Celestia Forums

While I certainly like the added features and functionallity of 1.3.1, the transition from 1.3.0 certainly has had a few bumps. I am using a suboptimal graphics card, Radeon VE 7000 (64MB - latest drivers), but some things that were working fine in 1.3.0 are not in 1.3.1.

The issue of planetary rings has been discussed already here plus a few billboard addons aren't showing up in the new version while others are. One problem I've had is with cloud textures. In 1.3.0 I could use 2K clouds for Earth and Mars no problem but in 1.3.1 I seem to only be able to use 1K clouds or I get strange rendering artifacts. The images below show what I mean: the top is from 1.3.0 and the bottom from 1.3.1, both using the same 2K cloud texture.





Anyone else having similar issues or have any suggestions? Will and updated graphics card solve the cloud issue? In 1.3.0 my current card seems to work for everything except specular and normal textures.

Thanks,
Dave

Dave,

This was discussed a while ago in regard to prerelease 11. Previously Celestia would scale "oversize" cloud and ring textures down to the largest size allowed by the graphics card. This isn't being done anymore. Now it's left up to the user to make sure that the textures being used actually fit.

You can find out what that size is by opening Celestia's Help menu and selecting the "OpenGL Info" item. Take a look at the line that says
Max texture size

Personally, I'm beginning to think this change may have been a mistake.

I don't think this is supposed to affect "billboard" images, though. My understanding is that Celestia cuts surface texture images into pieces small enough to fit into the card's texture buffer.

Exactly which billboard pictures are you having problems with?

Selden,

I saw the discussion about the ring textures in pre11 but must have missed the part about clouds. The OpenGL Max texture size for my graphics card is indeed 1024. However, when Celestia 1.3.0 was rescaling, it was somehow preserving some resolution as a rescaled 2k cloud texture in 1.3.0 seems to have better resolution (more detail) than a 1K texture in 1.3.1.

The billboard picture I am having problems with is the Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33) I originally got from your website. I haven't troubleshooted far enough yet to know if this is operator error or not as I did make some mods to the original images. Basically I took the original image and "rounded off" the corners in photoshop so it didn't look so rectangular then made a layer from background and lowered the opacity so it didn't look so "bright" when viewed in the background from the solar system and saved as a png with the approprite change made in the b33.3ds file - image pixel size remained the same throughout. All this was just personal preference. Everything worked fine in 1.3.0 but doesn't show at all in 1.3.1. Hope this makes sense, obviously I need to start from the beginning with the original and troubleshoot from there....any ideas?

Thanks for the help,
Dave

Dave,

You might try setting CloudSpeed to 0. Does that work?

I seem to recall the problem with cloud textures was mentioned in a thread discussing Don Edwards' new textures. The symptoms you're seeing (streaks) were what he was seening when he tried to use moving clouds that were larger than 4K. They went away if he set CloudSpeed to be 0 -- fixing the clouds in place. My guess is that he has a card with a 4K texture buffer.

My initial guess for the billboard would be that you accidentally damaged the 3DS file when you changed the image filename. Just for testing, you might try using a fresh copy of the original model and rename (and/or reformat) your version of the image to match the name it's using.

Hi Selden,

You might try setting CloudSpeed to 0. Does that work?

That does work, thanks!

My initial guess for the billboard would be that you accidentally damaged the 3DS file when you changed the image filename

It's the same 3DS file that works fine in 1.3.0, just transfered all my addons over to 1.3.1. I did use a binhex editor to change the image file name. Everything else I d/l'd or made works fine in 1.3.1 except that one.

As soon as I get a chance I'll d/l a fresh copy and let you know what happens.

Thanks!
Dave

Hi Selden,

OK, I d/l'd a fresh copy of the B33 stuff from your website, installed it in my addon directory using the JPG image and it worked fine in 1.3.1

Then I did exactly the same same thing I had done previously for 1.3.0:

Basically I took the original image and "rounded off" the corners in photoshop so it didn't look so rectangular then made a layer from background and lowered the opacity so it didn't look so "bright" when viewed in the background from the solar system and saved as a png with the approprite change made in the b33.3ds file - image pixel size remained the same throughout. All this was just personal preference.

Again, this PNG worked great in 1.3.1. Both versions work in 1.3.0 but only the new version works in 1.3.1. I guess all's well that ends well!

Thanks for the help and everyone have a safe and Happy New Year!
Dave