Celestia Forums

Hi all,
I have added Origin to my Celestia1.6.1 and have a problem with the sky background showing lots of pattern artefacts.
see picture below (if I can add it to this post ! and I hope I dont break any forum rules?)

After a lot of random deleting of folders and files I have narrowed the problem down to
extras> Lua Edu Tools> adds> Realistic_Milky_Way>
if I delete Realistic_Milky_Way.ssc the problem is removed
or I can make it go away by hashing- #Mesh "mw.cmod"

and there I am lost ! I do not know how to investigate .cmod further !

my system :-Desktop Windows 7, 64-bit, 4GB ram, Pentium Dual core 2.6GHz

I can do without the Milky Way, but I am puzzled what the problem might be and perhaps it may pop-up somewhere else to bite me
Hope you can help, thanks.

Heh, familiar bug. This is observed in systems with a weak video card. Update drivers may also help.

Thanks Art,
oh dear !

video driver is up to date

Then it's most likely the video card, which means what's your computer model?

It is a refurbish rescue
HP Compaq Win7Prof SP1
Pentium Dual E5300@ 2.6GHz, 4GB ram & 64bitOS
Display - Intel(R) Q33 Express Chipset

The fun continues :--
I have found that it does not do NightSideLights either
searching the forum gives OpenGL version problem,
further digging and I have found the Celestia/Help/OpenGL Driver Info drop-down which reports,

Vendor: Intel
Renderer: Intel Bear Lake B
Version: 1.4.0 - Build 8.14.10.1930
Max simultaneous textures: 8
Max texture size: 2048
Point size range: 0.500000 - 10.000000
followed by a load of GL_ which I dont understand.

Sooo, back to my old intermittent failing Dell laptop
which does show Nightside and Milky Way OK,
it reports:-
Vendor: Intel
Renderer: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Version: 2.1.0 - Build 8.15.10.2302
GLSL version: 1.20 - Intel Build 8.15.10.2302
Max simultaneous textures: 8
Max texture size: 4096
Point size range: 0.500000 - 10.000000

Anyone know of a good Dummy guide for what to do about OpenGL ?
Thanks.

Does it have a year of manufacture on it?

I think I was updating/reformating my previous post as you were replying,

not that I can see ( it is buried behind a heap ! ) but the driver is 2009 and is described as up to date.

Added after 8 minutes 4 seconds:
Oh, ah, that is odd, I did a recheck and driver was dated 2006,
went to do an update and it said I was up to date.
but driver now shows as 2009 ! as it did when I looked yesterday !!

So manufactured (assuming on-board chipset ? ) perhaps 2006.

The only way to improve the OpenGL version is to install the most recent drivers as provided on the graphics hardware vendor's Web site for your computer's graphics chipset. Unfortunately, newer Intel driver versions usually will refuse to install when Windows reports that the current drivers are "up to date". Sometimes you can get newer drivers on the Web site of the manufacturer of your computer (HP in this case).

In order to see all of Celestia's eye candy, the graphics drivers must support OpenGL v2.0.

Although Celestia v1.6.1 can be used with any graphics card, it needs certain advanced 3D rendering features in order to display some of its "eye candy." Type a Ctrl-V several times to get Celestia to step through the rendering options available on your computer while displaying their names.

Render path: Basic (objects, clouds and eclipse shadows)
Render path: Multitexture (NightLights)
Render path: OpenGL vertex program (Specular and BumpMaps & Ring shadows)
Render path: OpenGL 2.0 (multiple light sources & shadows.)

selden wrote: In order to see all of Celestia's eye candy, the graphics drivers must support OpenGL v2.0.

(1) Render path: Basic (objects, clouds and eclipse shadows)
(2) Render path: Multitexture (NightLights)
(3) Render path: OpenGL vertex program (Specular and BumpMaps & Ring shadows)
Render path: OpenGL 2.0 (multiple light sources & shadows.)

yep that looks to be the prob. no worry, half the battle is knowing what is wrong and what one can do without !

I only have 3 of those options, (2) & (3) do ring shadow on Saturn and (3) does Specular on Earth & Ring Shadow on Saturn.
but no sign of nightlights in (2)

This box was a quick-fix when my laptop went intermittent and my wife dropped the other laptop !!
I think a letter to Santa is indicated

One other question does the computer have a graphics card in one of the PCI slots on the back of it?

I think not, all slots have blanking plates, so, unless there is an internal harness to the VGA socket mounted elsewhere on the back, I would guess it is an on-mother-chipset.

It is a thought for the future perhaps.
I cant risk making changes yet in case I let the smoke out ! I think Celestia will have to wait till this becomes the spare box.
Lots of other fascinating things to do and learn in this wonderful software (like matching up my recent obs. of 46P with its representation in Celestia )

I was just checking, because if it was on a PCI card it would have to be upgraded.

Anthony_B_Russo10 wrote:I was just checking, because if it was on a PCI card it would have to be upgraded.

Thanks for your checks and everyone's help in understanding the milky way problem, I learned a lot

It is a thought for the future that I may track down a new PCI for it,
meanwhile I have been investigating one of the two wounded OpenGL capable laptops and it turns out that the dropped one 'only' has a cracked screen, and a spare VGA monitor works ok with it, yea !

You’are welcome.