Oolite 1.77 deployment build issues

[Cody]

The bright cloud effect has been bothering me...

Are these the noctilucent clouds you're talking about?

[Diziet Sma]

Yep.. on some systems it's a lot worse.. and I have Realistic Stars installed, but not ZygoCinematicSky&Nebulas.

[CommRLock78]

The bright cloud effect has been bothering me...

Are these the noctilucent clouds you're talking about?

Exactly what I'm talking about - it just doesn't look good. I've actually thought about looking into how to remove that cloud layer altogether it bugs me so much .

Edit: Diziet - I think this isn't to do with Realistic Stars, since I removed that oxp when I upgraded to trunk.

[Cody]

Yep.. on some systems it's a lot worse.. and I have Realistic Stars installed, but not ZygoCinematicSky&Nebulas.

I have neither of those OXPs, nor Distant Suns, installed.

[CommRLock78]

Yep.. on some systems it's a lot worse.. and I have Realistic Stars installed, but not ZygoCinematicSky&Nebulas.

I have neither of those OXPs, nor Distant Suns, installed.

Interesting - I'm beginning to wonder if this is a core game issue...

[cim]

Okay:
1) Clouds in 1.76 and earlier had a bug which meant they weren't displayed properly with textured planets. 1.77 fixes this.
1a) 1.77 also introduces the cloud_alpha parameter for reducing cloud brightness if you have a planet texture set installed. With Povray Planets, I use 0.2 for this.
2) CommRLock78 and Diziet Sma seem to have an OXP installed which drops ambient light levels, and are getting very bright clouds on the dark side. El Viejo's screenshots have normal ambient light levels, so the dark side of the planet is brighter, and the clouds are less noticeable.

So:
- search your OXPs' planetinfo.plists for ambient_level settings. If you find one, let us know which OXP it's from, and what it is. There may be a need to account for this setting in cloud brightness control, or it may be something else...
- try with those OXPs, but no planetary texture pack, in 1.76.1 (if you still have it around), and see if the clouds are overbright on the dark side there, too.

[Cody]

1.77 also introduces the cloud_alpha parameter for reducing cloud brightness if you have a planet texture set installed. With Povray Planets, I use 0.2 for this.

[dumb pilot] Is that 0.2 a default value, or do I have to drop the cloud_alpha parameter into my planetinfo.plist and tinker? [/dumb pilot]

[cim]

1.0 is the default. 0.2 is just a personal preference in my local-settings.oxp

[CommRLock78]

1.77 also introduces the cloud_alpha parameter for reducing cloud brightness if you have a planet texture set installed. With Povray Planets, I use 0.2 for this.

[dumb pilot] Is that 0.2 a default value, or do I have to drop the cloud_alpha parameter into my planetinfo.plist and tinker? [/dumb pilot]

Now I'm the [dumb pilot] - in which entry should a cloud_alpha line be entered in the planetinfo.plist file? BTW - searching my OXPs I'm pretty sure it's my default planetinfo.plist that is the culprit as far as the ambient lighting is concerned, which now opens with the two entries:

Code: Select all

{
	"interstellar space" =
	{
		// sky_color_1 = (0, 1, 0.5);
		// sky_color_2 = (0, 1, 0);
		// sky_n_blobs = 128;
		star_count_multiplier = 100;
		nebula_count_multiplier = 3;
		sky_rgb_colors = "0.6 0.7 1.0 1.0 0.8 0.4";
		ambient_level = "0.1";
		sky_n_stars = 99000;
	};
	
	universal =
	{
		// The two multiplier values below determine how many more stars will be used to populate space
		// with respect to the number normally used. Apply to all systems by being included in the 
		// "universal" section.
		star_count_multiplier = 80;
		nebula_count_multiplier = 0;
		sky_rgb_colors = "0.6 0.7 1.0 1.0 0.8 0.4";
		ambient_level = "0.1";
		sky_n_stars = 18000;
		corona_hues = "0.1";
		station_roll = "0.1";
		
		corona_flare = 0.65;
		
		// Default docking clearance requirement for main stations.
		stations_require_docking_clearance = no;
	};

Edit: I set universal to ambient level to 0.5, and this is what I get now - definitely better (and more like EV's snapshot), but still not great:


Edit: With ambient level=1.0 (default), and I get this:

Which has the clouds looking better with the planet brighter, but it's far too bright for my liking - I like the ambient turned down such that the darkside of planets are dark

[CommRLock78]

Now I'm the [dumb pilot] - in which entry should a cloud_alpha line be entered in the planetinfo.plist file?

I figured this out - I placed the cloud_alpha="0.2" in the universal entry, but I don't think I'd like to get "rid" of them by making them more transparent. Is there any way to fix this that leaves the cloud transparency alone and allows for a lower ambient light? Why are the clouds so bright on the darkside anyway? [/dumb pilot ]

[cim]

The clouds have lighting disabled in their OpenGL settings. I'll have a closer look to see if this is necessary or not.

[CommRLock78]

The clouds have lighting disabled in their OpenGL settings. I'll have a closer look to see if this is necessary or not.

Thanks Cim - it would be good to see something done with that, as it's probably the single biggest complaint I have with the game at this point .

[OSH]

Well, sometimes (rather often) I see this:


I'm using Thinkpad R61i

This problem doesn't appear with 1.76.1. Sometimes I haven't this problem, but this is rare situation...

[CommRLock78]

Well, sometimes (rather often) I see this:

I'm using Thinkpad R61i

This problem doesn't appear with 1.76.1. Sometimes I haven't this problem, but this is rare situation...

I wonder if that's a GFX card issue - do the planets look normal sometimes?

[OSH]

Yes. Sometimes, especially, after first I've launched 1.76.1