The White Guardian

You're most welcome!

Update! - Improved explanation on the 'order' setting. - How to use OnDemandLoading. Thanks for the heads-up, @KillAshley!

Alright, I'll edit the guide. As for the order, I would've explained it further... if I had been sure from where Kopernicus starts to read: are lower valued PQSMods loaded earlier or later than mods with a higher number? Now I know, so thanks a lot! I'll cover OnDemandLoading and gas giants in the next guide, one in which stuff gets a bit more complicated.

You did not add a template. Making template-less planets is extremely difficult and so far the only people that I know of that have managed to create a template-less planet are @KillAshley and @NathanKell because it's so difficult. Specify a template using the step in the guide, then try again. Furthermore, for optimal results, your textures need to be in .dds format, DXT5 for color and biome, L8 for height and DXT5_nm for normal maps, and doublecheck that all filepaths are correct.

Then please do not release it unless they are from hand-made planets. You see, Kopernicus was not designed to fuse S.E. with KSP, and if people start mass-fabricating packs chuck-full of textures taken from S.E. the result will be horrible.

@TheAxel1105 Indeed. I get an e-mail containing the latest posts from the Kopernicus thread every evening, and I always, always read my e-mails. Nevertheless, simply mention me like @KillAshley did in the comment above, and I'll read it. Gongratulations! I must ask you though, does it contain textures taken from Space Engine?

Huh... you can also use Paint.NET to export to DXT1 and DXT5, but not DXT5_nm. I am willing to convert an eventual normal map for you though. Happy to help!

Have you installed it correctly? Both GIMP and the plugin?

That explains it. First off, don't post Kopernicus packs using Space Engine textures unless you're an S.E. expert and made the S.E. planet yourself (like I do). But, for educational purposes: create or find a planet in S.E. and export the texture as .png with a resolution of 1024 for gas giants, max 2048. Next, download and install GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) and a .DDS plugin found online. Import your textures in GIMP, go to export and in the file name on the top of your screen rename it to (yourplanetsname)_color.dds for a color map. Be sure to add .dds! Next, set the compression to: DXT5 for Color maps DXT5_nm for normals no compression but type L8 for heightmaps Try it again with those textures.

Thanks!

Indeed, showing people who are new to Kopernicus the right path is a good idea, but in some cases it's a good idea to let them experiment with the kopernicus configs first without going through the troubles of getting everything in the right format. For everyone who reads this and does not know the optimal file formats: Color map: .dds, type DXT5 Height map: .dds (I am not sure what type, but I use DXT1 and it works!) Normal map; .dds, requires the special DXT5_nm type. You can use either Nvidia's normal map plugin for Photoshop or a normal map plugin made for GIMP.

Hmm. I will soon upload a tutorial on how to make gas giants (rings included). I have already done a tutorial on how to make oceanic planets with Kopernius, and creating a gas giant shouldn't take too long, I'll have it finished this very week, perhaps even tomorrow, but I can't promise anything. For now, could you please send me a private message containing a copy of your Kopernicus config? Or would you like me to write a basic config for you that only needs some filling in? Not necessarily, it works with other file formats too. I personally suspect an incorrect filepath, an incorrect name or incorrect placing of the '{' and '}', but I can't know for certain.

Well, you're assuming that it's water-like down there. You are correct to some degree, but it's thicker. What you are proposing is suddenly hitting an ocean. Well, no. It's a gradual transition, which means that the atmosphere above the ocean would have to be as thick as the water below. Even worse: the pressure is so intense, over 200 bars, which is only found in the deepest oceans on Earth. So, imagine reaching the 'surface' of Urlum if Capt followed this idea. Don't get me wrong, it's not a stupid idea, it's just not practical, keeping it as a gas giant is better. Anyhow, back to the point. Imagine a craft falling through Urlum's troposphere (lowermost atmospheric layer) and already encountering pressures alike to those found in the deep sea, and it hasn't even reached the water yet! Furthermore, due to KSP's physics, the craft might even float, which will not happen on real-life Uranus. So, the 'ocean' would need to have an immense pressure at it's surface, which is not practical. Also, we are talking about the mantle here. The mantle of the ice giants behaves like a liquid, not the surface. For the mantle you'd have to go very, very deep into the atmosphere, up to the point that you are entering the crust of the planet. Until you reach the mantle of an ice giant, stuff behaves like you're on a gas giant, so Urlum and Neidon are fine as is. Even though they are based off gas giants in KSP, they could still contain a liquid-like mantle, you just can't reach it due to the pressure, the craft would be destroyed before it reaches it. Furthermore, we're talking about the internal structure of the planet here, and those aren't reachable in KSP, so Urlum and Neidon are currently what stockalike ice giants would be like.

I'm not sure if you know that regular notepad that is installed on computers by default and Notepad++ are two entirely different programs. Again, not sure, couldn't gather that information from your comment. Also, if I'm correct, then a github REPO isn't an auto-updater but a place where developers can post codes and stuff for other modders. Really basic and poor description, but I don't use GitHub and rarely visit it, so I don't know much about it. It isn't like CKAN thouch, I am sure of that.

Actually, I meant the issue with the surface being too bright.

Thanks! Now that I'm here, here's a WIP on the clouds I was making for OPM, but redone: As you can see, I'm making lots of progress. Tekto is still in the makings, and will feature a dense atmosphere between 5000 and 8000 meters. I can't make it thicker, E.V.E 1.0.5 has this weird rim glitch that occurs when clouds are placed exceptionally high.

Oh my... how did you do that?! I must try making a custom texture with GIMP...

If I may ask, on GIMP? How did you add the blend effect at the poles? I've been searching for a way to do that for ages! And I've heard of that lighting issue before, if I remember correctly @amarius1 was having a similar issue, but I could be wrong. I am sure though that I've heard of that issue before, as well as that there's a way to fix it. Good luck!

No, no, no, the config file is GENERATED by Kopernicus. Also, in order to change your planet in scaledspace you have to delete the .bin cache file. What you did is create a cachefile that will confuse Kopernicus greatly becase it doesn't contain the info Kopernicus needs. Re-specify a filepath and this time don't create any file with that name, Kopernicus will do that for you. And I'm 16, I know a thing or two about quantum and particle physics, and I've got my own theories, so I guess that makes me a surprise! Cool! As for the ground brightness, I honestly don't know what value you have to change for that. Ask it on the Kopernicus thread, I'm sure you'll find an answer there.

First of all, I've heard of some good results when using a heightmap resolution of 512 by 256 pixels. As for the bin, may I ask what you entered? Furthermore, I am not reverring to the Nemesis hypothesis, I am referring to recent astronomical discoveries. The pull of another star could indeed pull on the orbits of the outermost bodies, but I'm not sure if the solar system would remain stable if a star with such gravitiational force passed by. And if you're surprised that you already know what stuff like brown dwarfs are at your age... let's just say that astronomy can get far more difficult than that. For instance, calculating the surface gravity of a planet or it's orbital period. While the formula's aren't that hard, combining formula's is much, much harder. For instance, I created a formula that calculates the orbital period of a celestial body and all I need to know are it's semi-major axis and the mass of the body it orbits by rebuilding Kepler's third law (re-organizing the variables in the formula). And I'm only 16. Just imagine the things I still have to learn! And here's the crazy part: I can't wait! Oh, and by the way: using S.E. textures is fine unless you start creating packs based on S.E. textures only, since using S.E. textures is usually frowned upon by Kopernicus modders. Unless they weren't ripped from a procedural S.E. planet but a hand-made planet, which is why I do use S.E. textures, but I'm an S.E. expert: I hand-write the codes for my own planets! EDIT: something I forgot to mention, you'll need a special DDS plugin for GIMP in order to save as DXT5_nm.

It's OK, I thought the same thing a while ago. Didn't remove the ocean from the Kerbin template, added a 'new' ocean in the config file, then wonder why my game goes jelly when I visit my planet.

The issues you describe are texture-related. Here's what you can do: For the 'blocky texture', lower the resolution of your heightmap. Furthermore, the heightmap doesn't 'need' to be in the PluginData folder, but if I remember correctly, it's a requirement for Kopernicus' 'Kopernicus OnDemand' feature that only loads the textures of the planets you can see. For the incorrect lightning, your Normal Map has to be saved in the DXT5_nm format which can be done with either Photoshop or GIMP. If you don't have those, I'm willing to convert the map for you. And I totally agree with you: astronomy is such a fascinating and incredible subject. I'm studying to become either an astrophysicist or an astrobiologist, you see. And since you know about astronomy, perhaps this may interest you if you haven't heard it already: it is very likely that our solar system has not eight, but nine planets. No, I'm not starting the 'is Pluto a planet?' debate all over again. A team of astronomers that were trying to prove that there is no planet beyond Neptune ended up doing the opposite: finding convincing evidence of the presence of a large, ninth planet that is about ten times the mass of Earth. It was 'discovered' by investigating the orbits of Sedna and nearby dwarf planets, and the only solution to their unusual orbits would be the presence of another planet. But, until we have visual proof of this ninth planet, it remains a theory. Another weird thing is the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest and perhaps most famous moon for it is the only moon in the solar system with a thick atmosphere, like Laythe in KSP. Titan has been visited once by the Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn, and upon visiting the cloudy moon, it dropped the Huygens probe into Titan's atmosphere. As the craft descended, scientists agreed that if there is life on Titan, it's most likely source of energy would be Hydrogen gas, like we use Oxygen here on Earth. Guess what Huygens found? Upper atmosphere: Hydrogen present. Lower atmosphere: Hydrogen present. Sea level: sudden decline in Hydrogen. These results are highly unusual, for they contradict a natural process called diffusion, so there is only one conclusion: something is using lots of Hydrogen down there. Screaming that it's alien life would be a bit over the top, we have no proof of aliens being involved, but it certainly is interesting.

I don't think anyone will be surprised if I say that I wasn't expecting such a lot of positive feedback. About the dark textures, I never said that what you see in the screenshots is the finished version. The screeshot does show the clouds in the old E.V.E version though, so it may look slightly different in the 'E.V.E reboot'. Furthermore, @CaptRobau, if I make clouds for Sarnus, Urlum and Neidon in the rebooted version of E.V.E, it will result in a game-breaking glitch. Yes, it will, not it may. That is, unless I add an extra config with an extra PQSMod for Sarnus, Urlum, and Neidon, a mod named 'deactivateDistance' that is added by E.V.E. Are you okay with that? Also, I still have the textures, so I will continue my work. I hadn't made Tekto though, but I'll work on that. I'll make sure it gets the thick layer of clouds for a true Titan analogue. I'm thinking of a thick layer of green clouds with some brown-orange clouds here and there. I'll also add a cyclone to Tekto to show that it's atmosphere is "very violent", as OPM's in-game info about Tekto states.

Hmm. I was working on a cloudpack for OPM but discontinued it when I saw Pood's work, I can't possibly beat that. But since it seems there may still be interest in such a mod, should I start working on it again? Here's what it looked like in the old version of E.V.E:

Hello SAS123. First off, the incorrect color. Try the following PQSMod: VertexColorMap { map = (link to your planet's PlanetName_color.dds file, make sure to include '.dds' as well!) enabled = true order = (same number as the order of VertexHeightMap) } This will apply the colors of your planet's colormap to the planet's surface. Furthermore, the problem you descibe with the altitude of the terrain relative to the ScaledVersion of your planet seems to be an incorrect VertexHeightMap offset. To fix this: in your config, go to the PQSMods, more specifically the mod called 'VertexHeightMap'. Change the value of 'offset' to an even lower number (-1000 or something like that) then try again. It takes some trial and error for the actual surface and the scaledversion to line up perfectly, but the results are worth it. EDIT: just saw that you don't use the values rimPower, rimBlend and Gradient. If you don't specify an atmosphere, remove those and set the type to 'Vacuum' instead of 'Atmospheric'. Furthermore, for the love of Kod, remove the flightGlobalsIndex, it's unneeded and cannot be removed after your pack is released without breaking career mode for everyone who downloaded your pack. It can stay as it, but it's not recommended. Furthermore, specify a location for the 'cacheFile'. Simply something like 'MyPlanetPack/Cache/MyPlanet.bin' would suffice (In your case, 'NewPlanet/Cache/Akinae.bin' (make sure to create the folder 'Cache' in the folder 'NewPlanet', otherwite Kopernicus can't find it). Specifying a location for the cachefile is highly recommended for debugging purposes. Another edit: just noticed the 'timeWarpAltitudeLimits' you specified. Those lock/unlock certain time warp speeds. Depending on the size of your planet, 30000 may be a bit high: that would mean that below 30000, you can only use 1x time warp, and depending on the surface gravity of your planet, it may take ages. Furthermore, the gravity of your planet is rather large (read: huge) for a body it's size. Remember that the gravity of a planet depends on it's mass and size. With the current settings, your planet's mass would be... 268283068624513000000 kg, which is insanely high. Since KSP's planets are ten times smaller than real-life sized bodies, you can add another number to the radius, which would make the mass 26828306862451300000000 kg, which is 0,44939% of Earth's mass. A more realistic surface gravity would be something like 0.08g, but that's your choice. Hope this helps The White Guardian