Celestia 1.5.0 prerelease 5

[chris]

Celestia 1.5.0 prerelease 5 for Windows is now ready:

http://www.celestiaproject.net/~claurel/celest ... .0pre5.exe

The list of issues to fix for 1.5.0 final has dwindled, so this should be the last prerelease that's not a release candidate. That is, the build of Celestia after 1.5.0pre5 will become 1.5.0 final unless bugs are found in it.

Any bugs remaining in this version of Celestia should have tracker bugs filed: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=br ... tid=121302

Here is a list of changes since 1.5.0pre4:

Code: Select all

KDE:
* Added new marker shapes to popup menu
* Fixed cel URL handler to avoid opening of empty tab in Konqueror
* Fixed window being resized when URL is activated by another app
* CelestialBrowser improvements:
  - Show satellites of satellites
  - Don't display barycenters and invisible objects
  - Added new body classifications: small body and dwarf planet
* Filtered invisible objects and barycenters from popup menu

Windows:
* Fixed bug in popup menu and solar system browser with objects with empty
  name strings
* Fixed bug in 'Set current time' action for Windows Set Time dialog; UTC to
  TDB correction was not being applied.

Mac:
* Added more info to OpenGL Info window
* Added satellites submenu to context menu

* Added Julian date setting to Set Time dialog
* Bound Shift+K and Shift+L key combinations to adjust time by factor of 2
* Enabled relative paths for InfoURLs
* Fixed pause behavior with cel URLs and bookmarks (non-Windows platforms)
* Include star system barycenters in cel URL paths
* New extrasolar planets: OGLE-TR-182 b, WASP-3 b, 55 Cnc f, Lupus-TR-3 b,
  OGLE-TR-211 b, HD 156846 b, HD 4113 b, Kap CrB b, GD 66 b
* Brightened grid and constellation border colors
* Fixed incorrect assert in Windows fullscreen mode selection (caused app crash
  when switching to fullscreen mode.)
* Switched to double precision arithmetic for orbits to avoid rendering
  artifacts
* Use cubic interpolation for orbits paths to eliminate sharp angles when
  rendering them
* Removed fractional part in the display of galaxy light gain
* Fixed bug in calendar date calculation for negative Julian dates and
  dates far in the past or future.
* Changed quaternion slerp so shortest path is taken when interpolating
  orientations. Prevents extra spinning when using SampledOrientatin.
* Implemented SampledTrajectory, a new trajectory type similar to
  SampledOrbit except with properties to control interpolation and precision.
* Fixed bug with showing labels of objects with empty name strings
* Replaced month number with name abbreviation in date display
* Fixed inconsistent operation of mouse wheel reverse flag
* Fixed some memory leaks
* Fixed depth sorting of labels for solar system objects
* Fixed broken shaders for atmospheres of planets orbiting multiple suns
* Re-enabled stellar corona effect
 Added capability to set default star textures via celestia.cfg
* Switched to using different star textures for different spectral classes
* Fixed frame related bug that caused a body to be positioned incorrectly
when the star of its orbit frame didn't match the namespace root star.
* Added RA/Dec to selection information (using observer centered coordinate
 system)
* Removed hardcoded limit on max number of nearby solar systems when rendering
  (fixes a crashing bug.)
* Added untranslated "Sun" name so that scripts and add-ons using that name
  aren't broken on non-English versions
* Added translation for "Milky Way"

Performance:
* Rearranged some galaxy rendering code to increase performance
* Added code to skip deep sky object octree traversal when all deep sky objects
  are disabled.

Scripting:
* Added POINT, LINES, and LINE_SMOOTH OpenGL enumerants

Internal:
* Added code to skip rendering when viewer isn't moving and no changes have bee
  made to render state (currently disabled)


In addition, there's some test code enabled on Windows that allows you to show body axes, frame axes, sun and velocity vectors for objects via the popup menu.

--Chris

[BobHegwood]

Many, MANY thanks Mr. Laurel...

Downloading as we speak, and with MUCH appreciation for all of
your efforts here.

Take care, Brain-Dead

[ajtribick]

Man, did I pick the wrong day to download 1.5.0pre4 or what?

[Hungry4info]

You're an Angel, Chris, thanks!

Man, did I pick the wrong day to download 1.5.0pre4 or what?

Haha ouch.


Post Scriptum: The stars are beautiful now. Thank-you so much!

[Ivvi]

Thanks Chris. The stars are definitely more convincing now, although not yet as "hot and glowing" as they were in Cleestia 1.4.1, but still much, much better I am going to enjoy this release now. Is it possible to thicken the atmosphere a little bit? (Or add an option to adjust the stellar atmosphere density individually for each user - in .cfg or somehow else). That would make the stars still hotter. Otherwise I did not see any bugs

[ajtribick]

Code: Select all

* New extrasolar planets: OGLE-TR-182 b, WASP-3 b, 55 Cnc f, Lupus-TR-3 b,
  OGLE-TR-211 b, HD 156846 b, HD 4113 b, Kap CrB b, GD 66 b

This is not the case: the versions of extrasolar.ssc and extrasolar.stc in the installer are not the most recent ones.

The version of extrasolar.ssc supplied is 1.96, the most recent one is 1.98, so the planets Lupus-TR-3 b, OGLE-TR-211 b, HD 156846 b, HD 4113 b, Kap CrB b and GD 66 b are not included.

The version of extrasolar.stc supplied is 1.17, the most recent one is 1.20, so the stars OGLE-TR-182, WASP-3, Lupus-TR-3, OGLE-TR-211 and GD 66 are not included.

[ElChristou]

...In addition, there's some test code enabled on Windows that allows you to show body axes, frame axes, sun and velocity vectors for objects via the popup menu.

Could this be integrated to the osX version? (could be interesting)

[dirkpitt]

Don't have the time right now - maybe this weekend if there's nothing happening..

[ElChristou]

Don't have the time right now - maybe this weekend if there's nothing happening..

Don't worry, time is all we have...

[Dollan]

Would using a specific render path, combined with a specific video card, cause problems? I try to use the Open GL 2.0, but if I have *anything* that Celestia regards as a nebula, be it a true nebula add-on, some sort of Celestial grid, or whatever, the system dies completely. Using Open GL Vertex causes no such problem, but then you don't get those wonderful planetary atmospheres with the mie scattering, etc.

My card is a Radeon X1600 with 256MB of memory, and has the most recent divers.

...John...

[selden]

John,

That implies a serious bug in the graphics driver.

I'd suggest reporting it to ATI/AMD.

[rra]

Thanks Chris,

for this newest Celestia version,
however (there is allways a however)
when trying to install the program on my windows machine at work
the installer says it needs administrator rights
which I don't have.
In earler version there was no need for administrator rights.
Why does this version require admin-rights,
and is this something that can be fixed ??


Ren?©

[BobHegwood]

The administrator rights are caused by the installation itself on my
Vista machine. The only way to fix it is to either reset the permissions
which you cannot do unless you HAVE the administrator rights, or
you can COPY the files to a location that you have created yourself.

Set up a different folder for Celestia and simply copy all the original
files to the new folder. That is if you can.

New ground here, so I'm still trying to figure this stuff out. Chris'
software wants to retain its OWN authorities when you install it, and
that creates these problems. You can get around it, but it takes some
work.

Hope that helps a little bit.

Thanks, Brain-Dead

[phoenix]

again a mirror for europe celestians

http://www.purebytes.de/stuff/celestia/ ... .0pre5.exe

[chris]

The administrator rights are caused by the installation itself on my
Vista machine. The only way to fix it is to either reset the permissions
which you cannot do unless you HAVE the administrator rights, or
you can COPY the files to a location that you have created yourself.

Set up a different folder for Celestia and simply copy all the original
files to the new folder. That is if you can.

New ground here, so I'm still trying to figure this stuff out. Chris'
software wants to retain its OWN authorities when you install it, and
that creates these problems. You can get around it, but it takes some
work.

Hope that helps a little bit.

Isn't it possible to just change the install directory on Vista from the default 'c:\program files\celestia' to a user directory like 'c:\users\bobhegwood\application data'? I've done some research that suggests Program Files is still the preferred install location for applications in Vista. Or is the real problem with add-ons? It's probably not a good idea that Celestia's extras folder is in Program Files instead of the user's application data folder. I think . . .

--Chris

[BobHegwood]

Isn't it possible to just change the install directory on Vista from the default 'c:\program files\celestia' to a user directory like 'c:\users\bobhegwood\application data'? I've done some research that suggests Program Files is still the preferred install location for applications in Vista. Or is the real problem with add-ons? It's probably not a good idea that Celestia's extras folder is in Program Files instead of the user's application data folder. I think . . .

--Chris

Chris,

If I install Celestia to the normal Program Files\Celestia directory,
ALL of the files inside that directory retain the permissions from your
software. This includes all SSC files inside the data directory, all
textures inside the textures\medres directory, etc.

If I delete the Celestia\textures\medres directory and then create
my own in the same place, then I have no more permission
problems. As I said, I still don't have these problems quite
resolved yet, but the only real solution I have been able to
implement consistently, is to sign on as the administrator, and
then edit all permissions entries so that I can freely copy and
paste the files inside Celestia. In other words, the default
cannot be changed by the user unless he or she IS the owner
and/or administrator of the machine. Strange I know, but this
problem is related to "inherited permissions" in Vista.

If I create all of the Celestia directories myself, and then copy
your programs and files enmasse to the new folders, the problem
also goes away because the new folders no longer include the
inherited permissions.

Does this help at all? Changing the installation directory does
NOT change the permissions problem. It's caused by the Vista
installation process itself as far as I can tell.

Thanks, Bob

[rra]

The administrator rights are caused by the installation itself on my

No No Bob, I was taking about a regular windowsXP
system where the admin rights suddenly are required.
On my Vista system at home, there was no trouble installing
latest Celestia-pack
Any thoughts ??
Ren?©

[selden]

Ren?©,

The way you phrased it, that it works on your Vista system at home, implies that the XP system is not at home, perhaps is at work.

If the system is centrally administered, the group security profiles and/or directory protections might have been changed recently to keep people from downloading and unintentionally installing malware.

[ElChristou]

I still have labels displayed on Earth when looking at some on the Moon;
I don't remember if labels wasn't supposed to be on the selected object only... Anyway, someone confirm?

[rra]

Selden ,

If the system is centrally administered, the group security profiles and/or directory protections might have been changed recently to keep people from downloading and unintentionally installing malware.

Yes, at our office we do have group policies and such,
but this fact is not very likely to contribute to the installer problems
given the fact that I can install previous releases
(I tried celestia-win32-1.5.0pre2.exe)
without a problem.

Ren?©