Release Oolite

[mongrol]

Hi mongrol - I've got a CC unit too, I also find on occasions that the game will freeze, mostly whilst pressing hyperspeed (J), having spent quite a bit of time trying to "find" faults with this (not because I'm a pain in the a**e), so that I can find out the capabilities etc. if, whilst warping you make a change in movement, or attempt to change view, I've found that it will lock. Its not due to the amount of OXPs that are installed, or the size of the swap file (which is highly recommended as CC users will not get far without one), as I've had a 1GB swap file. The constraints of the CC unit I think are to blame, unless 1GHz users are finding the same issue? One way I've found to avoid this issue, is whilst warping (J) every 3-4 seconds I just ease off, and let it begin to go to normal speed or press the warp (J) button again, this seems to me to correct this fault. In lay-mans terms, It could be that its trying to process too much, and slowing the warp down for a second or two allows it to catch up, I've not had any more issues with it since then. we are asking a lot of our tired CC units to run something which only runs on high end PC's. However if 1GHz users have the same issue please post?

What does that mean? Oolite lockup wen going full jump speed, or if change view while jumping? How to reproduce the lock? Just Jump (J) and change view (2)?

With me I toggle J on and drive round the outside of the system to get to the planet. This avoids all most interruptions. So press J to enable Jump, then "steer" by holding directions. I've also had it lock up when jumping straight into an asteroid field so it may well be a computational overrun,

By lock I mean oolite freezes only. I can usually ssh in and kill the process. Once I had to remove the battery.

 

[milinks]

there are a number of ways of approaching a planet in oolite, the same as Elite. I'm speaking as though people haven't played either before, so please excuse me it was designed that there was a "tunnel" from the witchspace bouy and pointing the planet dead centre in your cross hairs, this is the route that Galcop Vipers (the police) and pirates etc hang about on, so you're more than likely to be interrupted in your jumps (J). This, in computational speak is high memory usage, as it kicks in the AI of the ships/objects along that route, so aiming directly at a planet will be the slowest route for the ship, and the computer if that makes sense. The game was designed for a "short-cut" for those who wanted to trade quickly without getting into too many fights too often, the way to do this, is upon exiting from a witchspace jump, stop your ship, centre your cross-hairs on the sun, then in your aegis (the circle with the movebale commpass) place the smaller "planet" circle, (which if youre facing it will be solid green, facing away will be a red outlined circle) so that it is just above the centre of the aegis, when you press warp jump (J) your ship will begin to move faster, keep the green circle, just above centre of the aegis, so that the actual planet is either just appearing at the top of the screen or is, depending on how far you plot it, not visible on your screen. This route is what is called away from the witchlane, and is free of pirates, police etc. The computer runs faster also this route as the AIs of the police/pirate objects are not kicked in. I'm in the process of writing these bits up for the help of those playing oolite, either for the first time, new to the space trading saga, or those who experienced but would like reference. If there's any questions please ask, as if i can't answer with regards to gameplay, the oolite bulletin boards will help me, and their are people waaay!! more knowledgable than me on the programming front here on this topic.

 

[milinks]

@PtitSeb - i'm not sure if its an issue with CC units alone due to its specs, ir if it happens on 1GHz units also (anyone with a 1GHz unit please shout)but when you are travelling towards a planet using the "J" warp button, if kept pressed for too long, the unit will crash, i.e lock up, the screen will freeze and the unit becomes unresponsive to any quit commands etc. I was explaing that i've found that to avoid this, evry few seconds whilst using warp "J" button, to ease off it, and then repress. My thoughts are that due to the AI requirements of flying directly towards a planet, invoking police, pirate objects ships etc it causes a memory spike causing it to freeze up.

@mongrol - if/when the unit freezes in the same circumstances you can press the "pandora" button, whilst flicking the off switch on the side of the unit, it will save you taking the battery out, also could you post the crash log from /oolite/home/.Oolite/logs and i can do the same and see of there is a common thread.

 

[Gandi]

I've been reading this long thread with a lot of interest!
(Just installed Oolite and downloading a couple of OXP's now).

I totally missed this game by now!

I think this has the potential of becoming one of the pandora top titles really.

 

[mongrol]

J doesn't need to be held down to jump(warp). It's a toggle. I've managed to play for a bit and by only jumping for 5 or so seconds at a time I can get places. Awesome to see this game on Pandora. ptitseb is godlike.

 

[spud42]

beat me i was about to ask if the function of the "j"toggle was different in this port....not having a pandora, does it have a key repeat function for keys held down? if so the repeated in and out of warp may be the cause of lockups/freezes?

my commander Cowen is a bit of a chicken , so far.... hes only gotten to Mostly Harmless with 15 self defense kills....

as for the BGS i find it stutters a couple of times through the animation of a witchspace jump on my PC. now i know it is not the fastest around but a Q6600 OC to 3GHz and a GTX 560Ti with 4Gb ram should be ok.

so i was wondering if its part of the scripting for the animation, or as Dietz said is it the populating of the area of stars at the destination?

 

[milinks]

J doesn't need to be held down to jump(warp). It's a toggle. I've managed to play for a bit and by only jumping for 5 or so seconds at a time I can get places. Awesome to see this game on Pandora. ptitseb is godlike.

Dindnt mean to confuse the issue with the "J" button, i didnt mean it meant keeping it held down, i was trying to explain that by easing off, pressing the J button to cancel the jump, it gave the computer time to catch up, and then didnt freeze screen as often.

@spud42 - whether i'm a bit of a wimp but i traded before i got into any combat... i hiked from lave through Zaonce, to isinor, then from there traded computers to Qutiri and furs to Isinor back again, earning about 20k using the quick route to get to the planet i mentioned before, before i started to get involved in trying to fight. thought i'd get a scoop and a decent laser first...

 

[levi]

Pandora terminals do feature keyboard repeat, but I think that's a feature of the TTY while games traditionally poke at the keyboard matrix directly. Certainly if you fly out of a station and immediately hold down the j key (or L+A) it will only beep at you once, suggesting it's not autorepeating in game.


I've just tried holding down J for 20 seconds while flying towards a space station, although I'd already taken a bit of a detour, so I wasn't flying down the 'tunnel'. No lockups on my GHz unit.


The only small lockup I get is when accessing the planet info screen, screen 7. At first I thought it was the game calculating the fractals to work out what the stats should be, but then I found out about pressing i on the short range scanner (screen 6) and that shows all the stats for local traffic immediately, so I'm not sure what the delay on screen 7 is.


One thing I have noticed that even flying to the sun (a traditionally low-traffic route) the game does access my PND-storing SD card occasionally. I'd guess it's loading stuff rather than saving it (I don't have swap enabled, by the way), but what it needs to load there I don't know.

 

[ZXDunny]

Ok, can I get a list of recommended OXPs for a CC unit? There's a lot out there and there's a few I imagine might drag performance down to a crawl.

D.

 

[levi]

I'm only playing with the market observer and compact HUD OXPs at the moment.  Sure, the ships don't have any fancy texturing, but you can only see the blue flame when they're not right on top of you anyway.

In other news, someone please help!  I've switched on wireframe graphics in the options, and it's rendered all the text unreadable!  Even reloading an old save doesn't seem to help.  I can get back to the options screen - on screen 2 when docked it's the fifth item in the menu and I've worked out that the sixth item in that menu is full screen/menu, but I can't seem to find the wireframe option.  I can hear some of the items toggling when I go left and right, but when I hit the bottom item ('back' I think) then launch, everything's still wireframe.  Is there some 'save settings' option I need to do first?

 

[milinks]

@levi - I've loaded up oolite on the PC to see if I can help you through the menu process, and looking at how the menu equates with that on the Pandora, as they do differ due to the espeak options not being available on the Pandora etc..firstly...wow! that is one weird look with the wireframes on (ahem.. not helping is it) on the main oolite Pandora menu you need to press down 3 times and enter,  then when the next menu comes up you need to press down 7 times and press LEFT on your D-pad. that puts the wireframe option to OFF. hope that helps

edit: - forgot to mention that you need to quit the game and THEN restart it, and the changes will come into effect. I've checked it on my Pandora and it works fine, you may have changed some of the other parameters by error, when you've been trying to reset, as you've got the wrong number of times to go down, so the planet quality etc may need changing also once you've got the wireframes off.

 

[milinks]

Ok, can I get a list of recommended OXPs for a CC unit? There's a lot out there and there's a few I imagine might drag performance down to a crawl.


D.

hi, i'm putting together a list of OXPs that run well on the pandora, but its going to take me a couple of days, as im seeking the input of the guys in the know at the oolute boards as well for their input, however i can briefly give you something to start with, and those who wish to add OXPs that are not draining on the Pandora units.

(ALL the OXPs listed here I currently have installed on my CC Pandora with a swap file, without any problems with performance) All OXPs are installed into the AddOns folder in the oolite directory, and come with ReadMe.Txts, its always worthwhile reading them to make sure you get the most out of each OXP.

Firstly, I will list a few "eye candy / ambience" OXPs, that run well on the Pandora.

BGS.oxp which is the background set (split into three parts customsounds, images for screens etc, and ambient sounds and special effects, these can be loaded as one OXP, or if you wish, you can install all or one of these parts from the BGS.oxp screen. This OXp needs to be run in conjuction with the Cabal Common Library.oxp (this adds a lot of scripting with cool stuff, incorporates an on screen keyboard for options etc) and also the SNOOPERS.oxp, this adds a lot of background stuff such as news as news items, enhanced planet/galaxy info, it really enhance the feel of the game.

(If you wish not to add the above, but want to have a bit of a change, then you can add the Betterscreens.oxp, which gives the docked screens a better feel, and add one of the customsounds.oxps, all of which can be found in the ambience section of the OXP wiki list on page one of this thread.

Ive also added halsis.oxp to give an additional voice within the cockpit when flying, it adds to the ambience and can be found in that category, If you have BGS fitted, there is a halsis_BGS1.2.oxp patch that allows both to run together, however if you don't have anyof the BGS set installed you don't need the patch.

THe YourAddHere, or YAW.OXP, and the additional Yaw_set.OXPs add an amazingly impressive array of advertising bouys at witchpace locations etc, its worth looking into the textures folder of the Yaw_sets.OXPs to see the artwork and how much effort has gone into them. they're all Ads you may recognise with a slant of Elite/ oolite mixed in!

RealisticStars.oxp is very nice which puts different star clusters and images though the galaxy as you fly, visually very good.

A new HUD heads up display gives the game a great feel, and easier (in my opinion to show your info on screen during battles, the one I currently use is DeepspaceHUD.oxp. By just installing the HUD.oxp it will override the old HUD until you choose another one or delete it.

I have a number of planet OXPs, so that when you visit these planets, they enhance your experience.

the TOGY.oxp the Tionisla Oribital GraveYard.oxp along with the additional shipwreck.Oxp

Lave.OXP adds a nice touch when youre starting out in the game at Lave.

DisXP.

LaveAcademy.oxp which is a neat "fighter/pilot training" oxp with different missions to choose from etc.

the MarketObserver.OXP mentioned by Levi here is a very good OXP to help you get the most out of trading and making profits

For ship OXPs, there are so many, however for a start there are some I recommend..

Griff alloys and wreckage.oxp which enhances the current objects within the game

GriffShipset Resources.oxp and the GriffShipset Addition.oxp, you need to install both to make them work correctly as the resources has all the model files etc whilst the addition.oxp is an OXP which ive chosen to ADD to the ship game files already in oolite, however there is a REPLACE.oxp within the griffset, which replaces the ships in oolite, I'd rather have them both, so I've use the addition.oxp

Also Griffs NoShaders Shipset.oxp is a fantastic oxp which does as it says, gives a lot of amazing new ships which are not shader dependant, and therefore not memory hungry on the Pandora.

HOopy Casino.oxp is a fantastic looking ship/ dockable object where you can chill out, play games, go to the bar etc.

If you like to add to your cash with a bit of space mining the MinerPod.oxp is a neat mining help, definitely worth a look

I could list more, especially missions, which there are many, and some are dependant on which galaxy you are in, I recommend Assassins.oxp which is a very good missions addition, along with longway.oxp and randomhits,oxp which are both very good mission OXPs.

There are a LOT of OXPs which you can download which will not become active unless you're in the right galaxy/planet to start it off, or you've got to BUY the option when docked at a planet, but you have to bear in mind that not all planets are at the same technical level, so some things can only be bought at certain Tech levels, one example I have is Hyperradio.oxp, and the additional music pack.OXPs for it, it costs 1200C to buy the licence and is then switched on by the Additional usage buttons "n" and shift/n"

Hopefully for a quick brief list that should at least get you started, and give you a view on what CAN be done with Oolite, but remember its just the tip of the iceberg and no list is going to be the right list for everyone, so choose as you please. I will be creating a startup for Pandora Oolite users shortly so it will have (hopefully) all your questions, help included. Hope this is helpful

 

[levi]

Thanks miilinks!  Got wireframes off thanks to your notes - I'd not been quitting just launching and redocking (tricky that in wireframe mode, but thankfully I've got a docking computer).  Bit odd as to set it on I'd only needed to set it and launch, but never mind, sorted now. FYI the options menu is four times down from the F2 menu - three down is begin new game on my machine.

Regarding Griff's noshader shipset, can you give us a link for that?  Searching for noshader on the Elite wiki doesn't give me any hits, and searching for non-shader takes me to the Black Monks OXP and the link for the non-shader OXP is broken.

I'll second Your Ad Here.  I've not installed it yet, but Market Observer contains quite a lot of advert textures from it.  I guess a few of the OOlite crew are British, judging by the ads for Tescoo and the likes.

 

[milinks]

there are two in-game options i HIGHLY recommend getting when you have the momey to purchase them; the first is the

Advanved. navigational Array, this is purchaseble as an uprade fromlevel 7 planets, and lets you plot your course across the galaxy, minimising mis-jumps, indirect routes etc, and is accessible by prssing you shift/6 map key.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z9ph3x767jwysxk/oolite-016.png

(having realmproblems attaching this image )

this is showing you to the only level 15 planet in Galaxy 1, to find out more vist here:

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Advanced_Navigational_Array

The other item I recommend is the Advanced Space Compass, it gives your compass ao WHOLE new life if you havent found it yet, it identifies everything around you, and allows you to multi target enemies etc, this is well worth it at 650 credits, more info and a key can be found here:

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Advanced_Space_Compass

this is utlised with the / and # keys along with shift to advance / reverse etc

 

[milinks]

Hi levi, the link to the NoShaders Shipset is

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Griff%27s_No_Shaders_Shipset

 

[Diziet Sma]

This, in computational speak is high memory usage, as it kicks in the AI of the ships/objects along that route, so aiming directly at a planet will be the slowest route for the ship, and the computer if that makes sense.

...

The computer runs faster also this route as the AIs of the police/pirate objects are not kicked in.

Actually, milinks, this description is not really correct.

Unlike Elite, Oolite is not a player-centric game.  In Elite, what would happen as you flew through space is that ships, mostly pirates, would be randomly spawned in your path, for you to encounter.  The player was the centre of the universe, and everything happened around them, because of their presence.  Given the memory limitations of the time, this was the only way things could be done..

In Oolite, things are very different.  When you initiate a witchspace jump, your destination system is generated and populated with NPCs, and their AIs activated.  This is what causes that slight "pause" when you jump.  When you arrive, there are traders, vipers, pirates, offenders, bounty-hunters, miners, rock-hermits and so on, all going about their business, utterly oblivious to you unless you encounter them.

Ships will dock and launch, and jump in and out of the system, Traders will fly from the WP Beacon to the station, dock, trade, launch and jump out.  Some will sun-skim for fuel before jumping out.  Vipers will patrol the three "lanes" (WP beacon-Planet, Planet-Sun, and Sun-WP Beacon) and will deal with offenders and fugitives they encounter.  Miners will mine asteroids and trade.  Bounty-hunters will patrol for bad guys, and engage any they meet.  Pirates will loiter in the lanes, looking for prey.  They'll scoop cargo from their victims.  When their holds are full of loot, they will head for their base or jump out.  All this activity goes on the entire time you are in-system, regardless of your presence.  Every ship is an individual, with their own mix of equipment, and experience/skill.

If you pay attention as you fly along, you will often see lasers flickering in the distance.  These are real life-and-death struggles going on, as NPCs happen to encounter one another.  They are not staged for the player.  You can get involved or not, as you wish.  Calls for help over the comms are not there as a "trap" or hook for the player.  They are real, (although some pirates are now cunning enough to do this!)

All the AIs are running, all the time.  The only thing that gets more system-intensive is that, when you are close enough, the ships will be drawn in more detail, so you can see them clearly.  In Oolite, it is truly a big universe out there, and you as the player are merely one small cog in a much bigger world.

(And in the version currently in development, 1.79, all of this has been taken to a new, much more sophisticated and nuanced level.  The AI has been given a complete overhaul and produces considerably more flexible and realistic behaviours and interactions.  The changes coming are very exciting.)

 

[Diziet Sma]

for the BGS i find it stutters a couple of times through the animation of a witchspace jump on my PC. now i know it is not the fastest around but a Q6600 OC to 3GHz and a GTX 560Ti with 4Gb ram should be ok.

so i was wondering if its part of the scripting for the animation, or as Dietz said is it the populating of the area of stars at the destination?

Perhaps a bit of both.. but from what I gather the populating of the system is the biggest load on the computer during a jump.

 

[Diziet Sma]

there are two in-game options i HIGHLY recommend getting when you have the momey to purchase them; the first is the

Advanved. navigational Array, this is purchaseble as an uprade fromlevel 7 planets, and lets you plot your course across the galaxy, minimising mis-jumps, indirect routes etc, and is accessible by prssing you shift/6 map key.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z9ph3x767jwysxk/oolite-016.png

Re the Advanced Navigational Array, note that it has two modes.  Shift-6 shows the most direct route (least number of jumps).  Ctrl-Shift-6 shows the fastest route (many short jumps).  This is particularly important for those with passengers or cargo contracts.

 

[milinks]

@Diziet Sma - if being wrong, brings such an amazing rely, I'll gladly be wrong all the time (probably am ) That is a very eloquenta nd informative description of the oolite world. thanks very much

 

[Diziet Sma]

Regarding Griff's noshader shipset, can you give us a link for that?  Searching for noshader on the Elite wiki doesn't give me any hits, and searching for non-shader takes me to the Black Monks OXP and the link for the non-shader OXP is broken.

I'll second Your Ad Here.  I've not installed it yet, but Market Observer contains quite a lot of advert textures from it.  I guess a few of the OOlite crew are British, judging by the ads for Tescoo and the likes.

The most helpful link is probably to the master list of OXPs:

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/OXP_List

Almost every OXP is listed and linked, in a list you can sort in a number of ways.

(And yes, the creator of Oolite, Giles Williams, and many of the crew are Brits.  Elite was a Brit-created game, and it's always been more popular in the UK than the US.)