Oolite Bulletins

Aha, I can see how 20,000 newly-created objects could choke up my computer. When I blew up the renegade asteroid in the "Asteroids" OXP, it took about ten minutes for the explosion to complete, and the sheer number of asteroids created slowed me down to about 0.2 frames per second afterwards (try docking at that frame rate!)

So my advice is, if you have a slower system, don't blow up the asteroid. It's spectacular but it's a wonder my computer didn't start smoking.

I've loved playing the game but I'm wondering if my Oolite honeymoon isn't over...as much as I like being told that I'm "Above Average and clean" every time I continue my game (why can't my friends tell me that stuff?), I'm at the point where I'm just puttering from system to system, killing a few pirates every time, and taking on passengers out of sheer boredom.

I agree that the object-oriented "surprise interactions" are rewarding, but I'm not seeing many surprises anymore. Maybe I'll eventually get a mission? Maybe I need a pet trumble?

I'd continue working on OXPs, but it seems pointless if the scripting is under overhaul.

Should I jump to 1.69, or would the shaders slow me down?

1.69.1 puts a cap on the amount of wreackage "big stuff" throws out when destroyed, which speeds things up a lot. Shaders don't seem to slow down my old Pc, so all in all I'd say 1.69.1 is faster on a slower system. On 1.69.1 the explosion of the renegade asteroid would have only taken a second as the code limits the debries to a sensible number.

Check the missions page of the Wikki if you are getting a bit board and take a trip to Zaria in G2. Oolite does have a bit of a slow start, but the Ionics multi-stage mission would be open to you now and once you've done that one, you'll have enough kills for the missions to start coming thick and fast.

Shader utilization is disabled if your system can not support them, so the answer is no, shaders will not slow you down. They will just be ignored.

I have taken the TGHC advice and decided to go with my acer laptop.. as you can probably work out that im finding it hard to install this programme.. its been years since i played this game and not great at complicated computer jargon, whats an OXP?? What are these files im supposed to download and which ones? i tried following the links and getting to download pages but not knowing what im doing really.. i need help in simple steps to download the game or maybe i will have to buy the game.. or go fishing instead..

thanks for your patience...

Magma, Dorset, UK..

magma wrote:

I have taken the TGHC advice and decided to go with my acer laptop.. as you can probably work out that im finding it hard to install this programme.. its been years since i played this game and not great at complicated computer jargon, whats an OXP??

Depending on what OS you have will depend on what program you have. The Oolite download page has all the ports of Oolite, both the stable releases and the experimental new releases. The Wiki OXP page has all the installation info as well as all the currently available OXPs.
Briefly, select the OXPs you like and download them. They usually come in a .zip file. Extract the zip file and open it. Inside you *should* find a folder with the .oxp extention and quite possibly a readme.txt. Copy the .oxp folder to your AddOns folder, start up Oolite and enjoy!

magma wrote:

maybe i will have to buy the game..

Buy the game? <rubs hands together......>

Captain Hesperus

ok cool thanks for that one..
i understand the OXP thing now..
if you read my previous posts the problem im having is Vista and the game loads but crashes after a minute or two, i just need help with the unique setup process that i need to install the game on my vista computer..

I cant afford Oolite but i maybe i will buy an old BBC master and an old copy of Elite

sob..

Oolite is free! But won't work well (or maybe at all) under vista. Suggest you try to install the basic game with no OXPs. If you can get the basic game working then try putting in some OXPs. Its a doddle to install on XP, just unzip, click the installer and thats it!

Hahah, damn you little bear
Methinks me and Hesperus couldve made a quiet killing of that little hicup in judgement
O well. Thats the "selling" point of Oolite anyways. Its free!

ok,ok got this working with xp still its really slow and i may need video drivers or whatever.. are these things free online? how do i obtain them??

Well, basically, as with every hardware, the manufacturer of your graphics card should have its latest drivers for download on their webspace. So that's the place to look. Usually you'll find a subpage named "support" or something like this, and there you'll find "downloads" or "drivers" or something of the kind. You will have to choose your model in some kind of menu, and off you go!

Great thanks everyone have the game runnig okay now!! and been stuck in it for a couple of days..

just started downloading the oxp's pity stops the game from working.. arrrggghhhh

Put in one OXP at a time. Run the game then put the next one. 99% are okay but some of Charlies OXPs can cause a crash on 1.68, 1.69 and 1.69.1 although they run on 1.65.

LittleBear wrote:

some of Charlies OXPs can cause a crash on 1.68, 1.69 and 1.69.1

You may ask yourself "how do I recognize Charlie's OXPs"? Most of them are ships with fancy bird-names and cool designs, like Falcon, Kestrel, Condor etc. (but noteably not the Eagle). Then there is Orb.oxp which may be quite buggy as well. And isn't the USS Enterprise (whatever the name of the OXP) from Charlie as well?

If you stay away from these you should be reasonably safe from crashes. However also other OXPs, when doing a lot of things, can slow down your machine (read the above posts in this thread about stalling, freezing, drops in framerate and possible reasons for this kind of behaviour).