Celestia scripts: Textures sometimes not loaded

[selden]

This seems most likely to be a bug in the script interpreter, but I suppose it could be caused by Celestia v1.3.0pre2 doing something strange to the video card, or my system starting to have hardware problems.

Symptom:
When I run a script to goto Mars *immediately* after the opening screen, Mars is a blank pink ball.

Here s the script I use:

Code: Select all

{
   preloadtex { object "Sol/Mars"}
   wait { duration 5 }
   select { object "Sol/Mars" }   
   follow {}
   wait { duration 1.0 }
   goto { time 5 distance 10 }
   wait {duration 5}
}


I use Celestia's File menu to select and "open" the script file. The same thing happens whether I double-click on the filename or select the "Open" button.

At first I thought it was a problem in Celestia v1.3.0pre2
Then I tried it with v1.2.5 and it showed Mars as a blank pink ball, too.
Then I tried it with a completely unmodified v1.2.4 and the same thing happened.

I do *not* see this problem when I use the Navigation menus to travel. When using the menu, I can see Celestia pause briefly while it loads textures. When using the script, Celestia does not pause.

I've only been doing things with scripts for a short while.
I previously reported a problem with initial print statements sometimes not working. I've also had intermittant problems with initial statements in scripts not seeming to be executed.

System:
256 MB, 500MHz P3, dual processor, AGP 2X (Asus P2B-DS), Windows XP Pro SP1
128MB, Nvidia GeForce4 Ti 4200, Detonator v40.72

[t00fri]

This seems most likely to be a bug in the script interpreter, but I suppose it could be caused by Celestia v1.3.0pre2 doing something strange to the video card, or my system starting to have hardware problems.

Symptom:
When I run a script to goto Mars *immediately* after the opening screen, Mars is a blank pink ball.

Here s the script I use:

Code: Select all

{
   preloadtex { object "Sol/Mars"}
   wait { duration 5 }
   select { object "Sol/Mars" }   
   follow {}
   wait { duration 1.0 }
   goto { time 5 distance 10 }
   wait {duration 5}
}


I use Celestia's File menu to select and "open" the script file. The same thing happens whether I double-click on the filename or select the "Open" button.

At first I thought it was a problem in Celestia v1.3.0pre2
Then I tried it with v1.2.5 and it showed Mars as a blank pink ball, too.
Then I tried it with a completely unmodified v1.2.4 and the same thing happened.

I do *not* see this problem when I use the Navigation menus to travel. When using the menu, I can see Celestia pause briefly while it loads textures. When using the script, Celestia does not pause.

I've only been doing things with scripts for a short while.
I previously reported a problem with initial print statements sometimes not working. I've also had intermittant problems with initial statements in scripts not seeming to be executed.

System:
256 MB, 500MHz P3, dual processor, AGP 2X (Asus P2B-DS), Windows XP Pro SP1
128MB, Nvidia GeForce4 Ti 4200, Detonator v40.72

Selden:

using the latest CVS and the Linux-KDE3 version with my GF2 GTS card and the latest drivers, I do not see the slightest problems with your script. I restarted it quite a number of times...

Bye Fridger

[chris]

It works for me, too . . . But that doesn't mean that there's not some sort of bug with Celestia. As you've probably noticed after playing with it for a bit, Celestia's script system is crap. Among other things, there are all sorts of unfortunate time dependencies. Leave the open script dialog open too long, and you'll miss most of the script! Something like this could be the problem, or there could be some issue with preloadtex that is only manifesting itself on your system. I'll look into it . . .

And Celestia's scripting will get an overhaul sometime . . . I've got an implementation of a script interpreter that I worked on a few months ago, but never finished integrating into Celestia.

--Chris

[t00fri]

It works for me, too . . . But that doesn't mean that there's not some sort of bug with Celestia. As you've probably noticed after playing with it for a bit, Celestia's script system is crap. Among other things, there are all sorts of unfortunate time dependencies. Leave the open script dialog open too long, and you'll miss most of the script! Something like this could be the problem, or there could be some issue with preloadtex that is only manifesting itself on your system. I'll look into it . . .

And Celestia's scripting will get an overhaul sometime . . . I've got an implementation of a script interpreter that I worked on a few months ago, but never finished integrating into Celestia.

--Chris

Indeed, the scripting language urgently needs some "hand shaking" protocoll along the lines of familiar modem scripting languages that also involve unpredictable, variable waiting time intervals!

I am suffering each time when I incorporate a new scripting command;-)...

Bye Fridger