dab wrote:I imagine this MySQL backend would have many uses, not just for the game, but also for "serious" star-browsing. Has it been considered to merge it into the official code of celestia (maybe, as an option at compile-time)? I would really love to be able to run mysql-queries even with 'normal' celestia!
I created this release:
http://mostlyharmless.sourceforge.net/s ... index.htmlas a kind of proposal to do just that.
I guess it just did not generate enough interest. No-one did anything really useful with it that I am aware of.
Besides how many Celesita users know SQL? It needs a bit more thought as to whether stars.dat is made obsolete or not. Also to implement it would require a lot of work which would only benefit a few users.
Personally I don't want to do it, writing MH is more fun.
Paolo wrote:Did you consider the possibility to generate the textures at runtime instead of distributing them as files?
I red some time ago about fractal lanscape generator. The same routine should be useful fo generate planetary textures at runtime. So if a mostly harmless user would decide to visit a system the program should generate the low detail textures at runtime.
If your ship will get near enough to a planet a more refined texture (medium detail) should be generated. If your ship enters the atmosphere a high detail texture should be generated.
I think that using GL extensions for texture management the time requested for the runtime generation of the planetary textures could be similar to the time requested to load and unpack the textures from file.
- Paolo
I do use some fractally generated textures which each take at least 2 minutes to generate. Thats without bump, specular and cloudmaps and touchups.
Without making the texures look really cheesy I dont think that fractally generated textures will ever be fast enough (or even look good enough). Besides its a project in itself, and not something I want to do.
I'm thinking of using the textures/bump maps as a basis for hieght maps for the demeter terrain engine for close in stuff, but thats a long-long-long way off.
don wrote:It's downloaded, installed, and seems to be running fine -- all 196 MB (after solar system gen)
. Haven't gotten into any of the SQL stuff yet. First impression -- looks like one HUGE undertaking!
Excellent!
If you havn't done so have a look here for more on the sql features.
http://mostlyharmless.sourceforge.net/s ... index.htmlthere is some background information in these old threads:
http://www.celestiaproject.net/forum/viewtopic ... sc&start=0http://celestiaproject.net/forum/viewtopic.php ... highlight=don wrote:Since I'm not sure "where you are" in the development process, I'm not sure exactly what parts would be okay for me to provide comments on. Are there some specific things you would like feedback on, ie. color combinations, widgets (size, location, etc.), text on widgets, or?
After 2 years of part time work I think I'm 20% of the way there.
You really need to be familiar with elite and frontier do know what im doing. But for now just general comments are great, but dont be too picky
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don wrote:1) Right-clicking a star does not pop-up an info box (regardless if it's a marked or un-marked star).
Most of the windows the user is not supposed to react with the background. Only in Nav mode so far.
2) How do you end the "Intro" without shutting down the window/app?
Press Escape, it brings you to a top level page from wherever you are. I should probably change this so when the demo starts the gui dissapears after that the first escape just stops the demo. Not to worry I still have to add some content and make a proper demo first!
3) Right-clicking an object (ie. Earth) when in Navigate mode, does not display a list of child objects. Should it? Maybe related to #1?
There is no context menu code implemented yet, I have to rewrite it with pui as it was platform specific.
There will be contex menus in navigation mode but they will be somewhat different to celestia. Im actually going to throw out a lot of celestias keystrokes to make the nav mode very simple. I also will be switching the bodies to wireframe or something like that, as this is a view that is generated by the ships computer.
What about breaking them up into individual "packages", based on specific systems? Then, users could download a single system package at a time.
I had texture and binary modules originally but it confused too many people, much better to have a single installer that any idiot can use.
Also too many people were just downloading the texture packs and not looking at the good stuff.
Anyway, thanks for the feedback guys.
