Celestia Forums

I have finished a *very* large Tour of our Home Planet...

Currently it is only available from the Celestia MotherLode Site, but this -
and all of my other tours will soon be available from my very own brand
new domain and website.

For now, you can download the EarthTour.zip package from the MotherLode,
HERE. This file is 3.5 MB, and includes all textures, models, ssc's and
the cel script. You may wish to pay attention to what you're doing while
installing this tour. I was tired and confused as I wrote the installation
instructions, and you'll very likely already have some of the components
installed on your Celestia installation.

Thanks, Bob

Howdy Bob,

Thanks for the brand new tour script!

I extracted the .cel, .ssc and add-on files to my pre 11 installation that uses Harald's Blue Marble VTs and the tour looked real good! ... Very nice work Bob!!! You picked some good spots to visit, thanks!

A few suggestions:

* Maybe provide a smaller, "basic" package, without the Earth and Moon textures that would be easier for beginners to install and use?

* Maybe you could explain Continental Drift or Seafloor Spreading as the causes behind land masses moving apart.

* The tiny "x"s on the Himalayas were difficult to see. Maybe they could be larger?

* I'm assuming your Earth texture includes the Auroras you pointed out, since they are not in "normal" Earth textures?

Thanks again for a GREAT tour Bob!

Nice
I'll gonna have a look this evening.

maxim

don wrote:* I'm assuming your Earth texture includes the Auroras you pointed out, since they are not in "normal" Earth textures?

Yes, they do...

I've included Don Edwards' Earth Central 2k texture (with his permission.)

As to the setup and other issues you pointed out both here and in our
private e-mails, you are absolutely correct in your criticisms. I shall create
a better package - with alternate textures defined - as soon as I get the time.
Since Maxim was anxious to get his greedy hands on it - and since I've
worked on the damned thing for over two months now - I just wanted to
get it out there in a hurry. Sorry...

I'll pretty up the installation and add better directions by the weekend hopefully.

Added Later: I've created an alternate textures ssc which can be placed
in your extras directory. Just copy the following with Notepad and save it
to your extras directory as EarthTour.ssc

This will allow you to view the textures I'm using for the tour, provided that
you have installed them into the textures\medres directory. Hope this is better.

Use the following in your EarthTour.ssc
-------------------------------------------------------
AltSurface "EarthTour" "Sol/Earth"

{
Texture "Earth2k.jpg"
NightTexture "EarthNight2k.jpg"
}

AltSurface "EarthTour" "Sol/Earth/Moon"
{
Texture "Moon2k.jpg"
}
-------------------------------------------------------

Take care, Bob

Thanks Bob! I'll try this out tomorrow when I'm a little more "awake".

I had a quick look and found that I have to rearange my earth setup for different (better) clouds, specs and others. So I suspended a closer look, until I'm back again in two weeks.

maxim

maxim wrote:I had a quick look and found that I have to rearange my earth setup for different (better) clouds, specs and others.

Maxim,

If you like, you can simply install the textures I've included in your medres
directory, and install the alternate texture SSC described above. Then, you
can simply right-click on either the Earth or the Moon before running the
tour.
Select the EarthTour textures, and you should be able to view the tour as
it was designed to be seen. (With the exception of the Earth's cloudmap.)

Then, you can change the tour to your heart's content.

Take care, Bob

Maxim, and others?

I've revised the Earth Tour so that you can now download the alternate
textures setup along with the package, and I've revised it a bit so that
that damned Don G would get off of my back a bit.

New installation intructions are included with a better explanation of the
setup. Also revised the tour slightly as per Mr. Gee's criticisms. Well, *some*
of them anyway. The revised tour package can be had from the same link HERE.

Take care, Bob

Hi Bob,

Didn't realize my suggestions to make it easier for beginners to install your cool new tour were that bad. Maybe just the words I used? ... Sorry.

Mr. Gee,

Your suggestions were EXCELLENT... Don't let my
natural sarcasm and bad attitude concerning life in
general get in the way of telling me what you *think* about
something I'm doing.

As you know, I'm just a Brain-Dead pooper scooper.

Thanks for the opinions, Bob

Hey Bob, does (did) your video card ever lock up your machine? I have the same card running XP home on an older Compaq desk-pro and I get shut down about once a week.

neondog wrote:Hey Bob, does (did) your video card ever lock up your machine? I have the same card running XP home on an older Compaq desk-pro and I get shut down about once a week.

Never on XP, but almost hourly with Windows Vista Home Premium.

BAH! I'm going to go buy XP for my new machine.