Planetary Compass OXP

[Thargoid]

This OXP is an expansion for the advanced space compass to also detect planets (sub-planets) and moons. The planets appear as "P" and the moons as "M". No purchases or installation (other than the OXP) is needed, it just fills in the odd gap that has always existed in the ASC.

The planets are named in order from the sun outward, using roman numeral designations after the systems name. The main planet is referred to as Prime. Moons are assigned random names, although these should be repeatable for a given system across multiple visits.

The .displayName parameter will be the full name as displayed (including the planetary body type), and the .name parameter will be just the planet/moons name without any other designation.

Lastly it is possible for other OXPs to introduce their own custom names to added planets or moons by setting its displayName or .name parameter (system.planets[x].displayName = "yournamehere" or equivalent .name). If both are set then displayName will be used. Built-in it will correctly name the Tianve pulsar from the Tianve OXP - if any other OXPs need such naming please let me know.

It also needs at least one of the associated name pack OXPs to also be installed - multiple ones can be installed and will give a wider variation of moon names. It is also fully compatible with Cim's Talkative Space Compass, and indeed to get the best of it I recommend the TSC is also installed.

This OXP needs Oolite 1.77 to run, and both it and the name packs can be downloaded from the box or wiki links below.

[GGShinobi]

Oh yeah, this is cool!! Downloading now!!

[GGShinobi]

I found 2 minor "bugs":

• It seems that moons are only shown in the compass when jumping into the system, not when launching from a station.
  EDIT: after I restarted the game (with updated versions of already installed oxp's and a bunch of new oxp's), the problem doesn't occur any more. Sorry for the false alarm!
• And I think the shown distance to the main planet differs from the one that is shown when selecting the original "planet"-target.
  EDIT: Hmm, forgot to check if this problem resolved itself, too... will do this soon!
  EDIT 2: Yes, the shown distance is different, but I think I found out, why: It seems the "original" planet-info gives the distance to the surface, while your version gives the distance to the planet's center. I actually like that - with this combined info one can figure out how big a planet is. I've encountered incredibly big planets which looked like they where very close, but in reality they where almost twice as big as the sun they where orbiting

Aside from that, it work's very perfectly!! Well done!!

[Thargoid]

Thanks for the report. However planetary compass doesn't display the distance to the moons and planets. That must be coming from another OXP? All compass does it display the name and make it actually appear on the thing.

[GGShinobi]

Thanks for the report. However planetary compass doesn't display the distance to the moons and planets. That must be coming from another OXP? All compass does it display the name and make it actually appear on the thing.

Yes, you are right - I've also got a (self-modified) version of [wiki]Updating TSC[/wiki] installed. This is what shows the distance.

[Thargoid]

Version 1.01 of this OXP is now uploaded. It contains a small script fix to add the same delay on first launch as already is in place for witchspace exit into a system. This will allow enough time on all OS's for other OXPs to add their moons/planets before the naming sequence runs.

With thanks to Spara for spotting this one - download from box or the wiki via the links below as normal.

[CaptSolo]

I have version 1.01 and all four name packs but all I get is an M or a P on the ASC... No names. Adding TSC, I do get names, but the moon names are always the same (Jupiter's) and not the ones in the name packs. I am running trunk 1.77.1.r5676. Game started with cache cleared. No errors in the log.

[Thargoid]

Just tried it under 1.77.1.5678 and Win7-64, and it's working fine for me.

On the ASC compass itself you will always only see P or M, for the naming you need the TSC as well. And the names will always be the same for the same system (unless you add or remove a name pack) - but it should vary from system to system. Is this what you see or not?

If the names aren't in the name packs, then I presume some other OXP is naming them already. If that is the case then the OXP won't rename them, to ensure compatibility with other OXPs like mission ones.

[CaptSolo]

False alarm, Thargoid. Your OXP works. Too old, lack of sleep, and too hasty with my false report.

[Thargoid]

OK thanks for the update.

[spara]

I finally got my Additional Planets converted to an oxz and for some reason I'm not getting planet/moon names any more. I have to admit that I have not really used this oxp since 1.77, so I can't really say when they stopped working for me. Planets and moons get their beacons, but something goes wrong with the naming. I also tried with the old system redux oxp and it did not get names either. Any idea? Is it just me? I'm using the latest 1.79 build with the oxzs downloaded from the expansion pack manager.

Relevant OXZs:

Planetary compass + name pack
Additional Planets + texture packs

[spara]

After a good night sleep, I dug a bit deeper into this and it seems that Oolite 1.79 gives the name "Planet" or "Moon" to the spawned stellar objects. It looks like that triggers the compatibility part of the Planetary Compass that simply names the beacon with the given name "Planet" or "Moon".

[spara]

And now it seems to work as intended. Go figure. Sorry for the false alarm. I have no idea what has happened, but now it works and all is well again in my Ooniverse . I did update to the latest Oolite, but I don't really believe that's the reason. Oh well.

Btw. Is there a reason for multiple name packs? Couldn't they all just be bundled into the oxp?

[Thargoid]

Btw. Is there a reason for multiple name packs? Couldn't they all just be bundled into the oxp?

Put simply, to allow for flexibility and customisability.

Each pack has to some degree a theme to it (I'll leave spotting them as an exercise to the Commander), but with more or less packs you can have a greater or lesser variety of name choices. Also for the future, if someone wanted to create a more specific universe with a defined name set (to go along with a fanfic, or some other established source for example) then it would be simple to do.

They could be bundled into the OXP, but it's then fixed and closed (aside from via update) and much less flexible. So I thought it nicer to make it in the core plus packs format, in the same way as YAH is for example. The package size overhead is minimal, and it works fine I think.

[spara]

Valid points. I better take a closer look at the differences when I get around.