Custom Biomes Update Thread

[theSpeare]

How about the science values for each biome?

[Trueborn]

The science values are actually based on the experiment, not the biome itself.

And I think the easiest solution for the sciencedefs issue is to crowdsource it to the crowd sourced science folks. Results definitions for biomes you don't have installed will just be ignored. Otherwise, a biome author could include a ScienceDefs.cfg with their own version.

Alternately, I can work on how to insert them directly like I'm doing with the biomes themselves. Then, the results could be included in the .att file. I'll look into it a bit, see how practical it would be.

[diomedea]

Atribute File Format:

Biome Name (string)

Alpha value (float, 0-1)

Red Value (float, 0-1)

Green Value (float, 0-1)

Blue Value (float, 0-1)

(next biome)

I am wondering who ever made coding colours with float numbers. RGBA values are generally single bytes, colour coding is normally seen in the hex range $00-$FF for each colour channel. Using floats with colours would make images a lot heavier than they are.

(And, single bytes are the most complex way to coding colours ever used in IT. Someone here remember the days of EGA or VGA, we had only 16 then only 256 colours to choose then).

Edited January 15, 2014 by diomedea

[Trueborn]

That's not the image coding, its just the attribute file. The image is a png, and stores the color values like you mentioned. The attributes values are stored in ksp as floats, so that's what I import from the file. I can add an option that assumes its an int from 0-255 if its over 0, or a float if its less than 1.

[diomedea]

That's not the image coding, its just the attribute file. The image is a png, and stores the color values like you mentioned. The attributes values are stored in ksp as floats, so that's what I import from the file. I can add an option that assumes its an int from 0-255 if its over 0, or a float if its less than 1.

Well, thanks for explaining, that weird coding is certainly not your fault. Even if that's just the attribute file, and that has to respond only to how biomes are managed and coded within KSP, it still seems unnecessary to me to use floats. Each biome image, just as you said, must have the colors for each point coded as bytes. So, why to use floats in that attribute file, just to make those colors correspond to a specific biome, instead of using the same, trusted and proven byte-long format? So to make KSP internally have to make some translation of sorts, because they like to use floats with every kind of data?

(sorry if the above may seem a bit rude, I have nothing against you, but just can't understand why things are made more complex then they need be, at least in my view of things. If you or others have hints on why they resorted to such coding, I would appreciate it).

[theSpeare]

So wait wait wait, the science values for (for example) the GooCanister and on a surface is the exact same for ALL surfaces for ALL bodies?

[Trueborn]

The science values are not defined in the biomes. Here is part of the crewReport section of ScienceDefs.cfg: The RESULTS section goes on to define everything that could show up in the dialog box when you run an experiment. The situationmask uses the defined situation bits to determine where you can run it (in other words, it is 6 true/false statements in one). Presumably the biomeMask does something similar, but I'm not sure what exactly. baseValue, scienceCap, and dataScale define how much science you get. I assume the scale either means you get more science the further out you go, or it takes more data to send the results. Anyway, the moral of the story is...how much Science you get is defined here, not in the biome definitions.

// situation bits:
// SrfLanded = 1,
// SrfSplashed = 2,
// FlyingLow = 4,
// FlyingHigh = 8,
// InSpaceLow = 16,
// InSpaceHigh = 32

EXPERIMENT_DEFINITION
{
    id = crewReport
    title = Crew Report
    baseValue = 5
    scienceCap = 8
    dataScale = 1

    requireAtmosphere = False
    situationMask = 63
    biomeMask = 7

    RESULTS
    {
        default = You record the crew's assessment of the situation.
       GillyInSpace = It looks like a particularly lumpy rock. You bet you could you could jetpack down there.

[Trueborn]

Well, thanks for explaining, that weird coding is certainly not your fault. Even if that's just the attribute file, and that has to respond only to how biomes are managed and coded within KSP, it still seems unnecessary to me to use floats. Each biome image, just as you said, must have the colors for each point coded as bytes. So, why to use floats in that attribute file, just to make those colors correspond to a specific biome, instead of using the same, trusted and proven byte-long format? So to make KSP internally have to make some translation of sorts, because they like to use floats with every kind of data?

(sorry if the above may seem a bit rude, I have nothing against you, but just can't understand why things are made more complex then they need be, at least in my view of things. If you or others have hints on why they resorted to such coding, I would appreciate it).

Because Unity's color class is defined using four floats. It allows for defining colors without knowing bit depth, maybe? Ask them

On an unrelated note, the elevation maps are now available for download. It has ScanSat's greyscale elevation map for every celestial body except, Kerbin, Mun, Minmus, the Sun and Jool. The former because they already have biomes, the latter because they're flat. I'll continue to work on some "stock" biomes, but you can come up with your own.

Download elevation maps.

Edited January 16, 2014 by Trueborn
Formatting.

[Superfluous J]

The elevation maps are now available for download. It has ScanSat's greyscale elevation map for every celestial body except, Kerbin, Mun, Minmus, the Sun and Jool. The former because they already have biomes, the latter because they're flat. I'll continue to work on some "stock" biomes, but you can come up with your own.

Sweet, though I only see Duna, Ike, and Moho in that link.

And what's up with that green rabbit on Duna?

[Trueborn]

This is the correct file.

Wrong link. Its fixed here, above, and more above. The stock biome pack will probably come out tomorrow, along with release 1.0.

[Trueborn]

Download basic biome pack.

The basick biome pack is now ready for download. Extract it to the GameData\CustomBiomes\PluginData\CustomBiomes folder, and enjoy some Science. I'll release the new version (with the biomes included) tomorrow.

[KhaosCorp]

Seeing something odd...

In career mode just got a craft into orbit around Moho with SCANsat Lowres altimeter and biome/anom sensors. Nothing coming up on map at all, its like the sensors are out of range.

Im using the custom biome pack that was just dune, ike, and moho, and Im honestly not sure if Im using latest scansat...gonna check those things now, just figured Id see if anyone else has scaned custom biomed planet yet.

[Trueborn]

Hmm, it seems to be working fine on my end. If you click on the CustomBiomes toolbar button, and then toggle the map, do you get the new maps, or no data? Also, your output_log.txt should tell you which biomes and attributes have been replaced.

And, I've uploaded a new version of the Basic Biomes pack (same link as above). JOOL.txt should be JOOL.att, and VAL.att should be VALL.att Expect the 1.0 release tonight sometime.

[KhaosCorp]

Not sure what was going on, but it seems to have magicaly fixed itself over night.

[Trueborn]

Version 1.0 is released.

This download is the full 1.0 release, with toolbar and the basic biome pack. The GUI is disabled by default, but can be turned back on in the config file using the DisableGUI field. This thread will now be used for upcoming changes rather than general discussion. I'll be starting a new thread in the addon releases forum.

[123nick]

is kerbin still debug color biomes? with black,red, so on?

[KhaosCorp]

is kerbin still debug color biomes? with black,red, so on?

If it is its easy to fix...go into 'CustomBiomes' folder in your GameData, delete the Kerbin.png and Kerbin.att files. With those gone the plugin will let the defaults load.

[Trueborn]

Check out the new version of the plugin on the release thread. It has a complete set of biomes, no longer including the test texture.

Release thread.

[Trueborn]

I'm releasing a beta version of Custom Biomes 1.4

Download 1.4 Beta

There are a few major elements to this release.

First, the plugin should now handle non-Windows directory structures. This makes the plugin compatible with Mac and Linux installs.

Second, you can now inject custom Science results into the program. Instead of getting the default response from experiments conducted in new biomes, you can get ones specific to that biome. Unfortunately, it isn't as simple as adding new entries to your ScienceDefs.cfg There is a new file in the basic biome set called ScienceResults.txt, which contains the new science defs. The format is simple, and pretty self explanatory. Start each experiment with a line id = experimentid. Then, define the experimental results as PlanetConditionBiome = Result text. Here is an example:

id = temperatureScan
DunaSrfLandedNorthPole = Duna's North Pole is significantly colder than the rest of the surface.
DunaSrfLandedMidlands = It's thin atmosphere and distance from the sun makes for cold temperatures year round.

Next, the biome attribute window lists the current biome for the active vessel. Also, the biome map also displays an 'X' at the vessel's current location. This is mostly for making sure the reported biome matches up to what it is supposed to, and doesn't imply that I'm getting into the mapping game.

Known Issues:

The main Custom Biomes window still flickers.

If you come across anything else behaving badly, please let me know. I would like to release this version fairly soon if no one discovers any major issues.