Oolite Bulletins

Hi all,

I'm new to Oolite (I did play Elite many years ago though!). Anyway I have just installed the 1.77.1 release and when I launch all I get are different coloured screens? No planet nothing. I have uninstalled etc and tried again, but no luck. I have installed 1.76.1 and that seems to work fine. Can anyone help please?

By the way if you start talking editing files etc my eyes will probably glaze over!! So take it easy please

Thanks CK

Can you please try this:

- Install and run version 1.77.1.
- As soon as the game starts, exit immediately.
- Go to Start -> Oolite -> Oolite Logs. A window will open and will contain one or two files. One of them (or that file, if there is only one) will be called Latest.log.
- Post here the contents of Latest.log.

I suspect old video graphics card or drivers, but let's see what we have in the log first.

Thanks for the quick reply, here is the output...

Opening log for Oolite version 1.77.1 (x86-32) under Windows 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 64-bit at 2013-10-10 16:25:04 +0100.
2 processors detected.
Build options: spoken messages, mass/fuel pricing.

Note that the contents of the log file can be adjusted by editing logcontrol.plist.

16:25:04.195 [dataCache.notFound]: No data cache found, starting from scratch.
16:25:04.633 [display.mode.list.native]: Windows native resolution detected: 1366 x 768
16:25:04.865 [joystick.init]: Number of joysticks detected: 0
16:25:04.865 [rendering.opengl.version]: OpenGL renderer version: 2.1.0 ("2.1.0 - Build 8.15.10.1808"). Vendor: "Intel". Renderer: "Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family".
16:25:04.865 [rendering.opengl.extensions]: OpenGL extensions (68):
GL_ARB_transpose_matrix, GL_ARB_occlusion_query, GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc, GL_ARB_texture_cube_map, GL_ARB_fragment_shader, GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3, GL_ARB_draw_buffers, GL_NV_texgen_reflection, GL_EXT_blend_color, GL_ARB_texture_env_combine, GL_EXT_rescale_normal, GL_ARB_color_buffer_float, GL_ARB_vertex_shader, GL_EXT_separate_specular_color, GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp, GL_EXT_texture_sRGB, GL_NV_conditional_render, GL_EXT_blend_equation_separate, GL_EXT_fog_coord, GL_IBM_texture_mirrored_repeat, GL_EXT_draw_range_elements, GL_ARB_texture_non_power_of_two, GL_ARB_depth_texture, GL_NV_blend_square, GL_ARB_shader_objects, GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays, GL_EXT_texture_env_combine, GL_ARB_shading_language_100, GL_ARB_texture_rectangle, GL_ARB_texture_env_add, GL_EXT_bgra, GL_EXT_texture_rectangle, GL_ARB_shadow, GL_ATI_separate_stencil, GL_EXT_packed_pixels, GL_EXT_texture3D, GL_ARB_texture_float, GL_ARB_window_pos, GL_EXT_blend_subtract, GL_EXT_framebuffer_object, GL_WIN_swap_hint, GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias, GL_ARB_texture_compression, GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar, GL_EXT_secondary_color, GL_ARB_fragment_program, GL_EXT_shadow_funcs, GL_3DFX_texture_compression_FXT1, GL_EXT_abgr, GL_SGIS_texture_edge_clamp, GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap, GL_ARB_vertex_program, GL_ARB_half_float_pixel, GL_EXT_stencil_two_side, GL_EXT_texture_env_add, GL_ARB_pixel_buffer_object, GL_EXT_blend_func_separate, GL_EXT_blend_minmax, GL_ARB_point_sprite, GL_ARB_point_parameters, GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic, GL_ARB_multitexture, GL_EXT_clip_volume_hint, GL_EXT_stencil_wrap, GL_EXT_texture_swizzle, GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object, GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array, GL_SGIS_texture_lod
16:25:04.880 [rendering.opengl.shader.support]: Shaders are supported.
16:25:04.884 [dataCache.notFound]: No data cache found, starting from scratch.
16:25:04.885 [searchPaths.dumpAll]: Unrestricted mode - resource paths:
Resources
../AddOns
16:25:05.151 [shipData.load.begin]: Loading ship data.
16:25:05.629 [script.load.world.listAll]: Loaded 9 world scripts:
oolite-cloaking-device 1.77.1
oolite-constrictor-hunt 1.77.1
oolite-contracts-cargo 1.77.1
oolite-contracts-helpers 1.77.1
oolite-contracts-parcels 1.77.1
oolite-contracts-passengers 1.77.1
oolite-nova 1.77.1
oolite-thargoid-plans 1.77.1
oolite-trumbles 1.77.1
16:25:06.687 [startup.complete]: ========== Loading complete in 2.49 seconds. ==========
16:25:08.272 [exit.context]: Exiting: Q pressed [Windows].
16:25:08.281 [gnustep]: 2013-10-10 16:25:08.281 oolite[3704] Defaults path 'C:\Oolite/oolite.app/GNUstep/Defaults' did not exist - created it

16:25:08.298 [gnustep]: 2013-10-10 16:25:08.298 oolite[3704] Creating empty user defaults database

16:25:08.361 [gameController.exitApp]: .GNUstepDefaults synchronized.

Closing log at 2013-10-10 16:25:08 +0100.

Latest.log wrote:

Vendor: "Intel". Renderer: "Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family".

In my opinion, this is the problem right there. The Intel 4 Series Express is a very old chipset, which can barely do basic OpenGL and is definitely not suited for gaming. I'm afraid the only thing I can recommend here is an upgrade of the graphics drivers to the latest version available from Intel's site and hope for the best. Sorry for being the bearer of bad news.

another_commander wrote:

I'm afraid the only thing I can recommend here is an upgrade of the graphics drivers to the latest version available from Intel's site and hope for the best. Sorry for being the bearer of bad news.

G'day CraigK, and welcome aboard!

The link you want for the latest Intel drivers is: http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-022355.htm

Hey thanks, your help is much appreciated. Version 1.76.1 seems to load ok, maybe I'll just play that for now, or will I experience issues once in game? I launch ok on that, but crashed and burned on docking, I had that perfected years ago too

I take it there are some good mods for v1.76.1 (ships/weapons)?

I Just checked out the website and I have the latest driver installed, so looks like a new graphics card is on the list..

Thanks once again.

CK

Hi Craig, and welcome aboard. If 1.76.1 works for you, stick with it - you won't be the only one, and most OXPs should work (except for the more recent ones).

CraigK wrote:

Hey thanks, your help is much appreciated. Version 1.76.1 seems to load ok, maybe I'll just play that for now, or will I experience issues once in game? I launch ok on that, but crashed and burned on docking, I had that perfected years ago too

I take it there are some good mods for v1.76.1 (ships/weapons)?

OXPs are not guaranteed to work on 1.76.x, as they are written/updated for 1.77.x. You may get error messages or odd behaviour. If you already have a collection of OXPs for 1.76 then don't update them.

Cool I'll bear that in mind. The one's I like the look of, most of them seem to have what version they work with in the read me file.

Also thanks for the welcome too

All the best,

CK

Ship OXPs will mostly be ok.

Mine is designed to be compatible with both the 1.76.x and 1.77.x series.

Not all OXPs needed to be upgraded between 1.76 and 1.77. Therefore you will find a lot of OXPs that are unchanged since Oolite 1.74 or even Oolite 1.72, and are still in perfect working order. Obviously they work on 1.76.1, too. The same goes for those OXPs that have been working since Oolite 1.65.

In some cases, however, OXPs needed to be updated in order to make them work in Oolite 1.77. These updated versions won't work in Oolite 1.76 anymore (at least not without some manual tweaking). For these OXPs, the links to their download locations have been pulled from the pages of the Elite Wiki.

In order to obtain the OXP version that works with Oolite 1.76, you have two alternative routes:

1) You can contact the respective OXP author directly, for instance via PM on these boards. Usually they will still have the Oolite 1.76.1-compatible version of their OXP on their computer, and will be able to send it to you.

2) Or you take advantage of the fact that the Elite Wiki is a Wiki, and nothing ever gets lost on the interwebs. Each change made on one of the Wiki pages gets archived. If something is deleted (like an old download link), it isn't actually deleted. In fact, for each change made to the Wiki, a new page is created and will then be displayed. But the old page (with the old link still on it) still exists and can be accessed via the Page History tab on top of the page. By browsing through the archived page versions in the Page History you can retrieve any old download link. This only won't work if the download file itself was pulled from its file hosting site. In that case, you can still contact the author and ask for a copy.

Commander McLane wrote:

By browsing through the archived page versions in the Page History you can retrieve any old download link. This only won't work if the download file itself was pulled from its file hosting site.

This is the case, for instance, with files hosted at box.com. The updated version over-writes the old version, but the download link remains the same as before.

Diziet Sma wrote:

Commander McLane wrote:

By browsing through the archived page versions in the Page History you can retrieve any old download link. This only won't work if the download file itself was pulled from its file hosting site.

This is the case, for instance, with files hosted at box.com. The updated version over-writes the old version, but the download link remains the same as before.

Again, not generally. A box.com account has more than enough space to host several versions of each OXP next to each other. Personally, I never ever use the update function to upload a new version of an OXP. Apart from being completely unnecessary space-wise, it also screws up the download history. I like to know how often each of my OXPs was downloaded in its current version. I find that more relevant than the total download number for all versions (which I can easily calculate by adding all numbers for the different versions anyway).

Good point.. I suspect you're in the minority, though..