1.2.5 prerelease 2 - Fixed!

[chris]

The problem with vertex shaders in 1.2.5pre2 was a missing vertex shader file . . . You can either grab a new package:

http://www.shatters.net/celestia/files/celestia-win32-1.2.5pre2.exe

. . . or you can copy this missing vertex shader file (it's just 1k) to the shaders directory in your Celestia install:

http://www.shatters.net/celestia/files/diffuse_texoff.vp

I apologize for the oversight . . .

--Chris

[Rassilon]

np chris...back to planet building then

[Darkmiss]

Report:

Vertex shadeing:
Okay Chris Vetex shadeing is now fixed.

Locations:
Favorite Locations work perfect now
But only if you add each location inside a created folder.
if you add a location in the root of locations, it dosn't work.

Fullscreen Menu:
If I start up in full screen, the menu text works fine.
But if you toggle full screen back to windowed,
Or windowed to full screen, No text again

Sorry

[slashi]

Hey! How to start it up in full screen? Did I miss this trick?

[Rassilon]

"C:\Program Files\Celestia\celestia.exe" -fullscreen

btw chris are there any other hidden commands like in the ssc scripting we dont know about? *crosses fingers*

[Darkmiss]

Chris, How come 1.2.4 didnt need this file to use Vertex shader

I didnt have this file with 1.2.4

[billybob884]

I downloaded the latest prerelease of celestia, and i'm still getting dark clouds and messed up eclipses while in vertex shaders. I don't know if its supposed to do this or not, but if its supposed to look like this, then never mind.


Mike M.

[billybob884]

One more thing i forgot, when you turn on the pixel shading, you dont get that little shiney reflection on the ocean.


Mike M.

[chris]

Chris, How come 1.2.4 didnt need this file to use Vertex shader

I didnt have this file with 1.2.4

It's a new shader used to make the cloud textures move . . . Celestia 1.2.4 always used the OpenGL fixed function engine for clouds, even when vertex shaders were enabled. This was the cause of a rendering bug that Rassilon found recently. I fixed it by using the diffuse.vp shader for the clouds, but that made the clouds stop moving. So I had to create a new vertex shader that modified the cloud texture mapping to make clouds move again. More than you wanted to know?

--Chris

[selden]

Unfortunately, although b2 works fine on my system at work (NT4,2GHz P4,ATI Rage 128), it draws textures incorrectly on my system at home (W98SE, 500MHz P3,Voodoo5). (and still crashes under XP Pro.)

The initial screen which claims to be showing Earth isn't shaded properly: textures are only partially applied. I had originally thought it was related to the vertex shading problem, but apparently not.

Amusingly enough, if I move closer to the object, central sections of the overlying textures seem to peel away, revealing what seems to be a sunlit view of Io. Moving in from the dark side also seems to show the dark side of Io.

I've uploaded a snapshot to

[jrobert]

You know, it's amazing the number of problems we have with getting software to work on 99.98% of all the machines out there. If all we had is one manufacturer for all this PC stuff, we wouldn't have half the problems with software as we currently have. Apple Computers was smart in this area. Their users only have to contact one company for support. PC users on the other hand, need support from the Video card maker, sound card maker, the motherboard, the cd-rom drive, hard drive, network card, and the list goes on and on. What I'm saying is that PC's were built on cost effectivness and not ease of support issues. Don't get me wrong though, PC's are a great platform; I use one myself. The sad thing is (and this I believe is an unfortunate truth) Chris may not be able to make Celestia work on 99.98% of all PC's out there. If that happens to be true, then adapt your machine to run Celestia. Buy compatable hardware. There are options. Of course this is just my opinion, I could be wrong.

[selden]

As I mentioned in another thread, v1.2.4 (including lots of add-ons by many different contributors -- thanks!) works fine on the same system under both XP Pro and W98.

I'll admit I've been considering a system upgrade anyhow, but it won't happen very soon.

[selden]

Are there any other objects in the standard distribution that have as complex a layering of textures as the Earth model? Looking at Jupiter, Saturn and Venus, I don't see similar problems.

[Rassilon]

As I mentioned in another thread, v1.2.4 (including lots of add-ons by many different contributors -- thanks!) works fine on the same system under both XP Pro and W98.

I'll admit I've been considering a system upgrade anyhow, but it won't happen very soon.

Whatever you do dont buy another Voodoo...though I doubt you can anymore...and in my personal opinion I would stay away from ATI cards...but in the end its up to you

[jrobert]

My personal preference is towards the Geforce 4 TI's. Steer clear of the Geforce 4 MX's as they're really souped up Geforce 2 chipsets with a new name. The Geforce 3 MX and Geforce 3 TI isn't worth the money because you can get a Geforce 4 TI for the same price. There are two different Geforce 4 TI's: the 4400 and the 4600. All in all, the main difference is the number of monitors that can be connected to the card at the same time. Also the 4600 allows for a DVI (Digital Video Interface) connection to a LCD monitor that supports it. Certain 4600's also allow video capture straight thru the video card so there's no need to buy additional hardware. Most Geforce 4 TI's range in price from about $199US to about $399US for the serious power user. I personally am still using a Geforce 2 GTS (which is basically a TI model) until I can afford the Geforce 4 TI. But IMHO, get a Geforce 4 TI.

[selden]

jrobert,

You left out the GeForce4 Ti4200. I just picked up the 128MB version at our local BestBuy at lunchtime today. It's not quite as fast as the other two models, but I think it'll do. ;)

So much for putting off upgrading...