Oolite Bulletins

Sometimes, random numbers are just too, well, random...

Looking at the new planetary textures, and comparing them to the textual description of the planet, can sometimes leave one thinking, "Really? That planet is known for its vast forests? But it's covered in water!" A fix for the planet Lave was even checked in recently to correct the look of the planet and make it more like the description.

Following a similar logic, I've gone through all the planets in the Eight, every one with "forests" or "oceans" in their description, and tweaked the look of the planet to better match the description. The results are in two separate OXP's: PlanetForests.zip and PlanetOceans.zip.

You'll need to download and unzip the folder inside each of these packs into the "AddOns" folder of your Oolite installation.

I've left these as OXP's for the moment, rather than as OXZ's, to encourage feedback on my choices. If you feel I've been too boring or haphazard in my changes, share your version and I'll update the OXP with the best ones. Most of my changes have usually been in adjusting the amount of land on the planet, using the "percent_land" property, but I've also sometimes changed the land color if I felt the current land color was not foresty enough.

If you look at the planetinfo.plist files, you'll notice I've included a lot of planets with no changes. I've left in the systems I made no changes to purely for reference, and in case I want to revisit one of those systems some time in the future. I've also included in the comments the type of forest/ocean the planet has (eg vast, pink, etc), again for easy reference.

Let me know what you think!

Edit to add: BTW, if you're using Povray planets, these OXP's will do nothing for you! It will only make a difference if you're using the default textures.

Really nice idea, phkb!

I'm using another approach with texture smart selection by script. Planet textures in png format seems obsolete now and I doubt is it reasonable to present this project. Didn't analyzing your OXPs yet. Are you using any other marker words besides "forest" and "ocean"? If you have lobsters as residents for example, you need planet with water bodies, yep? And if you have frogs, planet covered with tropical forests will be more suitable than arctic world. And I think desert world will be more suitable for reptiles etc.

I just looked at “forests” and “oceans” for these ones. I might have a look at those other criteria at some point though. Unless someone beats me to it!

Are these still relevant? Or were they included in the vanilla game?

OXP from Stanger to my knowledge.

They’re still relevant if you’re using the built-in planetary textures. If you’re using PovRay planets, or Bplanets (in those systems it touches) then it won’t do anything. It’s not incompatible with those OXP’s, just that the changes it makes won’t have any effect.

I'd missed this! Installed, and thanks!

Good! Adding them to the new http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Guide_to_Unlisted_OXPs (Guide to Unlisted OXPs) page on our wiki.

I should probably add them to the manager...

*looks at list of unpublished updates*

An example of what these oxp's do:

Isinor: This world is very fabled for its unusual oceans.

Isinor (Vanilla game)



Isinor (with Planet Oceans - or Phkb'd as some would call it)

Would it not make more sense to combine these? I can't see anybody wanting the one without the other...


Beneath: Tibionis (Vanilla and then Planet Forests)



Tibionis is most noted for the Tibionisian deadly goat and its vast rain forests.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Jul 05, 2022 6:25 am

Would it not make more sense to combine these?

Probably. I'll add it to the list.

phkb wrote: ↑Wed Jul 06, 2022 1:45 am

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Jul 05, 2022 6:25 am

Would it not make more sense to combine these?

Probably. I'll add it to the list.

Unless of course you just add it to Oolite v.1.92 ... I can't think of a single reason not to...

I've now combined both of these into "Planet Forests and Oceans", and removed the two previous OXP's from the manager. Now you can get it in one mod pack. You don't have to, of course. If you have the other two, this one is a straight combo, so you can ignore it if you want. Or you can install all three! Nothing bad will happen. You won't create a multi-verse or anything like that. But in the unlikely event that someone suggests a tweak to one of the planets covered in this mod, this is the mod I'll be updating, not the other two. In case anyone was interested.

Small update - based on the changes I made to the Lave OXP to have more clouds (because of the "vast rain forests"), I applied the same logic to every other planet that has rain forests.