Opinions on Oolite Setup

darkone · Post by **darkone** » Wed May 27, 2009 2:10 pm

Hi Everyone

I have known about Oolite for some time now it's just I never got around to trying it. I was was going to build the game using the SVN for the PC. But I also wanted to know the best OXP to install to get the most visually out of Oolite.

I want to do a small write up on my site about Oolite and want to make sure I am seeing everything that Oolite can do and would appreciate any feedback. I was browsing through the screenshots thread and are most of those shots of generic Oolite or are most of those shots additions (OXP's)?

I will do more reading and hope to build and play with it over the weekend.

Thanks

-D1-

Nemoricus · Post by **Nemoricus** » Wed May 27, 2009 2:26 pm

Hello and welcome to the forum. As far as building Oolite from SVN, I think it may be usable as is. However, I'm not sure and will let someone else correct me if I'm wrong.

Eyecandy OXPs, where to start? There's so many good ones out there. Neolite is a very good for ships. There's a few station ones listed on the Oolite wiki here. Take a look and see what you like. Also, System Redux is good for planets.

Post by **another_commander** » Wed May 27, 2009 2:27 pm

Hi darkone

Almost all (if not all) of the shots you have seen in the screenshots thread are using various OXPs. Our philosophy is that when Oolite is installed first time it looks as simplistic and spartan as possible. This is partly to enable it to run well even on minimal systems and partly because a portion of the fun in Oolite is discovering its capabilities and I am sure that you will discover a lot as you add OXPs on.

My personal recommendations: System Redux, the new Your Ad Here featuring the new Trade Outposts and any of Griff's ships.

Also, keep up the good job on your site. I visit it quite often and find that is a very nice space sim resource.

ClymAngus · Post by **ClymAngus** » Wed May 27, 2009 2:29 pm

I think the main point to remember here is that oolite is an adaptive game. In the same way you can play thought other peoples levels of say LittleBigPlanet oolite holds a basic structure that relies on it's playing community to embellish it.

This helps the gamer feel no only nostalga for the original and puts them in the position of an invester in the games future but also enables them to pic-n-mix their gaming experience from the smorgasbord of adaptions already out there.

That said there are probably some WOW factor oxp's that when compared with the "off the peg" version will show you how far we all have come, so far.

Nemoricus · Post by **Nemoricus** » Wed May 27, 2009 2:30 pm

I'll second the above opinion. However, I must warn you, once you stop adding OXPs, you just can't stop. There's always another cool thing to add.

And then you get the urge to tinker....

Post by **Cmdr James** » Wed May 27, 2009 2:52 pm

I would suggest that at least initially for the first few hours you use 1.72.2 rather than build from source, simply as you are more likely to get a decent view of the game. Although there is some cool new stuff in trunk, I dont think you would need it to see oolite in all its glory, and it would be a shame if your first experience were to be whatever work in progress happened to be in that day.

Save games, and (almost all) OXPs are portable between versions completely transparently, so you are not risking anything by starting with a stable known release. That said, I generally play with trunk, and most of the time it works fine.

For OXPs, I would advise starting perhaps with only a small number which provide flavour, such as the Lave ones, Tionisla Orbital Graveyard, commies and anarchies, and black monks. Most OXPs add missions which are not relevant at the start of the game, or new ships and equipment which I would add ad-hoc if you think they sound interesting.
Exceptions might be some of the ships by Griff which show shaders very well, and you might want to see them if you want a view of the capabilities.

darkone · Post by **darkone** » Wed May 27, 2009 2:53 pm

Thanks for the quick responses.

I must warn you, once you stop adding OXPs, you just can't stop.

I hear you on this I am always someone that loves adding new experimental things to a game or program.

I will find and download all of these OXPs this evening. And I understand the the vanilla aspect to Oolite and then add extras to bring out its potential. I'm sure I will have some questions after this Oolite newb tinkers and plays around with it.

Also, keep up the good job on your site. I visit it quite often and find that is a very nice space sim resource.

Thanks another_commander. I do as much as one person can do. With all the research I have done I am literally swamped with the amount of content and projects that are out there. If people say space sims/games are dead they are wrong

Master Bates · Post by **Master Bates** » Wed May 27, 2009 2:57 pm

Yeah, I can attest to just how addictive OXPs are. I figured I'd install a few at first to add some flavor while still keeping that classic Elite feel. Then I decided to add a few more for ship variety, some more for eyecandy, some more for missions...

Cut to now and I have well over a hundred installed, clocking in at well over 400 MB, and I'm still adding more.

darkone · Post by **darkone** » Wed May 27, 2009 3:03 pm

I read that OXPs are extracted into a directory. Is Oolite's install setup that you could zip up the entire install area with addons and save it to extract and use later? Meaning is it self contained or does it rely on other settings?

Post by **Cmdr James** » Wed May 27, 2009 3:09 pm

It depends, at least on my Mac I have OXPs outside of the install dir, and save games are someplace else again, but I think you can put them all in one location if you choose to.

Post by **another_commander** » Wed May 27, 2009 3:26 pm

On Windows the AddOns folder is under the Oolite root install location and all OXPs are folders that can be freely copied in and out of that directory. The entire AddOns contents can be zipped up and stored for later usage and reinstalling them again is just a matter of unzipping them back to AddOns. You can also zip the entire installation and transfer it to another drive, even a USB pen drive as indicated in this thread.

The upcoming release will be totally independent and you will be able to carry it from one drive to the next without any modifications.

darkone · Post by **darkone** » Wed May 27, 2009 3:43 pm

another_commander wrote:
The upcoming release will be totally independent and you will be able to carry it from one drive to the next without any modifications.

I have always liked this type of functionality in a program. Nice to know you can get Oolite the way you want and have the option to save everything in that state and restore it at anytime.

Capt. Slog · Post by **Capt. Slog** » Thu May 28, 2009 12:13 pm

another_commander wrote:
On Windows the AddOns folder is under the Oolite root install location and all OXPs are folders that can be freely copied in and out of that directory.

I'm running it on Vista and some of my add-ons have turned up in appdata\local\virtualstore\oolite. It might just be the ones I've tinkered with but I didn't put them there. Windoze no's best.

Post by **another_commander** » Thu May 28, 2009 12:40 pm

This is Vista's security features you are witnessing. You can avoid this kind of thing by simply installing Oolite in a folder other than C:\Program Files or any system folder. Then everything will behave as stated earlier.

Lestradae · Post by **Lestradae** » Thu May 28, 2009 1:28 pm

You really should follow another_commander's advice in this, and when you install Oolite in a folder other than C:\Program Files or any system folder, copy & paste the contents from the appdata\local\virtualstore\oolite AddOns folder into your new AddOns folder last and say yes to overwrite.

Vista really is ...