totm may 2020 [1.8.1] Real Exoplanets v0.9.6 [04/03/2020]

[Andi K.]

I'm making some good progress on implementing the new terrain shaders from 1.8.1 into REX

Edited February 10, 2020 by AndrewDraws

[Andi K.]

Another screenshot:

[mcwaffles2003]

Sorry, but I am once again having the problem where my download only half completes on spacedock when trying to get the 0.9.4 update. Could you possibly link another dropbox update?

[AloE]

On 2/10/2020 at 6:00 PM, AndrewDraws said:

making some good progress on implementing the new terrain shaders from 1.8.1 into REX

 

I'm very much looking forward to that!  (looks much better than what I have seen on the ground so far on Trappist1e for example...but that has not been so easy for me to check given the DLC note below)

Have you taken a look at what things look like from the ground in the Trappist1 system with the pre-release of scattered for 1.8.1...if so do things look like you expect?  (I am spending most of my time in Trappist1 system at the moment)

Have you heard any reports on Making History DLC's behavior with exoplanet mods?  I seem to be able to set vessel orbits just fine around exoplanets, but strangely even though the DLC shows things OK (more or less...but that is a longer story not related to REX :-) during the config for placing a vessels on surfaces of planets with surfaces (like Trappist 1e or 1g or 1d) when I test the mission instead of placing the vessle on the specified lat/lon/alt it spawns it inside Trappist1 itself (i.e. the star).

For 1f, quite a clever effect you have implemented!, I assume it is to show part of the atmosphere freezing onto the surface?  Do you intend for that line to stay over a specific constant location (e.g. cloud spawning/freezing out at a specific sun angle)

This mod is visually beautiful & very well organized 'under the hood'!  Thanks for your great work :-)

Edited February 13, 2020 by AloE
serious typos ;-)

[Andi K.]

@AloE I have tested it with scatterer for 1.8.1, and everything looked normal to me. Please tell me if you notice anything unusual!

As for Making History, I do not have the DLC myself so I'm unable to test it with REX and I'm unaware of the kind of weird behavior that can arise when using Making History with exoplanet mods. I should probably get the DLC at some point to ensure everything works smoothly.

I'm not totally sure what you mean by this "line" on TRAPPIST-1f. It's quite possible that you're seeing a texture seam that I just didn't notice. Could you show me a screenshot of what you're talking about?

Also, thank you for your continued interest in Real Exoplanets! It continues to motivate me to continue working on this mod  

[AloE]

4 hours ago, AndrewDraws said:

I'm not totally sure what you mean by this "line" on TRAPPIST-1f.

This 1080p screen capture video shows this 'effect I described for Trappist1f in REX with RSS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/rXn2AUvNGTLMj74z7   

On 1/30/2020 at 11:48 AM, AndrewDraws said:

I do feel like I should change the color of TRAPPIST-1e's foliage to be a dark purple rather than the current green color, though it might just look a little strange. We'll see!

I vote at least for some reddish-purple cyanobacteria in snow cone fields ;-) (I've seen that in the spring snow in several places here on Earth & it can be pretty) so maybe some pink/purple halos in some snow areas that have lots of sun & warmer temps could be a subtle 'nod to mysterious exo-plants' (& still be pretty)...lol & dark purple-ish/black halos near river deltas could also make sense both as algae either as kelp/seaweed forests or as 'red tide' blooms... Dark red-purple maple trees are also pretty on Earth, so maybe one dark purple forest ;-)  Though in defense of the pretty green currently on Trappist1e what might be an interesting result with M type stars for 'average' human eyesight & 'green plant type photosynthetically active radiation (PAR)' is that there is still a 'relative' large amount of green/yellow emitted by the star so any 'red/blue' dominant photosynthesis similar to Earth types could appear very green reflective if imported from Earth or if for some reason green wavelengths were not harnessed by organisms that have pigments that preferentially harvest infrared...that is if the 1st 500 million years does not convert 'to many hundreds of oceans' worth of water (pdf link: abiotic O2 accumulation around M dwarf)  ;-)  Thanks!

[Andi K.]

10 hours ago, AloE said:

This 1080p screen capture video shows this 'effect I described for Trappist1f in REX with RSS:

That looks like a glitch that only appears in the tracking station. I think if you use hyperedit to teleport yourself over to TRAPPIST-1f, that weird effect shouldn't be there.

[FreeThinker]

19 hours ago, AndrewDraws said:

That looks like a glitch that only appears in the tracking station. I think if you use hyperedit to teleport yourself over to TRAPPIST-1f, that weird effect shouldn't be there.

Notice that with  the latest release of KSPIE you can travel to TRAPPIST  by Alcubiere warpdrive in less then 50 hours game time. This can of cource be speed up with timewarp

 

[Andi K.]

1 hour ago, FreeThinker said:

Notice that with  the latest release of KSPIE you can travel to TRAPPIST  by Alcubiere warpdrive in less then 50 hours game time. This can of cource be speed up with timewarp

 

I was telling him that more as a way to test if the glitch is still there when you travel to the planet

[AloE]

On 2/14/2020 at 11:49 AM, AndrewDraws said:

looks like a glitch that only appears in the tracking station.

Indeed Trappist1f (as well as the other Trappist1 planets) appear with more normal EVE & Scatterer clouds/atm when in orbit & Map view (via hyperedit check ;-)  Interestingly, hypereditting a ship over there appears to maybe even mitigate the planet glitch when viewed again from the Earth KSC tracking station...

@FreeThinker I've been enjoying reading parts of the conversation over at your Proxima Challenge thread...I'll check out the Alcubiere warpdrive...I've been interested in eventually dreaming up a reasonable & 'interesting'  enough 'longterm background' scenario to help younger age groups feel  how far away these places are...maybe one old computer dedicated to running REX Kerbal 24x7 with favorite Kerbals in cool transports to the various REX systems & their progress can be checked once a week or so over a couple of months (or years) (or maybe even a screen feed/webcam with progress stats & boredom jokes they can check online themselves; -)

REX RSS RSSVE Trappist1f (post vessel hyperedit)

Edited February 16, 2020 by AloE
updates

[FreeThinker]

13 hours ago, AloE said:

I've been interested in eventually dreaming up a reasonable & 'interesting'  enough 'longterm background' scenario to help younger age groups feel  how far away these places are

If you want to experience what 4 light years to proxima centauri  travel realy means, you should build a deadalus powered colony ship and try to get there within 50 years.

Edited February 16, 2020 by FreeThinker

[AloE]

On 2/16/2020 at 3:12 PM, FreeThinker said:

daedalus powered colony ship...<snip>....try to get there within 50 years

I see I have some seriously interesting interstellar probe reading to do directly related to REX & a 'longterm background edu scenario'  ...thank you:  Project Icarus Interstellar (2019) current progress of "PROJECT ICARUS: Son of Daedalus: Presented at the British Interplanetary Society Daedalus after 30 years symposium" (2009) continuation of  British Interplanetary Society (BIS) Project Daedalus (1970s) 

Spoiler

source: https://www.bis-space.com/what-we-do/projects/project-daedalus

 

[Andi K.]

On 2/13/2020 at 3:43 PM, mcwaffles2003 said:

Sorry, but I am once again having the problem where my download only half completes on spacedock when trying to get the 0.9.4 update. Could you possibly link another dropbox update?

Hey sorry I took so long to do this:

https://github.com/AndrewDraws/Real-Exoplanets/releases

[mcwaffles2003]

3 hours ago, AndrewDraws said:

Hey sorry I took so long to do this:

https://github.com/AndrewDraws/Real-Exoplanets/releases

You're good, I think there's just something weird between spacedock and my computers as it seems to have a file size cap when downloading

[Andi K.]

Some more terrain screenshots:

Currently testing to make sure everything looks normal in stock as well as in RSS before I release an update. Proxima Centauri c will be coming to this update as well.

[SynX]

I don't think one will download this before KSPIE though. As all of us know, chemical rockets are impractical for interstellar travel, also to have a better understanding the vast scale of the universe.

On 2/14/2020 at 11:15 AM, AndrewDraws said:

@AloE I have tested it with scatterer for 1.8.1, and everything looked normal to me. Please tell me if you notice anything unusual!

As for Making History, I do not have the DLC myself so I'm unable to test it with REX and I'm unaware of the kind of weird behavior that can arise when using Making History with exoplanet mods. I should probably get the DLC at some point to ensure everything works smoothly.

I'm not totally sure what you mean by this "line" on TRAPPIST-1f. It's quite possible that you're seeing a texture seam that I just didn't notice. Could you show me a screenshot of what you're talking about?

Also, thank you for your continued interest in Real Exoplanets! It continues to motivate me to continue working on this mod  

what version of dependencies shall I install? Community terrain texture pack is only updated to 1.5.x, and does this work?

[Ciko]

Why MechJeb can`t calculate inetrplanetary transfer to any of this exoplanet?

Can anyone show me guide or proper eject orbit ?

[AloE]

On 2/22/2020 at 6:40 PM, AndrewDraws said:

Currently testing to make sure everything looks normal in stock as well as in RSS before I release an update.

Do you happen to be checking also with the v.055 Scatterer for 1.8.1 (for me it seems to be behaving differently than the v.0541 'pre-release' 1.8.1 Scatterer).  Thus, when you have a moment, would be great to know from you which scatterer version(s) produces your intended/desired 'RSS REX approved ' appearance ;-)  Thanks!

[hypervelocity]

On 3/1/2020 at 5:39 AM, Ciko said:

Why MechJeb can`t calculate inetrplanetary transfer to any of this exoplanet?

Can anyone show me guide or proper eject orbit ?

@Ciko, sadly an usual coplanar Hohmann transfer won't work for interstellar travel. The only way to effectively reach these targets is by using relativistic propulsion systems and "simply" pointing straight at the target.

Edited March 2, 2020 by hypervelocity

[Andi K.]

Updated REX last night. The most major additions are the implementation of the new terrain shaders for all of the terrestrial planets and the addition of Proxima Centuari c

[Andi K.]

On 3/1/2020 at 4:49 PM, AloE said:

Do you happen to be checking also with the v.055 Scatterer for 1.8.1 (for me it seems to be behaving differently than the v.0541 'pre-release' 1.8.1 Scatterer).  Thus, when you have a moment, would be great to know from you which scatterer version(s) produces your intended/desired 'RSS REX approved ' appearance ;-)  Thanks!

The latest version of scatterer should work

[HebaruSan]

Would you be interested in having this listed on CKAN? We've had a user request for it. I would take care of all the file editing, all you'd have to do is say yes.

[Andi K.]

27 minutes ago, HebaruSan said:

Would you be interested in having this listed on CKAN? We've had a user request for it. I would take care of all the file editing, all you'd have to do is say yes.

Yeah sure, if all I have to do is say yes, then why not lol

[pmborg]

Hello @AndrewDraws,

The world science never stop to amaze and surprise us, and there are already two potential updates for this wonderful mod

• But unfortunately there is no Proxima-b planet anymore, it was a wrong data interpretation.
• For other-hand there is a new super earth discovered and called Proxima-c.

Cheers!

[Andi K.]

4 minutes ago, pmborg said:

Hello @AndrewDraws,

The world science never stop to amaze and surprise us, and there are already two potential updates for this wonderful mod

• But unfortunately there is no Proxima-b planet anymore, it was a wrong data interpretation.
• For other-hand there is a new super earth discovered and called Proxima-c.

Cheers!

Ummm... Proxima Centauri b has been confirmed for a loooong time. If it's confirmed that means that there is little doubt that it exists. Can you please provide a source that says Proxima Centauri b doesn't exist?

As for Proxima Centauri c, this is old news and in fact, I've already added Proxima Centauri c as a mini-neptune into REX.

Edited March 9, 2020 by AndrewDraws