Celestia Forums

First of all, hello everybody. This program is wonderful, and something I've been looking for for a long, long time... really makes the vast distances between objects appreciable.

But as I begin to try to get into the fancier sides of playing with this, I have a problem with capturing a few of the more striking views I've set up... all the pictures I save come out solid black when I open them up.

Is this a common problem? I've been poking through the FAQs, and I've either skimmed in a place where I should have read, or else I'm just generally clueless...

Thanks in advance.

Russ,

Please describe your system in detail. I have to admit that I haven't heard of this problem before.

If you haven't already done so, please read Prelimiary User's FAQ at the top of the Users Forum. The first few Q/As may help.

XT box from Fry's, plenty of memory and a good video card. Only get weird stuff drawn when I'm too close to an object's surface...

I see I should have posted this over in "bugs." Sorry 'bout that.

Russ,

By details, I meant things like the actual model and manufacturer of the video card and the version of graphics drivers that are installed on your system.

The FAQ explains how to get this information.

By far, most of the display problems that are reported are caused by obsolete and/or buggy graphics drivers.

Dear Russ:

Celestia has a known bug ... a problem with drawing objects that are within 300 meters or so of the surface. Spacecraft sitting on the ground are good examples. When you go to visit them and drop below about 300 meters, the sky horizon turns black. If you go within 50 meters of the surface, you may actually go "into" the planet and everything turns black.

It is not your system, it is Celestia.

You kind of just have to live with it (if someone has a video card that does not display this bug, please let me know - I've experienced it since I first discovered Celestia 2 years ago)

Regards,

Frank