Orbiter 2016 - RC.4

[martins]

Please try out the fourth release candidate.

It's available as ZIP and MSI package:

• ZIP: http://mirror.orbiter-radio.co.uk/orbiter/assets/packages/Orbiter_RC/Orbiter2016.zip
• MSI: http://mirror.orbiter-radio.co.uk/orbiter/assets/packages/Orbiter_RC/Orbiter2016.exe

This supersedes the RC.3 package. For package details see the RC.1 description which still applies.

For the change log see the SVN r.61 announcement.

Note that this package contains new versions of the textures for the Jovian moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto). Some of them are not included at their highest resolution. To get the high-resolution versions, download the updated MinorBodies package from here.

I am currently not planning any more release candidates. Unless a catastropic problem shows up, this is essentially it. Any non-critical problems will be deferred to future updates from here. One of these Tuesdays ...

 

[asbjos]

Not a problem specific to this release, but on http://mirror.orbiter-radio.co.uk/orbiter/assets/earth.html the high resolution tiles still only cover up to +-56.25 degrees of latitude. Are the remaining tiles going to be added before the final release?

 

[martins]

Thanks for RC.3! Quick question -- would it be possible for you to package up an RC.3 download version without any planetary textures included? That way users already running with the high-res textures or who already downloaded the low-res textures previously wouldn't need to unnecessarily re-download the low-res textures again (it would also save a ton of bandwidth for both the server and the user). Also, users already using the high-res textures wouldn't need to worry about accidentally overwriting their installed high-res textures when upgrading to RC.3 or future Orbiter 2016 versions or patches.

One possible approach would be to package up three zip files:
1. The Orbiter core files themselves, which includes everything except the planetary textures,
2. The low-res planetary textures, and
3. The high-res planetary textures.

That way users would choose at download time which planetary textures they wanted to use. Granted, that isn't as simple as just doing a single download, but OTOH we could always also have a download that includes both #1 and #2 (as it is now), in which case there would be a total of four.

Anyway, just thinking out loud.

Isn't the core-only part already covered by the SVN repository, as far as the release candidates are concerned? For the final release, I wouldn't want to offer a core-only download, because it wouldn't work as a standalone installation, and you can bet that there will be people who only download that core package and then complain that it's crap, because all planets show up as white balls :lol:

Even if somebody plans to download the high-resolution textures, it makes sense to force them to download the low-res packages first, so they can make sure that Orbiter works, before embarking on the mega-downloads. Given the size of the high-res packages, an overhead of 2.5GB is probably not that significant, in particular if it provides a fall-back option if the high-res packages go wrong.

Btw, note that for RC.4 the textures have changed, so you will need to download the zip file, rather than just update from SVN. Maybe somebody could do a diff package again to reduce the download size.

 

[Ripley]

...Maybe somebody could do a diff package again to reduce the download size.

I can't ATM (on holidays).

 

[martins]

Not a problem specific to this release, but on http://mirror.orbiter-radio.co.uk/orbiter/assets/earth.html the high resolution tiles still only cover up to +-56.25 degrees of latitude. Are the remaining tiles going to be added before the final release?

I still plan to do it, but probably not in time for the release. This will require quite a bit of processing, and I'll have to update my Landsat scene processing scripts, because at high latitudes the landsat coverage gets a bit sketchy.

In some sense the textures are independent of the release anyway. I am planning to do periodic updates of the textures (adding new sources, doing local high-res areas around bases, etc.) Users can then merge those update packages into their texture databases with Face's treeman utility (which I am already counting on heavily :tiphat

 

[Face]

Users can then merge those update packages into their texture databases with Face's treeman utility (which I am already counting on heavily :tiphat

Oh god, the pressure... :lol:

Just to ease potential worries a bit: it will be open-sourced, even with the crappy style it is in now (mostly C-like, non-object-oriented, and a hodgepodge of copied libraries).

 

[fort]

Maybe somebody could do a diff package again to reduce the download size.

The time to download the full RC4, compare it to RC3 and i will release a patch tomorrow.

 

[dbeachy1]

Btw, note that for RC.4 the textures have changed, so you will need to download the zip file, rather than just update from SVN. Maybe somebody could do a diff package again to reduce the download size.

Thanks for the info. Do you mean that the high-res textures have changed, too? In other words, will my existing high-res textures still work with RC.4, or do I need to re-download them?

 

[fort]

Hello doctor,

Maybe i'm wrong but it seems to me that there is not actually in the RC3 at least Io and Europa as cache files ( Surf ). And they are not in the minor bodies zip provided in the past as surf files - and for some - elev files.

Actually, i play Orbiter from the cache ( i have not downloaded for the moment the *.tree files high resolution ).

Good day.

 

[martins]

Thanks for the info. Do you mean that the high-res textures have changed, too? In other words, will my existing high-res textures still work with RC.4, or do I need to re-download them?

Only the MinorBodies high-res package has changed. It now includes high-res versions of Io and Europa. You do need the base package for Ganymede and Callisto, which are not included in the MinorBodies package, since they are already at their full resolution in the base package.

 

[martins]

Hello doctor,

Maybe i'm wrong but it seems to me that there is not actually in the RC3 at least Io and Europa as cache files ( Surf ). And they are not in the minor bodies zip provided in the past as surf files - and for some - elev files.

Actually, i play Orbiter from the cache ( i have not downloaded for the moment the *.tree files high resolution ).

Good day.

That is correct. Up to and including RC.3, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto used the legacy (2010) texture format. From RC.4 they are using the new (2016) texture format and are are packaged as archive (.tree) files in RC.4 package. High-res versions of Io and Europa are in the MinorBodies package referenced above.

If you prefer the texture in "cache" format (individual files), download the MinorBodies package and unpack the texture files with texpack -e

 

[fort]

If you prefer the texture in "cache" format (individual files), download the MinorBodies package and unpack the texture files with texpack -e

Thank you doctor. I'll do it eventually. But if you can explain me the option "try cache first then archive". Does that option mean that if there is files in the cache folder, Orbiter load the cache - and the cache only - and if the cache is empty it load the content or the archive folder ?

Edit: the Lro L11 texture of the Moon is really impressionnante.

 

[martins]

Thank you doctor. I'll do it eventually. But if you can explain me the option "try cache first then archive". Does that option mean that if there is files in the cache folder, Orbiter load the cache - and the cache only - and if the cache is empty it load the content or the archive folder ?

No. With this option, Orbiter first looks in the cache for every single texture file it tries to load. If the file is not in the cache, it looks in the archive. In other words, cache files override the archive contents. This way, addon developers can provide modifications around surface bases without having to modify the texture archives. The disadvantage is that looking both in the cache and the archive may have a performance impact.

 

[fort]

Thank you.

It's exactly what i wanted to know. With this option i can actually load Orbiter with the cache for the major planet ( that i've not actually downloaded as *.tree files ) and, simultaneously, with archive for moons like Europa or Io.

I'm for the moment with XP, and more:facepalm:: XP fat 32. If i'm not wrong, above 4 go it will not want to know anything...:rant:

---------- Post added at 04:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:51 PM ----------

What sort f problem i could have running textpack (textpack Surf.tree -e ) with windows xp sp3 ( Surf.tree in the same folder of texpack ). It begins to load " Building tiles tree..." and a windows alert says that the program must close.

It's not really important.

 

[martins]

textpack Surf.tree -e

I'm at work now and can't check, but I am pretty sure that this is not the right syntax. Do "texpack -h" for help. I think it's something like "texpack <path to planet's texture directory> Surf -e"

 

[fort]

Don't take to much time for me for that. I speak english so badly that it's always difficult for me to be clear in my explanations. So, often, i try to find the solutions by myself.

The command line with textpack give me directly the help and the right command is:

texpack <Planet-tree-root> <Layer> [<Flags>]

It's what i've employed at first. Without path but as the file was in the same folder...With "Surf.tree" and, later with "Surf" only ( without extension ). Later with a path
e:\ ...( "Surf.tree" at the root of e:\ )

But for the moment, without success.

I 'm going to try a little more.

 

[DaveS]

fort, try this:

texpack ..\Textures\Earth Surf -e

 

[Face]

The command line with textpack give me directly the help and the right command is:

texpack <Planet-tree-root> <Layer> [<Flags>]

It's what i've employed at first. Without path but as the file was in the same folder...With Surf.tree and later with Surf only ( without extension ). Later with a path
e:\ ...( Surf at the root of e:\ )

texpack - as well as treeman without the "-T" option - assume that there is an /Archive/ folder under the given root folder that contains the <Layer>.tree file.

So if you have e.g. an Orbiter installation under e:\orbiterbeta, and want to extract the tree for Earth, you need to have an e:\orbiterbeta\Textures\Earth\Archive\Surf.tree path. Then you can invoke "texpack e:\orbiterbeta\Textures\Earth Surf -e" to extract the tiles into e:\orbiterbeta\Textures\Earth\Surf\ .

 

[fort]

Thank you DaveS and Face.

Your answers:

"...assume that there is an /Archive/ folder..." ( at first, i wanted to add an Archive folder in the command line after the name of the planet; and even, at the beginning i wanted to do all the procedure out of Orbiter's folders without any particular structure; don't know if it's possible but your explanation...)

...made it and extract the files. That is the syntax. I'll remember it.

Thank you.

And Thank you Martin.

 

[Jordan]

Maybe somebody could do a diff package again to reduce the download size.

Here we go.
Orbiter Patch RC3 to RC4

This time the Patch file is bigger (72mb), so I uploaded it on my OneDrive folder.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AlLYuqtYT6hvb5OV5_KqrkO9IYM

Some files have been deleted in RC4.

These are

Textures/Callisto.tex
Textures/Europa.tex
Textures/Ganymede.tex
Textures/Io.tex

Orbiter.ico
zlib.dll

You have to manually delete them if necessary.