Idea Hypothetical and historical planets moons and stars

[Killer Toilet]

http://www.nineplanets.org/hypo.html

Not something realistic if it's been disproved, but it would make for great "what if" scenarios. "What if" Einstein's Theory of Relativity was false and Vulcan did in fact exist (how would it affect the source code for the sim?)? What if Nemesis is about 1.4 light years away from the Sun hidden in it's Oort cloud (and has a unique system of it's own)?

This would be AWESOME for addons. But of course, if Vulcan was added on, so would a 1,000,000x and maybe a 10,000,000x time limit would need to be added as well.

 

[tblaxland]

You can build your own solar system without changing any code for Orbiter. All you need is the Orbiter manual and a bunch of config files. So have a go at it, if you like

 

[Killer Toilet]

You can build your own solar system without changing any code for Orbiter. All you need is the Orbiter manual and a bunch of config files. So have a go at it, if you like

If only I knew how to develop... But then again, that's why I am in school for.

 

[2552]

It's not that hard. Here's a tutorial: http://www.eharm.net/shop/freeware/orbiter/tutorials/solar_system/solar_system.html

BTW, Orbiter doesn't simulate Relativity anyway.

 

[ThatGuy]

The only problem with your proposal: you can't have two systems loaded.

 

[garyw]

If only I knew how to develop... But then again, that's why I am in school for.

None needed. Look at sol.cfg

---------- Post added at 17:05 ---------- Previous post was at 17:05 ----------

The only problem with your proposal: you can't have two systems loaded.

Yes, so make one system 1.4 ly in size.

 

[Hielor]

Yes, so make one system 1.4 ly in size.

The problem is that at such high distances from the center of the Orbiter system, the precision of values can get very low and people have reported that ships appear to "jump around," making docking impossible.

 

[Killer Toilet]

The problem is that at such high distances from the center of the Orbiter system, the precision of values can get very low and people have reported that ships appear to "jump around," making docking impossible.

Is it possible that a user-made patch could fix this problem? Also, what exactly IS the sun anyway? Is it one giant Mesh file? Could anybody modify it's size, color, brightness and gravity like a planet or moon? Or is it possible to make a 3D model to replace the Mesh?

 

[Hielor]

Is it possible that a user-made patch could fix this problem?

No. The problem is with the way numbers are represented on the computer. Martin posted somewhere around here explaining how Orbiter does it to extend the precision even further, but there's only so much you can do to get more precision on the computer. If the Orbiter core were updated to use higher-precision values, it would break all existing addons.

Also, what exactly IS the sun anyway? Is it one giant Mesh file? Could anybody modify it's size, color, brightness and gravity like a planet or moon? Or is it possible to make a 3D model to replace the Mesh?

It's a texture, and yes the size/color/brightness/gravity can be modified. You cannot, however, land on the sun.

 

[Killer Toilet]

It's a texture, and yes the size/color/brightness/gravity can be modified. You cannot, however, land on the sun.

Tell that to this guy then

http://orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=2533

It would be interesting and different if someone actually made a 3D model of the Sun, and "land" on it like some guys managed to do with Jupiter (which is obviously impossible to do in real life, but possible with Orbiter). It's a shame it's nothing but a Mesh though.

Anyway, back on topic. If there was an object with a greater gravitational pull than Jupiter, how would that affect the orbit of the planets? How would something like Nemesis affect the planets or Kuiper Belt Objects orbits? Even a slight tug would mess things up in the long run.

 

[Hielor]

Tell that to this guy then

http://orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=2533

I'm sorry, what? There's nothing there about a desire to land on the sun.

It would be interesting and different if someone actually made a 3D model of the Sun, and "land" on it like some guys managed to do with Jupiter (which is obviously impossible to do in real life, but possible with Orbiter). It's a shame it's nothing but a Mesh though.

What else would it be? All the planets in Orbiter are "nothing but a mesh."

Anyway, back on topic. If there was an object with a greater gravitational pull than Jupiter, how would that affect the orbit of the planets? How would something like Nemesis affect the planets or Kuiper Belt Objects orbits? Even a slight tug would mess things up in the long run.

Those answers are widely available online. However, Orbiter won't model the interactions between different planets.

 

[garyw]

The problem is that at such high distances from the center of the Orbiter system, the precision of values can get very low and people have reported that ships appear to "jump around," making docking impossible.

Yes I know. The OP didn't talk about docking though.

---------- Post added at 23:00 ---------- Previous post was at 22:59 ----------

Anyway, back on topic. If there was an object with a greater gravitational pull than Jupiter, how would that affect the orbit of the planets? How would something like Nemesis affect the planets or Kuiper Belt Objects orbits? Even a slight tug would mess things up in the long run.

"nemisis" doesn't exist. If it did it would have been seen by now.

 

[Hielor]

Yes I know. The OP didn't talk about docking though.

Well, presumably you'd want to do something once you got out there, and if everything is jumping around madly it's difficult to do anything....

 

[tblaxland]

Those answers are widely available online. However, Orbiter won't model the interactions between different planets.

It can though. If you create a new solar system, specify the state vectors for each planet at some epoch, don't specify planet modules and set EllipticOrbit = FALSE in each cfg, then Orbiter will calculate the interactions dynamically. It comes with a computational cost though.

 

[Hielor]

It can though. If you create a new solar system, specify the state vectors for each planet at some epoch, don't specify planet modules and set EllipticOrbit = FALSE in each cfg, then Orbiter will calculate the interactions dynamically. It comes with a computational cost though.

Really? I thought it just used a two-body system...

 

[tblaxland]

Really? I thought it just used a two-body system...

AFAIK, but I've never tested it TBH. If it used a two body calculation you would just get a Keplerian elliptical orbit anyway, so why bother having the EllipticOrbit option?

 

[John_L]

All this talk about distances reminds me of what I've ran into in Second Life. SL is setup as multiple 256 meter x 256 meter sims. As far as the Z value is concerned, 0 meters is the bottom of the ocean, and land 'breaks' the water's surface at 20 meters, then, beyond that, if you fly your avatar up, it hits a point that's anywhere between 150 and 300 meters (based on where the ground is, about 150 meters above that). However, many scripted devices that let you fly higher artificially by moving an attached primitive via scripting rather than 'real' flying. Using artificial means, one can fly up to virtually any altitude, and some people have flown quite high, even to 1 million meters. I cheated my way there instantly using a plugin that gave me some powers not found in the client. Anyways, at that altitude, attachments, like glasses, hair, watches, etc. bounce around the attachment point and the avatar himself appears partially melted. The bouncing attachments are similar to a ship in Orbiter that's too far out.