Celestia Forums

Add-ons don't work for me; I have tested a couple of nebulas, specifically the "Crab Nebula" and "Eagle Nebula" they don't show up as illustrated.
I'm new to Celestia, and I can't find clear instructions on the proper installation of add-ons.
Can anyone offer me advice, or direct me to a more concise description than Wiki or Motherlode? I'm using Win98SE, nVidia card....
Cheers

Please take a look at
A (not so) Brief Introduction to Add-Ons
http://www.lepp.cornell.edu/~seb/celest ... intro.html

Thanks for the link, Seldon. I have bookmarked it, and will study it further.
However, on first glance, it appears to be a tad beyond my experience to put it all together.
The ReadMe's included with the Motherlode nebulas just said to dump it all into the 'extras' folder. Are they all wrong, then?

PS I'm new to Celestia, absolutely love it!

The addons can't work if all of the files are put into \extras\. Only the catalog files go there (or preferably in a folder within \extras\ ).

The models have to go into a folder in \extras\ (or into that folder within \extras\ ) named \models\.

The textures (pictures) usually have to go into a folder named \textures\medres\ (or sometimes \textures\hires\ ).

Most Addons include the appropriate folders within the Zip file. If you use a visual version of the Zip program, you can drag the Addon's main folder from the Zip window into \extras\. Windows should automatically drag the folders that it contains along with it and create them and their contents properly.

Thanks. I'll try another zip program then, Winzip showed no folders inside the .zips.
cheers

Which Addons in particular are causing problems?

lol, every one I downloaded, which leads me to assume that it must be winzip thats not showing folders - some of the redme's even include some comment about the apparantly non-existent ones.

In the past, I have downloaded stuff like customized levels of videogames, which were bundled in 'wise' installers, which automated the installation for the benefit of newbies like me.
Is it not possible to do this with Celestia?
Cheers

Celestia runs on Windows, MacOS and Linux, and Adsons can be created on any of them. An installer would run on only one specific operating sytem, but Zip works on all of them. If you're running XP, it includes its own version of Zip which works well with most Addons.

Ya, but think of all the newbies who look at the daunting installation process involved in just installing one extra Nebula, and don't even attempt it?

I will, eventually, undertake the painful process of putting all these bits in their proper places, because I can, once I've read and re-read the instructions a bunch of times - but my friend will never undertake it, he knows so little about the operation of his machine.

The people who compile installers for videogames are often kids, with little or no money, creating levels for games that could run on Macs, PCs, etc. but they still take the time to create installers.

Besides, PCs are still the biggest group of users, right? They probably also represent the most ignorant group of users, because of their sheer numbers.

Anyway it was, I thought, a helpful suggestion, meant well.
cheers