This is the forum page of the original Milky Way addon that you can find on the Steam Workshop. The purpose of this is to have a place where you can suggest your ideas for further improvement of the addon. You can also find an experimental version of the addon for version 0.9.8.1 below.

What does this do?
This addon replaces the default Milky Way model with high-detail model and textures, primarily focusing on realism while providing a unique take on what our galaxy might look like in real life. The galaxy texture is composed of real-life imagery of galaxies like NGC 6744, UGC 12158, and Nick Risinger's concept art.

Here are some screenshots (these are from the Steam version, but it should look mostly the same for SE 0.9.8.0):

Does this alter procedural generation?
This addon doesn't change the texture responsible for the procedural generation of stars and nebulae in the Milky Way, so all of your saved locations within the galaxy should still exist.

How to install?
For version 0.9.8.0, download the PAK file below and place it in your addons folder, remember to delete the cache folder, otherwise, it won't work correctly!
 
Download Here (for Space Engine 0.9.8.1)
Current Addon version: 4.4

For recent versions of Space Engine, you can find the addon on the Steam Workshop

Big thanks to Andy-roo77's Reddit post, which served as an inspiration for this addon:
https://www.reddit.com/r/spaceengine/comments/lamv7a/an_alternate_design_for_the_milkyway_in_space/

This is beautiful, I really enjoy this milky way, is there any posibility to make this but with andromeda?

I think I have an earlier version of this from over the summer do I need to find the add on again or will it automatically update?

This is beautiful, I really enjoy this milky way, is there any posibility to make this but with andromeda?

Sure! Although I think the current model for Andromeda is already good enough. So I'm a little scared of ruining it xd

I think I have an earlier version of this from over the summer do I need to find the add on again or will it automatically update?

If you have the one from the Steam Workshop, I recommend you unsubscribe and then subscribe again so the changes from the new version apply. After that, you just delete the cache folder and you should be fine.

This is very well done, adding the curve the galaxy should be possible btw which is something I think I mentioned on Discord before.

This is beautiful, I really enjoy this milky way, is there any posibility to make this but with andromeda?

Sure! Although I think the current model for Andromeda is already good enough. So I'm a little scared of ruining it xd

I think I have an earlier version of this from over the summer do I need to find the add on again or will it automatically update?

If you have the one from the Steam Workshop, I recommend you unsubscribe and then subscribe again so the changes from the new version apply. After that, you just delete the cache folder and you should be fine.

Thanks, looks like it works now!
I figured it would update automatically but I guess not.

This is very well done, adding the curve the galaxy should be possible btw which is something I think I mentioned on Discord before.

I believe I can do the curvature of the Milky Way with the Cubemap method right? I think it could be interesting, the problem is that every time I approach a galaxy with this type of model (like ESO 510-G13), it crashes the game. I also don't think they look good enough, but that might be because I don't really know how to work with these types of models.

This is beautiful, I really enjoy this milky way, is there any posibility to make this but with andromeda?

Sure! Although I think the current model for Andromeda is already good enough. So I'm a little scared of ruining it xd

I think I have an earlier version of this from over the summer do I need to find the add on again or will it automatically update?

If you have the one from the Steam Workshop, I recommend you unsubscribe and then subscribe again so the changes from the new version apply. After that, you just delete the cache folder and you should be fine.

Thanks, looks like it works now!
I figured it would update automatically but I guess not.

I thought the same. Sometimes it does update automatically, but sometimes it doesn't.

This is very well done, adding the curve the galaxy should be possible btw which is something I think I mentioned on Discord before.

I believe I can do the curvature of the Milky Way with the Cubemap method right? I think it could be interesting, the problem is that every time I approach a galaxy with this type of model (like ESO 510-G13), it crashes the game. I also don't think they look good enough, but that might be because I don't really know how to work with these types of models.

Sure! Although I think the current model for Andromeda is already good enough. So I'm a little scared of ruining it xd



If you have the one from the Steam Workshop, I recommend you unsubscribe and then subscribe again so the changes from the new version apply. After that, you just delete the cache folder and you should be fine.

Thanks, looks like it works now!
I figured it would update automatically but I guess not.

I thought the same. Sometimes it does update automatically, but sometimes it doesn't.

I did the unsubscribe/resubscribe thing but didn't clear the cache.  I installed a new display driver, I figure that would clear the cache automatically since it was a clean install.

I believe I can do the curvature of the Milky Way with the Cubemap method right? I think it could be interesting, the problem is that every time I approach a galaxy with this type of model (like ESO 510-G13), it crashes the game. I also don't think they look good enough, but that might be because I don't really know how to work with these types of models.

Check the Centaurus fix on the workshop for a working method in recent builds. 

Hi, dear WildSirius, thank you so much for making such a beautiful addon "milky way overhaul".
I am working on a video project. My astronomer colleague believes that the milky way addon (which I thought is perfect) is not showing the bar shape. I have no idea how to fix it.

This is your reference image from wikipedia:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... Galaxy.jpg

This is the milky way from wikipedia's barred spiral galaxy page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barred_spiral_galaxy 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barred_sp ... 150603.jpg

I am a 3D artist, I can do 3D modeling and particles, volumetric grids. But I don't know how to bring them into SE. Is it possible for you to take a look, or give me some hints how to fix it?

Thank you a million!!!

[Update] I just unzipped the png from the pak file. I am quite familiar with Photoshop. But the PNG looks very different from typical milky way images. How should I edit it to make the core into a bar shape?

I also found the script file with the file type cfg. But I don't see any aspect ratio of the center glowing thing there.

Any help will be much appreciated.

[Update] I just unzipped the png from the pak file. I am quite familiar with Photoshop. But the PNG looks very different from typical milky way images. How should I edit it to make the core into a bar shape?

I also found the script file with the file type cfg. But I don't see any aspect ratio of the center glowing thing there.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Hi! Sorry for the late reply. The way galaxies work in Space Engine is through textures, not 3D models, so you'll have to edit the images via a software image editor like Photoshop, however, the images you extracted from the pak file have an alpha channel applied to them that only the program can interpret correctly, so it would be complicated to edit something from there. I can provide you with the original texture I used if you want to.