Celestia Forums

Chris,

Could you expand the Star Browser two ways:

1. Make the dialog box sizable (should be easy to do)

2. Expand the max amount of stars listable to perhaps 10,000 or more

This isn't asking too much, I hope...

Is there a way to change the resolution of the used texture in function of the visible screen size of the object ?
I don't know if it's hard to code, but i think that many people will be interrested by this feature

Chris, could you include planetary gravity effects, attitude control of the spacecraft (pitch, yaw, and roll), thrust control, and an instrumentation panel that displays the level of thrust (1G, 2G, 3G, etc.) and a numerical attitude display (e.g. a pitch +5 degrees, a yaw of -10 degrees and roll of +20 degrees wirth respect to the center of the target object)? Doing that would give us true navigational control over the spacecraft.

Peter32100123 wrote:Chris, could you include planetary gravity effects, attitude control of the spacecraft (pitch, yaw, and roll), thrust control, and an instrumentation panel that displays the level of thrust (1G, 2G, 3G, etc.) and a numerical attitude display (e.g. a pitch +5 degrees, a yaw of -10 degrees and roll of +20 degrees wirth respect to the center of the target object)? Doing that would give us true navigational control over the spacecraft.

I think it's safe to say that planetary gravity effects won't be a part of 1.2.5 Final. Mainly what I meant by starting this thread is for things that are able to be done before the final release of 1.2.5 like modifying the star browser only so slightly to accomodate displaying more stars. It's purely conjecture at this point, but things like planetary gravity may be a part of 1.2.6 or 1.2.7. Those future versions though are a long ways away.

Can you put in flyable space craft, and Enemy AI craft
so we can have battles in space too

And can you simulate the BIG BANG

Sorry ill get me coat...

I'd love it if we could finally fix the "hole in the sky" atmosphere/sky problem. Also maybe an ambient light slider and night texture extension into daytime slider?

yes that is one thing i really would like fixed
is the nightside lights not showing on the dayside

For those asking about realtime spacecraft functions:
Are you aware of Orbiter?
http://www.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/~martins/orbit/orbit.html

If only the two could be merged...
Unfortunately, the author of Orbiter uses DirectX instead of OpenGL. He realizes now it was a mistake, but it's too late to switch.

Chris, could you include planetary gravity effects

There's already an add-on for gravity effects to the observer - search the forum, or try the add-on repository.

Could we have an option to turn off moon orbits please ? I like them, but they do tend to clutter the screen around the gas giants.

now the latest suggestion was one of the better.
its my first time on the forum and i juts discovered Celesta, its awesome. much better than OpenUniverse, even tho OpenUniverse has Discovery from A space Oddysey :/ and u can control it...
anyway, did u do this all by urself, <insert author of Celesta's name here>??

Even though I was kidding about the space craft...

Orbiter is a very nice program, thanks for the link, Selden

mmm the one I really would like to see is a feature that makes the stars darker if you are approaching a planet or a star (reflective light of the planet should darker the sky around).
off course it happens the opposite wen you are looking at the shaded part of a planet.
This feature off course shoud be selectable. in some ways is a feature to add realism to the simulation.

Has anyone tried moving out from Sol with the new constellation borders turned on? it's a cool 3d sphere that stretches out just beyond Sirius. It's included in the Celestia package as a file called boundaries.dat. Is there a set format for this file and the asterisms data? Can other schematic shapes be modeled using it (eg the rough boundries of star-forming regions, nebulae or open clusters, also 'trade routes' and other fictional stuff).
Seems like a natural thing to me to look toward implimenting a way to have extra dat files able to be loaded into celestia the way that script files can be. More things for developers to play with.

1. Binary Stars

2. Procession of the Earth's axis

3. A more detailed "Solar System Browser" with separate areas (tabs?) for the different kinds of objects (i.e. planets, asteriods, comets, etc.). The list is getting rather long and needs a little more organization.

especialy when you d/l addons for the solar system(spacecraft, ect.)

also, could you try to put continental drift on the planets in to

I'd love it if this were fixed:

http://www.celestiaproject.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=883

Seems like it'd be easy to do.

Well mine chris has heard a billion times hehe...These should be for future versions...maybe some might appear soon...

* Stars visible past 16,000 ly
* Emissive objects do not cast shadows....And thier clouds are emissive
* Flares can be added to objects using the FlareTexture and FlareColor scripts...
* Emissive objects produce thier own temprature... You know maybe do away with emissive objects and add in the ability to change the surface texture, flare color and texture of stars in the STC files...Why have the emissives then? Well I suppose keep them for brown dwarfs but night textures work well for those...
* Pulsars that pulse
* Jet streams for black holes
* Allow transparency maps instead of making the whole model semi-transparent...Good for Nebulas and ascension disks on black holes...
* RA and Dec coordinates of an object displayed as well as options to display deg F Celsius and/or K...
* Selectable Galaxies...
* Oblate objects with atmospheres oblate....as well as models that have rough surfaces...eg the model I used in the most current system I made complete with mountains....I believe that something like the surface definition of these objects should be aligned to the lowest point instead of the highest...This will also allow you to approach objects like a oblong space station more closely without using thrust...
* model bumpmaps, spectural mapping, and nightlights...and straighten the cloud formations around them...They contour themselves to the surface instead of circle it...This might be hard...Unless you made a script CloudOblateness...though clouds oblate perfectly with a oblate smooth surface...
* Better Galaxy models....been mentioned that Chris is working on this...Along with Nebulas
* The ability to add models/planets as stand alone without a star to circle....Uses galactic coordinates RA and Dec...This would be nice for making nebulas and rouge planets
* Ring shadows on the front surface of the planet as well
* Cloud shadows and cloud underside shadows
* eclipse shadows darken clouds and atmosphere
* Multiple Cloud layers
* Factural texturemapping to produce planetary landscapes
* I suppose lens flares would be nice
* Binary starlight..or trinary...etc...
* I still think sounds on planet surfaces would be nice...

Sorry I was on a roll there...I KNOW you wont add these in this version....but man if those were in the next version or two....wow...I could imagine the beautiful crap we all could make then hehe...

btw how many are making addons programming wise for Celestia right now? If any of them could make some of these for me I am more than sure I would use them....without a doubt...Suppose I could do it too...

Thanks again Chris and all involved in making my dream come true....The best damn space sim out there!!!

Rassilon wrote
> This will also allow you to approach objects like a oblong space station
> more closely without using thrust...

Spedifying a negative distance usually works well. I used that to explore the ISS model.

selden wrote:Rassilon wrote
> This will also allow you to approach objects like a oblong space station
> more closely without using thrust...

Spedifying a negative distance usually works well. I used that to explore the ISS model.

That wasnt my point really...My point is being able to do so with the mouse...And in theroy fix the problen with atmospheres around such objects used as planets

Yup.
I understand.

It's just that so far I haven't had time to do much more than explore Celestia's existing universe. Having Xeno's Paradox built into the design can be a little frustrating at times

It'd be nice if there were a way to switch to a linear travel mode for a while.