Installation Mars Level 10 and MarsL10_Olympus problem

[David Knisely]

Hi there. I have been fighting the Mars "Level 10" add-on for quite a while now and am about to give up. One unfortunate but consistent problem with many add-ons (both in Orbiter and in other share-ware simulators like Celestia) is that the *exact* procedures needed to install the add-ons properly are sometimes either poorly explained or not explained at all. There are frequently a number of little "tricks" which almost everybody seems to know how to do (and when to do them), but which some people just don't find out about until much later. Files have specific locations where they must be placed in order to function (or sometimes a specific order that they must be installed in), but the details for those locations are sometimes not provided (or are, in some cases, incorrectly provided). Other files may need to be modified, and again, sometimes the modification needed is not sufficiently detailed to be of much use. Some add-ons just plain don't work with the last version of Orbiter (which I am running), but are sometimes not flagged as incompatable with that version in their descriptions. I seem to be in this boat all too often lately, and it is resulting in some of the same frustration which made me abandon all attempts to customize Celestia, and are threatening to do the same to Orbiter. I have succeeded in installing level 8 textures for the moons of Jupiter in Orbiter, and that was relatively easy, so I don't know what is happening with the Mars textures (or even if there is nothing at all wrong in the first place).

I think I have installed the Level 10 textures (I downloaded them from the Orbiter web page and followed the procedures), but don't know if I am really running a Mars Level 10 texture or not. What I see when in orbit is a fair representation of a colorized map of Mars (probably Mars Global Surveyor merged image map). It looks halfway decent if you are close to 1,000 km or more from the surface (especially towards the horizon), but much lower down (say, 150 km to 300 km altitude), the view tends to become blurry or blocky, as is more typical of lower-level textures (level 8 for example). The view shows clear seams and a lower level of detail (lower than I see with the Level 10 Earth detail at 200 km altitude for instance). One example is the caldera of Olympus Mons, which shows very visible large-scale irregular "jaggies" pixelization in the shadows along its rim with the blocks nearly half the size of the width of the rim shadow.

Again, above a certain altitude or far enough away in the distance, it isn't too bad, but my question is: is this really level 10? If it is, then I am OK with it, but after my attempts at upgrading, things just didn't seem to change much from the "default" Mars provided in the initial installation, so this has caused me a few doubts. Then, there is the "Mars Level 10 Olympus" texture, which supposedly adds detail to the area around the base, but which has some possible pitfalls (two overwritten files) if I dare attempt to install it.

Here is what is in my textures directory at the moment (size and date of creation follow the file names):

Mars.tex 4,348 kB 3/5/2001
Mars_tile.bin 239 kB 2/1/2006
Mars_tile.tex 233,870 kB 2/1/2006
MarsM.bmp 34 kB 3/7/2001

I also modified the Mars configuration file (Mars.cfg) for level 10 as instructed (MaxPatchResolution = 10). I also stuck the .bin file in the main Orbiter directory as well, just in case it was needed there (there were no instructions about where each file needed to be). If this is really Level 10, then I will be a happy camper (and wait for level 12). If not, what do I need to do to get Level 10 up and running (exact file folder and mods needed if possible)?

The other potential problem is with the "enhanced" detail for Olympus Mons (Mars060504_L10_Olympus.zip). Once unpacked, the following files appeared on my desktop inside a "Textures2" directory:

Mars_tile.bin 16 kB 2/21/2006
Mars_tile.tex 4305 kB 2/21/2006

Now if I copy these files into my current texture folder, it will overwrite the current ones and all may be lost. I need to know if it is OK to do this and that it will really work (or if my current "level 10" already contains those texture "enhancements"). Do I need to put them somewhere else?

Thanks again and sorry about the long ranting.

David Knisely

 

[markl316]

Hi. Don't worry, we'll get this fixed.

First problem: your file setup. You have a mars.tex in your textures folder. It is about 4 megs big. That's a level 7. In other words, that's bad. You have the right location, you just don't have the right file. You need level 8 (about 16 megs). Get it off the main orbiter download page. You MUST have this level 8.

Next: your mars_tile.tex (which is like 233,000 kb i think you said) is in your textures folder. That is bad. Anything above level 8 MUST be put in your textures2 folder. if it does not exist, make it.

Your mars_tile.bin is in your main directory. Again, bad. It also goes in textures 2. btw your textures2 folder should be in your main orbiter directory, like:

orbiter060929_base\textures2

I'm not sure if the t in textures2 is capitalized or not. Try both.

That should work. Be sure you change max patch resolution to 10 BOTH in the mars.cfg and in the orbiter launchpad (visiual effects). You will notice that when all this is put into place, it will take a really long time to load. But trust me the view is worth it. You will be awestruck, trust me, I was when I first saw it.

As for the olympus, that is level 10 over ONLY mount olympus. You do not need level 10 mars and level 10 olympus. Level 10 olympus is part of level 10 mars. If your comuter can handle the full level 10 mars, dont even worry about level 10 olympus.

MarsM.bmp is in the correct location. It is the image that MapMFD brings up.

Tell me if this works,
Mark

 

[David Knisely]

PROBLEM SOLVED!

WOW Mark! All it took was moving the files plus downloading level 8 and Level 10 came to life! I cut the orbital altitude by half and even at 300 km, it still looks fantastic. The machine has no trouble in loading or keeping up with the software (just wish it was 3D so I could fly through it). Thanks a bunch!!

 

[garyw]

WOW Mark! All it took was moving the files plus downloading level 8 and Level 10 came to life! I cut the orbital altitude by half and even at 300 km, it still looks fantastic. The machine has no trouble in loading or keeping up with the software (just wish it was 3D so I could fly through it). Thanks a bunch!!

You can do that too......
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2686"]Orulex_Land_Gen-v1.2[/ame]

 

[markl316]

WOW Mark! All it took was moving the files plus downloading level 8 and Level 10 came to life! I cut the orbital altitude by half and even at 300 km, it still looks fantastic. The machine has no trouble in loading or keeping up with the software (just wish it was 3D so I could fly through it). Thanks a bunch!!

I´m glad I could help. I told you it would look amazing