The idea that things
"must look real" is at the core of all the development of this program. Realism is the first law of SpaceEngine and everything that is far from realistic is due to a yet undiscovered (by Vladimir) algorithm that could handle the rendering of it in a matter of milliseconds (since the zero law of SpaceEngine is to have all the image rendered in real time).
Also, no one has the right to ask in this way things to a man that is accomplishing them alone and voluntarily. Even if you have donated some amount. This is a very hard project and we should make suggestions constructively: ask for somethign specifically, ask for something that hasn't been asked before or is well known since it appears in the TODO list, ask showing some idea as to how to make it or point out some software where that is been made, ask for whatever you want if you want but try to recognize at least for yourself all the hard work that has been done and is currently been eated by this project. No one has a debt with you is the point. And I don't say this because of this particular message but for the general attitude towards this community.
"Things must get done" is not a suggestion is an order. Please try to be less rude.
Now. What is that you see in stars that look so unrealistric to you right now?
Stars that look like bumpy potatoes are indeed an expression of SpaceEngine realism since red giants have usually that kind of morphology (as suggested by
numerical simulations performed by actual scientists and as suggested by
direct imaging). The fact is that those stars look like that in real life while we are all very confident in the contrary. No movie, no series, no documentary and no sci-fi painting that I have seen depicts giant stars with this accuracy.
And remember also that an
image of the sun like this is not what you would see in space since those images are taken with ultraviolet light and not visible light
like this one (wich coincidentaly is exactly how SpaceEngine depicts the Sun).
Please also consider on updating the overall graphics of space Engine to the highest resolution as possible and make planetary terrain look exactly as it does in real life when walking on the surface of terrestrial planets such as Earth, Mars or any other planet
Do you think that if that could be done someone (including the developer) would prefer to have it like it is now? Obviously increasing detail is a goal that is encased in the idea of making a realistic universe simulator. But there are physical and technical limitations as to what can be implemented in a personal computer nowadays and with rendering speed of milliseconds as I said before. You can't ask here for an identical-to-real simulator of each spot of terrain of each known planet as you can't ask that neither to NASA nor any modern supercomputer laboratory. You have a computer with limitations.
Even with that, level of detail
is been increased in spectacular manner.
You should read about it. The next release is going to be awesome in that sense.
Water on terrestrial planets is another thing to update.
This is a well known suggestion. It was on the TODO list even before anyone suggested it.
make Space Engine much better than it actually is currently
Here you have an example of an order. If you want to make a suggestion ask if it has been considered or show some ideas as how to make it if you are really expecting this to contribute. I think we all (the developer the first one) want Space Engine to become better. That is the only reason he's working on it.