Celestia Forums

Hi all,

Boux and I have been working on a new release that integrates improvements of the galaxy and comet rendering in Celestia. These changes have been added to the last Celestia_patch version.

Here are the links to download the new Celestia_1.4.1_patch release :
- Windows (6.7 Mo): http://vincent.gian.club.fr/celestia/ce ... _patch.zip
- Modified Source files for compilation (6.1 Mo): http://vincent.gian.club.fr/celestia/ce ... _patch.zip

Here are the changes from the official 1.4.1 version :
*** Improvement of comet tail rendering
*** New SBbc Hubble type declaration for the Milky way
*** New SBbc.pts model for the Milky Way based on a photo of the SBbc type M109 Galaxy.
*** New Galaxy color rendering with a bit more saturation

*** Sound playback function (Victor's sound patch)
*** Image overlay function (Boux's updated patch)
*** Semi-transparent constellations rendering (Boux's patch)
*** Start/finish dates display for spacecrafts (Doctorjoe's patch modified by Vincent)

This celestia_1.4.1_patch version is completely compatible with the 1.4.1 official version (the 2 versions can co-exist in the same folder) :
- celestia_patch.cfg is set as the default configuration file -> No need to modify the default celestia.cfg file anymore !
- celestia_patch.cfg reads data from deepsky_patch.dsc -> No need to modify the default deepsky.dsc file anymore !

------------------------------------
INSTALLATION FOR WINDOWS
------------------------------------
With this new release, you don't have to modify any of your default files.
- Just unzip the Celestia_1.4.1_patch.zip file directly in your celestia main folder. None of your default files will be replaced/modified !

--------------------------------
COMPILATION
--------------------------------
- Download the official celestia-1.4.1.tar.gz sources from : http://www.celestiaproject.net/celestia/download.html
- Untar and make a copy of the Celestia-1.4.1 default folder to save it.
- Unzip celestia_1.4.1_patch.zip and paste the content of the Celestia_1.4.1_patch folder in the Celestia-1.4.1 folder

*** Windows users :
- The OpenAL library files for Windows are already included, so you don't need to download them.
- You still have to download other libraries here : http://www.celestiaproject.net/celestia/files/winlibs-new.zip
- Unzip, copy the content of the "winlibs-new" folder and paste it into your celestia root folder.
- Copy the "libpng1.dll" and "zlib.dll" files from the default Windows installation folder and paste them into your compilation celestia root folder. Celestia.exe will not run without them.
- Make sure your "celvars" contains the following lines (if not, the compiler won't find the OpenAL/Alut library files) :
(You have to replace "C:\celestia-1.4.1" with your own path/folder)

*** Linux/Mac users :
- Download the OpenAL library files for your OS at : http://www.openal.org/downloads.html

------------------
NAVIGATION
------------------
- Windows users : run Celestia from the celestia_1.4.1_patch.exe file
- To test the sound function : open the scripts/soundtest2.cel file from the File Menu
- To test the overlay texture : Press the F9 key

Here's a screenshot of the new rendering of the Milky Way :


Here are 2 screenshots of the same view of comet Wild 2. The first one was taken with celestia 1.4.1, the second one with Celestia 1.4.1 patch. You can notice there is absolutely no FPS drop.

- Celestia 1.4.1 screenshot :


- Celestia 1.4.1 patch screenshot :


Enjoy !

Thanks a lot for your work. I had a problem while applying the patch, though: 10 chunks failed despite '--fuzz 3' parameter. I'll try to apply them by hand, but I wonder if this has something to do with my system or if it happened to anyone else.

Here's the output:



Decreasing the number of fuzzy lines gives me more fails, and typing '4' or greater makes no difference since the number of context lines in the patch is the standard 3.

Regards,
lardhan.

lardhan wrote:Thanks a lot for your work. I had a problem while applying the patch, though: 10 chunks failed despite '--fuzz 3' parameter. I'll try to apply them by hand, but I wonder if this has something to do with my system or if it happened to anyone else.

Here's the output:

Code: Select all

$ tar -xzf celestia-1.4.1.tar.gz ; cd cel*4.1
$ patch -p0 --fuzz 3 < ../celestia_1.4.1_patch.patch | grep FAIL
Hunk #3 FAILED at 513.
1 out of 4 hunks FAILED -- saving rejects to file src/celengine/galaxy.cpp.rej
Hunk #1 FAILED at 83.
1 out of 1 hunk FAILED -- saving rejects to file src/celengine/galaxy.h.rej
Hunk #1 FAILED at 1447.
Hunk #2 FAILED at 5776.
2 out of 2 hunks FAILED -- saving rejects to file src/celengine/render.cpp.rej
Hunk #1 FAILED at 74.
Hunk #2 FAILED at 88.
2 out of 2 hunks FAILED -- saving rejects to file src/celestia/celestia.mak.rej
Hunk #10 FAILED at 3654.
1 out of 12 hunks FAILED -- saving rejects to file src/celestia/celestiacore.cpp.rej
Hunk #3 FAILED at 434.
1 out of 3 hunks FAILED -- saving rejects to file src/celestia/celestiacore.h.rej
Hunk #2 FAILED at 3059.
1 out of 3 hunks FAILED -- saving rejects to file src/celestia/winmain.cpp.rej
Hunk #1 FAILED at 37.
1 out of 1 hunk FAILED -- saving rejects to file src/celestia/kde/kdeuniquecelestia.cpp.rej


Decreasing the number of fuzzy lines gives me more fails, and typing '4' or greater makes no difference since the number of context lines in the patch is the standard 3.

Regards,
lardhan.

Often the problem is due to "whitespace" mismatch. Example: if the patch creator had his/her editor configured to convert tabs to spaces, the patch will fail except special options are turned on.

Try
> patch --ignore-whitespace -p0 < .....

Bye Fridger

Thanks, t00fri, actually it had something to do with that. I applied successfully the patch using a "magically" modified version; at some moment one of the text editors removed the trailing spaces and changed tab to spaces too. Previously the option --ignore-whitespace didn't help but then it worked ok.

The original patch keeps on failing partially here and kdiff3 shows differences on blanks only. Obviously this .patch file is not clean (it needs the extra parameter) but if someone wants it I can send it by email (I have no webspace).

Regards
lardhan

I can??t see any difference in comet??s tail rendering in the patch,compared to the Celestia 1.4.1 final original version .Can you post some photos?

There is a difference.
Comet's tails section were low-poly with ugly flat segments. Now they are much smoother.
Look at them from behind to see the difference.

Vincent, Boux, Victor, Dr. Joe:

Your new features are ... SPECTACULAR!

I think I speak for all of us in saying "Thank you"

Regards

Frank

I was running into problems after installing the OpenAL.
I'm using an onboard sound-chip and after I had installed the OpenAL
the sound ceased at all!
No system-sounds, no wav- or mp3 sounds anymore. Nothing.
Silence in the speakers.
I had to restore the entire system (Windows System Restore tool)
to get back the sound.
Can anybody confirm this behaviour on a XP/SP2 machine with
onboard sound?

Regards,
Adirondack

Lardhan wrote:Obviously this .patch file is not clean (it needs the extra parameter) but if someone wants it I can send it by email (I have no webspace).

Lardhan,
I built this patch with TortoiseCVS patch tool that compares my source files directly to the same version of the CVS files. The different patches (from the different coders) I have integrated to my source files were probably not made with the same text editors. My patch file was tested on several systems and gave no problem. But since your "magic" patch ( ) seems to work on your system, please send it to me. I will replace my version with yours so that everybody will be able to use it.

Thanks.

Adirondack wrote:I was running into problems after installing the OpenAL. I'm using an onboard sound-chip and after I had installed the OpenAL the sound ceased at all! Can anybody confirm this behaviour on a XP/SP2 machine with onboard sound?

Adirondack, I've installed the OpenAL library on my laptop with an onboard sound-chip (XP Pro/SP1) and I have problem to hear sound neither in Celestia nor in other applications...

Maybe some XP/XP2 users could test the OpenAL library and report their results here...

danielj wrote:I can??t see any difference in comet??s tail rendering in the patch,compared to the Celestia 1.4.1 final original version .Can you post some photos?

danielj,

I've added the screenshots to my first post.

Vincent wrote:I built this patch with TortoiseCVS patch tool that compares my source files directly to the same version of the CVS files.

That's interesting; I applied the patch to the official 1.4.1 tar.gz sources from http://www.celestiaproject.net/celestia/download.html . Maybe there are some differences there. Anyway, I've sent the file to your mail.

Regards
lardhan

Thanks Lardhan,

I've updated the patch with your "magic"version...

Thanks for the nice addon

[quote]Maybe some XP/XP2 users could test the OpenAL library and report their results here...[/quote]

Win/Home XP2
Creative SB Audigy Card

No sound probs

Using the OpenAL32.exe installer, it places a dll file in the Windows system32 folder. The file is named "openAL32.dll". I don't know what else it does.

I have a Creative Audigy II sound card. It is NOT an integrated card. I installed OpenAL32.exe on my system and encountered no problems. Sound was fine. However, if installing OpenAL32.exe kills all sound on a computer and forces a complete restore of the hard drive on even one system, THAT IS A MAJOR PROBLEM.

Perhaps an examination of the OpenAL website forum will find some discussion of the problem.

Regards

Frank

For Linux/Mac users and for users who want to compile their own version of Celestia_1.4.1_patch, I have added to my first post a link to a zip file containing all the needed modified source files. I've also updated my post with some instructions about the compilation.

Please report your failure/success about the compilation here.

I got one word... AWESOME. thanx alot

Thanks to all for your feedbacks/suggestions/support.

I managed to solve Adirondack's OpenAL issue. We have exchanged a few PM, and the problem is completely solved now.
I've been testing for a few weeks a way to completely integrate the OpenAL library to the Windows version of Celestia_1.4.1_patch. This works by adding another version of the OpenAL32.dll file in Celestia's root folder. That means that Windows users wouldn't have to use the OpenAL installer anymore.

> I have updated the downloadable files with the new OpenAL32.dll file.
> I have updated the installation/compilation instruction in my first post.

So if you have had problems with the OpenAL installer, just paste the new OpenAL32.dll file into your celestia root folder, and please let me know the results...

Here are some other instructions for Windows users who want to compile their own release from the Celestia 1.4.1 source files and the Celestia_1.4.1_patch files.

- You have to download the new library pack here : http://www.celestiaproject.net/celestia/files/winlibs-new.zip
- Unzip, copy the content of the "winlibs-new" folder and paste it into your celestia root folder.
- Copy the "libpng1.dll" and "zlib.dll" files from the default Windows installation folder and paste them into your compilation celestia root folder. Celestia.exe will not run without them.
- Make sure your "celvars" contains the following lines (if not, the compiler won't find the OpenAL/Alut library files) :
(You have to replace "C:\celestia-1.4.1" with your own path/folder)

Can we expect to see this new cool features in the next relese of Celestia?