Bridge Commander Central
BC Forums => BC Modding => Topic started by: cordanilus on September 22, 2007, 02:28:06 PM
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I'm trying out something which looks good but there's a catch.
I may not know enough to complete this package but I'm going to try anyway.
( Moderators, if this is in the wrong place, you have my permsision to move it. :D )
I know Rob is making his own (most likely better) for his project but I'm making one (Possibly for release) for videos. The model will be used in (my install) BC though.
Here's some pics for now, I have tried out a few things and it looks impressive but can use a lot of resources on BC. It's only 8640 polys but making them in layers makes for a big "_vox". about 40 mb so it means long to load the first time. Even on my dual-core pc.
I would like to have the Earth Ship placed in a system and have the clouds layer as a seperate ship and placed in the exact same spot. I have done this as the planet using my model and texture but that cuts out the glow altogether. I don't have enough skills for that and I don't know how to rotate things anyway. Also, I've tried to use the blinkers with a texture of an atmosphere I made but, found a strange thing.
If it doesn't work, it'll be just used for videos. :D
It may take a while to complete this since I have to learn more about scripting. But that's another story, lol.
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just an FYI, atmospheres are nowhere near that thick on real planets, though i understand it may be necessary for game mechanics.
Diameter of the earth is 12.7k kilometres. Atmospheric effects become noticeable at 120km. the thickness of the atmosphere is therefore 1/50 the thickness of the planet.
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Very daring concept, Cordanilus!
IMO, the planet models in Bridge Commander needed to be upgraded.
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just an FYI, atmospheres are nowhere near that thick on real planets
I just made it that way so it can be seen easily. That glow is a blinker, turning your ship makes the blinker offset as shown in the last picture. So blinkers are out.
Before, I tried a second layer (modeled) for the clouds and another layer for the atmosphere as you see in the first pics.
Gonna keep trying out different things anyway. :D
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Cool. :D The first pics do look really impressive.
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Impressive indeed, nice start cordanilus. 8)
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Oh yes. Bren just reminded me of something.
The idea of using the blinker for an atmosphere, was his idea from a thread over at BCS.
I thought that I'd give it a try but unfortunately, the strange effect that I noticed was that the blinker does not stay in the middle at all times. On picture 4, at a certain distance and angle, the picture looks great. On picture 5, the view is much closer and at an angle but you see the result, the glow is offset from the planet. The blinker seems not to stay put and as a result, I can't use it.
It was a brilliant idea I must admit, too bad it doesn't work. I'm going to have to find another way to simulate an atmosphere.
Update:
I have the Earth model ingame, it has the atmosphere effect, moving clouds and lights glowing on the dark side. All that is left to do is to figure out, how to simulate an atmosphere on the planet.
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(http://space.alglobus.net/Basics/whyImages/earthFromSpace.gif)
Might not be necessary? The atmosphere is so thin as to be almost invisible.
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RC is correct... the atmosphere on a planet is almost like an egg-shell...
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3/4 of the atmosphere is within 12km of the surface, or 0.1% of the diameter of the planet. This would be effectively invisible.
Atmospheric effects become apparent at 120km, or 1% of the diameter of the planet. still pretty much invisible.
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you almost don't need an atmospheric effect with that kind of texturing! it depends on how well it is, i dont think it should stand out that much, maybe just have it add a blueish hue around the planet's surface.
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Okay, I'll leave out the atmosphere for now.
I'm making a video of what the planet looks like and will post a link up here when it's finished.
It'll probably be a video of a few projects I'm currently working on. My own projects and that of under SBP07.
Should be interesting. :D
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Looks excellent, very detailed.
Great work.
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As I understand it, Cordanilus was using the fat atmosphere in his screens for experimentation purposes. The final effect would be very subtle, given further development.
It may still be possible with another method, I need to look into something first, but I'm very busy with college at the moment.
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I quite like it, as it was previously said, a little work on the atmosphere should help, but it looks promising.
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Looks lovely so far. So is this like a "station" you can put on a level in game or does it actually replace the stock planet?
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This will be in a system. It doesn't replace the stock planet. It was the only way to keep the glows on the planet ship. I can make certain parts transparent or translucent but I can add glows to stock planets...must be the programming of the game itself that disables the glows.
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Me likey. I should post more often in the future :?...
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Update:
Yup, I have the Earth in a custom system. It has glows and you can see the lights on the dark side and the clouds rotate.
I'll probably throw in a moon, a starbase and a probably a couple of drydocks to make it a complete system.
Now, I'm going to need a couple of Beta Testers. I'll be back in about 5 days so I'll choose then.
I'm looking for a dynamic bunch...
1 High-End PC (Dual-Core Pentium or AMD)
1 Medium-End PC (Single Core P4, Socket 423 or 478...or AMD, Socket A 462 or 754)
1 Low-End PC (P3 - Socket 370 or AMD Socket A 462)
I just want to test this beast in those settings to see how it fares and will need at least one of them not to be running KM 1.0 or 0.9
Anyhoo, that's all for now. :D
P.S.
Here's a quick pic.
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You do realise that you have the maps reversed on the sphere don't you?
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Looks great. I can test it- I have no KM install but also don't have DS9FX or Solar Synthesis. I do have NanoFX2.0B (obviously). I have a high-end dual core (E6400) PC with a decent graphics card (X1950XT).
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I would like to Beta test. I have a Single Core P4 Socket 478 with 1.25 GB of RAM and a GeForce 7600 GS video card. No KM installs.
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You do realize that you have the maps reversed on the sphere don't you?
On the earth sphere, ya. I just realized it before I left but I'll straighten that out once I get back.
ok, cor...you're in. SaBrE, I'll put you on the list but I was hoping for the km 1.0 install with a dual core system. Since there are people out there who install just about everything, I wanted to see if the earth model will run smoothley with everything installed.
I, myself, have a dual core with a lot of things installed but I want someone else with a similar configuration to try t out.
It should work on any kind of install, but I just want to try it out because I have never made a system for release and I want to test everything.
I guess I better stop yakking now in case I get into some trouble, lol. :D
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You can count me in for beta testing, Pentium dual core 2.8GHz 8)
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Yippee! Thank you, cordanilus :D
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i'll beta test if ya want :D, i have a high-end PC, Core 2 duo E6600 OC'd to 3.0ghz
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Despite the planet texture being backwards, this looks pretty sweet! Looking forward to updates!
FYI: Turn on anti-aliasing to make your screenshots look better (You have a dual core processor! Why wouldn't you have AA on all the time?! :P)
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FYI: Turn on anti-aliasing to make your screenshots look better (You have a dual core processor! Why wouldn't you have AA on all the time?! :P)
The AA is on, but I still don't know why it doesn't work properly. I am using the 64 bit version of windows and the AA works for windows but I haven't tried it any other games. I'm using the 32/64 bit driver version for my video card too. The video card is 512 MB and it was working perfectly before but something changed somewhere, somehow and I still can't firgure it out.
"Dr_McCoy1701A", you're definitely in.
"startrekw_george" Bones just beat you to it.
Now I need someone with a low end system. Preferrably a P3 or AMD equivalent.
Edit:
JB06 sent me a PM some days ago about beta testing. He has a High End PC so he's in for beta testing too. I'm keeping you in Bones, just adding 1 more to the list.
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Looks great. I can test it- I have no KM install but also don't have DS9FX or Solar Synthesis. I do have NanoFX2.0B (obviously). I have a high-end dual core (E6400) PC with a decent graphics card (X1950XT).
Almost the same here ;)...
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HI all. :D
I just found out why my AA wasn't working in game. Was this (single) button in my Catalyst Control Center that says "Use Cutsom Settings". Had to make sure that was on when playing. He he, I guess I'm not as techno-savvy as I thought.
I have 6 people on my Beta Testing list and have found people of all categories. I will now package the system up and send it when I can.
Note: It'll just be the Earth (only) in the system for now until Earth has passed the rigorous testing. Once that's done, I will fill it with a Starbase and some docks.
- Should I put in one of SBP07 drydocks in there?
- Should I make it a requirement? (If it's in there)
- Maybe make 2 installs, one with stock drydock and one with SBP07 drydock?
Anyway, He's an update Picture with the AA at 16x.
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Very nice looking planet! You should rename this project Genesis lol
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Thanks.
I have found even bigger textures for Earth.
Here they are, 4096 x 2048. Both the Earth Texture and the Clouds.
I think I'll make 2 installs in the same rar file. This way, those who have High End computers can enjoy the very detailed Earth. I don't have a clue if these large textures will work on medium end, or even lower end computers for that matter but this is where the beta testers come in.
Will try to get it packed up and sent out to you guys today sometime. :D
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Don't the pixel counts for the height and width need to be the same (and preferably powers of 2), ie 2048x2048, 4096x4096?
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nope, as long as they follow the 2 rule. I've made other textures before that are 1024x64 and 1024x512. They work. :D
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be aware that some Texture resolution dont work on some PCs I have a large earth Texture which works fine on my PC but does not load on my Laptop
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I have checked this out in further detail and this is my conclusion:
My Dual Core computer with 512 MB vid card and 2 GB RAM can handle 4096x4096 max in BC.
My Pentium 4 2.8 Ghz, 533Mhz FSB, 1 GB RAM with 256 MB vid card can handle 2048x2048 max.
I don't have a 128 MB vid card in any of my computers so I can assume that it's max texture size is 1024x1024.
I could be wrong, but in light of this new information...I will be making several installs of Earth for different ranges of graphics settings. 512, 1024, 2048 and 4096.
I will place 512 and 1024 in the same install but the other 2 will have to have seperate installs.
Thanks Rob, I probably would've found out the hard way. At least I can prepare for it now. :D
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Really nice work on the Earth Textures and to find some at 4096x4096 Resolution is a real bonus. :)
Though I think that you could perhaps do with reducing the size of the textures to 2048x2048, and not lose to much detail even at close range such as when you are in orbit. :D
In anycase, I'm really impressed with the work you've done, keep it up!! 8)
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In truth, NASA has earth textures that are 21600x21600, but that's only 1/12 of the world. You have to combine 12 of these to make a complete Earth, lol. I thought that was so incredible, it almost halted my computer when I loaded it into photoshop. :D
The textures are going to be this:
512x256
1024x512
2048x1024
4096x2048
With the largest texture, you can see rivers and little lakes pretty good from orbit. I was planning to use the highest textures for videos.
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Agreed the highest , would make for a good video
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(http://space.alglobus.net/Basics/whyImages/earthFromSpace.gif)
Might not be necessary? The atmosphere is so thin as to be almost invisible.
To quote bill bryson, If you were to scale theearth down to the size of a standard desktop globe, the atmosphere would be the equivilant of a few layers of varnish on the globe.
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Hey Cord, I did a quick render of a plant model using my approach for an atmospheric effect. Is this the kind of effect that you're looking for (please ignore the crapiness of the clouds and the planet texture - it was a quick render using pre-existing textures that max had)?
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Yeah that was the effect I was going for that Cord based this on.
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The atmosphere effect uses three spherical layers. The first layer is actually the planet map that max has under opacity. The ocean section of the planet map will obviously be used for the sky - dark blue. The land section of the map is used for the clouds - all white. Opacity is set to 25%. The second layer is just a dark blue with opacity set to 15%. And the Third layer is another dark blue with opacity set to 10%. However, if you want a more smoother blend from a higher opacity to a lower opacity, you would want to use more layers, especially if you're in low orbit / close proximity to the planet so it looks better. From far away distances, you can use a model with fewer layers.
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Yeah that's the exact effect I was using in the original thread at BCS (http://bcscripters.com/forums/index.php/topic,1105.0.html), or close enough to it.
I had a little trouble with the transparency, and then I gave up on that method because it gave the planets involved heinous polycounts.
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Here's a site for huge textures for almost every planet in our solar system. It has speculars, bump maps, and normal maps as well. To bad BC can only use the specular though:
http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/catalog/earth.php
I've got an Earth texture from there thats 16384x16384 :P
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Hey Dude, that's an awesome find.
Here's a site for huge textures for almost every planet in our solar system. It has speculars, bump maps, and normal maps as well. To bad BC can only use the specular though:
http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/catalog/earth.php
I've got an Earth texture from there thats 16384x16384 :P
You can get bigger textures from nasa for earth but for the other planets, that's cool.
I guess, the next question to all of you...
Should this be made into a new solar system for bc?
The high quality textures will be pretty high though. It's 21 MB just for earth.
And should Pluto be included if the entire solar system is made?
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Yeah, it would be cool to have a hi-res new solar system for BC... but maybe not too hi-res. 21mb just for Earth is pretty big and I can't imagine how big the mod will be in its complete form.
I would say a decently hi res but still practical.
Yes, I would include Pluto...
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Yeah, it would be cool to have a hi-res new solar system for BC... but maybe not too hi-res. 21mb just for Earth is pretty big and I can't imagine how big the mod will be in its complete form.
I would say a decently hi res but still practical.
Yes, I would include Pluto...
Include Pluto but as part of the Kuiper Belt. (New Frontier Has it set as this)
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Well, I would have put up a new post a lot sooner, but my modem died, and I'm running on a dial-up connection right now untill earthstink gives me a new modem (they said in about 2 weeks I'll get one from them.... which I think is bogus.... so tomorrow I'm going to Best Buy and get one for $50). Anyways, I was able to render up some more images of how I'm doing the atmosphere effect Cord with much better planet textures (almost photo real). But because of the dial-up connection that I have right now, I won't be able to post them. Anyways, I need to make a correction to a statement that I made. The middle atmosphere layer is a medium/dark blue with opacity at 10%. The third layer is a dark dark blue with opacity at 15%. Oh, and I have the water color set to black. The atmoshpere layers is what's giving it the blue color.
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I made some modifcations to Earth Mk 2.
You'll see in the pic below.
- I made an atmosphere that I'm still tweaking, I think I made the planet too blue.
- I'm still trying out new things in nifskope and is having promising results for future projects.
Pic 1 is Earth with the modifications.
Pic 2 is the Sphere model I added to it with a different color. See how it looks.
Neat :D
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:shock:
Wow, Cordanilus! That is very, very groovy! It barely looks like BC at all!
How'd you manage that?!
Very sweet!
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:arms: I Want one :P
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Absolutly the best looking planet model so far. I really like it.
Do you think when you are done with Earth you will do some more planets like this?
Keep up the good work :D
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The Earth shot is my new desktop background, well done, it's beautiful.
I simply must know how it is done... :arms:
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As I have just told you, It really looks brilliant! As Hawkins said its by far the best planet for BC right now, and I can't wait for the day I will orbit my ship around it. :D
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I have an interesting suggestion would you like me to modify the atmosphere effects so they replace the NanoFX ones, that way all the planets in BC have improved Atmosphere textures and Light bands.
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That is definately a good suggestion. :D
That would save a lot of time in the long run so I won't say no, lol.
Aren't the atmosphere of NanoFX planets a scripted sphere like the Nebulae? Because I don't know how to change how that is lit in BC. I can do this in a model sphere which will give off different looks.
If the model gets scripted in, that would be awesome and have the ability to swap textures for other planets' atmospheres...nice. :D
We can always chat it up on msn?
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NanoFX atmospheres are nothing more than a sun placed in the centre of a planet. The atmosphere is actually the stock star's corona effect with a different texture.
I doubt that it would be difficult to mod NanoFX 2b to automatically place these beautiful pearls on planets instead.
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NanoFX atmospheres are nothing more than a sun placed in the centre of a planet. The atmosphere is actually the stock star's corona effect with a different texture.
I doubt that it would be difficult to mod NanoFX 2b to automatically place these beautiful pearls on planets instead.
you'd have to change the Atmosphere.py file in the Nano FX folder, its doable im not sure how much time i have to do it right now.
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might i suggest just doing two packs - high end (which still includes LOD models and textures), and alow end which has medium to high end models but lower res textures.
Otherwise youl endup just making too much work for yourself.
Also id suggest that having moving clouds on a separate layer is a waste of resources for a simple effect. It would look cool but I would just have the clouds one one layer on the texture with the earth diffuse and just have that rotating slowly.
Looks incredible, looking forward to release.
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Also id suggest that having moving clouds on a separate layer is a waste of resources for a simple effect. It would look cool but I would just have the clouds one one layer on the texture with the earth diffuse and just have that rotating slowly.
Moving clouds needs to be done in the actual system file and is about 4 lines of code:
vVelocity = App.TGPoint3_GetModelUp()
vVelocity.Scale(0.0005)
pPlanet.SetAngularVelocity(vVelocity, App.PhysicsObjectClass.DIRECTION_WORLD_SPACE)
It is very important to note that you MUST Disable Collisions between the planet, Glow sphere, and Cloud Sphere otherwise they will all collide and you will have a real mess.
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ah i see.
i still think in the interest of resources though that maybe you should just have the planet as it is, with out extra layers.
or perhaps a cut down version? thats a better idea...
does look good though.
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there's going to be 3 versions. med and small in one package. 1024x512 and 512x256 although i may just cut the smallest one out completely since the bigger one runs on a 32mb vid card.
the next package is 2048x1024 and the largest is 4096x2048.
i still think in the interest of resources though that maybe you should just have the planet as it is, with out extra layers.
or perhaps a cut down version? thats a better idea...
I could do that, but it won't look as good ingame. :D
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Hey cord, I did these renders about a month ago. I would have posted them here, but my internet was down... for about a month... so I forgot to post them up. I used only 3 layers for the atmosphere. As you can see, when you get closer to the planet, it is obvious that more layers in between are needed to get a decent fade efect. However, the result is still kind of cool. The water color is completely black, however, the color of the atmosphere makes it blue. So it ends up being the same color of the sky (which is kind of true to the real deal). The first layer has the cloud textures too. The other two layers are for the atmospheric fuz that you would get. If I could, I would get them a smudge closer, and maybe with about 6 more layers in between to get a better opacity fade from blue to black.
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Looks stunning to say the least...Excellent work cordanilus!! :spartasanta:
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Holy smokes, it's been a while with this one.
I've been toying around with the NIF - NiAlphaProperty and I've reached an amazing situation. I've discovered that this change allows the clouds to show better then previously. You'll have to look at the older pictures to see what it looked like before. Below is the newest screenshot of the Earth I'm working on.
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That's gorgeous man. Awesome.
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2 years later... :D
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Holy smokes, it's been a while with this one.
I've been toying around with the NIF - NiAlphaProperty and I've reached an amazing situation. I've discovered that this change allows the clouds to show better then previously. You'll have to look at the older pictures to see what it looked like before. Below is the newest screenshot of the Earth I'm working on.
Well look at this :D someones tryin to steal MotM title :funny hey Cord ! glad you got back with this one ;)
cookie btw. she's gorgeous
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I think I can see my home there! :eek
Firing cookiepedos.
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I think I can see my home there! :eek
Firing cookiepedos.
you live in the ocean?? LOL j/p
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I have added 4 Drydocks, 1 Starbase (standard) and 3 fed ships (standard). I'll upload another pic later. For now, just a few more things to adjust...then update all the testers.
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I think I can see my home there! :eek
Firing cookiepedos.
you live in the ocean?? LOL j/p
nah, around 1 or 2 o'clock in that pic.. that'd be Finland.
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Yum! All I have to say :D
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that looks amazing. good job
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Sweet, I just figured out a way to add my earth set to the warp list, without out having to write it in LoadNanoFX.py. Now, once you load up QB...my system is already there. Even before you make a custom game. :D
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Nicely done Cord mate.