My initial Beta Test Report

[don]

Howdy All,

I spent a few hours during the past two days doing a "Beta Test Run" on version 1.3.1 pre6. Now, I am wondering where I might send the resulting 17 KB text file I created? I'd sure hate to post this long document here in the forum, unless that's what the developers really want.

Thank you.

I will continue testing as time permits...

-Don

[chris]

17K of feedback? That'd be great! Go ahead and post it right here . . . Break it into multiple posts if you think that would make it easier on readers.

--Chris

[don]

Code: Select all

Celestia Beta Test Bug Report -- ver 1.3.1-pre6
-----------------------------------------------

From: Don Goyette
 Loc: Colorado, USA
Date: July 15, 16, 2003

Hardware:
 * Dell Dimension 8250
   - P4 3.06 GHz w/HyperThreading (dual processor emulation)
   - 1 GB RAM
   - ATI Radeon 9700 Pro with 128 MB RAM (Dell OEM)
       * Catalyst 3-D drivers ver. 03.6
       * ATI 2-D drivers ver. 6.14.10.6368
       * DirectX ver 9.0a (4.09.0000.0901)
       * Running at full hardware accel.
   - Creative SB Live! (retail, not OEM)
   - Canopus Storm-2 (Realtime, Non-Linear video editing card)
   - On-board network adapter (Intel Pro/100 M), linked with 2 other PC's
   - 2 internal 120 GB drives (IDE - NTFS)
   - 2 external 75 GB drives (OHCI 1394 - NTFS)

 * Peripheral devices
   - Key Tronic KB101 Plus keyboard
   - Logitech Trackman Marble+ (trackball mouse)
   - Harman/Kardon 3 piece speaker system
   - Sony DRU-500A DVD burner
   - HP LaserJet 5/MP Postscript printer (turned off)
   - Viewsonic VX2000 21" flat-panel display, digital mode (1024x768, 32-bit)
   - LinkSys 4-port router
       * DSL Modem (disabled through network control)
       * Two other PC's (neither one is ON)
   - Several USB devices (none connected)

OS: Windows XP Pro / SP-1 / ver 5.01.2600 / all updates & patches installed

Power Management: Disabled
    Screen Saver: Disabled
      Other Apps: (Currently Running) Wordpad
System Processes: 39 total, including ...
                   * Norton System Works 2003/AntiVirus (disabled)
                   * Roland Virtual Sound Canvas (not active)
                   * ATI video card stuff
                   * Creative Labs sound card stuff

OpenGL Info reported by Celestia
--------------------------------
Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
Renderer: RADEON 9700 PRO x86/SSE2
Version: 1.3.3842 WinXP Release
Max simultaneous textures: 8
Max texture size: 2048

Supported Extensions:
GL_ARB_multitexture GL_EXT_texture_env_add GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array GL_S3_s3tc GL_ARB_depth_texture GL_ARB_fragment_program GL_ARB_multisample GL_ARB_point_parameters GL_ARB_shadow GL_ARB_shadow_ambient GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp GL_ARB_texture_compression GL_ARB_texture_cube_map GL_ARB_texture_env_add GL_ARB_texture_env_combine GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3 GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat GL_ARB_transpose_matrix GL_ARB_vertex_blend GL_ARB_vertex_program GL_ARB_window_pos GL_ATI_draw_buffers GL_ATI_element_array GL_ATI_envmap_bumpmap GL_ATI_fragment_shader GL_ATI_map_object_buffer GL_ATI_separate_stencil GL_ATI_texture_env_combine3 GL_ATI_texture_float GL_ATI_texture_mirror_once GL_ATI_vertex_array_object GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object GL_ATI_vertex_attrib_array_object GL_ATI_vertex_streams GL_ATIX_texture_env_combine3 GL_ATIX_texture_env_route GL_ATIX_vertex_shader_output_point_size GL_EXT_abgr GL_EXT_bgra GL_EXT_blend_color GL_EXT_blend_func_separate GL_EXT_blend_minmax GL_EXT_blend_subtract GL_EXT_clip_volume_hint GL_EXT_draw_range_elements GL_EXT_fog_coord GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays GL_EXT_packed_pixels GL_EXT_point_parameters GL_EXT_rescale_normal GL_EXT_secondary_color GL_EXT_separate_specular_color GL_EXT_stencil_wrap GL_EXT_texgen_reflection GL_EXT_texture3D GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc GL_EXT_texture_cube_map GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp GL_EXT_texture_env_combine GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3 GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias GL_EXT_texture_object GL_EXT_texture_rectangle GL_EXT_vertex_array GL_EXT_vertex_shader GL_HP_occlusion_test GL_NV_texgen_reflection GL_NV_blend_square GL_NV_occlusion_query GL_SGI_color_matrix GL_SGIS_texture_edge_clamp GL_SGIS_texture_border_clamp GL_SGIS_texture_lod GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap GL_SGIS_multitexture GL_SUN_multi_draw_arrays GL_WIN_swap_hint WGL_EXT_extensions_string WGL_EXT_swap_control


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Celestia Startup Settings
-------------------------
* Default Script: start.cel
* Time: Today/Real time/Forward
* Render/View Options:
  - Show: Clouds, Comet Tails, Eclipse Shadows, Galaxies, Night Side Lights, Planets,
    and Stars.
  - Orbits/Labels: Orbit Moons and Orbit Planets.
  - Filter Stars: 1,000,000 (default)
  - Information Text: Verbose
* Render Locations:
  - Show Features: ALL checked
  - Label Features: Checked
  - Mark Features: Won't stay checked, so it's un-checked (see below)
  - Minimum Labeled Feature Size: 20
* Display Mode: Windowed
* Auto-magnitude: Disabled (default)
* Star Style: Fuzzy points (default)
* Antialiasing: Disabled (default)
* FOV: 1.00x
* Magnitude: Varies - Whatever the last setting was


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beta Test Bug Report - Initial Testing
--------------------------------------

The following "bugs" were all found when running Celestia "FRESH" (exit from previous test, re-run the program which then uses the default start.cel script), and then doing what the text says.


User Interface
--------------
1) Menu/Render/Locations/dialog box:
   * Mark Features checkbox does not stay checked.

   * Neither the Label Features or Mark Features options seem to work, at least
     on Earth.  Is there something special that needs to be done in order to make
     these work?

   * The slider control for "Minimum Labeled Feature Size" does not function correctly.
     When I click to the left or right of the control button, the slider moves but the
     numeric value does not change.  The control button must be clicked-on and then
     dragged.


2) Menu/View/Split...
   * When splitting views, the display line "Added view" seems to be displayed for
     too short of a time period.  I saw something that seemed to flash, and had to
     Single View and then split view again, while watching the area where I saw the
     text flash, in order to find out what it said.


3) Menu/Navigatiojn/Tour Guide:
   * (Jupiter is default selection)  Click "Go To".  Nothing happens.  The drop-down
     list MUST be opened and something selected for anything to happen.


4) At one point in my testing, I opened the Eclipse Finder, entered a date range,
   clicked Compute, and nothing happened (no hourglass, no data).  I even went back
   to 1900!  I have not been able to duplicate this one, as the hourglass now always
   appears and data may or may not show up.


5) Mouse: If an object is single-clicked, then single-clicked again several seconds
   later, Celestia mistakenly acts as though the object was double-clicked, by
   repositioning it to the center of the display.



Keyboard
--------
1) Pressing Ctrl-a to toggle atmospheres also increases Speed, where only the "a" key by itself is supposed to increase speed.  Using left or right Ctrl key makes no difference.  Using Ctrl-Shift-a (Ctrl-A) makes no difference.


2) When using Track, setting any speed makes you move AWAY from the selected object.  Is this intentional?  Should you not be moving closer to it?  Yes, this was a fresh run.  Yes, I tried using the "q" key to reverse, stop, Exit the program, re-run the program, and the same thing happens.


3) If the "a" key (accel.) is held down for too long, the Speed display exceeds 32 or 33 integer numbers to the left of the decimal place, and FREEZES with what appears to be an error displayed: "1.#IO ly/s" and cannot be stopped (F1 / s) or reset (F2-F7).  The Distance display also goes spastic.  The only way to regain control of Speed is to Exit the program and restart it.  Selecting another object and going to it works only until you get there.  Once there, the camera continues traveling and the Distance display goes screwy again.  Maybe there should be some upper limit to the Speed input value?


4) Date/Time display (using "l" key): The Year is allowed to go up to some ridiculous number, like 5,870,000 and then it changes to a negative number, then back to a positive number, etc.  During this time, the Time value flickers between positive and negative numbers also.  Is this size number really necessary?  Why not assign an upper/lower limit and then just say "The End of Time" or something else?


5) The "k" key allows time to be slowed down until the Time display simply vanishes from the screen, requiring an Exit and re-run of Celestia.  Maybe there should be a limit to this value, like there is to "l"?


6) The "t" key (Track) works as a toggle (on-off), but the "f" key (Follow) does not.  Looks like it should, IF the same object is still selected.


7) The "t" key (Track) works as a toggle (on-off), but the "y" key (Sync Orbit) does not.  Looks like it should, IF the same object is still selected.


8) Are TWO keys really necessary to toggle between three different texture resolution settings ("r" and "R")?  One key, moving through the available resolutions should be sufficient, no?



Display
-------
1) The color of the text in the upper-right-hand corner of the display turns many different colors at many different times.  Sometimes, it is multi-color, with different parts of the text being different colors.  The text color in this display section changed frequently in 1.3.0 final as well.

  * One example: I press the Enter key, enter "M33", press Enter key.  Press g.  The text color cycles and or flickers back and forth between light purple (default), pink, and light green.  Once there, the date (not the time portion) is light green and the rest of the text is back to default.

  * On another occassion, I was pressing the "[" and "]" keys to change Magnitude, and all the normally light purple text turned pink, but only while one of the keys was being pressed.  When the key was released, the text color went back to normal (light purple).

  * On yet another occassion, press Enter key, enter "M33", press Enter key.  Press g.  Once there, press ESC to cancel the "Follow M33".  Press h.  Press f.  Press t.  All text in the upper right hand corner is now pink.

NOTE: These problems seem to have been cleared up by my installing version 3.6 of the Catalyst 3-D drivers (I had been using 3.1).  I will report later if any of these happen again.


2) Galaxy flashing / flickering: Sometimes (but not always), when outside of the Milky Way (sometimes even when IN it), and traveling at a ANY light speed, or higher AU speeds, in forward or reverse, with Show Galaxies ON, many small, medium and even large galaxies "flash" on and off as the camera is moving.  No, it's not moving PAST them or THROUGH them ... just plain moving, in any direction.

Magnitude / Auto-magnitude settings don't seem to matter.

Also just found out this happens when clicking and dragging to move an object around on the screen.

The "flashes" normally appear to the left, right, up, or down of the selected object I am traveling to.  This does NOT happen when using the g key.  A good example ... go to M33, press ESC, press h, press c, press f, press F7.  If no flashing galaxies are visible, press "a" to increase Speed a bit.  This also happens when using the Home and End keys, as well as the mouse scroll wheel.

NOTE: These problems seem to have been cleared up by my installing version 3.6 of the Catalyst 3-D drivers (I had been using 3.1).  I will report later if any of these happen again.


3) When you pass slowly (about 30 km/s) *through* Sol, all kinds of weird things happen to the display.  First, the edges start flickering, then a partially opaque sun-color-filled rectangle appears with flickering edges and gets smaller and smaller until it turns into multi-sided shapes flashing all over the screen.  Eventually, only a "normal", star-filled night sky is displayed.  Continuing through the sun, a round opening appears through the sun-colored opaqueness, starting in the center and getting bigger until all the stars are visible in a normal manner.  Later, the multi-sided shapes start flickering around again.  Then it goes to normal night sky.  Then full-screen sun-colored-opaque flickering starts again.  Then, the round opening appears again, starting at full-screen and going to a point, leaving the entire display filled with the sun-colored-opaqueness, which slowly goes away, exposing the night sky.

All of this happens between the approach distance of 695,000 km to about 872,000 km out the other side.  I actually used varying speeds to try and catch all of the display "fireworks" so I could document them.

When going through any other body, much of this happens also, with the exception of the sun-color opaqueness -- the color is based on the body.

Might a collision detector prevent one from going *through* a physical body, thus prevent the spastic display?


4) Distance display: When this value reaches 13 or 14 integer positions (in ly), it simply changes values but remains at the same number of integer positions.  Maybe some upper (positive) and lower (negative) limits should be set for this value, and then display "edge of universe" or something similar?


5) Chase display problem?:
   * Select Sol.  Notice the information display:
       Distance: 1.016 au
       Abs (app) mag = 4.83 (-26.71)
   * Press '"' to activate Chase.
   * The Celestia display area goes black, except for the text.  The info is now:
       Distance: 0.000 m
       Abs (app) mag = 4.83 (-1.#J) <--- ERROR?
   * Press ESC.  The stars re-appear in the display, but info remains the same.
   * Press "g" (Goto Sol).
   * The Celestia display area goes black, except for the text.  Info is same.
   * Press ESC to cancel Follow.  Display still black, same info text.
   * Press "3" to select Earth.
   * Press "g" to Goto Earth.  The right/lower text shows Follow Earth and Traveling,
     but nothing shows up on the display -- it's still black.

   * GO-ing to Sol first does not make a difference.

   * The only way to clear this error is to Exit the program and re-run.

   Note: At some point in time, the Frame Rate DROPS to between 2 and 3, where 50-60+
         is normal on my system with the Celestia settings listed above.



Databases (?)
-------------
1) Earth's Temperature (256K) shown as being HOTTER than Venus (231K).  Based on what I've read about Venus in the past, I don't think this is correct.



File System
-----------
1) The Menu/Locations (1.3.0 Final) and Menu/Bookmarks (1.3.1 pre6) are stored in a file that has a third name "favorites".  This is very confusing.  Might it be easier for the user to locate this file if it were named the same as the Menu option that uses it?  For 1.3.1 pre6, this would be "Bookmarks".

In addition, this file has a .CEL Script extension, but is not a .CEL script and will not run as such.  It should probably use the extension ".txt" since it is not a .CEL script, but is a text file.


2) The Navigation/Tour Guide file (guide.cel) has a .CEL Script extension, but is not a .CEL script and will not run as such.  It should probably use the extension ".txt" since it is not a .CEL script, but is a text file.



AVI Movie Capture
-----------------
1) The Video Compression dialog appears to be an independent window instead of a dialog box because when the main Celestia window is minimized, this dialog remains on-screen and does not get minimized or closed.  If you subsequently bring the Celestia window back up, it covers the dialog.  If you leave the dialog on-screen and Exit Celestia, it causes a Windows "memory read" error.  This needs to be made into a normal dialog box.


2) The Video Compression dialog is not wide enough and cannot be resized.  I have three Microsoft MPEG-4 Video CODECs installed, but all I see in the Video Compression dialog is three lines with "Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Code" with a partial "c" at the end.  This dialog needs to be wider.


3) The Video Compression dialog should eliminate CODECs based on the Save As Type entry, which is currently ONLY .AVI.  In other words, MPEG, DivX, and all non-AVI CODECs should not even be listed in this dialog, right?  IF this is possible, it would prove to be much less confusing to the end-user.


4) The Save As dialog used by Capture a Movie: When using the Menu to activate this dialog (Menu/File/Capture Movie), existing file names are displayed in thumbnail mode, which is the default for WinXP.  However, when using Shift+F10 to activate this dialog, NO filename text is displayed at all.


5) The Save As dialog used by Capture a Movie: Is much too small and is not resizable.  It fits a mere three thumbnail images in it, and that's it.  Needs to be enlarged or made to be resizable, just like the Capture Image dialog.


6) When set to 720x480, with a frame rate of 29.97 (DV/NTSC standard), the resulting .AVI file is recorded with a frame rate of 30, instead of the 29.97 I selected.  I checked all other frame rate output options and they create files with correct frame rates.


7) It would be very nice if this option allowed the user to enter some basic recording information, such as at least Author and Copyright.  Title and Description would be nice too (smile).


---< end >---
 

[/list]

[don]

17K of feedback? That'd be great! Go ahead and post it right here . . . Break it into multiple posts if you think that would make it easier on readers.

--Chris

Okey dokey ... It's already categorized by what I hoped would be useful categories (UI, Keyboard, Display, etc.). Hope it helps!

-Don

[Darkmiss]

Hardware:
* Dell Dimension 8250
- P4 3.06 GHz w/HyperThreading (dual processor emulation)
- 1 GB RAM
- ATI Radeon 9700 Pro with 128 MB RAM (Dell OEM)
* Catalyst 3-D drivers ver. 03.6
* ATI 2-D drivers ver. 6.14.10.6368
* DirectX ver 9.0a (4.09.0000.0901)
* Running at full hardware accel.
- Creative SB Live! (retail, not OEM)
- Canopus Storm-2 (Realtime, Non-Linear video editing card)
- On-board network adapter (Intel Pro/100 M), linked with 2 other PC's
- 2 internal 120 GB drives (IDE - NTFS)
- 2 external 75 GB drives (OHCI 1394 - NTFS)

Hey when you upgrade, Can I have this one please......

[don]

Hey when you upgrade, Can I have this one please......

You'll have to fight my wife for it. (laughing)

Yep, it sure is a beauty. Up until this one, I used to build my own, and this one still includes several pieces from my last one, which is now the family "game machine". Got tired of nothing working with anything else, so decided to let someone else do the up-front testing and configuration this time (Dell, that is).

BUT, I do video editing work on it (NTSC 29.97 FPS 720x480 stuff), so the power, large flat panel, and disk space are really "necessary" things. My last project (about 2 hr and 15 minutes) had ALL of the drives full, with me doing backups to DVD (SLOW!). It's amazing just how much disk space a digital video project really takes up. Many editing folks are now using DUAL P4 3.0 GHz machines to do editing, but those are a bit over my budget (smile).

-Don