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SpaceEngine |OT| of exploring the universe!

A

astroturfing

Member
what is this? seems too awesome to be true. even with the randomly generated planets.

i have to check this out and spend many, many hours.
 
S

strata8

Member
It's procedurally generated, but it's still pretty basic. All planets use the same atmosphere/terrain/cloud model so there isn't actually a huge amount of variation.

Still awesome though.
 
Q

Qwomo

Junior Member
lastplayed said:
If I can recreate this scene I'm in...

the-quiet-earth-poster.jpg
Click to expand...
holy shit I loved this movie
 
N

NBtoaster

Member
Teknoman said:
I set LOD to 1 from -1 default setting, and I still cant see terrain.
Click to expand...

Increasing magnitude helps too. Terrain generation is very buggy, sometimes, restarting can have things load properly.

Also make sure you're not trying to see terrain on a gas giant :p
 
T

Teknoman

Member
I was trying to land on Mars, or is that not possible, only the generated planets?

EDIT: Tried another planet that im guessing is one of the generated ones, Kaus Borealis 8. Seems like the textures just take awhile to load.
 
N

NBtoaster

Member
Teknoman said:
I was trying to land on Mars, or is that not possible, only the generated planets?

EDIT: Tried another planet that im guessing is one of the generated ones, Kaus Borealis 8. Seems like the textures just take awhile to load.
Click to expand...

Mars looks like this to me, after it's loaded:



It's classed as a cool desert, so you won't have any of the jagged terrain.
 
C

Carcetti

Member
Amazing, thanks for the link! Never heard of the project before.

Are the other such space-themed gems out there? I know of the Orbiter, but it's been ages since I last tried it. I need more stuff where I can absorb in the awesomeness of space.
 
T

Teknoman

Member
sankao said:
Are there any "exotic" objects ? Black holes, neutron stars, pulsars...
Click to expand...

Yeah, you wont know you're near a black hole until you see something with a shimmery effect around it. The closer you get the more the stars and light around it starts to warp, and then:

jrcTvxkE40tKw.jpg


Fraps shot:

jHEtdVsr87kwx.jpg


Much better.

EDIT: Solved my problem, downloaded it again from the official site. Now i'm getting cloud, ring, and orbit animations.

jbvi4oOKXekpHb.jpg


j0qYMXoi5R1aj.jpg


jbzhrPUi5Qb1dw.jpg


jfSmrGucPKBP8.jpg


Had no idea Jupiter had a faint set of rings.

j7wZ7bOwOrNmp.jpg



Also search for Mass Effect - Uncharted Worlds. Listening to that while looking through the universe makes it that much better. Also try to zoom out to the edge of the universe (known universe?).
 
M

Mr_Appleby

Member
Teknoman said:
Had no idea Jupiter had a faint set of rings.
Click to expand...

ohmy edutainment! :O

getting super-slow download from the main mirror but i'm trying to do some work anyway so hopefully about the time i finish i can chill with this for a bit.

still, just reading about it made me get all nostalgic for Frontier. Sooooooo cool seamlessly flying through space to a star system, picking a planet & flying down to cruise the surface checking out mountains, lakes and clouds. watching a red giant set over the horizon before exiting the atmosphere to make a manual dock with the orbiting space-station.

on a freaking amiga 500.
 
S

strata8

Member
Teknoman said:
Heh I see why ctrl g is horrifying...really does give you a realistic "Whoosh" sensation.
Click to expand...
Click on a star and quickly press G twice.

Mr_Appleby said:
ohmy edutainment! :O

getting super-slow download from the main mirror but i'm trying to do some work anyway so hopefully about the time i finish i can chill with this for a bit.
Click to expand...
I posted a torrent earlier. Should be pretty fast now, and it has a web seed from Dropbox too, so you won't ever get speeds under 80KB/s.
 
D

Darklord

Banned
How do I get the land view? The picture says Shift + G but when I do that it just lands on the low textures, not the proper view like shown.
 
D

DodgerSan

Member
Darklord said:
How do I get the land view? The picture says Shift + G but when I do that it just lands on the low textures, not the proper view like shown.
Click to expand...

Same here, or it puts me 'inside' the planet.
 
C

Confidence Man

Member
Darklord said:
How do I get the land view? The picture says Shift + G but when I do that it just lands on the low textures, not the proper view like shown.
Click to expand...

Just fly down to the surface. It will gradually get more detailed as it loads.
 
E

Elfforkusu

Member
PjotrStroganov said:
Wow, this looks to be so much better than celestia.
Click to expand...
Celestia is a very "science!" program, something like this is built with considerably more artistic sense.

It'd be nice if Celestia would incorporate some of this stuff, though. Just brilliant.

e: I should note, the framerate sucks. A lot.
 
R

Rapstah

Member
If this got some slightly cooler lighting (that didn't dissapear when the source isn't in view) and was fitted as the graphics engine for a slightly more realistic Kerbal Space Program I would never have to buy a game again. But then again it would take years to even get past Mars.
 
S

strata8

Member
Elfforkusu said:
Celestia is a very "science!" program, something like this is built with considerably more artistic sense.

It'd be nice if Celestia would incorporate some of this stuff, though. Just brilliant.

e: I should note, the framerate sucks. A lot.
Click to expand...
Your PC must be pretty bad. I can't even run Crysis 2 on Medium at 1280x720 but I can run this fine fullscreen.
 
N

NBtoaster

Member
My framerate turns to shit during terrain generation, but it doesn't exactly matter when all you're doing is waiting for it to laod anyway.
 
A

Afrikan

Member
Dmax3901 said:
To clarify: Are people saying it's scary due to the scale? The eeriness of space? The complexity of the tool itself?
Click to expand...

its funny, when I first started reading the OP.."scared" was the first word that popped up in my mind....and wouldn't you know it, later in the post TC brings up the topic as well..lol.

but for me....its that, this is something I have wanted for a long time....Why I loved watching various Star Trek series, as well as other space movies and series.

so I don't know if I'm ready >_< ...I feel I'd get sucked into this, heck I don't even want to watch that youtube link. Hopefully later this week.
 
C

Coxy

Member
I found a couple of planets that said they had life but didnt see anything, pretty cool that you can go down into the seas on some planets though
 
K

kever0nicas

Member
Spectacular!!

The youtube video completely blew my mind and immediately grabbed me. Ive always been fascinated with space and have wanted to do explore through software like this.

This on a massive screen would be amazing.
 
K

Kaako

Felium Defensor
This is just fantastic. I've always wanted something like this. Hope they keep implementing on the idea and making it more detailed/expansive and better. I want a fully fleshed out SpaceEngine for the master race!
 
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