Alternative texture in miniature planet

[Ark]

Now with oxps like system redux and famous planets the quality of planets textures are improved drastically but I am wondering how difficult it would be the alternative texture to be seen in the miniature planet in F7 screen. I assume that this is not possible via an oxp (otherwise the oxp writers will have done it until now).

[pagroove]

I was hoping for that too. I do not know where Oolite is taking the data from for the planet in the F7 screen. I was hoping that it could read the data from System Redux and Famous Planets. However this seems not possible. I remember a discussion over this subject vaguely from the past.

[Amaranth]

Sorry to bump this, but I thought I'd bump a somewhat related topic with this single question - what is the maximum size that Oolite will accept for a planet texture? I was thinking of retexturing the planets from System redux for my own use. If I can use really huge images I think theyd' be a bit too big to be downloadable for distribution. Is 4096 x 8192px possible?

I'm thinking of using doctored google maps images overlain with cloud patterns from the USA MODIS today system.

[Svengali]

Is 4096 x 8192px possible?

The limiter is the gfx card. If your card supports it you can use 4096x8192.

[Kaks]

Yes it's possible.

The simplest way to do so is to write a planetinfo.plist with (for example)

Code: Select all

	"0 19" =
	{
		// Azaqu
		texture = "prettyPlanet1.png";
	};
	"0 172" =
	{
		// Esveor
		texture = "prettyPlanet2.png";
	};

For all the alternative textures you want to have. (256 per galaxy, tedious, but doable.)


The way system redux works makes it impossible for Oolite to know which of the improved textures it should use before you actually jump to the system in question, and it uses a temporary override, one that will cease to be valid once you jump out of that system.

It could be tweaked to use the permanent override System.systemInfo(thisgalaxynumber,thisplanetnumber).texture='prettyPlanet3.png'; instead, so that every visited planet will show the new texture, while the unvisited ones will still use the default Oolite texture.


An extra tweak to system redux could be to use .guiScreenWillChange() to intercept F7 and set the permanent systemInfo.texture override for player.ship.targetSystem to 'whatever.png' on the fly just before showing the miniature planet. I haven't tested this method in the past, so I'm not 100% sure if it would work, though it 'should'!

[Svengali]

An extra tweak to system redux could be to use .guiScreenWillChange() to intercept F7 and set the permanent systemInfo.texture override for player.ship.targetSystem to 'whatever.png' on the fly just before showing the miniature planet. I haven't tested this method in the past, so I'm not 100% sure if it would work, though it 'should'!

I'm pretty sure that it works

The updated scripts for Famous Planets 2.5.1 and System Redux 1.2.2 are using this way. The option is disabled by default, but can be switched on (see readme or Wiki page) by editing the script or using OXPConfig2.0.4.

[Amaranth]

So the above planetinfo could be used to specify a texture for each planet, and also specify the F7 image? For example, a TL15 corporate or industrial world could be specified to resemble something like Coruscant or Trantor, and going through the descriptions could maybe pick up planets that are mainly ocean worlds, heavily forested, permanantly covered by cloud, so no ground surface is visible etc.

[Kaks]

That's right. Setting textures via planetinfo.plist will work for the F7 images too, without the need for javascript.


Edit:I wasn't aware of the latest updates to System Redux, good to know the code is working as expected!