Release Oolite

[Diziet Sma]

@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

No worries, mate.. you're doing a brilliant job yourself, particularly in regard to testing and describing OXPs for the good folk here. B)

 

[mongrol]

Is the adverts in Market Observer real? As in sourced from google etc or static parody style ads?

 

[Diziet Sma]

Is the adverts in Market Observer real? As in sourced from google etc or static parody style ads?

They're parody ads, sourced from the Your Ad Here! OXP.  See here for more details.  Oolite does not connect to the internet at all.  (although the next version will be able to download and install a special new type of OXP, called OXZ, directly from the internet, using its Expansion Pack Manager)

Also, we would never display real advertising in Oolite.  Oolite is strictly non-commercial in nature.  We believe that's the reason Mr. Braben has been kind enough as to leave us alone, unlike Elite-TNK, which he stomped on only after some moron (not Christian Pinder) started selling it.  We know he's aware of us (after all, Oolite is regularly referred to on the Eliteangerous forums) but he seems happy to pretend we don't exist, so we are happy for things to remain that way.

For the same reason, Drew Wagar's excellent series of Oolite-inspired novels are free to download.  If we tried making money from Oolite, there's a very good chance Oolite would be killed off.

 

[Diziet Sma]

For anyone here whose first language is not English, you may be interested to know that a number of language localisation packs are available for Oolite.  These are distributed in OXP format, and installed in the usual way.  Naturally, you should only install one.

Oolite en Français is a French Oolite localisation.
Oolite auf Deutsch is a German Oolite localisation.
Oolite Italiano is an Italian Oolite localisation.
Oolite in Russian: Roolite.org provides localisations for Oolite and for some OXPs.  It is also the home of a thriving Russian Oolite community.

Additional translations for Oolite are always welcome!  We are more than happy to provide any assistance we can to translators, and some discussion related to the subject can be found here.

 

[levi]

I've just switched on docking permission from the options, and it really helps realise the world of Oolite a bit more.  I was flying towards some Dodo and targetted it and asked permission to dock (shift-L), but it told me I was 5th in a queue to dock.  Lo and behold, there was a boa leaving the station and it's entourage of sidewinders soon followed.  Just as soon as the last one was out I was messaged giving me permission to dock.  No idea what happens if I request to dock as an offender, but I guess I'll find out sooner or later (some of those narcotics prices are too tempting), and the worst that can happen as far as I know so far is you get charged a few hundred credits for not following protocols.

Oh, and thanks for the tips on the ANA.   I bought one last week, and the only time I'd seen it in action was when taking on a passenger or parcel delivery.  Good to know I can employ it at any time, even if reading the planet names on the Pandora's screen is nigh-on impossible!

It's also surprising how much time taking an apparent detour can save you.  I was flying to the top right corner of galaxy 1 earlier, and I had to get to a planet to my right which was 5.6hours away.  There was another planet, very close, pretty much directly up from me, a little to the right.  It looked for all the world to be about the same distance from the target planet, but since it only took 24 minutes to get there, I thought I'd give it a try, especially as it gave me an opportunity to offload a few tonnes of furs (which, incidentally, still surprises me that feline planets don't classify as illegal). Anyway, I get there, 0.4 hours later and discover the original target planet is now only 4 hours away, saving me 1.2 hours overall. Even apparent detours can save you time just as long as you aren't obviously travelling away from the target.

Ptitseb - I've noticed that I don't seem to be able to deactivate weapons using the underscore (_) key, which according to the oolite wiki ought to work.  Bit odd, as other Fn-key keys like backslash that is now a synonym for the start button (select compass target, when you have the appropriate upgrade) works fine.  Although I've not actually found a use for that option yet - clean ships don't seem to mind if you target them, especially with only a id scanner, and pirates will attack you regardless it seems, but I just thought I'd mention it as something that might need mapping.

 

[Diziet Sma]

Good to know I can employ it at any time, even if reading the planet names on the Pandora's screen is nigh-on impossible!

You could see if the TTY Font OXP is more readable.. or there is a font in the Deepspace Ships OXP that could be extracted and used.  (It used to be available as a separate download, but the link is dead.  I might try to fix that.)  If not, it might be possible to create a new font image just for the Pandora.  A little info on the subject can be found here.

 

[Diziet Sma]

Oh, and the main reason for being able to deactivate your weapons, is to avoid accidentally firing on the station you're about to dock with.

 

[mongrol]

More testing. I'm at Isinor. I refuel and load up with Furs (3 tons). Jump to Quitiri. All good. I then wait 10-30 seconds to let teh system settle. Press J and it locks after 1 second. Every time.

I reset the game, back to Isinor, refuel and jump to Tionisla. I then press J and jump all the way to the system. No locks. Same result with or without swap. Either in XFCE or Minimenu.

 

[ptitSeb]

More testing. I'm at Isinor. I refuel and load up with Furs (3 tons). Jump to Quitiri. All good. I then wait 10-30 seconds to let teh system settle. Press J and it locks after 1 second. Every time.

I reset the game, back to Isinor, refuel and jump to Tionisla. I then press J and jump all the way to the system. No locks. Same result with or without swap. Either in XFCE or Minimenu.

So it locks when Jumping around certain systems, but not all system?

 

[Diziet Sma]

A question here, just to clarify..

By 'lock', you mean the game freezes.. not just the 'mass-lock' which you are supposed to experience whenever a ship comes into scanner range, yes?

 

[milinks]

More testing. I'm at Isinor. I refuel and load up with Furs (3 tons). Jump to Quitiri. All good. I then wait 10-30 seconds to let teh system settle. Press J and it locks after 1 second. Every time.

I reset the game, back to Isinor, refuel and jump to Tionisla. I then press J and jump all the way to the system. No locks. Same result with or without swap. Either in XFCE or Minimenu.

I'm confused as to why this seems to be affecting you as much i've a CC unit with a swap file, with the all the OXPs listed on the other page, and i don't have any way near the depth of the problems..... yes, i do get freezes, but only sporadicaly. As i mention before i only switch on the jump (J) button for about 5-10 seconds, then switch it off briefly, then switch it back on again, and so on.....

It does take longer, but gets me there. apart from the swap file, the only change, is that mine is running at 900MHz, what are you running yours at mongrol?

 

[mongrol]

800. I'll try a bit quicker. Failing that I'll do a complete wipe and rebuild of SZ.

Same at 900. Near enough instant lock at Quitiri. No problems flying to Tionisla. Ah well. It's a good enough route to get started. The log shows nothing wrong btw.

 

[milinks]

@mongrel - i've spoken too soon   I don't know why, but today i've switched on oolite to give the computer and fur trade a hammering around Qutiri and Isinor, and its starting to freeze up now during (J) jumps. I've not apparently changed any of my settings, I'm still running at 900MHz, with a swap file, I've taken out my OXPs, but it gets about 2/3rds of the way to the planet, and the screen freezes, all keys become unresponsive. and a hard reset of the console is required. the crash logs shows nothing . I'm going to re-install oolite and reset everything and change my trading route, and see if that makes any difference... wish I hadn't spoken that I was doing fine :wacko:

edit: after re-installing it, it seems a lot better and hasn't crashed since. the logs are the same as the one prior to the crashes, so no help from that direction.

 

[milinks]

Good to know I can employ it at any time, even if reading the planet names on the Pandora's screen is nigh-on impossible!

You could see if the TTY Font OXP is more readable.. or there is a font in the Deepspace Ships OXP that could be extracted and used.  (It used to be available as a separate download, but the link is dead.  I might try to fix that.)  If not, it might be possible to create a new font image just for the Pandora.  A little info on the subject can be found here.

I'm just reading up to see how the changes of font will benefit the Pandora oolite and hopefully will be able to see in-game how it looks. One question, i'm not sure if anyone else concurs, but is there a way to increase the brightness of oolite, so that thescreen could be seen better, obviously if the gamma option was working that would solve the issue, but as is, i was just wondering if it could be done with a script at this time?

 

[levi]

Good to know I can employ it at any time, even if reading the planet names on the Pandora's screen is nigh-on impossible!

You could see if the TTY Font OXP is more readable.. or there is a font in the Deepspace Ships OXP that could be extracted and used. (It used to be available as a separate download, but the link is dead. I might try to fix that.)  If not, it might be possible to create a new font image just for the Pandora. A little info on the subject can be found here.

Thanks, I've tried the TTYfont OXP, but that font is so low contrast that it's actually harder to read than the default. To be honest, I suspect the default font is about as good as you can get - sufficiently bold, loops 2/3rds of the upright height, pretty much perfect for readability so long as you're a fan of sans serif fonts as I am. It's just there are so many stars in a galaxy and only 600 lines on a Pandora's screen, and especially when you hit Shift+Ctrl+6 to get the quickest route, all those overlapping star names can be hard to read. But you can more than get the gist, and swap to the short range scanner to see what the names ought to look like easily enough.

I may be imagining it, but BGS seems to increase the contrast between lit and unlit sides of a planet, meaning that the remaining contrast between dark land and seas can be hard to see, especially if it has unremarkable seas. In general the Pandora's black levels are a bit obviously bright, as this game emphasises, at least on my GHz unit's screen, but since I can now see the blue engine trails I don't generally have much trouble picking out targets.

 

[Diziet Sma]

One question, i'm not sure if anyone else concurs, but is there a way to increase the brightness of oolite, so that thescreen could be seen better, obviously if the gamma option was working that would solve the issue, but as is, i was just wondering if it could be done with a script at this time?

Unfortunately, the gamma control is it, and from what ptitSeb has said, the Pandora has no gamma capabilities.

Thanks, I've tried the TTYfont OXP, but that font is so low contrast that it's actually harder to read than the default. To be honest, I suspect the default font is about as good as you can get - sufficiently bold, loops 2/3rds of the upright height, pretty much perfect for readability so long as you're a fan of sans serif fonts as I am.

Ok.. a pity.. thanks for the report.  If you don't mind, just to humour me, could you try out this font OXP I just threw together?  It's highly unofficial, and I'm working on an official version of this font at the moment, but before I go too far, I'd like to know if it's an improvement or not.

Thanks.

Edit:

especially when you hit Shift+Ctrl+6 to get the quickest route, all those overlapping star names can be hard to read.

Actually, that's somewhat the case even on a full-size PC screen.  At least, it certainly is at 1280x800 or 1280x1024, which are the resolutions I have on my machines.

 

[levi]

Nice font!  The numbers are especially cool.  In terms of clarity, especially on the ANA the sometimes iffy kerning can make identifying planet names from their shapes a little harder than it is with the official font, but if you fix that I'm sure it'll be at least as good if not better than the standard font.

 

[Diziet Sma]

Thanks!  That's very encouraging news.

And I'll probably need all the encouragement I can get.. from what I can gather, getting the kerning right is gonna be something of a headache.  Especially since I've never done this before.  (the sample you have is from someone else's very old work, which I now have to replicate from scratch, due to licencing issues)  I have the tools and am partway there, but probably no more than 20% done, at best.

 

[milinks]

REALLY nice font!! My only issue, is that I do have crap eyesight now, could it be the tiniest bit thicker? If so I think I would definitely use it, looking at them side by side on the Pandora it looks great

 

[Diziet Sma]

Ok mate.. I'll bear that in mind.

(Sorry, anyone who missed out.. but like I said, there are licencing problems with that font, so I've now disabled the link, as I shouldn't really distribute it at all, but it had to be tested on a Pandora, which I don't have.)

I'll get stuck into producing a freely distributable version asap!