About planets Textures (again, sigh)

[parduz]

Before you all blame me, i want to say that i'm searching from 3 days a "guide" about installing new textures on Celestia.
I've downloaded all the guides at motherlode, searched the forum, etc.
I can have missed the relevant line in the guide, or the right word in the search textbox.... anyway don't blame me for asking about this, while i suppose is one of the most asked question.

So, it happens that i've downloaded one year ago all the Don Edward Earth textures (seasons, dds, png....all). I don't remember if i was able to see them at that time.
Anyway i still have the zip files here.

Code: Select all

- 4k-CloudShadowMap.zip
- 8k-CloudShadowMap.zip
2kEarthSpecular.zip
4kEarthSpecular.zip
8kEarthSpecular.zip
clouds-121303-2kDDS.zip
clouds-121303-2kPNG.zip
clouds-121303-4kDDS.zip
clouds-121303-4kPNG.zip
clouds-121303-8kDDS.zip
dir.txt
Earth-8K-Normalmap.zip
land_ocean_ice_lights_aurora_2kPNG.zip
land_ocean_ice_lights_aurora_4kDDS.zip
land_ocean_ice_lights_aurora_4kPNG.zip
land_ocean_ice_lights_aurora_8kDDS.zip
PaleBlueDot-16kDDS.zip
PaleBlueDot-4kDDS.zip
PaleBlueDot-4kPNG.zip
PaleBlueDot-8kDDS.zip
Please Read Me.rtf
RealisticEarth-v4-16kDDS.zip
RealisticEarth-v4-4kDDS.zip
RealisticEarth-v4-4kPNG.zip
RealisticEarth-v4-8kDDS.zip

Stagioni\NA-SS_16kDDS.zip
Stagioni\NA-SS_4kPNG.zip
Stagioni\NA-SS_8kDDS.zip
Stagioni\NS_SA_16kDDS.zip
Stagioni\NS_SA_4kDDS.zip
Stagioni\NS_SA_4kPNG.zip
Stagioni\NS_SA_8kDDS.zip
Stagioni\NS_SW_16kDDS.zip
Stagioni\NS_SW_4kDDS.zip
Stagioni\NS_SW_4kPNG.zip
Stagioni\NS_SW_8kDDS.zip
Stagioni\NW-SS_16kDDS.zip
Stagioni\NW-SS_4kDDS.zip
Stagioni\NW-SS_4kPNG.zip
Stagioni\NW-SS_8kDDS.zip


1st Question: do they need to be updated?

Now i want to put them in the Famous Extras folder, and use them as alternate textures.
Fisrt problem is "grouping" them:
what should i put in the lo/med/hi res folders?
Have i to choose if use DDS or PNG?

Then, what should i write in the AltSurface line of the new ssc file?

Thanks and sorry again if this question have been answered zillion of times: i was'nt able to find the answer.

[parduz]

A bit more deep:
this is a "collection" of lines not working:

Code: Select all

AltSurface "Don Edwards Realistic Earth" "Sol/Earth"
{
   Texture         "RealisticEarth*.dds"
   CloudMap      "clouds-121303-2k.dds"
   SpecularTexture   "EarthSpecular2k.dds"
}


Are Celestia supporting:
1) "*" in the filename other than in the extension? (with the right filename it works, but then i cant choose between 4,8,16k using r or R)
2) Specular and Cloudmaps in the "AltSurface" branch?

How to use normalmaps?

[selden]

Wildcards don't work in the name of the image file. You have to spell it out.

An asterisk can replace the entire filetype, however, in which case Celestia will take the first of ctx, png, jpg or dds that it finds in the appropriate texture directory.

CloudMaps are not applied to the surface of a planet. They're on a separate mesh of their own, so they can't be used in an AltSurface definition.

Also, you might take a look at the Web pages
http://www.lepp.cornell.edu/~seb/celestia/textures.html
and
http://www.lepp.cornell.edu/~seb/celest ... intro.html

[Chuft-Captain]

You need to create an AltSurface declaration for each texture you want to use ...

eg.

Code: Select all

AltSurface "RealisticEarth-v4-16kDDS" "Sol/Earth"
{
   Texture         "RealisticEarth-v4-16kDDS.dds"
 }

AltSurface "RealisticEarth-v4-4kPNG" "Sol/Earth"
{
   Texture         "RealisticEarth-v4-4kPNG.dds"
}

AltSurface "RealisticEarth-v4-4kDDS" "Sol/Earth"
{
   Texture         "RealisticEarth-v4-4kDDS.dds"
}

etc...


For VT's your Texture statement has to refer to the .CTX file.

[parduz]

Wildcards don't work in the name of the image file. You have to spell it out.

This is a shame. It will be nice to choose various maps using the standard "resolution" switch. If i rename the various 4.8.16k with the same name in the lo/med/hi res folders it will then works?

CloudMaps are not applied to the surface of a planet. They're on a separate mesh of their own, so they can't be used in an AltSurface definition.

So have i to mod the "original" solarsys.ssc to view them?
Is this also for the reflectionmap?

About VTs, i have'nt any: i just have the normalmap in the list at first post. It have no use without ctx?

[parduz]

uhm....switching to an alternate surface turns off specular and nightlight maps...is some related to my ATI card, or it's normal for Celestia?

[selden]

Wildcards don't work in the name of the image file. You have to spell it out.

This is a shame. It will be nice to choose various maps using the standard "resolution" switch. If i rename the various 4.8.16k with the same name in the lo/med/hi res folders it will then works?

Yes. Celestia switches among the files that have the same name.

CloudMaps are not applied to the surface of a planet. They're on a separate mesh of their own, so they can't be used in an AltSurface definition.

So have i to mod the "original" solarsys.ssc to view them?

You can use the Modify SSC directive. You don't have to edit solarsys.ssc. Or you could provide a different cloudmap in the hires folder. Please read the textures.html referenced above.

Is this also for the reflectionmap?

SpecularMaps are textures applied to the panet's surface. AltSurface works for them.

About VTs, i have'nt any: i just have the normalmap in the list at first post. It have no use without ctx?

CTX files define VTs. No VTs = no CTXs.

uhm....switching to an alternate surface turns off specular and nightlight maps...is some related to my ATI card, or it's normal for Celestia?

An AltSurface definition must define all of its associated textures. If a surfacemap is not mentioned in an AltSurface, it will not be shown when you select that AltSurface.

Again, please read textures.html. I've tried to spell out all of the dependencies there.

[parduz]

Selden,
as i was saying in the first post, i'm sorry.
I have the page open after you first reply. I have just wheeled it too fast, missing the relevant part.
Please accept my excuses, i was not lazy, just too fast in "reading". Thanks for your patience.

P.S.
While answerin i've tryed the just undertood stuff.
I'm still not able to see the reflection other than Normal "mapping".
This is the ssc:

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AltSurface "Don Edwards Realistic Earth MultiRes" "Sol/Earth"
{
   Texture            "RealisticEarthv4.dds"
   SpecularTexture      "DonEdwardsEarthSpecular.dds"
   NightTexture      "DonEdwards_land_ocean_ice_lights_aurora.png"
}
AltSurface "Don Edwards Pale Blue Dot MultiRes" "Sol/Earth"
{
   Texture            "PaleBlueDot.dds"
   SpecularTexture      "DonEdwardsEarthSpecular.dds"
   NightTexture      "DonEdwards_land_ocean_ice_lights_aurora.png"
}


And this is the Directory Tree

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F:\- Games\Celestia\extras\Don Edwards Textures\DonEdwards.ssc
F:\- Games\Celestia\extras\Don Edwards Textures\textures
F:\- Games\Celestia\extras\Don Edwards Textures\textures\hires
F:\- Games\Celestia\extras\Don Edwards Textures\textures\hires\DonEdwardsEarthSpecular.dds
F:\- Games\Celestia\extras\Don Edwards Textures\textures\hires\DonEdwards_land_ocean_ice_lights_aurora.png
F:\- Games\Celestia\extras\Don Edwards Textures\textures\hires\PaleBlueDot.dds
F:\- Games\Celestia\extras\Don Edwards Textures\textures\hires\RealisticEarthv4.dds
F:\- Games\Celestia\extras\Don Edwards Textures\textures\lores
F:\- Games\Celestia\extras\Don Edwards Textures\textures\lores\DonEdwardsEarthSpecular.dds
F:\- Games\Celestia\extras\Don Edwards Textures\textures\lores\DonEdwards_land_ocean_ice_lights_aurora.png
F:\- Games\Celestia\extras\Don Edwards Textures\textures\lores\PaleBlueDot.dds
F:\- Games\Celestia\extras\Don Edwards Textures\textures\lores\RealisticEarthv4.dds
F:\- Games\Celestia\extras\Don Edwards Textures\textures\medres
F:\- Games\Celestia\extras\Don Edwards Textures\textures\medres\DonEdwardsEarthSpecular.dds
F:\- Games\Celestia\extras\Don Edwards Textures\textures\medres\DonEdwards_land_ocean_ice_lights_aurora.png
F:\- Games\Celestia\extras\Don Edwards Textures\textures\medres\PaleBlueDot.dds
F:\- Games\Celestia\extras\Don Edwards Textures\textures\medres\RealisticEarthv4.dds


I can't see anything wrong. But i don't trust so much in me right now

[selden]

Just to make sure: does your graphics card draw specular reflections in other situations?

In particular, do you see specular reflections on the Earth when you select "Normal" in the AltTexture menu?

Exactly what model of card do you have?
(You probably mentioned it elsewhere, but I've forgotten.)

Unless I'm overlooking something, your code and file locations look OK.

[parduz]

Just to make sure: does your graphics card draw specular reflections in other situations?
In particular, do you see specular reflections on the Earth when you select "Normal" in the AltTexture menu?

Yes, it works.

Exactly what model of card do you have?

ATI Radeon X600

If this help, i've seen that i can only use the 2k clouds maps: bigger clouds maps give me only a portion of the earth mapped, with white stripes on the other parts (i've read about the 2k limit, so i was not surprised, i tell you just in cas it helps).
All others maps (reflection apart) works great, no matter the size.

[selden]

The size of a CloudTexture image used for moving clouds is limited to the size of your graphics card's texture buffer. This might be 1K, 2K or as much as 4K pixels. If you specify a CloudSpeed of 0, however, then the CloudTexture can be any size, or even a VirtualTexture.

Most ATI cards are limited to 2K. You need an x1800 or better to be able to use 4K textures for moving clouds.

I discovered the problem with AltSurface SpecularMaps: you need to specify SpecularColor and SpecularPower. The default SpecularPower is 0 = no specularity. I've updated textures.html to mention this. (I need to rewrite that entire section, though, it rambles too much.)

[parduz]

thank you so much. It works well

After all this "work", i think that's a shame that we can't make a complete "retexturing" just in the "extra" folder. If next versions of Celestia can take the clouds map also from addons, it will be a good thing.
As a programmer, i can understand the fact that clouds "are not on the surface", but i think that for "simply users" is a useless distinction. "They" (me) are used to "skin" and "themes", and i think that a "skinnable" celestia body will be a great step. simply to understand for novice, "simply" to distribute for artist.
Thanks again