Celestia Add-on Catalog Now Live

Rassilon · Post #21by **Rassilon** » 04.05.2004, 01:59

Your better off storing some of the addons on your server...Some sites do not allow remote linking...
~
You do not have permission to access http://starlionfiles.50megs.com/Downloa ... 20Hole.zip

Data files must be stored on the same site they are linked from.

Thank you for using 50megs
~

btw your welcome to host any of my addons not readily available though I prefer remote linking for those I have available to my download page...
http://sourceforge.net/projects/celestial/

Although the ones on http://www.celestiaproject.net/~rassilon you are welcome to host on your server as chris would be glad of the mirror...

Ive also added your site to Celestial Visions as I have found it quite helpful...

alphap1us · Post #22by **alphap1us** » 13.05.2004, 22:44

Okay a small update of the deepspace scetion to make it make slightly more sense. As soon as the catalog is done, I will store my own copies of the no-deep-linking-files, but for now it woudl just be a waste. I know there are lots of add-ons that I don't have listed, but no one has brought them to my attention. Please let me know of objects that I don't have. I really want the catalog to be as complete as possible. Also I have somehting big in the works, so stay tuned.

Joe

TERRIER · Post #23by **TERRIER** » 16.05.2004, 11:30

alphap1us,

I've been trying to connect to your download links for Jestr's moons of Neptune, but I cannot seem to get them to work.

Looking more closely I've noticed a slight difference;

Your link for Galatea is;
http://jextras.012webpages.com/moons/Galatea.zip

while Jestr's official site link is;
http://jextras.012webpages.com/moons/galatea.zip

It might be worth checking this out ?

regards
TERRIER

Jeam Tag · Post #24by **Jeam Tag** » 16.05.2004, 12:34

TERRIER wrote:I've been trying to connect to your download links for Jestr's moons of Neptune, but I cannot seem to get them to work.TERRIER

Hello TERRIER, tryhttp://www.jextras.012webpages.com/moons/moons.html seems to me that this link works well, Jeam

alphap1us · Post #25by **alphap1us** » 22.05.2004, 18:27

Site updated with room for screenshots and local copies of files and Jestr's Moon and Babylon 5 spacecraft corrections. The Deepspace section now has thumbnails of some of the add-ons, whcih will eventually link to full screenshots. i would appreciate comments on the layout of these screenshots and the site asa whole. Cheers,

Joe

don · Post #26by **don** » 22.05.2004, 20:40

Howdy Joe,

Looks like you've been busy!

The screenshot size looks okay at 1024 x 768 (and smaller) screen resolutions, but I'm not sure if it will show enough detail at higher resolutions -- which is where your linking them to larger pictures will help.

As for having "local copies of files", unless each add-on creator will have access to update these files, as they update their add-ons, they might become outdated very quickly.

Also, part of the Add-On Manager project includes enforcing a required "format" for all add-ons, whereby they are installed in the "extras" directory using their own directory name. Thus, all of the older add-ons that require the user to copy files into the Celestia directories (textures, models, data, etc.) need to be re-formatted to comply with the new "extras" directory structure.

With the extra columns in your tables, it is becomming increasingly "ugly" in Internet Explorer. Whether webmasters such as you or I like it or not, the majority of web surfers use Internet Explorer. All it takes to "beautify" an empty table cell for IE is a non-breaking space "ampersand + nbsp;". I *know* it can be a hassle, but it will look much nicer to all IE users.

Keep up the great work Joe!

don · Post #27by **don** » 24.05.2004, 07:17

Hi alphap1us / Joe,

Just wanted to thank you for adding a non-breaking space to empty table cells for IE users. The tables all look very nice now.

rthorvald · Post #28by **rthorvald** » 24.05.2004, 08:10

alphap1us wrote:... now has thumbnails of some of the add-ons

Thanks! Your catalog is much more userfriendly with screenshots. I hope you will expand on that...

But i have a suggestion for you: i can see there?s a lot of work to build the catalog - and it will probably be a real headache to maintain it over time, too. I don?t see why you should need to do every detail yourself.

Why not post a note on page one where you state the desired format for a thumbnail and full-size image of a particular add-on. Then the artist can supply you with that, if he wants to. Since everyone takes screenshots of their own work anyway, there is almost no extra work involved for anyone. All they have to do is supply you with the links (or the images if they haven?t got a permanent webspace themselves).

This will also provide you with an easy reality-check: if an image ever gets broken, the corresponding add-on link probably will be, too.

Just a thought.

-rthorvald

alphap1us · Post #29by **alphap1us** » 26.05.2004, 00:20

Runar,
Thaks for the suggestion. Don is making lots of little thumbnails for me post so the catalgo should become much more user-friendly in the near future.

The site has been updated to add some links and fix broken ones, but you shouldn't notice anythign new unless you werer trying some failed links before. Cheers,

Joe

alphap1us · Post #30by **alphap1us** » 29.05.2004, 18:30

Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Don Goyette, the deepspace section of the site has undergone a huge overhaul which added much clearer descriptions and thumbnails for just about every entry that should have one. I encourage everyone to check it out and tell us what you think. We will slowly be updating each page like this so keep checking this thread for updates.

BTW we have a lot of projects planned to organize things around the Celestia communtiy so if you are interested in pitching in, please send me a private message. You don't need to know C++, perl or even any html to make a major contribution to Celestia on the web. thanks all,

Joe

Starman · Post #31by **Starman** » 29.05.2004, 20:40

The new pics really bring out the DS Page and the descriptions help a lot. I'm going to have to keep a seperate directory of the zips when I upgrade to pre-8; there are so many great textures to download!

How does it feel being the center of the Celestia Add-On Universe?

--Starman

don · Post #32by **don** » 29.05.2004, 23:31

Thank you Starman, from both Joe and myself.

Starman wrote:How does it feel being the center of the Celestia Add-On Universe?

Personally, my head is still spinning from the long and intense editing session last night.

It feels a bit more like we're out in left field (instead of center), trying to catch all the new add-ons going for a Home Run -- as well as tracking down the older ones, and getting screen-shots of them all. Whew. It's a lot of work, but the end result will be worth the time and effort -- to the entire Celestia community.

If anyone wants to help out, just drop Joe a note via PM. There are lots of different things to do, besides HTML coding.

It would really be nice to see this turn into a "community project.

Cheers,

Starman · Post #33by **Starman** » 30.05.2004, 01:53

I thought awhile about that analogy :lol:

. Consider it this way; the texture authors artists are like the galactic spiral arms; they are constantly feeding the supermassive black hole that is your website.

Its one giant place where everything eventually comes together, without all that fear about being ripped apart, radiated, burnt to a crisp, imploded, exploded, etc, etc. :lol:

By the way, it would be extremely helpful if either you or joe posted a list of websites/webmasters/artists that have already given you permission to post their textures. That way we the greatful masses can point you in the direction of any new ones we come across.

You guys rule,

--Starman

alphap1us · Post #34by **alphap1us** » 30.05.2004, 02:07

Starman-
Personally, I fear 10^6 solar mass black hoes at the centers of galaxies a lot more than the feeble gravitational pull of stars, but thanks for your compliments.

You do bring up an important issue, which is that we don't have explicit permission from anyone to lsit their add-ons. However, since we are not doing anything except linking to files they have on their servers, I can't see this as being a problem We are right here so if anyone is uncomfortable about anything we do. They can just tell us. I can't vouch for myself but Don is an extremely reasonsable person and I am sure we can work it out.

Joe

BTW, you seem to be more intereested than most in our catalog. Would you like to help us out with improving it? Just think of the difference between the Deepspace section and the rest and imagine if the whole catalog was like that. Don and I also have many secret plans in the works for making add-on integration even easier.... [/i]
But we won't tell unless you join us in our efforts. :lol:

Osmosis · Post #35by **Osmosis** » 30.05.2004, 05:50

Hi Joe, love your site! Got lots of good stuff from there so far, but on the Earth link the New England VT 2 Boston link seems to be a corrupted file, and so does the Italy VT 2 and 3 . And the Hawaii VT doesn't have any links at all, though I was able to get them anyway

. Just wanted to point those out, and let me know if they are really corrupted or maybe it's just my slow dialup screwing things up, as they seem to end too quick, like a couple minutes before they should. Thanks!

don · Post #36by **don** » 30.05.2004, 06:07

Very cool analogy Starman

... As Joe is finding out, a site like this can become a black hole for your spare time too. Thus, the more folks who get involved in one way or another, the easier it will be on everyone involved and the quicker it will be "complete". At least as complete as it will ever be, since new add-ons seemingly arrive in the forums every day!

... and this is a GOOD thing.

... I hope they never stop coming!

alphap1us wrote:I can't vouch for myself but Don is an extremely reasonsable person and I am sure we can work it out.

Me? Reasonable? :lol:

Well, maybe sometimes. :wink:

alphap1us wrote:Don and I also have many secret plans in the works ...

Probably more like dreams, but that's where everything starts, right? With a thought or dream.

Well, sweet dreams everyone...

don · Post #37by **don** » 30.05.2004, 06:19

Howdy Osmosis,

Thank you for your report. This is the best way we can keep tabs on what's working and what isn't.

* New England part 2: Download and open okay.
* Italy 2 & 3: Download and open okay.
* Hawaii 1 & 2: Oops, looks like we need to add the links. :oops:

So, it looks like the zip files are okay. Hard to say what the problem could be (modem, ISP, Internet, etc.), so just try them again and let us know if you get them okay.

Thanks again for the report!

Starman · Post #38by **Starman** » 30.05.2004, 06:39

BTW, you seem to be more intereested than most in our catalog. Would you like to help us out with improving it? Just think of the difference between the Deepspace section and the rest and imagine if the whole catalog was like that. Don and I also have many secret plans in the works for making add-on integration even easier.... [/i]
But we won't tell unless you join us in our efforts.

Ha!

Well, about the only thing I'm good for is spotting bugs; programming language is lost on me. Speaking of bugs, I do have a few for you:

Deep Space:
I could tell you were already having problems with the MindtoAsk's downloads, but now it seems his links are completely dead. Too bad too, because those were some awesome billboards.

Star Trek:
I had just spent an hour downloading DS9, after which I discovered two things; 1, that it didn't work without Bruckner's Star Trek Universe SSC file, and number 2, that I couldn't get to that file because the link gives an error message.

I looked up Bruckner here, but his website is password blocked, which is weird, because I know people have praised his site before.

Later Posts,
--Starman[/quote]

don · Post #39by **don** » 30.05.2004, 07:02

Hi Starman,

Starman wrote:Ha! Well, about the only thing I'm good for is spotting bugs; programming language is lost on me.

* Spotting bugs (bad links / bugs / misspellings / etc.) is GOOD! Thank you!

* See all those thumbnail images on the Deep Space page, and the full-size images they link to? Someone had to go surfing to get them, or get them from inside Celestia if that add-on happens to be installed.

* I'm sure there are tons more links to add-ons that are not on the pages yet, which need to be discovered and added.

* Also have several pages with nothing in them at all.

Sooo ... Look ma, no programming. :wink:

... Only thing is, Joe doesn't have any pages ready for user-based submissions yet, which is why he's asking for "under-cover" volunteers.

Starman wrote:Deep Space: I could tell you were already having problems with the MindtoAsk's downloads, but now it seems his links are completely dead.

Just tried from Colorado, USA (12:30am) and they work fine. You can also click his name to go to his web site (which is also up and running from here).

Starman wrote:I looked up Bruckner here, but his website is password blocked, which is weird, because I know people have praised his site before.

Actually his site went down some time ago and he's never been heard from since.

... A couple of Celestia users have attempted to re-build his site from bits and pieces found on archive sites, which is now located here: http://www.bruckner.50megs.com/favorite_links.html.

Cheers,

rthorvald · Post #40by **rthorvald** » 30.05.2004, 11:49

alphap1us wrote:Don and I also have many secret plans

Hello, alphap1us
I think this is a very worthwile project... Wish i had more free time!

Just a couple of questions:
1. What are the empty field "local" (in the deep space catalog) for?
2. Do you use a publishing engine, or just plain HTML?
3. If you use an engine, would it be possible to have a look at the web template you are using?

-rthorvald