Star wars project

[squallxxrinoa]

Hi Everyone ...
Is it possible to make the galaxy of star wars with CELESTIA ? With reals planets ? (not all the planets of course...but a few) ...?

And how can i add ship of Starwars in Celestia? I download the SW-Awing on motherlode, But i don't know where I can see it in Celestia....The zip file don't have any .cel or .STC... HELP PLZ..
^^
Yo

[BobHegwood]

Hi Everyone ...
Is it possible to make the galaxy of star wars with CELESTIA ? With reals planets ? (not all the planets of course...but a few) ...?

And how can i add ship of Starwars in Celestia? I download the SW-Awing on motherlode, But i don't know where I can see it in Celestia....The zip file don't have any .cel or .STC... HELP PLZ..
^^
Yo

Did you view the ReadMe.txt file? The zip file does have an SSC file,
and that file describes the add-on as residing around the planet
Endor which is defined as revolving around HD 143761.

I haven't gotten to the Star Wars stuff yet, but you should be
able to see Endor around HD 143761 (Which you can get to by using
the ENTER-TYPE NAME-ENTER method.) Then, you should be able
to right-click on the star to see Endor.

Please view the ReadMe.txt file though. You're probably missing
one of Thomas Guilpain's add-ons which are needed for this A-Wing.

You also need to install the add-on located HERE.

Hope that helps, Bob

[squallxxrinoa]

Thank you...Yeah I saw the .scc file...but I don't know how to open it....

So I don"t have to make "an special command" to open an add on in Celestia ....? Just need to unzip the file, and look in the .ssc where the add on is located in Celestia ? ...

[BobHegwood]

Thank you...Yeah I saw the .scc file...but I don't know how to open it....

So I don"t have to make "an special command" to open an add on in Celestia ....? Just need to unzip the file, and look in the .ssc where the add on is located in Celestia ? ...

I normally unzip all of my Celestia files to a temporary directory
where I can look at all the files before I install them in Celestia. This
is just me though. To view any SSC file, simply open it with Notepad,
or any text editor. I'm using Notepad 2. Very easy to use, but again
you can use ANY normal text editor.

[BobHegwood]

Thank you...Yeah I saw the .scc file...but I don't know how to open it....

So I don"t have to make "an special command" to open an add on in Celestia ....? Just need to unzip the file, and look in the .ssc where the add on is located in Celestia ? ...

You know what? I can't get either the A-Wing OR the B-Wing models
to display themselves correctly on my system no matter what I do.

On the flip side, the X-Wing displays itself just fine around the
DeathStar, so I have NOT A CLUE as to what is going on yet. I
thought it was the SSC file too, but I simply cannot find anything
wrong with it. The A-Wing and B-Wing SSC files look almost
identical to the X-Wing, but that model displays correctly.

The reason I still think that it's the SSC file is because I DID get
the A-Wing to display itself around Endor when I used another
model's SSC file (with a few modifications.)

Will let you know when (and if) I figure it out.

Thanks, Bob

[BobHegwood]

Okay, you all know I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed, but WHY
can I see the A-Wing fighter when viewed as a planet, but not as
a spacecraft?

SSC which displays the A-Wing:

Code: Select all

"A-Wing" "HD 143761/Endor"
{
        Class "planet"
        Mesh "Awing.3ds"
        Radius 1600

        CustomOrbit "Death Star"
        EllipticalOrbit {
      Period          0.20
      SemiMajorAxis   24000
      Eccentricity    0.001
   }
       
   Albedo       0.10
}

Original SSC from which I can see NO ENTRY in the Solar System
Browser when at the star Rho Crb:

Code: Select all

"A-Wing" "HD 143761/Endor"
{
        Class "spacecraft"
        Mesh "Awing.3ds"
        Color [ 0 0 0 ]
        Radius 0.03

        EllipticalOrbit {
        Period        0.2
        SemiMajorAxis 6501
        MeanAnomaly  120
        }
        Orientation [ 90 0 1 0 ]
        Albedo 1.0
}

Any help appreciated... Is it possible that the original radius is
just too small?

Thanks, Brain-Dead as Hell apparently, Bob

[selden]

Bob,

"It works fine for me!"

I suspect the problem is not caused by what you think it is, and that you haven't told us enough about how you installed the StarWars Addon for anyone to be able to point out the cause of the problem.

As it is right now, Thomas Guilpain's StarWars Addon cannot work the way modern Addons are supposed to work. It was designed for use with Celestia v1.25 when everything had to be installed into Celestia's own directories. It is not designed so that the entire Addon can be dropped into the extras directory.

In contrast, Jestr's Addons SW-Awing and SW-Bwing *are* designed so they work unchanged with current versions of Celestia.

To make the A-Wing and B-Wing Addons work, I did the following. There are several other ways to install these Addons so that they cooperate, but even more ways to install them so they don't. I've tried to describe each step in gory detail. I'm sorry if it seems overkill, but too often I've run into circumstances where people don't mention things because they're obvious to them, but are not obvious to anyone else. Also, this is intended to help people who are novices with Celestia.

A. Install the Addons

0. download StarWars.zip, SW-Awing.zip and SW-Bwing.zip from the Celestia MotherLode

1. In your Celestia installation, create the folder Celestia\extras\StarWars\
(Celestia\extras\ already exists. Create the folder \StarWars\ inside the \extras\ folder.)

2. open the StarWars Zip archive
3. open its \extras\ folder
4. drag StarWars.ssc from the Zip archive into Celestia\extras\StarWars\
5. go up a level in the Zip archive
6. drag both folders \models\ and \textures\ from StarWars.zip into Celestia\extras\StarWars\

In other words, do *not* drag everything as-is into either \extras\ or into \Celestia\

7. Open the SW-Awing Zip archive
8. drag the folder \SW-Awing\ from its Zip archive into Celestia\extras\

9. Open the SW-Bwing Zip archive
10. drag the folder \SW-Bwing\ from its Zip archive into Celestia\extras\


11. If you haven't already, close all Zip archives.

B. start and configure Celestia

12. Run Celestia
13. Open Celestia's Render / View Options menu
14. Select the option boxes Show Stars, Show Planets and Show Orbits.
15. Select the Orbit and Label option boxes for Planets, Moons and Spacecraft.
16. Select Information Text / Verbose
17. Click on OK.

C. Go to the stellar system

18. type [enter]HD 143761[enter]
not forgetting the space between HD and 143761.
(Note that the display in the upper left corner of Celestia's window now includes the statement "planetary companions present")

19. type g

The viewpoint flies to Rho CrB. (the little squiggle at the left edge of the window is the Greek letter Rho)

20. Use your mouse to back away from the star until you see all three planetary orbits: b, Tatooine and Endor.

21. Type [enter]Endor[enter]
The outermost orbit should turn red.

22. Type g
The viewpoint flies to Endor.
You should see part of an outer blue orbit (the Death Star) and two grey or white orbits close to the planet (the two fighters). Depending on the time of day, the labels A-Wing and B-Wing may be visible or hidden behind the planet.

23. type [enter]A-Wing[enter]
the viewpoint flies to the red-and-white A-Wing fighter.

*If* the A-Wing is in sunlight, you should be able to see it. If it is in eclipse on the dark side of the planet, you might or might not be able to see it, depending on Celestia's ambient light settings and the render path that Celestia is using.

If you can't see it, turn up the ambient light setting:

24. press and hold down Shift-] -- i.e. } --
until you can see it

and/or

25. toggle through the Render paths until you can see it: type Ctrl-V several times.

Render Path OpenGL 2.0 implements the casting of shadows by planets onto 3D models, so the fighter should be black if it's on the dark side of Endor. None of the other render paths have that feature, so they'll show the underside of the fighter brightly lit.

Does this work for you?

[BobHegwood]

Thanks very much for all of that Selden.

The reason I'm interested in fixing this problem is because the
add-ons I'm trying to validate on the ML are where these problems
are coming from.

I will have another go at it tomorrow after I get some sleep. Been at
this for about 12 hours today.

Let me just mention that I DID do almost exactly what you described
in your post. The only difference is that I went to Rho Crb rather
than the HD designation. All of the add-ons were placed in
C:\Program Files\Celestia\extras\Starwars (The ssc's) and all
of the models and textures were placed within the appropriate
textures and models folders within the Starwars directory.

Sorry I don't have the background needed to figure this out for myself
but I did manage to reason that it had something to do with the
way in which the files are referenced by the add-ons.

Again, thanks very much for your help but one more point here.
I can't see the A-Wing or the B-Wing simply because they do NOT
exist in the system as far as the Solar System browser is
concerned. The difference in the two code examples above
shows what it takes to get the A-Wing LISTED as orbiting Endor.
If it isn't listed in the browser, then I can't view it. PERIOD.

[selden]

Bob,

Two things:

1. Saying that things "were placed within the appropriate textures and models folders" does not mean that they were. You have to show us exactly where they actually are: a screengrab of an explorer window would be one way. In particular, since these are models, their textures *must* be placed in the correct \medres\ folder. Placing them in the wrong folder will prevent those textures from being shown, and in some cases will prevent the model from being visible.

2. Sorry, but I have to be even more picky: "not existing in the solar system browser" is *not* the same as "not visible". In the not too distant future it will be possible to intentionally create Addons which define objects which are not listed but which you can view, select and goto. There have been bugs in previous versions of Celestia which did something similar.

Telling us the gist of what doesn't work instead of *exactly* what fails makes it difficult to determine what's actually going wrong.

At any rate, using my installation procedure above, which does *not* place the textures and models in the same folders, I can see the fighters listed in Celestia's solar system browser, both with Celestia v1.5.0 and the current svn code while running under Windows XP.

[BobHegwood]

Okay Selden, Will try again.

Sorry for the somewhat cryptic reply above. Was very tired.
Will follow exact steps and let you know what happens.

Thanks VERY much for your help here.

[BobHegwood]

Selden,

Before I restarted this investigation, I removed all Starwars
add-ons from my system, and then I followed your instructions
EXACTLY and TO THE LETTER with no joy. I can still not locate
and/or see the A-Wing or the B-Wing.

Here's a possible clue as to the cause though...

When I try to use the ENTER-TYPE NAME-ENTER method to go to
the star HD 143761, I simply do NOT have the option to select
this star. In fact, there is only ONE HD entry available to select,
and it is HD 178911 B

The only way I can get to the system is by entering Rho Crb.
Could this be my (and others) problem with these add-ons?

My directory is setup EXACTLY like it was before I started this
mess too, which means that I had already done what you
suggested in your instructions concerning the textures and
models.

My installation ends up in the following order:

C:\Program Files\Celestia\extras\StarWars\
contains the ssc files and the models and textures folders which
contain everything placed as you described.

To be exact, the C:\Program Files\Celestia\extras\StarWars\models
folder contains Awing.3ds, Bwing.3ds and dstar.3ds
C:\Program Files\Celestia\extras\StarWars\textures\medres
contains AWT1.JPG, AWT4.JPG, AW-TEXT2.JPG, AW-TEXT3.JPG,
BWCPIT.JPG, BWHULL.JPG, BWWING.JPG, DS_01.JPG, DS_02.JPG,
DS_BODY.JPG, DSTRENCH.JPG, Endor.jpg, TatBump.jpg and
Tatooine.jpg.

Don't know what else to do here, but I guess the question is why
can't I get to the HD star, but I can get to Rho Crb.

One other note... The X-Wing add-on around the Death Star
DOES work, and I can see absolutely NO differences in the setup
except that the X-Wing is in orbit around the Death Star, rather
than Endor.

Sorry my friend, but I'm at my wits end here.

Thanks, Brain-Dead Bob

[BobHegwood]

Screen shots so that you can see the locations of my Starwars
files:

[selden]

Bob,

You have two separate problems.
One is due to poor design of the [enter] selection method. I think its "tab completion" feature needs to be redesigned.

The other is due to mixing the three sets of StarWars SSC files together in the same directory. That can't work.

Please look at the contents of Celestia's console log: it contains some relevant error mesages. Type a tilde (~) to toggle it on and off. Type the up and down arrow keys to navigate in it.

You will find that the three SSC files are being loaded in the wrong order. When they're in the same folder, Celestia loads SSC files in alphabetical order. Since you mixed the SSC files together in the same directory, it loads A-Wing.ssc before it loads StarWars.ssc. Endor is not yet defined when the Awing definition tries to use it. As a result, Celestia doesn't know where to place the A-Wing and has to discard it.

Selden,

Before I restarted this investigation, I removed all Starwars
add-ons from my system, and then I followed your instructions
EXACTLY and TO THE LETTER with no joy. I can still not locate
and/or see the A-Wing or the B-Wing.

Here's a possible clue as to the cause though...

When I try to use the ENTER-TYPE NAME-ENTER method to go to
the star HD 143761, I simply do NOT have the option to select
this star. In fact, there is only ONE HD entry available to select,
and it is HD 178911 B

I'm a little confused by your description. Do you mean that while you're typing
[enter]HD 14...
no list of similar names appears at the bottom of the screen?

If so, that lack is as expected and is as designed.
The HD numbers are digital catalog entries in Celestia, they aren't Star Names. Only textual Star Names are listed in the "tab completion list" when the [enter] selection method is used. Star Names are defined using quoted strings in STC files. Some HD, HIP and SAO values are shown and cause confusion because people have defined them as textual Star Names in STC files. They happen to look the same as catalog number designations, but really aren't the same.

The only way I can get to the system is by entering Rho Crb.
Could this be my (and others) problem with these add-ons?

No..
The "tab completion" list never shows matching HD, HIP or SAO catalog numbers. Just because a Star's catalog number is not listed in the "tab completion list" does not mean you can't use it. You can still select HD catalog numbers: just finish typing the entire, correct HD catalog number and follow it by another [enter]. It'll work fine.

My directory is setup EXACTLY like it was before I started this
mess too, which means that I had already done what you
suggested in your instructions concerning the textures and
models.

My installation ends up in the following order:

C:\Program Files\Celestia\extras\StarWars\
contains the ssc files and the models and textures folders which
contain everything placed as you described.

Bob, sorry, but that's *not* what I described.

To be exact, the C:\Program Files\Celestia\extras\StarWars\models
folder contains Awing.3ds, Bwing.3ds and dstar.3ds
C:\Program Files\Celestia\extras\StarWars\textures\medres
contains AWT1.JPG, AWT4.JPG, AW-TEXT2.JPG, AW-TEXT3.JPG,
BWCPIT.JPG, BWHULL.JPG, BWWING.JPG, DS_01.JPG, DS_02.JPG,
DS_BODY.JPG, DSTRENCH.JPG, Endor.jpg, TatBump.jpg and
Tatooine.jpg.

My procedure says to put the Awing and Bwing Addons directly into the extras folder, *not* into the StarWars folder. When you look in the \extras\ folder you should see the three folders
\StarWars\
\SW-Awing\
\SW-Bwing\

Since StarWars is alphabetically before SW-..., its content gets loaded first. Endor gets defined before Awing and Bwing need to use it.

Do not separate their pieces and merge them into the StarWars folder. Mixing the three Addons together is causing the problem. If you really want to mix them together, then you must either rename the SSC files so they have the correct alphabetic order or you must edit them into one single SSC file with the Awing and Bwing definitions down below the Endor definition.

Don't know what else to do here, but I guess the question is why
can't I get to the HD star, but I can get to Rho Crb.

See above

One other note... The X-Wing add-on around the Death Star
DOES work, and I can see absolutely NO differences in the setup
except that the X-Wing is in orbit around the Death Star, rather
than Endor.

Sorry my friend, but I'm at my wits end here.

Thanks, Brain-Dead Bob

One issue when mixing Addons with separate SSC files is that Celestia has to load their SSC files in the correct order. If Celestia loads the Awing SSC before it loads the Endor SSC, then it can't work. In this case, at the time the Awing SSC is loaded, Endor is unknown, so Celestia has to discard the Awing.

These kinds of problems are indicated in Celestia's "console log". (see the top of this message) It'll complain that the "parent body" is undefined.

[BobHegwood]

Okay Selden, at last I understand...

Thank you VERY MUCH for your patience with this old Brain-Dead
Geezer. I will relay the setup instructions on the ML because others
are having (have had) the same problem.

Methinks you should be classified as Celestia's resident SAINT!

Thanks again, Bob

[BobHegwood]

The Star Wars add-ons on the Motherlode ALL now work correctly
when installed correctly.

Have a look at the magnifying glass descriptions on the ML
for detailed instructions and/or explanations for each add-on.

Again, thanks to Selden for his excellent help.

[John Van Vliet]

--- edit ---

[John Van Vliet]

--- edit ---

[selden]

Autocompletion works only for starnames which are defined in STC files. HD 143761 is defined in one of Celestia's internal binary databases, so that star designation has to be typed in full. It'll work fine when used as a star to be orbited in an SSC file.

[Lafuente_Astronomy]

that's a spam bot, please ignore it

Alright. I still don't get why they often revisit old posts and then bring them back up to Active Topics.

[SpaceFanatic64]

Me neither. Most spam bots here have a tendency of doing that.