Orbiter Ultimate Experience 1.0 release

[Artlav]

ORbiter ULtimate EXpirience (Orulex) terrain generator 1.0:
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2686"]Orulex_Land_Gen-v1.2[/ame]
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Orulex is a dynamic landscape generator add-on for Orbiter which allows you to add a global landable mesh to the planets.

Simply said, it turns flat planets into mountainous planets.

Basic features:
* Generates planet terrain in Orbiter on the fly, using real data or fractal functions
* Easily downloadable textures and heightmaps data for Earth, and other planets
* Lv11 global Orbiter and Lv6-Lv22 local downloaded textures (LandSat, USGS) support


Refer to instruction.txt for performance guidelines, server list and other info.
Orulex.pdf describes the system, function config and requirements, World Studio.pdf describes the World Studio handling.

Being called 1.0 by major features, it is never the less a work in progress in the minor ones. Any suggestions/criticism/bug reports are welcome.

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Pre-composed heightmaps:
http://orbides.1gb.ru/orbf/earth-hmap-lv8.zip (84Mb)
http://orbides.1gb.ru/orbf/mars-hmap-lv8.zip (82Mb)
http://orbides.1gb.ru/orbf/moon-hmap-lv8.zip (81Mb)
http://orbides.1gb.ru/orbf/everest_lv11.zip (5.3Mb)
http://orbides.1gb.ru/orbf/grand_canyon_lv13.zip (9Mb)

Collision Detection support:
MeshLand 2, WIP version:
http://orbides.1gb.ru/orbf/MLVS-WIP-080327.zip
Installation by standard Unpack&Play, activate MeshLand_2 module.
Unstable.

Interface SDK:
http://orbides.1gb.ru/orbf/OrulexSDK-allvers.zip
DeltaGlider sample included.

Comparison video of Orulex in normal action:
China, flying in Gregburch's Swift1.
http://orbides.1gb.ru/orbf/oru-flight-080321-x264.avi (x264, 21Mb)
http://orbides.1gb.ru/orbf/oru-flight-080321-xvid.avi (xVid, 31Mb)
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Improvements since 0.9.4:
* Lots of bugs fixed
* Significant performance improvements.
* Memory management was significantly improved, the textures are no longer resides fully in RAM, so even Lv11 textures only needs 100Mb on average instead of ~1Gb. Consequently,
* Lv 9-11 textures supported.
* Visual improvements by recalibrating the LOD algorithm - the textures are generated from the camera point, and the high resolution should be more closer to the camera, the generation takes camera motion into account
* World Studio - a versatile planet editor and Orulex config tool. Featuring everything from changing settings to downloading hi-res tiles and saving them as Orbiter-readable SURFTILEs.
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Views:

World Studio:

Views of Earth:

Mars:

Moon:

Venus:

Nereid:

Europa:

Io:

 

[amalahama]

wow, great work Artlav!! One question, How can I download global lvl11 heightmap/textures??

Regards!!

 

[Eagle]

Neato

Awesome. The picture of Nerid reminds me of the planets in Spore.

 

[jedidia]

Puh, I never even got around testing the last two versions, you're too fast! :lol:

Anyways, since this is 1.0 I think there will pass a bit of time before the next version. Having seen the very first release of the Orulex-poc, it's really amazing how it came along 'till now. I'd come by with a bottle of champagne if you were living a bit closer... :speakcool:

 

[Xantcha]

Excellent work, Artlav! Just spend about an hour flying over Europe %)

In orbiter everything looks great. Also Baikonur Crater still looks weird $) Yet Habana crater is nice - trying to land without crashing into mountain is pretty challenging. Meshland works just fine for that.

It's not that great for landing (if ship is put on surface it will jump constanly untill it turn over. then it stops - looks like the only stable position is upside down). But landing on platoes is rather stable.

Also it looks like my computer is too old to run world studio - it says 1 fps.

 

[n0mad23]

The pessimistic part of me says I'll need a faster computer before this will work for me.

But I'm excited anyway!

Absolutely beautiful work, Artlav. The possibilities offered by Orulex are mind-boggling. No more disappearance of believability when you drop below so many kilometers approaching the Moon.

It also means that at some point, it will be possible to do some really cool things at both the lunar poles. I've fantasized doing something with Aitkens Basin, and Malapert Mountain since I discovered Orbiter. Now it looks like it really can eventually be done.

 

[McWgogs]

Great work Artlav!

I noticed that there's no tool in the world studio to set up a flat space.

 

[MJR]

Nice job.

 

[helpme]

Perfect job, Artlav.

I am proud of you.
That was the greatest heightmap in Orbiter.

 

[Artlav]

How can I download global lvl11 heightmap/textures??

Global heightmaps above Lv8 are no longer provided (and badly supported).

Global textures are taken from the same place that Orbiter does, and it's format is easily extensible above Lv10, but generating such textures reliably from LandSat data is not yet feasible for World Studio.
So, it's local areas only for now.

Also it looks like my computer is too old to run world studio - it says 1 fps.

Try pressing 8 to switch to hi-compatibility mode , or 9 for wireframe.
If it still works slow, 6 disables the RTR completely.

I noticed that there's no tool in the world studio to set up a flat space.

Hm. I noticed i forgot that there is such a feature. Planned for nearest update.

 

[Grawp]

Artlav, you have designed WONDERFULL graphic engine for Orbiter, very good landscape generator and collsion detection plugin. What about making physics engine?

I would really love to see some space flight simulator with available source code and autoconf (configure, make, makeinstall) so people could even run it on linux, opensolaris, osx, and on various architectures (PPC,x86_64.......)

sorry for my english

 

[Artlav]

Artlav, you have designed WONDERFULL graphic engine for Orbiter, very good landscape generator and collsion detection plugin. What about making physics engine?

I would really love to see some space flight simulator with available source code and autoconf (configure, make, makeinstall) so people could even run it on linux, opensolaris, osx, and on various architectures (PPC,x86_64.......)

Already making one, slowly but steadily, the site last updated in marсh 2008 (english side mostly).
http://s-way.sourceforge.net/main.eng.html
http://s-way.sourceforge.net/ss.eng.html
But it is not intended to be as accurate as Orbiter 2006 is, aiming more for a Frontier-like gameplay rather than an ultra-precise space flight.

 

[amalahama]

Also it looks like my computer is too old to run world studio - it says 1 fps.

I have the same trouble. In World Studio, with all the windows on,I have 1 or 3 fps, but when I press cntrl+M, I reach 40 fps (well, now a lot less because a lot of level 13 textures round there :blush

Regards!!

 

[Grawp]

I don't know Frontier, but I assume that it's some kind of spaceshooter.
but who say that spaceshooters can't be ultra-precise?

 

[Xantcha]

Is there an interface for ORULEX 1.0 landscape data? It could be usefull for developing surface altitude indicator or custom collision detection.

 

[McWgogs]

Hm. I noticed i forgot that there is such a feature. Planned for nearest update.

Thanks
One more thing, the map window seems small, perhaps an option to resize it.

Already making one, slowly but steadily, the site last updated in marсh 2008 (english side mostly).
http://s-way.sourceforge.net/main.eng.html
http://s-way.sourceforge.net/ss.eng.html
But it is not intended to be as accurate as Orbiter 2006 is, aiming more for a Frontier-like gameplay rather than an ultra-precise space flight.

Nice. If you need texture artists, just ask.

Ever heard of Noctis? It's a galaxy exploration simulator where you fly through a procedural galaxy of 70 billion stars, most having a planets which you can land on and explore, some of them having life (trees, creatures)
Unfortunately it's pretty old and thus restrained by ms-dos memory limits.
But a sequel is currently thought on.
The site, www.anywherebb.com is currently down, but the backup www.0x44.com works, you might want to check Noctis out.

 

[Artlav]

I have the same trouble. In World Studio, with all the windows on,I have 1 or 3 fps, but when I press cntrl+M, I reach 40 fps (well, now a lot less because a lot of level 13 textures round there :blush

So it seems that the windows are causing the fall?
I'll put an option to make them simpler (non-transparent) on nearest update, but i can't test that, as my old laptop i used for low-performance testing is gone now.
Is there any difference in performance with different amount of terrain/space on the screen, or with RTR off(key 6)/windows on?

Is there an interface for ORULEX 1.0 landscape data? It could be usefull for developing surface altitude indicator or custom collision detection.

Actually, there is, and it was for a while. Another one i forgot about.
http://orbides.1gb.ru/orbf/OrulexSDK-allvers.zip
DeltaGlider sample included.

One more thing, the map window seems small, perhaps an option to resize it.

Run-time resizing is hardly an option, i could just make it bigger.
How much is the question.

Ever heard of Noctis? It's a galaxy exploration simulator where you fly through a procedural galaxy of 70 billion stars, most having a planets which you can land on and explore, some of them having life (trees, creatures)
Unfortunately it's pretty old and thus restrained by ms-dos memory limits.
But a sequel is currently thought on.

Oh yes, that one i found a while ago, maybe even before Orbiter. As a matter of fact, it was the inspiration to start the SpaceWay project in the first place.
Been waiting years for an update, but it never came.

 

[McWgogs]

Run-time resizing is hardly an option, i could just make it bigger.
How much is the question.

200% should do it, or screen-wide

Oh yes, that one i found a while ago, maybe even before Orbiter. As a matter of fact, it was the inspiration to start the SpaceWay project in the first place.
Been waiting years for an update, but it never came.

Well yeah, there will be a while for Alex to complete the sequel, but a project has started lately to create our own version.
Perhaps you would like to help?

 

[Xantcha]

Yes it is defintely windows that slows everything down. As soon as I press CTRL+M everything becomes smooth.

Noctis.. Remember of playing it, that was quite fun at the time. May be I should find it, and try it again.

 

[amalahama]

So it seems that the windows are causing the fall?
I'll put an option to make them simpler (non-transparent) on nearest update, but i can't test that, as my old laptop i used for low-performance testing is gone now.
Is there any difference in performance with different amount of terrain/space on the screen, or with RTR off(key 6)/windows on?

No, no differences here, even in wireframe or no terrain at all. Always I switch on the windows, the system slow down a lot.

My specs: Centrino Duo laptop, 1GB Ram, ATI X1400 WITHOUT shared memory, Win XP profesional edition, lastest drivers (omega drivers I think).

Regards!!