranging from the most simple all the way to the 64K Jestr Earth Mark II package. I put the packages in the extras section, double checked the included text files to ensure I was doing it correctly and each time I try to change it to view my alternate textures I get a white featureless globe. I tried several versions of Celestia from 1.30 to the current 1.60. Each time I get the same result. I went through the forums and mention of the same problem was mentioned and links were provided with answers but I have tried them all and still have my featureless Earth. Maybe I am missing something in the Forums but I am getting very frustrated and don't know what else to do. I had Celestia a year ago and didn't have this problem. Since then I have upgraded several hardware components and I listed my hardware configuration below so that maybe someone can get a picture of the problem I have, what I am working with and maybe come up with a solution. Configuration is;
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Build 7264
Monitor: NEC MultiSync LCD2070NX, Resolution: 1600 x 1200 @ 60Hz - Aspect Ratio 4:3
Display Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS 41 °C, Video Memory: 512 MBytes of DDR2 SDRAM
Video Bus: PCI Express x16 @ x16, Geometry Unit Clock: 459.0 MHz, Memory Clock: 399.6 MHz (Effective 799.2 MHz)
Motherboard: ASUSTek Computer INC. , Model NAGAMI
Total Memory Size: 4 GBytes PC3200, Current Memory Clock: 200.4 MHz
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+, Cpu Count 2, Cpu Socket Socket 939
CPU Current: 2204.6 MHz = 11.00 x 200.4 MHz @ 1.3500 V, Number of CPU Cores: 2
Hyper-Transport Link Clock: 1000 MHz, L2 Cache: Integrated: 2 x 512 KBytes

I am at wits end. Hoopefully someone can help.

Thanks

[selden]

Seeing white globes means that Celestia cannot find the textures. I am forced to conclude that what you believe to be correct is wrong. Please review section 1.4 of http://www.lepp.cornell.edu/~seb/celest ... intro.html which explains where the files of an Addon belong. Section 6 lists some of the common errors and how to fix them. Then read http://www.lepp.cornell.edu/~seb/celestia/textures.html which describes how the different types of textures are used by Celestia.

You also should turn on Celestia's console log by typing a tilde (~) and see what error messages are there. Use the up and down arrow keys to navigate in it.

If you want someone to be able to provide an exact solution, you'll have to post the SSC file of one of the texture Addons which is failing for you. You'll also have to tell us exactly where you've put it and where you've put the textures. That means the entire directory path for both of them, starting with the device name.

Note that Vista, and presumably Windows 7, have restrictions on what an unprivileged user can do to the files and directories which are located in the system folders. You may have better luck by installing Celestia into its own root directory and not into "Program Files".

[Phil OCon]

Thanks for your feedback. I read both links and still can't find the solution. Below is a representation of my directory tree layout and associated SSC and CTX file placement and their details which are listed below the tree. . Each level (0-5) have .dds files included in them.

Celestia
extras
Addons
JMII
JMII DDS
textures---------------- JMII DDS (SSC File in same directory)
hires -------------------- JMII DDS (CTX File in same directory)
level0
level1
level2
level3
level4
level5
SSC File which is in the same directory as textures reads as follows;
AltSurface "JMII DDS" "Sol/Earth"
{
Texture "JMII DDS.ctx"
NightTexture "JNight DDS.ctx"
NormalMap "JNormal DDS.ctx"
HazeColor [ 1 1 1 ]
HazeDensity 0.25
SpecularColor [ 0.5 0.5 0.55 ]
SpecularPower 12.0
}

CTX File which is in same directory as hires reads as follows;

VirtualTexture
{
ImageDirectory "JMII DDS"
BaseSplit 0
TileSize 512
TileType "dds"
}

I also made a variation of the directory tree which I tried earlier where I removed the JMII directory and started with the JMII DDS subdirectory in the Addons. I still got a big white barren globe......I hope this info helps......I am still plugging away at it...Any assistance will be appreciated.

[selden]

Phil,

Unfortunately, as best I can tell from your description, you have put some files in the wrong directories and some necessary directories are missing entirely.

SSC catalog files belong in the directory which also contains the directory named \textures\, In this case, the .SSC file belongs in the directory named
Celestia\extras\Addons\JMII\JMII DDS\

CTX files are the virtual equivalent of real image files. They belong in the appropriate (lo,med or hi) directory *within* \textures\
In this case, both .CTX files belong in the directory named
Celestia\extras\Addons\JMII\JMII DDS\textures\hires\

"Level" subdirectories belong in the subdirectory specified in their associated CTX file. You have two different CTX virtual images, so you need two different subdirectories to contain their different level directories. These two different subdirectories are missing from your description and from your CTX files. The directory names I've chosen below ( "JNight DDS" and "JNormal DDS") are arbitrary. You could use any names, so long as they are not the same for the two different virtual images.

JNight DDS.ctx needs to contain

Code: Select all

VirtualTexture
{
ImageDirectory "JNight DDS"
BaseSplit 0
TileSize 512
TileType "dds"
}

and JNormal DDS.ctx needs to conain

Code: Select all

VirtualTexture
{
ImageDirectory "JNormal DDS"
BaseSplit 0
TileSize 512
TileType "dds"
}

The subdirectories named "JNight DDS" and "JNormal DDS" belong in the directory named
Celestia\extras\Addons\JMII\JMII DDS\textures\hires\

The level directories associated with your night texture belong in the directory named
Celestia\extras\Addons\JMII\JMII DDS\textures\hires\JNight DDS\

The two highest resolution tiles of the virtual night texture image belong in the directory named
Celestia\extras\Addons\JMII\JMII DDS\textures\hires\JNight DDS\level0\

The level directories associated with your normal texture belong in the directory named
Celestia\extras\Addons\JMII\JMII DDS\textures\hires\JNormal DDS\

The two highest resolution tiles of the virtual normal texture image belong in the directory named
Celestia\extras\Addons\JMII\JMII DDS\textures\hires\JNormal DDS\level0\

Does this help?

[BobHegwood]

If I may here, all you have to do is follow Jestr's instructions in the Read Me file.
Just extract everything to the JMII DDS file in yours extras folder.
What's the big deal here? Hundreds of others have done this with no problems
whatsoever.

Sorry, I just don't understand how someone can make something so simple, so complicated.

[shiveringworld]

Can anyone tell me how to see the terraformed version of the planet Atlantis? All I can see is the pre-terraformed version, and I've tried everything logical try and see the terraformed version.

[selden]

You probably need to set Celestia's date to be after when the terraforming is going to happen. Look in the SSC file to see when that will be.