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Quarior
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21 Aug 2017 15:13

Can you please fix the water in these places?

Image

It looks like we are drinking the great lakes of america
Space Engine for now use a "water sphere" for ocean and the Great Lakes haven't the same level so if you increase the height of ocean, there are more area flooded.
So maybe you can just edit the surface texture and paint blue area flooded.
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Mosfet
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21 Aug 2017 15:39

Unfortunately the problem with the painting is that there will be a curved blue surface, without simulated waves. Same thing for ocean shores...
"Time is illusion. Lunchtime doubly so". Douglas N. Adams
| My mods: http://forum.spaceengine.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=80 | My specs: Asus x555ub - cpu i5-6200u, ram 12gb, gpu nvidia geforce 940m 2gb vram |
 
Starshines
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21 Aug 2017 15:47

Hey everyone, This is the Nerevarine from the old forums. Once again a fantastic update! Got a really good view of the Eclipse here in Denver, it was beautiful.
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TheRedstoneHive
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27 Aug 2017 23:31

Will planetary disks, Proto-stars and forming planets be added in 0.981?
 
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FastFourierTransform
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28 Aug 2017 01:37

 planetary disks
It could be, at least an early version of it. Have a look:

Image
, Proto-stars and forming planets
No. A lot of work until that can be implemented
 
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TheRedstoneHive
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28 Aug 2017 15:20

 planetary disks
It could be, at least an early version of it. Have a look:

Image
, Proto-stars and forming planets
No. A lot of work until that can be implemented
Ok, they would be rather difficult to make :)
 
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Neon
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29 Aug 2017 13:00

I have a project in mind that would need paths, but I'd need to know if paths have a limit to how long
they can be, and if it's worth waiting for it, or just going ahead and doing it the hard way. 
 
A-L-E-X
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02 Sep 2017 23:25

Just joined here - and I've got to say that SpaceEngine is one of the few bits of software worth using Windows for.
I've only just started to explore it and I can tell I'm going to love getting more and more into it. 
And you are going to love it a lot more when 0.981 comes out. It adds Supernovae, a new nebula system so the nebula look a lot more 3D and interesting now, new shaders and much more! Oh, and if you are viewing this post SpaceEngineer: Great Job!!  :D
I guess this is the right place to ask this- will the new public version of SE still use Open GL 3.3 and will it still support Win XP?
 
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SpaceEngineer
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04 Sep 2017 09:10

Wow FastFourierTransform, thanks for your kind words! Sorry for a long delay before reply, I was at a vacations :) About your questions:
In the post you said that there is no perturbation model for the asteroids for example. We can't make an orbital integrator for the game that could operate in real time for sure but could we try to integrate in a separate program the orbits for all asteroids and then generate a file that we could download for SE so we could see the changes over millenia? I understand that this would require a lot of time, a lot of memory and doing a work that is more profitable from a scientific viewpoint than a plantarium software aproach but maybe... I'm just asking.
I am pretty sure that JPL has a data files for hundreds of asteroids which they had modelled together with planets and moons. That data files should be quite large, using them in SE would require implementation of a some disk data streaming mechanism. But I believe that you can't notice a difference in position of some asteroid modelled using DExxx or a simple Kepler orbit. Unless you are planning a space mission, or planning to use SE to make an astronomical observation. I don't think that precise asteroids ephemerides worth the effort.
What are going to be your plans for rotational models of planets? I mean, for example, are we going to see Milankovich Cycles? true polar wander? precession of the equinoxes? nutation? Could those new degrees of freedom be implemented procedurally for other planetary systems?
Yes, I am planning to implement some rotational model for Earth (there is one with a millions of years timespan), I already implemented one for the Moon (DExxx), other planets and moons (IAU). The rotations of moons probably will be reverted back to a forced tidal locking - the IAU model has too small timespan, and actually models a tidally-locked rotation anyway.
For procedural systems, the better way is to add a simple analytical precession. But I have to learn theory first, to know how to derive the equations.
Could we have tumbling asteroids? Or to say; non-principal axis rotators and erratic rotators? For example like the smaller moons of Pluto or some asteroids that have experienced recent collisions? Could that be implemented procedurally?
I am pretty sure that soon some scientific groups will derive an analytical or numerical model of the Plutonian system, then I'll add it to SE.
For procedural moons, the best solution is just an random rotation. No one will detect the deception :)
Can we have an oficial addon in the future with the most accurate ephemerids? If I understood correctly, you took several terms of a fourier series that has been calculated from orbital integrators for many objects but you didn't included all the smaller terms that would make the addition quite huge in terms of memory. I really want to see how the solar system changes in periods over 10.000 years or further knowing it's accurate.
The most long one is DE431, with a timespan from the year -13000 to the year +17000 and a 2 GB data file, which probably is too much for SE. Accuracy of all model is fractions of arcseconds, enough for any reasonable usage in SE. Technically, VSOP87 could model planetary motion to infinite timespan, but don't expect any realistic values outside the +/- 100,000 years interval.
Could we have in the near future included in SE the actual orbits of some space missions? For example I would love to see Cassini's intricate orbital path and see the historic flybys. With the accuracy that SE has archived for the different moons righ now that would be a really awesome experience. It would be great also to see the trajectory for New Horizons for example and get to see in advance the next flyby target.
Yes, I could implement support of the SPICE data - I saw that some planetarium software uses it. Not sure if it supports the orientation/rotation of the object though.
Finally, even If I know this is probably imposible, could there be some sort of orbital integrator in-game that with the accuracy that a real-time calculation allows could make perturbation models for procedural systems also? It would be great to see precession of the orbits of procedural exomoons or changes in accentricity in the orbits of some planets due to resonant features (but I know this would get SE in the realms of the Universe Sandbox capabilities, something you aren't currently engaging on)
In real time you will have an analog of the Universe sandbox. To simulate 1000 objects with a reasonable accuracy, you will be limited to a 10x to 1000x time speed. Also, the final state of the modelling system will depend of when you came into it or started simulation. It is impossible to model the system from the beginning, so perturbation could be accumulated only from a starting point in time. This has completely no sense in terms of accuracy. This has even less sense for a procedural systems - why do you need accuracy in a system which is completely random?
The best what SE could have in the end is some analytical, periodic modelling of perturbation of a stable orbits. Some precession, wobbling change of eccentricity and inclination. Just like rotation models.
I guess this is the right place to ask this- will the new public version of SE still use Open GL 3.3 and will it still support Win XP?
It will be able to use any version of GL - you could specify it in the config file. But 3.2 is a minimal requirement.
 
A-L-E-X
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04 Sep 2017 12:55

Thanks for the update, Vladimir.  So it sounds like as long as Open GL 3.2-3.3 is installed, any Windows operating system will work with it?

Also thanks for the update about the planetary motions in the new patch- I would like to view conjunctions and eclipses going back through history and in the future.  When I did the simulation of the last eclipse I found it to be the most accurate of any of the programs I tested, it matched  very well with what I saw in videos of the eclipse. Besides ephemerides was there anything else added in the patch (more exoplanets, other objects, etc?)  

I also wanted to let you know that in your History of SE Thread the download links to older versions of SE no longer work :(  I wanted to download an older version for my older laptop which only works with up to Open GL 2.1  Which is the latest SE version that can use Open GL 2.1 and is there any way you could re-upload it so I can download it for my older laptop?  Many thanks, Vladimir for all your hard work and dedication and I hope you are having a great vacation! :-)
 
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SpaceEngineer
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04 Sep 2017 13:46

Thanks for the update, Vladimir.  So it sounds like as long as Open GL 3.2-3.3 is installed, any Windows operating system will work with it?
OpenGL is not DirectX, there is no a sharp differences between versions. OpenGL uses a set of functions ("extensions"), and as long as particular driver realization have all extensions needed for SE, SE will work. Some extensions could work too slow though (like geometry shaders on Intel HD).
Besides ephemerides was there anything else added in the patch (more exoplanets, other objects, etc?)  
Exoplanets does not have ephemeris.
Other objects - which ones? Asteroids, comets etc - have no sense. Probably one or two users will report "this comet renders 10° off its real location", so it doesn't worth the effort.
I also wanted to let you know that in your History of SE Thread the download links to older versions of SE no longer work
Oops, we had moved them to HarbingerDawn's Google drive, the links probably changed.
 
A-L-E-X
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04 Sep 2017 14:48

Thanks for the update, Vladimir.  So it sounds like as long as Open GL 3.2-3.3 is installed, any Windows operating system will work with it?
OpenGL is not DirectX, there is no a sharp differences between versions. OpenGL uses a set of functions ("extensions"), and as long as particular driver realization have all extensions needed for SE, SE will work. Some extensions could work too slow though (like geometry shaders on Intel HD).


Besides ephemerides was there anything else added in the patch (more exoplanets, other objects, etc?)  
Exoplanets does not have ephemeris.
Other objects - which ones? Asteroids, comets etc - have no sense. Probably one or two users will report "this comet renders 10° off its real location", so it doesn't worth the effort.
I also wanted to let you know that in your History of SE Thread the download links to older versions of SE no longer work
Oops, we had moved them to HarbingerDawn's Google drive, the links probably changed.
Thanks, from what I have read the highest version of OGL that XP supports is 3.3, so once a higher version is required (like OGL 4.5) then a newer OS will be needed- it's okay, I have already bought the necessary hardware/software, but won't use it until it becomes necessary. :)
No it's not worth the effort, you are right, I have no major interest in comets or asteroids anyway.  So the patch was only for solar system objects then?
Thanks about the heads up, Vladimir, where can I find the links to HD's Google Drive? I will go download it right now :-)
 
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gamadh
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15 Sep 2017 15:23

Vladimir, the cloud system for nebulae is planned too for galaxies for version 0.9.8.1?
In such a hostile universe it is not necessary be the center to be special, just be alive
 
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SpaceEngineer
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15 Sep 2017 15:36

No, otherwise it will take an one extra month before release. Maybe better to delay galaxies for the next version?
 
A-L-E-X
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15 Sep 2017 16:04

No, otherwise it will take an one extra month before release. Maybe better to delay galaxies for the next version?
Just my opinion but I think it would be worth the wait :)

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