Request Building Meshes for STPSP Bases

[Luke Reichelt]

No planetery textures?

Unfortunately no, as I deleted most of the source bitmap files in order to conserve memory storage.

 

[Luke Reichelt]

Seeing as gattispilot is on vacation for the next two months, is there anyone here who knows how to create a mesh out of this 3D model?

https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/exterior/sci-fi-exterior/millennium-gate-star-trek

The Millennium Gate, featured in the ST: Voyager episode "11:59", is another structure located within the Sol system and thus not actually part of the STPSP package, but I nevertheless wanted to see it done (partially for Trekkie's benefit). Regarding the dimensions, it's about 1,000 meters tall according to official sources.

 

[Luke Reichelt]

No planetery textures?

Correction - I do have the source bitmap files for some of the planets and moons in the original eight systems (including Andor, Bajor, Cardassia VI, Jeraddo, Qo'noS, Romulus, Talos IV, and Weytahn) but as I stated previously, I'm still not finished with my revisions. In any case, I'm personally thinking of updating to Orbiter 2016 once I get my STPSP stuff completed.

 

[Buck Rogers]

I'm personally thinking of updating to Orbiter 2016

Great! As your probably aware I've been making some attempts in this direction, Elev tiles are proving difficult (I think I got Surf tiles figured out), and finding the time...

 

[Luke Reichelt]

On another note, does anyone here know how to create surface tiles? I ask because I could definitely use some for the Federation Presidential Office base. So far, the only ones I can find on this site for the Paris region are part of an old, outdated add-on from 2008.

 

[Buck Rogers]

On another note, does anyone here know how to create surface tiles?

Do search the forum, there have been several posts on the subject (also recently) though rather scattered, and the Orbiter docs have a lot of technical info (more walkthroughs would be nice).
A brief description of the process (AFAIK):
Get an image in cylindrical format (see Orbiter dev docs on size, format etc..) as big as you can, or make, @misha.physics has had some impressive results using AI.
Make one image for each level (number of levels depends on how big you can make the image, level min=4, 1024x512, max=21, x2/level).
Run each image through Pltex64 (this is incorrectly named Plsplit in the Orbiter24 Devdoc but the rest is valid) to create the tiles.
Use Texpack to compress the tiles into a Surf file.

Ther is also a chapter in the Orbiter24 Devdoc on converting old tiles, but this looks a bit complicated, I would suggest starting from scratch.

 

[Luke Reichelt]

Do search the forum, there have been several posts on the subject (also recently) though rather scattered, and the Orbiter docs have a lot of technical info (more walkthroughs would be nice).
A brief description of the process (AFAIK):
Get an image in cylindrical format (see Orbiter dev docs on size, format etc..) as big as you can, or make, @misha.physics has had some impressive results using AI.
Make one image for each level (number of levels depends on how big you can make the image, level min=4, 1024x512, max=21, x2/level).
Run each image through Pltex64 (this is incorrectly named Plsplit in the Orbiter24 Devdoc but the rest is valid) to create the tiles.
Use Texpack to compress the tiles into a Surf file.

Ther is also a chapter in the Orbiter24 Devdoc on converting old tiles, but this looks a bit complicated, I would suggest starting from scratch.

For the time being, I'm using the tiles included in this add-on, which are decent if a bit lacking in detail.

 

[Luke Reichelt]

In the meantime, here are the completed Starfleet Headquarters, Golden Gate Bridge, and Fort Point bases. In order to get the location of the bridge right, I had to create a temporary vessel version and then mess around with the ground location using the scenario editor.

 

[Luke Reichelt]

Great! As your probably aware I've been making some attempts in this direction, Elev tiles are proving difficult (I think I got Surf tiles figured out), and finding the time...

Speaking of which, I've been trying for the past two weeks or so to upload the updated versions of the first four of the original eight STPSP systems, but site issues are preventing me from uploading anything larger than 100 MB in size at the moment, including the Bajor system, meaning I'm currently stuck at the first part of the operation (namely the Andor system).

 

[Buck Rogers]

Speaking of which, I've been trying for the past two weeks or so to upload the updated versions of the first four of the original eight STPSP systems, but site issues are preventing me from uploading anything larger than 100 MB in size at the moment, including the Bajor system, meaning I'm currently stuck at the first part of the operation (namely the Andor system).

I'm not aware of any upload size restrictions but I guess they're capped somewhere. Is it a connection error- "timing out", or a specific "file to big" error. If the latter I imagine it's the tiles that are so large maybe you could release the mod and tiles seperately? Have noticed others use G**gledrive etc... for very large files. Can also reccommend PeaZip, has excellent compression.

 

[Luke Reichelt]

I'm not aware of any upload size restrictions but I guess they're capped somewhere. Is it a connection error- "timing out", or a specific "file to big" error. If the latter I imagine it's the tiles that are so large maybe you could release the mod and tiles seperately? Have noticed others use G**gledrive etc... for very large files. Can also reccommend PeaZip, has excellent compression.

I actually think it's just a temporary issue. Either way, it would certainly be advisable for the site admins to do some maintenance sometime soon.

 

[Luke Reichelt]

Great! As your probably aware I've been making some attempts in this direction, Elev tiles are proving difficult (I think I got Surf tiles figured out), and finding the time...

Just to let you know, I've now upgraded to Orbiter 2016. I was originally planning to wait until after I had uploaded my updated STPSP systems, but site issues forced me to put those plans on hold, and I got tired of waiting for the site maintenance I had requested regarding larger files. (Apparently, it has something to do with some outdated line of code).

On another note, if you can find time to do the elevation and surface tiles, I recommend starting with Andor and Weytahn. Personally, I'm thinking the tiles in question should be of a similar resolution as Mr Martian's Uranian and Neptunian moons, as anything higher than that would take up too much storage space.

 

[Buck Rogers]

Just to let you know, I've now upgraded to Orbiter 2016. I was originally planning to wait until after I had uploaded my updated STPSP systems, but site issues forced me to put those plans on hold, and I got tired of waiting for the site maintenance I had requested regarding larger files. (Apparently, it has something to do with some outdated line of code).

I noticed I can't upload anything larger than 100MB. How large are your files?

On another note, if you can find time to do the elevation and surface tiles, I recommend starting with Andor and Weytahn. Personally, I'm thinking the tiles in question should be of a similar resolution as Mr Martian's Uranian and Neptunian moons, as anything higher than that would take up too much storage space.

My plan was to improve the Europa tiles, but doing them by hand would be a lot of work, also I think there must be a smarter way, I'm sure AI could use the data in the detailed bits to sharpen the blurry bits. That and Elev tiles are still beyond me, and I can't see me getting back to that this year!.
I think Surf tiles were more time consuming than complicated. Do you have source files for either of them?

 

[Luke Reichelt]

I noticed I can't upload anything larger than 100MB. How large are your files?

That's exactly the issue I was having. Most of the STPSP systems are less than that, except for the Bajor system, which unfortunately is also the second in the series, and I wanted to stick to the original order when releasing the updated versions.

On a related note, I know it's possible to create surface and elevation tiles without having access to the original bitmaps (as the user GB managed to do so with cmoon55's Alien add-on) but I don't know much about the whole procedure beyond that, although I think it might at least partially involve converting .tex files to the quadtree format, but again I have no idea how this is accomplished. I've also been told that using Astrogull's Elevation Tile Splitter might ease the process somewhat, but once again I have no way of knowing for certain. The point is, you may need to ask someone who's more knowledgeable about working with the quadtree system for help there.

Anyway, the original bitmaps for Andor and Weytahn are linked below.

 

[Buck Rogers]

That's exactly the issue I was having. Most of the STPSP systems are less than that, except for the Bajor system, which unfortunately is also the second in the series, and I wanted to stick to the original order when releasing the updated versions.

How big is the Bajor system? With good compression (Peazip etc.) and split into 2-3 files would be ok?

On a related note, I know it's possible to create surface and elevation tiles without having access to the original bitmaps (as the user GB managed to do so with cmoon55's Alien add-on) but I don't know much about the whole procedure beyond that, although I think it might at least partially involve converting .tex files to the quadtree format, but again I have no idea how this is accomplished. I've also been told that using Astrogull's Elevation Tile Splitter might ease the process somewhat, but once again I have no way of knowing for certain. The point is, you may need to ask someone who's more knowledgeable about working with the quadtree system for help there.

Conversion looked a bit more complicated, don't really know how that works.

Anyway, the original bitmaps for Andor and Weytahn are linked below.

I'll take a look, max tile level depends on resolution/quality.

 

[Luke Reichelt]

How big is the Bajor system?

It's 113 MB in size. Personally, I think it would be best to simply wait until the requested site maintenance is done.

max tile level depends on resolution/quality.

Both planets' textures are level 7.

 

[Buck Rogers]

It's 113 MB in size.

Packed? Taking your Andor Zip as an example, I repacked using Peazip at max and I'm getting about 12% more compression. That might be just enough to get it under 100MB.

Both planets' textures are level 7.

I've made surf tiles for Weytahn using PlSplit64, the res. was good for L7, upscaled once to make a set up to L8. With the right source image (like this) it's quite easy, just wish the Elev tiles were that easy too. But I still can't get Texpack to work, very frustrating! even tried it on another system.
So you'll need to run the tiles through Texpack to make a .Surf file.

Converting old tiles is a bit more complicated but is quite well detailed in the Orbiter docs- Orbiter2016/Docs/PlanetTextures.pdf Chapter 9, they basically just need resorting into the new file structure.
You can do clouds and lights with PlSplit64 as well (just not the Elev!). The files just need to be saved at the right size and then run through PlSplit64 as per instructions in the PlanetTextures.pdf. PlSplit64 just asks for the file name, long lat of the source file and output folder.
If you make a new folder, copy PlSplit64 and DxTex into it, add your source files and make another folder for the output, you have relative paths and only need to type the name in.

Attached Weytahn, not tested.
Note the Zip is 11.3 MB, unpacked it's nearly 90! (Peazip)

 

[Luke Reichelt]

Packed?

Yes, when packed they add up to that amount.

So you'll need to run the tiles through Texpack to make a .Surf file.

So how do I do that? Do I need to place the folders in the Utils folder for it to work? I'm fairly new to this sort of thing, after all.

 

[Buck Rogers]

So how do I do that? Do I need to place the folders in the Utils folder for it to work? I'm fairly new to this sort of thing, after all.

If I could get it to work I'd tell you! I tried every variation I could think of. It just blinks on and then disappears, leaving me to think that it's a location problem but nothing helped.
First of all what happens when you doable click on it? Does it open up a code window?
For me it disappears before I can read it, and there is basically NO information in the docs on how to use.
Others have used it, maybe someone can say how, it's probably something simple that I'm missing.

Btw they don't need to be texpacked, that's only for compression. Just place the Weytahn folder in your Textures folder. Let me know if it works had no .cfgs etc. to test.

 

[Luke Reichelt]

If I could get it to work I'd tell you! I tried every variation I could think of. It just blinks on and then disappears, leaving me to think that it's a location problem but nothing helped.

Clearly, you'll have to ask someone who knows more on the subject for help there.

P.S. Here's what misha.physics has to say on the subject: https://www.orbiter-forum.com/threa...aps-for-orbiter-2016.34105/page-3#post-633609