Oolite Bulletins

Better explosion graphics! YAAAY!

Specifically:
- high = the graphics already in, with a very slight tweak to increase initial brightness
- medium = a simplified version of the 1.79 graphics
- low = the old 1.77 explosions

For tonight’s nightly, multitexture lighting effects have been enabled for low-detail mode. To minimize the performance impact, light maps are constricted to 256×256 pixels in this mode.

We’re very interested in knowing if this affects performance significantly for people using this mode.

Question: Do AI's written in Javascript execute faster than previous .plist files? Sorry if this has already been covered.

CaptSolo wrote:

Question: Do AI's written in Javascript execute faster than previous .plist files? Sorry if this has already been covered.

I haven't really tested them head-to-head, but I would expect the .plist ones to be faster for the same operations. There are perhaps particular things - complex checks on the situation, for instance - which are quicker in JS just because they can be done as a simple if statement rather than a whole sequence of complex .plist AI operations, though.

It's been a while since these were last seen in a nightly build, but the new planets are now - finally - back.

You'll need to run with maximum graphics settings to get the full effect.

Last time they were in they were causing all sorts of problems with cube-map texture sets. Those now work. This also - by completely avoiding it - should fix the "disappearing atmosphere" problem in recent nightly builds. There are probably still various bugs left, though - maybe that only appear at particular planet settings - so please go and have a look for them.

(These are not submersible's shady planets - but having these working is the first step towards getting those in)

Wow, amazing work cim!

This one mostly wasn't mine (and none of the visual look is) - the new planets code has been around since 2009 with plenty of work from Jens and Kaks, but was never quite finished in time for a release - all that was left was to fix a couple of bugs and add cube-map support.

cim wrote:

There are probably still various bugs left, though - maybe that only appear at particular planet settings - so please go and have a look for them.

<runs through the new, incredibly complex, process of updating the nightly, disables Povray Planets, and goes hunting>

A couple of things for tonight's build:
Firstly, following Keeper's point about escorts and docking ships, the escorts in 1.79 now won't get released from duty - if the mothership is using a 1.79 AI - until near the end of the docking process.

Secondly, there's a new way to install expansion packs

There's not a lot there at the moment, but I expect that list will grow - and become more diverse in terms of authorship! - as time goes by.


If you'd like yours to be in the list, then there are two major changes needed for most people's OXPs:

1) You must package them in OXZ format with a [wiki]manifest.plist[/wiki]. Oolite needs the single-file packaging format and provided data to know what it's installing and how.

2) You must host them somewhere that allows direct download of the file. Oolite is not a web browser and can't handle anything more complicated than "it's here". Without that you still get the easier install of an OXZ, but not the easier download.

If you've got both of those, PM me the manifest.plist file in openstep format and I'll add it to the list. (Yes, a way that doesn't involve personally sending me every single new and updated manifest is planned: the more I get sent the more chance I'll get around to it sooner rather than later)

Obviously while this has been through quite a bit of internal testing there are plenty of potential bugs, so please report anything that seems odd. You can turn on oxz.manager.debug in logcontrol.plist to get a lot of extra debugging information.

The oxz management screens look impressive - great idea.

cim wrote:

There's not a lot there at the moment, but I expect that list will grow...

How will this handle numbers similar to the current OXP list/table? There are hundreds!

Smivs wrote:

How will this handle numbers similar to the current OXP list/table? There are hundreds!

There are, but at the moment they're sorted by category then alphabetically, and already-installed ones are highlighted. That should scale up to 100 or so while still being manageable, and by then I should have had time to put in some sort of free-text search option.

Installed worked as I would expect - except for allowing me to dl and install Aquatics , despite warning that it required 'another OXP'. I installed everything I could. After relaunch aquatics is installed and seems to work (I see 'Shark' at least) , OXP management does not warn of the issue any more.

Uninstalled Aquatics, downloaded updated OXP list.

Install screen now tells me Aquatics is installed - but an update download is available. Downloaded it again.All seems well.
Launched a Jameson and was staring at (Mysterious White) Lave.

What a brilliant addition the OXP handler is! You guys really do keep the exciting stuff under your hats until almost ready to go, don't you?

cim wrote:

2) You must host them somewhere that allows direct download of the file. Oolite is not a web browser and can't handle anything more complicated than "it's here". Without that you still get the easier install of an OXZ, but not the easier download.

I imagine this cuts box.com (and most other file-hosting services, for that matter) out as an option then.. their links always result in a "click here to download" button.

submersible wrote:

Installed worked as I would expect - except for allowing me to dl and install Aquatics , despite warning that it required 'another OXP'. I installed everything I could. After relaunch aquatics is installed and seems to work (I see 'Shark' at least) , OXP management does not warn of the issue any more.

Uninstalled Aquatics, downloaded updated OXP list.

Install screen now tells me Aquatics is installed - but an update download is available. Downloaded it again.All seems well.
Launched a Jameson and was staring at (Mysterious White) Lave.

Aquatics needs BigShips oxp to work fully and get the HammerHead hauler too.

Without it you will still get the normal ships though.