SolarSystemTour_v1.2.celx Multiple Systems, Specify Objects

[TimMc]

****** NEW POST: SolarSystemTour_v1.2.celx ******
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/timmcmahon/SolarSystemTour_v1_2.zip

This script is an adaption of Harald Schmidt's SolarSystemTour_v1.1.celx script. The algorithm for loading and moving from object to object is identical. What has been added is a way of specifying multiple systems to tour, including planetary systems within our solar system (eg. the moons and captured asteroids around Jupiter), and extrasolar systems with their planets and other satellites, such as Sirius and its companion star Sirius B. The beauty of fictional solar systems - such as Rassilon's Katalina system or those created using the Globular Cluster Texture generator - can also be viewed with SolarSystemTour, allowing automatic touring of the systems rather than manually seeking out some of the fantastic planetary scenes buried within them. Different objects can also be specified for viewing - such as planets only, planets and moons, asteroids only, comets only, asteroids and comets, or all objects (excluding spacecraft and invisibles).

I have also developed a similar script for touring deep space objects - DeepSpaceTour_v1.0.celx

I hope you enjoy SolarSystemTour v.1.2. Huge thanks to Harald for the original work. We stand on the shoulders of giants.

Tim McMahon
tim.mcmahon@tiscali.co.uk[/url]

[Bob Hegwood]

Tim,

Don't know why exactly, but neither of your scripts works correctly on my system.

The solar system tour show Mercury approaching, passing then receding and that's all it does. Mercury just keeps on receding until I have to press the escape key in order to stop it.

Same with the Extended Galaxy Tour. Tells me that I don't have a lot of the addons that I *do* have, and then approaches M31, passes it, then recedes from it until I have to press the escape key.

Haven't really looked at the code yet, but I just thought I'd let you know what it was doing.

Take care, Bob

[don]

The solar system tour show Mercury approaching, passing then receding and that's all it does. Mercury just keeps on receding until I have to press the escape key in order to stop it.

Even if you just sit there and wait? The "dark space" time seems to be quite long at times.

-Don G.

[Bob Hegwood]

Don,

I waited for about 5 minutes? The distance display was well into the millions of kilometers? Even if I didn't wait long enough, then what's the point? A script should entertain/educate me. Not bore me to death.

Sorry.

Take care, Bob

[don]

Hi Bob,

Does the displayed text (Celestia's) change at all? Such as the object name and information? Or does it stop changing (like distance) at some point?

I'm not sure exactly what Tim changed/added to Harald's script, so I'm not sure why it would work on my system but not yours -- except that mine is a pretty high-end system (3GHz CPU, 1GB RAM and 128MB graphics card).

Hopefully, Tim or Harald will have some ideas.

Cheers,

-Don G.

[Bob Hegwood]

If I remember correctly, it kept Mercury's information displayed. The display just simply kept getting farther and farther away from Mercury after it swung by it. <shrug>

Take care, Bob

[Harry]

If I remember correctly, it kept Mercury's information displayed. The display just simply kept getting farther and farther away from Mercury after it swung by it.

Strange - the scripts isn't using a very reliable algorithm to find it's way, but it should never do what you described.

Did you try the script more than once (in case there was some very unlikely condition when you ran it)?

If you right-click on Sun and select "planets", are there at the top (Mercury, Venus, Earth, ...) any unusual entries? Any doubled entries?

Harald

[selden]

It did the same thing to me: loaded all the planet and moon info, then went to Mercury and faded into the distance.

I was using Celestia v1.3.2pre4 at the time, in case that makes a difference. (Creating Cel:// URLis more important to me than the surface texture fixes.)

[TimMc]

I'm sorry that folks are having trouble getting the script to work properly. It is written to find what planets, moons, asteroids etc. are loaded by Celestia on the particular system it is running on, based on Harald's find algorithm in the original SolarSystemTour_v1.1. I am puzzled if the script preloaded the texture for Venus but then did not move to Venus after touring Mercury. Basicly the script should work its way through the objects referenced in the SOLARSYS.SSC file and any other SSC files Celestia has loaded, touring those objects which match the object type specified for viewing in the editable section of the script (eg. planets, planets&moons, asteroids, etc.).

Has anyone had it work without too much trouble on their system?

The tour should proceed at a brisk rate. It may slow down if the observer point moves close to planet with a VT, or if you are using very large textures for your objects. All the objects for normal viewing on my system have textures less than 4k or are VT's.

As a benchmark, the script tours the 9 planets in our solar system in 5 minutes on my system. It should not be particularly hardware dependent.

Please let me know if you still aren't having any joy.

Regards, Tim Mc

[Bob Hegwood]

I am puzzled if the script preloaded the texture for Venus but then did not move to Venus after touring Mercury.

Tim,

I re-ran the script again and got the same results. The script takes a little while to preload the textures, then it simply approaches Mercury and then recedes from it. I waited quite a while, but that's all it does. Sorry.

I'll play around with it some more to see if I can figure out what's going on here.

Take care, Bob

[ANDREA]

If I remember correctly, it kept Mercury's information displayed. The display just simply kept getting farther and farther away from Mercury after it swung by it.

Strange - the scripts isn't using a very reliable algorithm to find it's way, but it should never do what you described. Did you try the script more than once (in case there was some very unlikely condition when you ran it)? If you right-click on Sun and select "planets", are there at the top (Mercury, Venus, Earth, ...) any unusual entries? Any doubled entries?
Harald

Sorry Harald, but I have the same problem, as follows:
1- no doubled or unusual entries;
2- the script display goes away after a few seconds;
3- after some time to make the preloading, Mercury appears and goes away, infinitely (waited 7 minutes, just to be sure);
4- I tried to launch it four times, same results;
5- I'm using Crelestia 1.3.2 pre5
5- I have a good system, almost the same of Don, the only difference is that I have an Athlon 2700+.
Truly strange!
Hope you'll understand and solve this problem.
Good luck!

Andrea

[don]

Tim and all,

Last night, I was running Tims two new scripts with Celestia 1.3.1 final, because that's where most of my add-ons currently reside.

Tonight, I just tried it with 1.3.2 pre5 and get the same results y'all have been reporting ... goes to Mercury, past it, and into outer space.

Then, I tried it with a CVS version I compiled on the 7th, and it works properly.

So, my guess is that it will work fine with the next pre-release of Celestia. Not sure what happened in the current pre-release (5) that would cause a script to malfunction in this way.

Hope this helps.

-Don G.

[ANDREA]

Tim and all, Last night, I was running Tims two new scripts with Celestia 1.3.1 final, because that's where most of my add-ons currently reside. Tonight, I just tried it with 1.3.2 pre5 and get the same results y'all have been reporting ... goes to Mercury, past it, and into outer space. Then, I tried it with a CVS version I compiled on the 7th, and it works properly. So, my guess is that it will work fine with the next pre-release of Celestia. Not sure what happened in the current pre-release (5) that would cause a script to malfunction in this way. Hope this helps.
-Don G.

Sure Don, thank you, now things are more clear. So we'll wait for the pre6 (or whatever else) to check this script.
By soon

Andrea

[TimMc]

Thanks Don & all for the helpful feedback.

I think I found the problem which, when running the script in some pre-releases of Celestia 1.3.2, caused the observer to shoot off to infinity after visiting Mercury, rather than moving on to Venus et al. I have re-coded a section of the script and submitted it as a new post:
"Updated SolarSystemTour_1.2.celx ready for download".
Please give further feedback under that post.

How can I get a compiled version of the latest pre-release of Celestia 1.3.2? I am using Celestia 1.3.1 final exe file downloaded from the main Celestia web site. I do not have a C++ compiler, so need the executable.

Finally, I will submit the Feature requests as you suggested, Don, as new posts on the Users Forum.

I've really enjoyed my first foray into the Open Source community! It has a real community feel. Bet you it's not like this at Microsoft!

Regards, Tim Mc

[Harry]

How can I get a compiled version of the latest pre-release of Celestia 1.3.2?

Chris sometimes makes a prerelease available, you can find the announcements here in the forum. See here:
http://www.shatters.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4531

Harald

[TimMc]

Thanks Harry for the Celestia 1.3.2rel5 link.

Regards, Tim Mc