Some goodies, and a fix or two

[rthorvald]

Hello everyone,
Just a short stop by to post some things.
I?m not staying around to answer questions at the moment, haven?t really got much time nowadays. But i have been browsing a little, and also tested Celestia 1.6 final.



A fix for semi-transparent boxes in 1.6
(around objects in ANY of my Add-Ons):
Download the following, and replace the model of the same name in ANY of my Add-ons, and the problem will disappear:
http://www.celestialmatters.org/users/r ... older.cmod



Saturn 8k raw source
A couple of years ago i released a 4k Saturn map based on Cassini and Voyager data. Here is my 8k master file. I had plans to update it and at some point create an 8k texture from it, but really do not have time in the foreseeable future. Though obsolete in many respects now (better data exists today), it is still the most detailed Saturn map i know of...

Do whatever you want with it - but please don?t just chop it up into an 8k VT and release a "fabulous 8k Saturn" on the Motherlode! There isn?t enough info in it for that, and the colors are false (very saturated, remember, this is a WORK document). Realistically you can achieve from 5k to 6k detail with it, not 8. And that is after a lot of work. But, it is a great jump-off point if you want to build an 8k Saturn. Here is the link: http://www.celestialmatters.org/users/r ... ure_8k.png



Some notes, with a *huge* spoiler for Ran III:
Celestia 1.6 final shows some odd behaviour in several of my Add-Ons. In particular, a couple of CelX scripts in Ran will not work anymore. This is particularly evident in the Pilgrim Sequence, where not only does the script not work right, but the XYZ data i off by several kilometers. I have no idea why, and no time to debug for it right now.


Ran III Spoiler:
With the above in mind, this will only work properly in 1.5. In 1.6, the wormhole journey will be skipped but the ship will get to it?s destination anyway.

OK, one of the big riddles in Ran III is how to find the second star system. You can reason your way to it, by studying the landscape around the Encyclopaedia and by reading the files in the Vault. But if you are lazy, or not into puzzles, just click this CelUrl:

Code: Select all

cel://Follow/Ran:Hefring: :  :The Pilgrim/0241-04-01T23:59:59.38186?x=REpDCSP2GLRdXGAD&y=iqvTwYvrPeMkqc8B&z=I720HQdGF5BvKbU3AQ&ow=-0.009350&ox=-0.520171&oy=-0.801518&oz=0.294794&select=Ran:Hefring: :  :The Pilgrim&fov=30.000000&ts=0.000000&ltd=0&p=0&rf=915&lm=0&ver=2

... Then hit G. Then select WebInfo on the small ship.
In 1.5, you will be treated to a nice wormhole journey. In 1.6, the screen will just pause for 30 seconds, and you will suddenly be at the destination. At the destination, when you get tired of exploring, just select WebInfo on the ship again. And, at any date AFTER the date you leave, select WebInfo on the ship as long as it exists to find a new Encyclopaedia page.

Finally, Ran III has been out for so long now that, in addition to the spoiler, i thought i?d re-issue the Earth Space Elevator.



Space Elevator configured for the Earth
It checks out for 1.6 nicely. Here it is: http://www.celestialmatters.org/users/r ... needle.zip

Enjoy!

- rthorvald

[chris]

Runar,

Good to hear from you! I didn't realize that the wormhole journey wasn't working in 1.6.0. I'd like to figure out why. And I'd also like to understand why the XYZ data is off... If you can send me a note with some more details--either via the forum or my gmail account--I'll investigate and hopefully come up with some fixes for 1.6.1.

--Chris

[rthorvald]

I didn't realize that the wormhole journey wasn't working in 1.6.0. I'd like to figure out why. And I'd also like to understand why the XYZ data is off... If you can send me a note with some more details--either via the forum or my gmail account--I'll investigate and hopefully come up with some fixes for 1.6.1.

Chris,
In general, it seems there are some differences in the interpretation of XYZs between 1.6 final and the pre 1.6 versions i used from your repository before the summer). This manifests itself a few places in RAN, but not everywhere. It might be more interesting (and useful!) to take a look at my VEGA 2, where, in the 1.6 pre versions, everything works perfectly (transitions between the launcher and the bus, the bus and the Venus lander, the lander and the aerostat - all together, 12 different XYZ files. In the 1.6 final, ALL of the transitions are broken, with parts of the spacecraft in some instances being many kilometres off where they should be.

I am pretty sure that if one finds the cause of that, the RAN details will be solved also. VEGA 2 is a more recent work, the trajectories are pretty exact / real, which means you have real data to compare with, and it is more limited in scope, so a lot easier to do error testing with. If you want, i can send you the packace (3 mb total).

As for the wormhole script not working, i think there is a simple explanation - probably the naming convention of a few hidden objects no longer work. I will look into it myself when i get the time. Though there *are* some weird behaviour with the camera in CEL and CELX scripts now... Just try to run my (2 minutes) BURAN script, and you will see it. The camera faces the wrong way in a lot of circumstances.

- rthorvald

PS:
For anyone that wonders about the RAN Wormhole - here is a screenshot from the other end of it: