OHM Orulex_Land_Gen-v1.2

[OrbitHangar]

Author: artlav

About:
Orulex is a dynamic landscape generator add-on for Orbiter which allows you to add a global landable mesh to the planets.

Simply said, it turns flat planets into mountainous planets.

Installation:
Standard Unpack&Play - unzip int Orbiter directory, preserving pathes.

Refer to instruction.txt for performance guidelines, server list and other info.
Orulex.pdf describes the system, function config and requirements, World Studio.pdf describes the World Studio handling.

Updating note:
If you have downloaded additional textures or heightmaps using older version and want them preserved, copy the files from config/terrain folder, then put heightmap and colormap lines from the old ones to the new ones.

Pre-made heightmaps and textures:
Will only work if installed before World Studio save button is used on the relevant planet, since saving the planet will overwrite the configuration.
http://orbides.1gb.ru/orbf/earth-hmap-lv8.zip (84Mb)
http://orbides.1gb.ru/orbf/mars-hmap-lv8.zip (82Mb)
http://orbides.1gb.ru/orbf/moon-hmap-lv8.zip (81Mb)
http://orbides.1gb.ru/orbf/everest_lv11.zip (5.3Mb)
http://orbides.1gb.ru/orbf/grand_canyon_lv13.zip (9Mb)

Collision Detection support:
MeshLand 2, WIP version:
http://orbides.1gb.ru/orbf/MLVS-WIP-080327.zip
Installation by standard Unpack&Play, activate MeshLand_2 module.
Unstable.


DOWNLOAD

 

[OrbitHangar]

Legacy Reviews

Legacy Add-on Reviews from Orbit Hangar Mods


Review by jdk12
Pros: Everything!!!!
Cons: below
Review:
On the moon there is blue spots but when i rotate the camera they disappear. Thanks so much for telling me how to fix this.!!!


Review by orbiter28
Review:
Impressive !! Great work.


Review by dallatorretdu
Pros: Fantastic!
Cons: Good work..
Review:
i have only some problem for the meshland.. i don't know why i got error at starting the launchpad... It still fantastic!


Review by daffygkh
Pros: After you set the config right, it doesnt get color random.
Cons: Before you set config, it can be colorfully random.
Review:
I think it's great, im on a below-standard Windows 2000 machine for modern and slightly older style games, I have an XP machine that is an above-standard machine for newer games, and a Windows 98 machine for older games. Windows 98 would crap out on this, but im on a lower than standard computer and it runs great! It increases the texture of earth while also making it 3D. I love it! My settings are as follows: Polycount: 107500 Level Limit: 25 Heightmap Limit: 250 Reproces: 8300 Split&Mrg: 8300 TexGen-H: 47500 TexGen-L: 15900. I was hoping that may help other people, since it works for me. (Sorry for going off topic so much, im a kind-of off topic person) All in all, GREAT mod! 5 of 5! Also, it's kinda wacky with Meshland 2, cause when you hit the ground, you flip and stuff. Its good in you want to simulate crashes, but when you try to land on a plane it gets frusterating.


Review by napes weaver
Pros: Stunningly Beautiful - AND lightweight. Buggy? - NO!
Cons: Almost wept with joy at the sight of it.
Review:
I played around with an older version of Orulex back in 2006 with Orbiter 50216, but it was too hungry for my meager computer resources. I'm running this version with 1G Ram and a 64MB NVIDIA graphics card. AND IT RUNS GREAT! I barely recognize Orbiter anymore! This add-on is now as fundamental to my installation of Orbiter as Orbiter Sound 3.5

 

[dgatsoulis]

Hi artlav,

First of all, congrats on ALL your add-ons on Orbiter.
Especially the Orulex_Land_Gen and the new Collision detection are amazing.

There's a problem that i'm encountering and i'd like to ask you about it.
When landed on a base on Europa, the "ground" seems to disappear and you can see below the surface area. (i hope this pic explains):

This doesn't happen on the Moon, Mars or Io, just on Europa.
At first i thought that it was because of the UCGO's Europa base (the one with the surface tiles), so i created another one with no surface tiles or objects in it, but the same thing occcured.
Then i thought of the World Studio, so i went there and switched off the "below sphere" option for Europa and saved the changes.
But the pic above is AFTER i've done that.
Any ideas why should this happen? Is it because Europa's default heightmap is somehow "supposed" to be "below sphere" anyway? (Even after i changed that setting and saved the changes in World Studio?)

I 've also tried "tweaking" the options in Orulex Config but only when i get the detail WAY down (Polycount < 50000, Lev Limit = 10) does this thing stop happening.

Hope my post makes sense, any help would be much appreciated.

Keep up the good work!
Happy orbiting.

 

[Artlav]

There's a problem that i'm encountering and i'd like to ask you about it.
When landed on a base on Europa, the "ground" seems to disappear and you can see below the surface area. (i hope this pic explains):

Actually, that's a feature - the terrain is cut open around the bases and flat areas to expose the default sphere, allowing Orbiter to render landing pads and vessel shadows.

Should be roughly the same on Brighton Beach if you haven't changed the defaults.

To change - in World studio double-click on the base on the map and uncheck Tear.

 

[Ark]

Is there a way to alter where the mesh is drawn in relation to the ground level of the planet? Just busted up my DGIV landing gear because the valley I was aiming for on Mars was lower than Orbiter's defined ground level. I should have been watching the altimeter, but landing is easier with the exterior view.

 

[dgatsoulis]

Actually, that's a feature - the terrain is cut open around the bases and flat areas to expose the default sphere, allowing Orbiter to render landing pads and vessel shadows.

Should be roughly the same on Brighton Beach if you haven't changed the defaults.

To change - in World studio double-click on the base on the map and uncheck Tear.

Yes, i know that. The "tear" option for a base allows the actual surface of the body to be revealed, by creating something like a crater on the landscape that Orulex generates.
If i switch that option off, then i won't have a nice flat area to land my ship or to create a base.

The problem is that for Europa, when a ship or an mmu is landed on such a "tear" on the landscape you don't see the ground that you are standing on (zero altitude).
It's like the ground becomes transparent and you can see below that.

This doesn't happen on any of the other planets/moons that i tried it, just on Europa.
(when i'm landed at a base on the Moon the "ground" inside the area of the "tear" is a flat grey area and not a transparent one).

At first, i thought that this was because some of Europa's generated landscape is "below" the actual surface, to simulate the ridges and tears that exist on the actual surface.

But even after switching that option off, it keeps happening. The ground inside the crater that Orulex generates is transparent.

 

[Artlav]

But even after switching that option off, it keeps happening. The ground inside the crater that Orulex generates is transparent.

It's an effect of how modern 3D hardware works and how Orbiter draws the planets - the vessels are always on top of the planet in drawing sequence, and the Orulex terrain is a vessel, so when the part of the mesh is below the planet, it's not truncated.
And, the planets are not perfect spheres, so you could catch a glimpse of nothing in the hole, between the mesh and a polygonal sphere.

 

[dgatsoulis]

I see... well, thanx for explaining it to me artlav.
It's only a very minor glitch on one of the best add-ons for Orbiter.

Again, keep up the great work!

 

[dumbo2007]

Is the mesh a vessel to allow its modification after creation ?.....because I thought it could be modeled as a base.

 

[Ark]

Is there a way to stop it from CTDing when it goes to load a second planet at the end of an interplanetary trip?

 

[markl316]

Is there a way to stop it from CTDing when it goes to load a second planet at the end of an interplanetary trip?

I get that all the time. That's why I use:
http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2693

 

[Ark]

Out of curiosity, has anyone used Orulex to make realistic, non-spherical asteroids?

 

[Intueor]

Shift.

Contact.

I have read most of the messages posted on this subject. Likely. :hmm: Is there a way to correct such a shift? Simple method - to move the base. But the error is only in the mapping and collision mesh is still on the correct coordinates, which do not coincide with the graphics. What to do?

Thanks.

P.S. All addons - latest version.

---------- Post added at 08:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:14 PM ----------

Well, the problem is "solved". Error coordinate mapping occurs only in Orbiter2009 (orbiter091124beta in my case), in Orbiter2006 everything is working correctly. Sad...

 

[darkchashy]

wow, night and day man. thanks.

 

[JAW1002]

Love this addon but crashes Orbiter2009... any fixes?

 

[Woo482]

I think Artlav might have to recompile it to the newer SDK, you could also try OGLA, that includes Orulex. you can find it here

 

[dumbo2007]

A great addon - the only issue with Orbiter 2009 and this addon is that Brighton is at the wrong co-ordinates and thus inside the mesh.

Btw I was trying to use the Orulex SDK at http://orbides.1gb.ru/orulex.php

The header file has just 1 function which returns the elevation. That is good enough to make auto pilots that keep a vessel hovering at a fixed altitude above the mesh. But I was hoping that something like :

int VSIsContact(OBJHANDLE VesselHandle);
Returns contact state.

would be available that returns the contact state of the ptp model points. Will the Visosad functions from the earlier CollisionSDK.h work , if I were to include this header in my code ?

 

[Artlav]

the only issue with Orbiter 2009 and this addon is that Brighton is at the wrong co-ordinates and thus inside the mesh.

Well, it's not supposed to work with O2009 at all.

But I was hoping that something like :

int VSIsContact(OBJHANDLE VesselHandle);
Returns contact state.

would be available that returns the contact state of the ptp model points. Will the Visosad functions from the earlier CollisionSDK.h work , if I were to include this header in my code ?

Orulex by itself have no idea about collisions, CollisionSDK of mehsland 1.9.2 predates Orulex, so nothing between them there. Not sure if there is a way to do that, since both things are ancient, there were some latter collision modules with SDK and Orulex suport around NASSP.

 

[dumbo2007]

Are there any links to these new collision SDKs ? Even basic collision detection should be fine for my needs.

I was wondering...since the orulex mesh will be accessible to you, you can simply check whether the defined points of the vessel are below the mesh and generate a impact force in the opposite direction on the vessel's CG....or keep track of the points which were below the mesh and inform the vessel when a function gets called. If I had access to the mesh triangles then I might have tried it. Or is the landscape too dynamic to allow complete checks ?

 

[Artlav]

Are there any links to these new collision SDKs ? Even basic collision detection should be fine for my needs.

Try looking in this thread: http://www.ibiblio.org/mscorbit/mscforum/index.php?topic=1962.0
Nothing near any kind of completion.

I was wondering...since the orulex mesh will be accessible to you, you can simply check whether the defined points of the vessel are below the mesh and generate a impact force in the opposite direction on the vessel's CG....or keep track of the points which were below the mesh and inform the vessel when a function gets called. If I had access to the mesh triangles then I might have tried it. Or is the landscape too dynamic to allow complete checks ?

Mesh triangles? That would be quite an inefficient way to do it, especially since there is a terrain function wide available to give one the current elevation.
AddForce collision methods are interesting, but fundamentally unstable in Orbiter.
The landscape is perfectly still, it never changes.