Celestia Forums

Howdy all -

I've got Celestia v1.5.1 installed, finally, I've been out of the loop for a bit, and I find I now have a few problems. I'm not sure if this belongs in the 'Bugs' section, so if it does, Selden, please move it. Thanks.

The first issue is that none of the settings I make are saved - like setting Auto Mag Limit, or un-checking the Limit Frame Rate box in the Options menu. I think I have a possible answer for that though (confirm it for me please) - because I installed Celestia as a root and am now running it as a user? A permissions thing?

Second is the application's cursor. It used to be a fine line reticule, and now it's a big blocky square cross. The cursor also disappears when the mouse stops moving, and then reappears as the mouse moves again... is this normal?

Third is that nividia's OpenGL drivers do not seem to be available. The best render path available is multitexture.

My machine's specifications have changed (my signature needs to be updated)...

Compaq 5900Z, AMD Athlon @ 1ghz, a whopping 512mb memory, nvidia Riva TNT2 Ultra (AGP x1) graphics card. Debian Etch (4.0) with nvidia's own drivers installed, with Gnome 2.14.3 desktop. I may not be entirely up to date as far as Debian/Gnome is concerned.

Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Renderer: RIVA TNT2/AGP/3DNOW!
Version: 1.5.3 NVIDIA 71.86.06
Max simultaneous textures: 2
Max texture size: 2048

Supported Extentions:
GL_ARB_imaging
GL_ARB_multitexture
GL_ARB_point_parameters
GL_ARB_texture_env_add
GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat
GL_ARB_transpose_matrix
GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object
GL_ARB_window_pos
GL_EXT_texture_env_add
GL_EXT_abgr
GL_EXT_bgra
GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array
GL_EXT_draw_range_elements
GL_EXT_fog_coord
GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays
GL_EXT_packed_pixels
GL_EXT_pixel_buffer_object
GL_EXT_point_parameters
GL_EXT_rescale_normal
GL_EXT_secondary_color
GL_EXT_separate_specular_color
GL_EXT_stencil_wrap
GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp
GL_EXT_texture_env_combine
GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias
GL_EXT_texture_object
GL_EXT_vertex_array
GL_IBM_rasterpos_clip
GL_IBM_texture_mirred_repeat
GL_KTX_buffer_region
GL_NV_blend_square
GL_NV_fog_distance
GL_NV_light_max_exponent
GL_NV_packed_depth_stencil
GL_NV_texgen_reflection
GL_NV_texture_env_combine4
GL_SGIS_multitexture
GL_SUN_slice_accum

Other than the above, the application runs fine, with a decent framerate even - which I'll imagine would improve were OpenGL working properly. Oh and there is one more thing - the clouds on Earth are over the wrong continents (again). Any help or ideas would be appreciated - thanks!

--- edit ---

Thanks for the tips John. I thought there might be a permissions problem, just wasn't too sure. It's been so long since I've worked with this stuff and I've forgotten a lot of it.

According to the nvidia docs I did grab the proper driver package, the exact one you've mentioned (NVIDIA-Linux-x86-71.86.06-pkg1.run). I also had to install gcc and let it compile the driver(s) because there was nothing predefined for my system.

I edited the x-term cfg file manually (/etc/X11/xorg.conf) because I neglected to install their configuration utility. That was no big deal and easy enough to do. I followed the docs provided for my card, but there was no mention of defining a ModulePath - only a FontPath. There is however a section defining Device with Driver set to "nvidia". I'll have to re-read the docs, and I think I'll also install their configuration utility and start using it. I seem to recall now mention being made that if you install other packages you'll likely need to reinstall the drivers again. I'll have to look at that too because I've done exactly that.

I was unaware I needed to reinstall mesaGL.deb and the dev.deb.

Guess I've got my homework cut out for me. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

On the Suse systems, the kernel source pkgs also need to be installed. You might need that installed as well as gcc.
cartrite

--- edit ---

Yes, there is a legacy driver for the card, and supposedly it's installed. As for the kernel sources issue, I had to install the headers prior to building the driver(s)... they must be present before the installer is run. I still need to check if the modules/extensions were indeed autodetected, a project for today, because while all indications are that the drivers are installed and present - Celestia still is not using them (which is strange, because Celestia reports the OpenGL extensions detected, as I showed in my first post).

I changed the permissions no problem. Now settings made in Celestia stick.

--- edit ---

Update -

I ended up uninstalling Nvidia's drivers, I couldn't get it configured where Celestia sees OpenGL. Instead I installed Debian's version (Etch) of the Nvidia drivers, which includes the legacy set which covers my card. Oddly enough, even after following the suggested "Debian way" (see http://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers) Celestia still does not see OpenGL... although the glxgears demo in Debian works just fine (indicating OpenGL works). The best I can get is still Multitexture.

You mentioned earlier (John) about my xorg.conf setup...


I'm open to any and all suggestions. Thanks.

--- edit ---

Humm, this is odd.

I have a /usr/X11R6/lib/X11 directory, but the only thing in it is another directory called "fonts".

All of my drivers and such are in the following -
/usr/lib/xorg

/usr/lib/xorg/modules

/usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions


The only thing I notice different between my configuration and yours is that you have a ModulePath for a directory called "drivers", which I'm missing. I've since added it to my xorg.conf file. The directory contents -

Why "nvidia_drv.o" is named as such, I have no idea. Placing a copy of it as "nvidia_drv.so" has made no difference.

I installed and ran compiz-check, and the outcome doesn't look too good.

Distribution: Debian GNU/Linux (4.0)
Desktop environment: GNOME
Graphics chip: nVidia Corporation NV5 [RIVA TNT2 Ultra] (rev 11)
Driver in use: Unknown
Rendering method: Nvidia

Checking if it's possible to run Compiz on your system...

Checking for texture_from_pixmap... [FAIL]
Checking for non power of two support... [FAIL]
Checking for composite extension... [FAIL]
Checking for FBConfig... [ OK ]
Checking for hardware/setup problems... [FAIL]

There has been (at least) one error detected with your setup:
Error: Unknown driver in use.

I'm guessing it might be prudent to start from scratch again, uninstalling everything nvidia and manually deleting any leftover nvidia driver files in those paths. The only drivers that should be currently installed (according to Synaptic Package Manager) are -



Thanks for your continued help, I do appreciate it.