newbie add-on question - positioning of spacecraft

q-czar · Post #1by **q-czar** » 22.01.2005, 04:30

I have been trying to reposition some of the add-ons I downloaded from the motherlode around various ficticious planets. The thing is, sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't. I have been struggling to come up with an answer as to why.

More detail: For instance, I downloaded various B5 spacecraft and attempted to set their orbits to different planets. Some showed up(Excalibur->Sol/Earth), while others would not(Sharlin->Rigel Kentaurus A/Midgard).

There are no obvious differences between the .ssc scripts, and any that their were I deliberately removed. Dating should not be an issue, as I have removed that feature from all the scripts as well.

I do also notice that there are wildly varying positional aspects concerning the various systems, yet no such difference exists in the code. As an example, if I place one Excalibur in orbit of earth, and another in orbit of a custom star/planet of mines (with the same exact positional data), they end up in very radically different orbital distances.

I'd like to think i'm a pretty smart person, and I tried for several days to figure this out on my own before coming here. But I am at a lose and there are no existing threads/FAQ's that seem to answer this question.

If it's relevant->Celestia v1.3.2 Mac OS X 10.3.7<-

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

maxim · Post #2by **maxim** » 22.01.2005, 10:49

The orbit is measured in either in units of radii or in km from the objects center - it's different in scripts and ssc-files. I'm currently not shure what is what.

For a samle of documents search the forum or take the one I've collected here:
http://www.celestia.ziegelstein.net/collections/Celestia%20documentations%2004-04-06.zip

maxim

Post #3by **selden** » 22.01.2005, 12:37

Two suggestions:

Start with very simple catalog files.

Post examples that work and ones that don't work.
Verbal descriptions aren't good enough: it's easy to overlook something that you think is irrelevant but which actually is critical to things working properly.

q-czar · Post #4by **q-czar** » 22.01.2005, 18:17

Not a good way to make a first impression.

It turns out that I overlooked the fact that Celestia searches the "extras" folder in alphabetical order. Thus, I was declaring the spacecraft before I declared the planet it orbited.

So, to Celestia, the planet I specified didn't exist when the spacecraft was loaded. It's quite a glaring oversight.

Anyway, thanks for the replies. I have both of you to thank. Now it's time for me to get to work on my first add-on.

(Psst: It's going to be 'Arda/Middle Earth' c.8,000 B.C.E. But, I'll save the rest for an official announcement.)

Tanketai · Post #5by **Tanketai** » 22.01.2005, 19:04

Wow, a LOTR addon! Never thought of that myself, but it sounds great. Locations will be an easy task, Tolkien made quite some maps. I'm wondering how you will complete the East side of Middle-earth.
A nice addon to look forward to.

q-czar · Post #6by **q-czar** » 22.01.2005, 19:36

Tanketai wrote:Wow, a LOTR addon! Never thought of that myself, but it sounds great. Locations will be an easy task, Tolkien made quite some maps. I'm wondering how you will complete the East side of Middle-earth.
A nice addon to look forward to.

Mainly it will be focusing on the area from the books. So as far as the east goes, I guess I'll just have to guess. Just doing the west is ambitious enough.

Right now, I'm trying to figure out the models. I want it to be a VT right down to Frodo level, so that means lots (& LOTS) of work ahead. It'll cover the timeline between the "Breaking of the World" and the "War of the Ring". Any eastern stuff will be just level 1.

But hey, I'm jumping the gun here! Shouldn't say too much until I have something to show. Expect an official announcement in a week or two.

Tanketai · Post #7by **Tanketai** » 22.01.2005, 23:18

Which 'breaking of the world' you're talking about? Poor Arda has suffered several of them.... :wink:

Guest · Post #8by **Guest** » 23.01.2005, 18:01

Cool!

A Beleriand model would be interesting; at that time Middlearth was still flat...
the whole thing would need to be made as a 3ds object.
Could be done...

someone will be doing a Discworld add-on next!

eburacum45 · Post #9by **eburacum45** » 23.01.2005, 18:11

Logs on to claim previous post

Tanketai · Post #10by **Tanketai** » 23.01.2005, 21:44

eburacum45 wrote:the whole thing would need to be made as a 3ds object

Wouldn't be a complex one, a simple billboard would do the trick.

eburacum45 wrote:someone will be doing a Discworld add-on next!

I don't think a discworld would be plausible; the outer edge would be spinning much faster than the inside, and people would be thrown out... Middle-earth did not spin, but existed on a geocentric universe. the sun and the moon were placed to spin around it. That would also be something nice to look in this future addon: the flowers of the trees in orbit.