Celestia Forums

Hi again all...

Just wanted to express growing concern over some of the textures available
for download on the Celestia Motherlode. In my travels there, I noticed
that many, MANY of the textures available for use by our favorite program are
not set up correctly.

In particular, I noticed that three or four textures (Callisto, Europa, etc.)
will have to be rotated by 180 degrees in order for the individual moon
locations to be referenced by a location file so that they are displayed
within Celestia correctly.

I also noted that one Ganymede texture was completely offset by about
(A simple guess here...) 200 pixels even after a correcting rotation had
been performed.

Just thought I'd make certain that newcomers to Celestia are made
aware of this problem. As I mentioned in another post, I have
corrected John Van Vliet's absolutely beautiful Mercury texture so that
its locations line up correctly, but I saw so MANY other textures which
had this problem, that I just wanted to make certain that newbies
were aware of the condition.

If you're ever in doubt about a texture, simply run Celestia using the
suspected moon or planet texture, then check the locations for known
places.

Just FYI.

Thanks, Brain-Dead

... The Motherlode has become something like a used book shop: some gems and a lot of nonsense, and no way to know unless you know the author... It actually needs a curator.

This also points out (again) that a standardized hi-res version of Celestia ought to be a priority here in the community:
http://celestiaproject.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9976

- rthorvald

This is one of the reasons that I don't allow mirroring of my newwest textrues on the Motherload. Its become a bit of a dumping ground for some textures that are simply not up to a certain calibur. I also like to be able to go in and change out my textures on the fly if need be, that just can't be done through a third party site like the motherload. Thay still have several of my now fairly old textures. Its a mess as far as I am concerned.

Don. Edwards

Don. Edwards wrote:This is one of the reasons that I don't allow mirroring of my newwest textrues on the Motherload.

Well please be aware, Don, that I use absolutely NO other sources for
the textures you have made available to us. Your Realistic Earth and your
Mars textures are simply out-standing pieces of work and I hope that you
get around to doing ALL of the planets. I truly admire your talent here,
and just wish that I could garner enough experience , knowledge
and ability to copy your efforts.

By the way, is your fictional Pluto texture gone for good? I couldn't get to
it via the links on your web site. I'd really like to get that texture again
if you still have it.

Again, simply GREAT work, and THANKS VERY MUCH for all of your spectacular
efforts in this arena.

Take care, Bob

Hi the motherloade is in pretty bad shape , and needs a GOOD house cleaning and the first installment of the 64 k venus ( i uploaded 1.5 mo. agow) IS STILL NOT IN MY FOLDER

john Van Vliet wrote:Hi the motherloade is in pretty bad shape , and needs a GOOD house cleaning and the first installment of the 64 k venus ( i uploaded 1.5 mo. agow) IS STILL NOT IN MY FOLDER

That is a manpower issue. I??m sure a volunteer or two will be appreciated...

- rthorvald

BrainDead,

My Pluto texture lives on. I have found it and plan to reissue it as soon as I start the rebuild of Earth Central and the main hub page.

Don. Edwards

Who is it that's in charge of the motherlode anyway?

I know there is Adirondack and probably other persons.

Who is it that's in charge of the motherlode anyway?

This is the official Motherlode team:

http://celestiamotherlode.net/credits.html

Seems however that lots of them are taking a break,
no offence ofcourse.

By the way, how can I get hold of some of the textures Don is mentioning ??
I can't find any resources, or do I have to wait until the Earth Central is up and running ??


Ren?©

Don. Edwards wrote:BrainDead,

My Pluto texture lives on. I have found it and plan to reissue it as soon as I start the rebuild of Earth Central and the main hub page.

Don. Edwards

Much appreciated Don... Will wait with some anticipation. Let me say once
AGAIN how much I appreciate your superb textures. Just hoping that you
find the time to get to every moon, planet (whatever THAT is), comet and
major asteroid in the solar system.

Thank you sir... Brain-Dead

AN ASIDE to RRA here -----> Many of Don's textures ARE freely available
on the Celestia Motherlode. Just FYI.

Just to clarify some points concerning the Motherlode:

The Motherlode is a repository for all add-ons, so one do not have
to browse dozens of private websites.

As far as it concerns me, I can not run each single add-on that was
uploaded. I just check if the files within the zip file contains no
obvious rubbish.

We already discussed that a quality-check would be fine and useful, but
there is no volunteer who has got the time to do so. <sigh>

If you click on the magnifying glass on an entry, you have the opportunity
to rate the add-on and to leave a comment.

Hi the motherloade is in pretty bad shape , and needs a GOOD house cleaning and the first installment of the 64 k venus ( i uploaded 1.5 mo. agow) IS STILL NOT IN MY FOLDER

John, please make sure that you upload your add-ons as a ZIP-file!
TAR.BZ2 is inappropriate.
See http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/site_ ... #goodaddon point 6.
Thanks for your understanding.


Adirondack

Adirondack wrote:As far as it concerns me, I can not run each single add-on that was
uploaded. I just check if the files within the zip file contains no
obvious rubbish.

If you click on the magnifying glass on an entry, you have the opportunity
to rate the add-on and to leave a comment.

Oops, we are not complaining: it is great that you take time to manage the site!
I merely pointed out that there is obviously to much work and too few volunteers to run the service efficiently. Perhaps you should consider trying to enlist some more help from the community... How about a sticky in the Users Forum with a "wanted" ad... Requirements in it is of course entirely up to you...

As for the rating system, it does not really work: it is not representative of qualified critique, only of the taste of people that likes to vote in internet polls (i am not one of them, so noone *ever* gets my vote)... But that is off-topic.

- rthorvald

[quote="rraSeems however that lots of them are taking a break,
no offence ofcourse.
[/quote]

I know that I caught Adirondack slacking on the beach here in Noordwijk

--Chris

Seems however that lots of them are taking a break,
no offence ofcourse.

Please understand that my original post here was simply to remind the
CML user to be aware of what he/she is downloading. These files are in the
same category as all files on any other FREE service.

I certainly did NOT mean to start criticism of the Motherlode volunteers or
the great service that Joe, Ulrich and many others provide here.

Having been away from Celestia for various reasons, I recently returned to
find that I needed a ton of textures and other files in order to get my
installation back up to speed.

I went to the CML and downloaded approximately 60 Megbytes worth of
textures and other files in order to update my installation. Where else
can you download 60 MB of files at no cost, and with no restrictions?

The responsibility for the quality of the addons lies strictly with the
CREATORS of these addons. It does NOT lie with the people who so
generously make these resources available to the rest of the world.

Ulrich has provided many, MANY hours of his time in an effort to improve
Celestia AND the CML. He deserves nothing but GRATITUDE for all
of his hard work on BOTH projects.

I would volunteer to help with testing the files on CML, but I'm still
using the PC I bought back in 1992. (This is still my old Gateway, Selden!)


At any rate, I apologize for starting grief for the Motherlode. All involved
with that site deserve nothing but THANKS and GRATITUDE for
making these resources available to the rest of us.

Thanks...

I did not understand the upper postings as complaints to my person. I just wanted to clarify what the CML is and that there is nobody who can check the quality.
Trying to enlist some more help from the community is not my job, since I am not the owner of the CML.

Adirondack (recovered in a heavy rain on the beach in Noordwijk )

chris wrote:[quote="rraSeems however that lots of them are taking a break,
no offence ofcourse.

I know that I caught Adirondack slacking on the beach here in Noordwijk

--Chris

Oh, Mr. Laurel is taking a long lunch break and misses a scientific presentation.
Shouldn't you be in a conference room at 2:58pm?
I will indicate you to the chairman.

Adirondack

Adirondack wrote:
Adirondack (recovered in a heavy rain on the beach in Noordwijk )

What are YOU actually doing in Noordwijk ?? Beach holidays or work? . I actually wrote Chris that unfortunately the weather forcast looked rather gloomy for the rest of the week...

Bye Fridger

t00fri wrote:What are YOU actually doing in Noordwijk ??

Evidently, he??s slacking.

- rthorvald

rthorvald wrote:Evidently, he??s slacking.

- rthorvald

Hey, take it from 'Ol Brain-Dead... You guys DESERVE to slack for a while.
Ulrich, Chris, Fridger?

Give 'em hell for me.