Celestia Forums

Hi very new to this.
I have downloaded the 2009 Exoplanets by Brad the STC/SSC.
I copied the 2009 Exoplanets directory to the Celestia/extras directory
Restart Celestia but I can't see them. One of the is HD 1461 when in Celestian I press 'Enter' I don't see any suggestion.

Would you have any suggestions.

Thanks.

I can't reproduce this, so I really give can't give useful information. My only suggestions are to make sure you followed all the instructions exactly, to check the Add-on Installation Guide, and if you've edited any files: made sure there are no missing brackets or quotation marks, curly quotes, or anything that might mess things up.

Also, if you launch Celestia and type a tilde (~), you get a debug screen, so maybe try scrolling through that?

looking at the add on now

are you by chance using apple or a linux OS ?

i ask because there ARE BLANK spaces in the folder names AND in the ssc file names
-- this really is a incorrect naming scheme , as it can lead to ERRORS

with "2009 Exoplanets" folder copied to the extra folder
start celestia and after it starts hit < shift > + < ~ > that will bring up the error text on the screen
use the down and up arrows to move through the log until you see the errors

then let us know what the error is

as it stands this DOSE NOT work on Linux
I an recommending this be puled from the Motherload until it is fixed

Thanks John and LukeCel.

@LukeCel:Thanks for your answer. I did follow and read the Addon Installation quide. It does emphasis to read the instructions provided by the author. And these are
very simple it just instructs us to copy the 2009 Exoplanets directory to the Celestia/extras directory. Witch I did.

@John: Thanks for your answer: I am on a window 64 machine. Windows 10. I had a look at the log, did not know that this existed. But it
is very annoying to consult line by line, did a search on my Celestia directory to find where that log would be located but did no find it. Do you know this log file is recorded? This would be helpful to copy and paste information that I could post here, the way it is shown now I can't do that. I also search the AppData folders to no avail.
I did not find anything in the log that refered to the 2009 Exoplanets data.
Here is an example of an error I am getting. ( I am getting a lot of those types.)

Loading solar system catalog:extras/NGC2244.ssc
Error in .ssc file Line 16): parent body 'HIP500005" of 'PSR 50000+6' not found.

So I had a look at the NGC2244.ssc file and first I noticed that the line numbered above are wrong, the reference to the PSR is on line 2 not on 16. But that is probably not important.
My understanding of this, tell me if I am wrong is that the .ssc files tells Celestia to associate a Pulsar to a star called HIP500005, that does NOT exist on my system? Am I correct.
Please advise on the Log file location if possible. It would make life easier to search it and share it.

Thanks again for your help.

p.s. Is it possible that I do not have a complete set of all stars available? Is it possible to load more star into the base system? Or would a system parameter limits me in this sens? Try searching HD 1461 a well known star! I don't have it.


Bat

@Capbat

The current base data for Celestia contains that star, under "HD 1461", its hip name "HIP 1499", and "SAO 128690"
It classifies it as a G0V, with four planetary bodies.
Please see below:



You can remove that addon and still see this.
The screen cap is from my own fork, which I already had open, so the screen is a little different.
It does however, contain everything you need to find it on your system.

When searching for stars etc, always check the web, such as

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_1461

For alternate names.


Janus.

Thanks @Janus.
Like I mentioned above I don't show HD 1461, for reasons I don't know. I have downloaded version 1.6.1 of Celestia 2 weeks ago, so I assume I have the latest DATA version. A few days after this I downloaded the 2009 Exoplanet. This leads me to assume I have a corrupted database. So today I will try the following.
Remove 2009 Exoplanet. Test for HD 1461.
If still absent: Download another Star.dat file. Test for HD1461
If still absent: Completely remove Celestia and re-Install and check again. If HD 1461 is in the base package it must be somewhere on my system. Star.dat is a compress file, not ascii so I can't look at it.
What do you think of the above procedure.

Thanks.

Bat

Added after 29 minutes 36 seconds:
I reinstalled Celestia 1.6.1 From the File celestia-win32-1.6.1.exe Size 33,559KB

And HD 1461 is still missing.

What am I doing wrong?

Bat

@Capbat

I would start with checking the time date of the file itself.
I would also recommend getting the 1.70 version instead.
Not that I am sure where to get a 1.70 installer, I have compiled my own for years now.
I rarely use installers anyway, most of my stuff is modified to be portable to keep my registry and boot drive clean.

As for your OS itself, finding things, tweaks etc, I can offer nothing in the way of help.
It is banned from my Lan except for a couple of non networked Vms I use for research.
You can gain back a lot of functionality in newer windows with a few tweaks.
I use classic shell, 7+ taskbar tweaker, network light indicator, explorer++, void tools everything, and some other tweaks on my Win7 x64 Pro, and I Have managed to get back about ninety percent of my preferred WIn9x/Win2k/Xp desktop style.

Probably the simplest thing for you however, is to bypass the problem.
Go to my downloads.

http://celestia.simulatorlabbs.com/

Then into the Capbat directory I just made while typing this up.
In it you will find a zip file I am uploading, celestia-x86-x64.zip, download it.
Copy it to a blank drive, data drive or usb flash drive, either works.
Extract in place, which will create a celestia-x86-x64 directory.
In it you will find a current celestia, and a copy of the program I used to make the screen cap above.
Both have 32 & 64 bit versions present.
You can ignore the src directory, unless you want to study the guts of celestia.

There are guides beyond number to help you get around W10's limitations so you can put this where ever you want.


Janus.

P.S. I freely admit bias against W10, and I intend no insult toward you.
We all have to use what we have.
I would rather be using Win2k, or XP, than WIn7, but even I admit they have limitations, even if those limitations were placed there on purpose.
Good luck.

Oh yeah, the upload is done.

Loading solar system catalog:extras/NGC2244.ssc
Error in .ssc file Line 16): parent body 'HIP500005" of 'PSR 50000+6' not found.

HIP catalog numbers with values greater than about 118300 are made up and are not used by astronomers. Celestia uses values greater than 1000000 to encode Tycho catalog values. Values between 118300 and 1000000 (e.g. 500005) are used by Addon authors for stars which they define in their Addons.

In other words, if an Addon references such a number, then the Addon itself has to include an STC definition for the Star which that number references. Apparently the author of the Addon forgot to include that Star definition.

Celestia v1.6.1 does not require STC catalog entries to use Hipparcos catalog numbers. (I don't recall when that became possible.)

Capbat wrote:Loading solar system catalog:extras/NGC2244.ssc
Error in .ssc file Line 16): parent body 'HIP500005" of 'PSR 50000+6' not found.

Capbat, I'm curious: where did you get such a .ssc file named "NGC2244.ssc"?

@LukeCel

This is just a guess, but likely somewhere in

http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/catalog/show_creator_details.php?creator_id=197

There are a lot items in there.
Many of them I suspect are included in the current data files.

Information about "Brad"
Homepage: Unknown
E-Mail: Unknown
Directory on the Celestia Motherlode: Brad

Is all the information it shows.


Janus.

It might be from an Addon developed by Rassilon.

Long, long ago, Celestia did not have DSC catalogs. As a result, the Celestia user going by the userid Rassilon developed Nebula objects using SSC catalogs. They were one of the reasons that DSC catalogs came into existence.

@ Janus Post #7

I have downloaded Celestia-x86-x64.zip and unzipped it using in W10 File Explorer (right click) 'Extract Here'.
This gave me 1852 errors mainly 'Unknown method in Celestia-x86-x64\(name of Program.)
Results all sub-directories are empty.

The Celestia.exe is not even there. Maybe it's W10 unzipper who's giving the problems.

Please advise.

Bat

Added after 8 minutes 37 seconds:
@LukeCell Post #9

I'm curious: where did you get such a .ssc file named "NGC2244.ssc"?

Like Janus said on post #10 it is at http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/catalog/show_creator_details.php?creator_id=197

But I more interested in fixing a more basic problem that I have described in post #6 where I can not even display HD 1461 wich according to Janus comes in the basic package. Let's forget 2009 Exoplanet I am just trying to get a good fresh installation of either Cel 1.6.1 or Cel 1.7.0.

Thanks.

Bat

Added after 5 minutes 40 seconds:
@Seldon Post #8

Thanks for your reply but as I mentioned above I more interested in fixing a more basic problem that I have described in post #6 where I can not even display HD 1461 which according to Janus comes in the basic package. Let's forget 2009 Exoplanet I am just trying to get a good fresh installation of either Cel 1.6.1 or Cel 1.7.0.
But I am not sure where to get 1.7.0 or is worthwhile going there.
I tried a full uninstall and deleted all celestia directories then tried to re-install but I still have the same problem Cel 1.6.1 does not show HD 1461

If it works for you it should work for me?

Thanks again for your help.

Bat

@capbat

The built in zip support in W10 is approximately equivalent to the old Pkzip 2.04g from the dos days with long filename support added.
It is a little better than that, but not much.
There are many added algorithms and techniques to newer zip files which microsoft either does not support, or does so incorrectly.
You need to get a real archive program.
7-zip is open source, though Winrar works well.
The archive was created with 7-zip.

Also beware that if you download to your desktop under W10, you may not be able to extract and run it from there.
More than one customer has had problems with execution permissions inside the user profile under W10, though not all have.

I can add the installer for 7-zip if you like, better yet:

http://www.7-zip.org/download.html

It is apparent that you are just starting out exploring what computers can really do, so I try to extend the helping hand I got when I started.

I just redownloaded the uploaded file, and it opens in 7-zip and winarar both.
Be sure the size of the file you open is 62,289,737 bytes, and the date is today.

Good luck.


Janus.

@Janus

Be sure the size of the file you open is 62,289,737 bytes, and the date is today.

Are you referring to the 7-Zip file size?
Cause at the download page you refered above there are I picked "7-Zip 17.01 beta (2017-08-28)" and the 64bit window. It's size is 1,375KB.
It did unzipped the Clestia-x86-x64.zip file ok without error.
All the files are present in all sub-directories.
But, In the main directory the files celestia -x64.exe and/or celestia -86.exe witch I tough where the executable to start Celestia seemed to be zipped files when I click I get a messagethat the this file should be extracted first.

I am not new to computer been at it for a while, but I am new to Celestia.

Thanks for the help, any comment on above?

P.S. Shouldn't I try to install the 1.6.1 version the tranditional way? The thing is I tried it 4 or 5 times with the same result. I might not be doing it corectly, but this seems to work for other users???


Bat

Added after 21 minutes 10 seconds:
06/01/2018 15:54:58 Ok Got it to work, I have now Cel 1.7.0 installed. I was not using 7-Zip correctly this app is new to me.
But it can not find HD 1461. Using the command "Enter" then typing HD 1461 to no avail.
Where did you get your HD 1461?

Bat

Capbat wrote:Where did you get your HD 1461?

HD 1461, and most of the stars, should be in a file called "stars.dat". (It's binary, so it's not human-readable.)

@Capbat

Try putting a space between 'HD' and '1461' just like it is typed. 'HD1461' != 'HD 1461' to the computer.
Although it will not list a match, it will match it anyway.
The listing and the searching for matches are handled independently.

When having trouble finding something, always try looking it up by another name.
Wikipedia entries and most astronomy databases will list many names a star can go by.
Once you have one of them, it will list the rest that Celestia uses, exactly as it will match them.

You can then use a tool like ztree for windows, or grep for linux, to search the data and other directories for a matching text label.
That way you can edit the file and add the label you want to use.
Sadly, grep has no gui version that I know of, and Linux has no version of ztree, and I lack the skill to fix the latter yet.

Patience and attention to detail is the key.


Janus.

Hi Janus thanks for your help.
I did try with a space HD 1461 and I did try all of the other name the stars goes by as your post, post #5. Still to no avail.
You obviously can see it as of Post # 5. So it must be in your database somewhere. I can not search the Stars.dat this file being binary. I am with windows 10, I don't know about ztree but windows 10 while in file explorer does a very good job at searching even in files for particular string data and I did do a thorough search for HD 1461 in the Celestias directory and susbdirectory, did not find anything.

Now on Cel 1.7.0 when I look at earth I have the name of the continents and cities displayed and I can't seemed to find how to turn the off.

Thanks

Bat.

Added after 3 minutes 22 seconds:
@LukeCell

HD 1461, and most of the stars, should be in a file called "stars.dat". (It's binary, so it's not human-readable.)

As you say I can not verify if it is there, but searching for it with the 'Enter' key and with all of it's possible names brings nothing. BTW do you see it yourself? if so could you send me your Stars.dat fileÉ

Thanks

Bat

@Capbat

I just redownloaded the file to double check everything.

http://celestia.simulatorlabbs.com/Downloads/Capbat/Celestia-x86-x64.zip

Notice that it is the file in the directory I made for you to avoid confusion.

Extracted it in place where I downloaded it, which gave a celestia-x86-x64 directory.

Then I went into that directory and double clicked on the celestia-x86.exe program.

I waited for the open sequence then hit enter, HD space 1461 then enter again, then 'g' for goto..
It selected and went to the star you are looking for.

There are four executables in that directory, two 32-bit, and two 64-bit, all of them work just fine.

As for the stars.dat file.
It is in binary and is generated from a Hip catalog.
It contains no text data.


Janus.

hi

As you say I can not verify if it is there, but searching for it with the 'Enter' key and with all of it's possible names brings nothing. BTW do you see it yourself? if so could you send me your Stars.dat file

Celestias star-DB consists of the files stars.dat, hdxindex.dat and saoxindex.dat
The names originating from there will never be displayed in this navigation screen, which doesn't mean that they don't exist.
Type the name (including blanks) , hit Enter and the names HP … / HD … / SAO … will show up in the upper left corner;
and there you Go ….

Names in the navigation screen come from entries in starnames.dat or any stc-file (possibly redundant)


Rufus

@Rufus

Thanks for your explanation. Are the Celestias Star-DB updated from time to time? Because as of now I have Cel 1.6.1 and Cel 1.7.0 installed, and I think they do not have the same DB Files. Always refering to HD 1461 ver 1.7.0 sees it but not ver 1.6.1.
If those DB files are updated where can I get them.

Thanks again.

Bat