OHM OrbiterProcTer 0.1.0

[OrbitHangar]

Author: cjp


This is OrbiterProcTer: the Orbiter add-on that brings you the Procedural Terrain from the libProcTer library.

For information about libProcTer, please visit
http://libprocter.sourceforge.net

DOWNLOAD

 

[IronRain]

a new kind of Orulex?

---------- Post added at 06:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:37 PM ----------

oeps.. sorry, didn't saw this thread... never mind

 

[garyw]

Just tried this and when I was activating the module it started complaining about a whole bunch of missing dll's.
e.g. MSVCP60D.dll

 

[cjp]

Just tried this and when I was activating the module it started complaining about a whole bunch of missing dll's.
e.g. MSVCP60D.dll

MSVCP60D.dll is a runtime DLL that is used by software that is compiled with Visual Studio 6. I didn't notice the problem because VS is installed on all my computers, so I don't have the problem.

I'll have a look at the build configuration, and I can probably give you a fixed version that doesn't require the DLL(s).

I already wondered why the DLL was so small. Now I know why...

 

[Artlav]

Quite nice!

A few issues:
-It asks for msvcp60d.dll, apparently it's a debug build.
-Does the focus follow the focused vessel instead of camera?
-No altitude cut-off, from space Earth looks quite bad.
-FPS definitely needs more work.

 

[garyw]

It needed two dll's, after that it seems fine and worked.

Another problem, my Brighton Base dissappeared under a mountain

 

[Artlav]

Good, with the new dll FPS doubled, now it's really quite nice.

 

[cjp]

Will you please download it again? I updated the file, after I found out that I uploaded the wrong version. The new version should contain the release build of the DLL instead of the debug build.

(edit: @Artlav: our posts probably crossed. Maybe you don't need to download again.)

Quite nice!

Thanks.
How do you like my crater world terrain? It isn't perfect yet (you'll see weird tilted craters sometimes), and it isn't exactly like the pictures I have of the moon, but sometimes it looks quite good, doesn't it?

-Does the focus follow the focused vessel instead of camera?

Yes. At the time I wrote that code, I couldn't find how to get the position of the camera. I figured it out once, but I'm not sure if I still remember it.

-No altitude cut-off, from space Earth looks quite bad.
-FPS definitely needs more work.

Another problem, my Brighton Base dissappeared under a mountain

Known issues:

• Altitude cut-off: will be imitated from Orulex: slowly make the terrain more transparent at high altitude so that Orbiter's original surface appears.
• Get high-level tiles from Orbiter, especially if no tile data is supplied in the libProcTer way. Probably need to find out how to read Orbiter's planetary texture files, and need to transform it to Mercator projection.
• Terrain around bases needs to be flat and at reference level. This requires an Orbiter-specific modification to the terrain plug-ins.
• The poles are still open. Newer libProcTer versions will fix this.
• FPS needs improvement. I can easily increase FPS, but that would slow down terrain generation. The current settings seem to give a nice compromise on my computers (all single core). The plan is to make several settings configurable at run-time, to give the user more control.
• many more...

 

[Artlav]

How do you like my crater world terrain? It isn't perfect yet (you'll see weird tilted craters sometimes), and it isn't exactly like the pictures I have of the moon, but sometimes it looks quite good, doesn't it?

Quite nice. Do you keep a terrain type function? Or, is there an easier way to figure out what terrain there is in color function?
(Yes, sources found, no, not easy to read).

Yes. At the time I wrote that code, I couldn't find how to get the position of the camera. I figured it out once, but I'm not sure if I still remember it.

Why oapiCameraGlobalPos doesn't work?

Probably need to find out how to read Orbiter's planetary texture files, and need to transform it to Mercator projection.

D3D7 or OGLA graphic clients have the code.
Why Mercator? It have singularities.

(edit: @Artlav: our posts probably crossed. Maybe you don't need to download again.)

Simple experience-derived precognition. Got the release dll.

 

[cjp]

Quite nice. Do you keep a terrain type function? Or, is there an easier way to figure out what terrain there is in color function?

No, the crater world plugin keeps maps of color and altitude (like other plugins), and additionally a hidden map that contains the age of the terrain. It also keeps a list of craters, which is basically vector data, while the maps are bitmap data. The craters are drawn onto the color, altitude and age maps each time a new level of detail is generated.

(Yes, sources found, no, not easy to read).

I have the same problem , which means that something will need to be rewritten in the future, to clean things up. For the crater world code, you can limit yourself to the plugins/ccrater* files, and interpret them with help of the libProcTer API documentation.

Why oapiCameraGlobalPos doesn't work?

I guess it does. Thanks for giving me the name of the function, so that next time I look for it I know I can find it in this thread. OTOH, I can imagine some issues with the accuracy of a global position w.r.t. the surface of e.g. a moon of Neptune. And maybe vessel-relative is better after all.

D3D7 or OGLA graphic clients have the code.

I don't have a D3D SDK (do I need it?). I think I'll first look into the OGLA code, and hope it is compatible with my 'GPL+exception' license.

Why Mercator? It have singularities.

I already explained before, and I know it's a bit controversial choice. Basically:

• It only has two singularities
• which can be made arbitrarily small
• All tiles at the most detailed level are square
• It's easy to make good storage/resolution trade-offs for tile data on disk
• Besides the poles, there are no extra boundary cases to account for, such as edges and corners in a cubic projection The parent/neighbor relations are extremely regular.

 

[Artlav]

I can imagine some issues with the accuracy of a global position w.r.t. the surface of e.g. a moon of Neptune. And maybe vessel-relative is better after all.

Hm? The scale is all wrong, i'd expect - the camera position matters withing meters, and you'll get that imprecision only very far away from the Sun.

I don't have a D3D SDK (do I need it?).

No, you don't need it if you have DDS loading capability. Otherwise, some constants might be need it.

and hope it is compatible with my 'GPL+exception' license.

Speaking of which, there's awful lot of legal stuff around your code. Any specific reason for that?

I already explained before, and I know it's a bit controversial choice.

Well, cubic's been tried before, so let's see how Mercator will do.

 

[cjp]

Speaking of which, there's awful lot of legal stuff around your code. Any specific reason for that?

What do you mean? The license notice on top of each source file of libProcTer? It's just the default file template of my IDE for GPL-licensed source files. IIRC the FSF recommends putting it in each source file. While some of the files I created with Visual Studio do not yet have the license notice, they have the same license as well, and you should treat them as if the license notice is there.

Considering that each file contains the same notice, I think the total amount of legal material is quite limited. The GPL itself is a bit of reading, but it's also a frequently used standard text, so it's likely you're already familiar with it.

 

[anemazoso]

cjp- Looks great! Just tested it on my laptop and had no FPS issues. :thumbup:

Did I miss something or does it only support the cratered moonlike terrain with the same textures. Do you plan to add support for other bodies like Earth, Mars gas giant moons etc? Any way to implement the blending of your terrain with normal Orbiter planet surfaces around bases?

Looks like a very good start. Keep up the good work!



Edit: Ok, sorry about that. I just saw the scenarios. So how does one indicate which planet terrain to use?

 

[cjp]

Did I miss something or does it only support the cratered moonlike terrain with the same textures. Do you plan to add support for other bodies like Earth, Mars gas giant moons etc? Any way to implement the blending of your terrain with normal Orbiter planet surfaces around bases?

The Earth terrain should be based on real-world map data, instead of the crater world landscape. Is this not the case for you? Please try the Himalaya scenario. The default tile set has its maximum resolution around Mount Everest.

OrbiterProcTer only uses the crater world terrain when no terrain data is found in the "procter" directory for that planet. I think you can replace the crater world terrain e.g. on Mars or the moon by providing map data for these bodies in the "procter" directory, in the same format as is done for the Earth.

 

[tblaxland]

IIRC the FSF recommends putting it in each source file.

I've followed the same guideline in my recent LGPL work.

 

[triplepogi2009]

I got a problem with this...
It's in the Manila part of the Philippines, where I am building my Metro Manila base, and, EVERY TIME I open it, THE WHOLE BASE IS UNDERGROUND!!!
What shall I do here? Just asking.

 

[cjp]

I got a problem with this...
It's in the Manila part of the Philippines, where I am building my Metro Manila base, and, EVERY TIME I open it, THE WHOLE BASE IS UNDERGROUND!!!
What shall I do here? Just asking.

This is a known issue. If this is a serious problem for you, then don't use OrbiterProcTer, until this problem is fixed.

Now that I think of it, I actually know a way how you can fix this:

• Find, in the procter/earth directory, the highest-detail altitude map of the Philippines. I think it is procter/earth/altitude/4/13/7.png
• Open that file with an image manipulation program. If you have none, I'd recommend the GIMP.
• Make the location of your base, and the surrounding pixels, black. Make sure it's completely black, not just dark gray.
• Save the modified image.

I haven't tried it yet; please let me know if it works.

 

[cjp]

Here's a screen shot I made last weekend, to demonstrate the level of detail you can get. Look at the ground around the feet of the astronaut.

 

[Ghostrider]

THE WHOLE BASE IS UNDERGROUND!!!
What shall I do here? Just asking.

UMMU-compatible shovel?

 

[Coolhand]

this is looking great, is the ground 'solid' i can see you've parked your ship on it so i guess so.

Are you planning on adding any objects like rocks, or trees on earth? If you need some objects to test with shoot me a pm with your email address.