Oolite Bulletins

Ok lets start at the beginning, back in the mists of time I was young and first played Elite on the Amiga, when I went over to the pc I played Oolite but finding the graphics crude compared to x beyond the frontier I got seduced by the German classic.

More recently I payed out too much for Elite Dangerous and after playing some retro versions of elite, finally loaded up Oolite on my old Linux machine. I could not believe how much it improved, but due to the version they supply you cant install expansions on the fly, so today I'm playing the latest version on my Windose PC.

I think this is actually better than Elite Dangerous and after a bit of soul searching I sort of think its because of Ian Bell. From what I can gather he put the fun into Elite and as the other titles follow Davids vision for a space game, I suspect that's why..

Anyway that aside..

If you could spec up mac, windows and linux to the same level, which platform is the most responsive? (Noticed some of the EXP's slows things down, and I would love the combat to be less twitchy..)

The other question is really to do with the EXP's, is there yet any sort of guide which gives an idea how heavy an exp is. Found some of the ambience pack make my machine chug..

Hello and welcome aboard,

One cannot really tell if an OXP will require more processing power or not. Multi-megabytes OXP can be big only because they include 3D models with high-res textures, and it's trivially easy to make a 1kb OXP that would put an heavy load on your machine.

However, one thing to look at if your graphics card is old (or worse, if you have an "integrated graphic card") is if the OXP uses shaders for graphics (esp. for ship and stations). Prefer OXPs that don't require shaders if that's your case.

Besides that, the only way I know of to see if an OXP is ok for your config is to test it, preferably by adding them one at a time. That's generally the recommended way of doing it for other reasons (conflicts between OXPs, unwanted features,...).

WebsitesbyMark wrote: ↑Fri Sep 15, 2017 7:12 am

... finally loaded up Oolite on my old Linux machine. [...] but due to the version they supply you cant install expansions on the fly...

If that's from a repo, try the self-contained Linux version from here - and welcome aboard.

To be fair I took the Radeon out of my desktop and the integrated gfx seems to hold its own, but that might be because I'm not using any of the texture packs.

Suspect the Radeon is barely better than integrated gfx (intel HD 4600)

Current spec

Eset for anti virus (only state this because its really light compared to other anti virus)
Windows 10
i5-4430 3ghz (so not the latest version)
16gb or ram
'normal' harddrive

Happy to slice and dice, assuming only upgrades I need to consider is maybe going to ssd and grx card, what sort of gfx would allow good frame rate etc if I decided to be made and load all the exp's en-masse..

Assuming i7 is not really worth it in this instance...

And if I didn't have the cash, what sort of gfx would cut it at a more budget level..

WebsitesbyMark wrote: ↑Fri Sep 15, 2017 9:51 am

And if I didn't have the cash, what sort of gfx would cut it at a more budget level..

Hi and welcome. Try this link below as a starting point for graphics cards comparison. It looks like the NVidia 960 GTX is very good value for money at around $140 and is more than capable of running the game with lots of added gfx, including effect injectors like Reshade etc. The graphs in the link show you also how it compares to other cards performance-wise, including the HD 4600 as reference.
https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu. ... 60&id=3114

What about the GT's? would they cut it? (These would seem a lot cheaper..)

WebsitesbyMark wrote: ↑Fri Sep 15, 2017 10:42 am

What about the GT's? would they cut it? (These would seem a lot cheaper..)

I wouldn't consider a GT. The performance seems to be comparable to (if not worse than) that of the Intel. Still, there might be even better value for money options than the 960GTX, I just haven't spent too much time on the comparisons. The site linked earlier should provide you with all the information you need in order to make an informed decision, though.

> If you could spec up mac, windows and linux to the same level, which platform is the most responsive?

Asking that question suggests some dedication! I don't know the answer but perhaps the following observation will be of some help, though I suppose it's pretty obvious. Notoriously, graphics drivers on Linux tend to be bad. Similarly, Linux tends to be lighter on system resources than Windows. (Mac I don't know about.) So: if your graphics hardware works well with Linux, then go Linux for Oolite; and, if your graphics hardware works poorly on Linux, choose another OS for Oolite. The Phoronix site is run by someone who works hard to provide graphics benchmarks for Linux versus Windows.

hello! please help to solve problem. Oolite 1.86, windows10x64, after install/uninstall some oxp, i found cargo bay expansion and passanger cabin dissapeared from ship's equipment, and it's not possible to buy its again on any planet. passanger contract was dissapeared also.
log file contains string "07:36:03.287 [setCommanderDataFromDictionary.inconsistency.max_passengers]: ----- WARNING: player ship Adder had max_passengers set to a value requiring more cargo space than currently available (1). Setting max_passengers to maximum possible value (0)."
loading saves not help. how to repair gameplay? thanks

Burbon,

Hello!

It sounds to me (I am not knowledgeable about the topic but I thought I should reply in case no one else does) as if this might be an OXP bug or a core Oolite bug, or both. Can you remember the OXPs you installed and then removed? Also, try holding down left-shift when starting the game - this clears the cache and may help.

UK_Eliter wrote: ↑Sat Dec 23, 2017 12:01 pm

Also, try holding down left-shift when starting the game - this clears the cache and may help.

Uninstalling any OXP/OXZ should automatically force a cache rebuild.. manually forcing one is unlikely to help.

I believe you uninstalled Spara's Starting Choices. It modifies the Adder to allow a cargo bay extension so you can fit a passenger berth.

The player version of Adder can hold only 2t cargo in the core game and cargo bay extension is not available. There are OXPs which offer this extension to reach 5t room for a passenger berth, like Switeck's Shipping OXP, Start Choices OXP and HardShips OXP. If you uninstalled all of these then the core game removed the berth due to not enough room anymore.

Install Start Choices, then load a game what you are not written over since you lost your berth. If you have none then buy the berth again, you are able to buy it if your cargo show 5t space in the market screen and you are in a system at or over techlevel 6.

Really i was uninstalled Start Choices- that's cause of problem. Excuse me for disturbing you. Thank you very much for helping me and best regards.