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To all SSC Station occupants

Thank you for the donations over the past year (2024), it is much appreciated. I am still trying to figure out how to migrate the forums to another community software (probably phpbb) but in the meantime I have updated the forum software to the latest version. SSC has been around a while so their is some very long time members here still using the site, thanks for making SSC home and sorry I haven't been as vocal as I should be in the forums I will try to improve my posting frequency.

Thank you again to all of the members that do take the time to donate a little, it helps keep this station functioning on the outer reaches of space.

-D1-

Alpha 9 released

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 robn
(@robn)
Noble Member

We released Alpha 9 a few days ago. If you haven't got it already I highly recommend you check it out. Builds for Windows and Linux available here: http://pioneerspacesim.net/download

Changelog:

    New stuff
    Completely rewritten autopilot. Its now far more likely to get you where you're going without flying into things on the way.

    Rewritten combat AI.

    Rewritten mouse control.

    New combat target HUD with lead indicator and colour-coded closing rate.

    New planetary terrains.

    Identikit faces in starport screens.

    New HUD for radar mapper and hyperspace cloud analyser.

    Navigation computer to help you find your way around.

    Trade ships (ie large non-combat ships) spawned when you enter a system.

    Unexplored systems beyond about 500 light years from Sol.

Under the hood

    All ships checked and cleaned up for consistency and speed.

    Custom systems now defined in Lua scripts.

    Number of planet types reduced. Planets now have composition attributes that define atmosphere, ground metal content, water coverage, etc.

Little things

    Start ship is now sane.

    Ambient light when close to a planet to make the dark side visible.

    Mouse wheel support in scroll views.

    Press 'C' to return the sector view to the current system.

    Setting to enable/disable joystick support.

    Support for building with MSVC2010.

    Loads of bugfixes, optimisations and other bits.

Feel free to post your feedback, screenshots and everything else in this thread. Also drop in on the devs in #pioneer on irc.freenode.net.

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Topic starter Posted : March 17, 2011 23:03
(@ollobrain)
Honorable Member

looking very good guys

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Posted : March 18, 2011 00:51
 OSH
(@osh)
Estimable Member

Great! Time for testing!!!

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Posted : March 18, 2011 02:55
Geraldine
(@geraldine)
Famed Member

Hit a little problem with Alpha 9, it quits when starting a new game with this error

"GL_ARB_point_sprite: Yes

glError: invalid operation caught at ..\..\src\WorldView.cpp:339

glError: invalid operation caught at ..\..\src\WorldView.cpp:339

glError: invalid operation caught at ..\..\src\WorldView.cpp:339"

Alpha 8 works just fine though.

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Posted : March 18, 2011 03:19
 robn
(@robn)
Noble Member
Geraldine wrote:
Hit a little problem with Alpha 9, it quits when starting a new game with this error

"GL_ARB_point_sprite: Yes

glError: invalid operation caught at ..\..\src\WorldView.cpp:339

glError: invalid operation caught at ..\..\src\WorldView.cpp:339

glError: invalid operation caught at ..\..\src\WorldView.cpp:339"

Alpha 8 works just fine though.

Thats debugging output and is normal operation. The crash of course is not. A few people have reported this. I will follow it up with John when I next see him. There's not much I can do as I don't have a Windows system to test with.

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Topic starter Posted : March 18, 2011 03:34
 robn
(@robn)
Noble Member
robn wrote:
Geraldine wrote:
Hit a little problem with Alpha 9, it quits when starting a new game with this error

"GL_ARB_point_sprite: Yes

glError: invalid operation caught at ..\..\src\WorldView.cpp:339

glError: invalid operation caught at ..\..\src\WorldView.cpp:339

glError: invalid operation caught at ..\..\src\WorldView.cpp:339"

Alpha 8 works just fine though.

Thats debugging output and is normal operation. The crash of course is not. A few people have reported this. I will follow it up with John when I next see him. There's not much I can do as I don't have a Windows system to test with.

Just to make sure we've got all the facts, can you please list your OS version (including 32/64 bit) and graphics card.

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Topic starter Posted : March 18, 2011 03:37
(@stardreamer)
Estimable Member

Hmm. A very crashy one, guys. As in 'not-playable for anything more than a minute'. Tried it from all three start positions and nothing lasts.

Windows 7 (64)

Radeon 5800

Catalyst 11.2

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Posted : March 18, 2011 04:25
 OSH
(@osh)
Estimable Member
Code:
GL_ARB_point_sprite: No
Error: OpenGL extension ARB_vertex_buffer_object not supported. Pioneer can not run on your graphics card.
Error: OpenGL extension ARB_vertex_buffer_object not supported. Pioneer can not run on your graphics card.

Athlon64 2 GHz, Windows XP SP2 32-bit, Geforce 6100 (nForce 405)...

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Posted : March 18, 2011 04:49
Geraldine
(@geraldine)
Famed Member
robn wrote:
Just to make sure we've got all the facts, can you please list your OS version (including 32/64 bit) and graphics card.

Sure thing robn, I am running it on XP service pack 3, 32 bit, with a GeForce 9500 GT. Vid drivers fully up to date (done yesterday just in case this was the cause) with a Pentium(R) D CPU 2.81 GHz and 2 gigs of ram. Also have Avast and Zone Alarm installed too, but I set both of these to gaming mode just in case. The crash happens seconds after showing the docking port wall when using any of the start positions. Also tried loading an Alpha 8 save game, but no luck there either.

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Posted : March 18, 2011 05:07
(@taquito)
Eminent Member

Whoohoo! Testing! 😀

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Posted : March 18, 2011 07:39
(@revetoty)
New Member
Stardreamer wrote:
Hmm. A very crashy one, guys. As in 'not-playable for anything more than a minute'. Tried it from all three start positions and nothing lasts.

Windows 7 (64)

Radeon 5800

Catalyst 11.2

I have the same problem, the game crashes very often.

Running the game in Windows XP SP3 compatibility mode works well for me.

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Posted : March 18, 2011 09:47
(@s2odan)
Noble Member

And there I was thinking it was running so nice and stable on my win7x64 rig.

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Posted : March 18, 2011 09:52
Geraldine
(@geraldine)
Famed Member
revetoty wrote:
Running the game in Windows XP SP3 compatibility mode works well for me.

Good one revetoty! Using compatibility mode set to Windows 2000 and turning off advanced text services helped a little. Now it just crashes a few moments after take off. I could try it on Vista and see if that helps.

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Posted : March 18, 2011 10:27
(@stardreamer)
Estimable Member

Ok, setting it to Win XP compatibility mode helped. The game has become playable. However, I don't think the shaders are working. I can't see any of the atmospheric effects or any of the shiny surfaces on ships. A step forwards, though. 🙂

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Posted : March 18, 2011 10:42
(@s2odan)
Noble Member

Theres a lot of changes with this release, so just bear with us and we'll surely get to the bottom of this.

Just to be sure, have you guys experiencing trouble tried changing settings in the options menu, like shaders off, shaders on ect... try with different planet quality too.

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Posted : March 18, 2011 10:44
(@floyd)
New Member

I'm experiencing the same issue, it crashes just after game starts (inside the station) i'm running on the minimum quality settings on XP SP3, 1.6ghz pentium, 1Gb ram, onboard intel 915 graphics chipset .it seems that this is a pretty universal problem with windows boxes. it is the same when runnning a savegame or from a starting point, it always crashes on the first go and usually runs fine on the second attempt.

Also, The starmap tends to occasionally go ape, occilating wildly and after a few seconds it ends up the other side of the galaxy! it then resets back to your original position.

Other than that i'm really impressed! I've started messing with custom systems, it would be really cool to create a little empire of my own! well done guys, great job!

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Posted : March 18, 2011 14:34
(@shenle)
Trusted Member

Here is what I do that crashes alpha9 each time.

Start at Epsilon Eridani.

Get launch permission, then don't touch keyboard and mouse anymore. You take off automatically, reach the top then start descending.

As soon as you touch the ground again, game crashes.

Tested with the same behavior on the following systems:

1. Win7x64/i7-2600/H67/8GB/geforce 9600GT

2. (laptop) Win7x64/Turion x2 TL-62/4GB/ATI HD3200

3. XP SP3 (32bit)/ Athlon64 X2-4400/2GB/geforce 8800GT

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Posted : March 18, 2011 17:54
 robn
(@robn)
Noble Member

Thanks everyone for the reports and your patience. We will get this figured out.

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Topic starter Posted : March 18, 2011 19:53
(@s2odan)
Noble Member

I take back what I said about it being stable, I hadn't actually tried the release version, only my own build of alpha9 which seems fine.

So here's a possible work-around, a re-build of alpha 9 that doesn't crash for me, give it a try and let me know how it works.

http://pioneerspacesim.net/sites/default/files/pioneer-ALPHA9%20RE-BUILD.7z

If it still crashes then there could be some problem with the data files, as thats the only possible difference between my working windows copy and the release version.

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Posted : March 18, 2011 20:10
 robn
(@robn)
Noble Member

We think it was just a bad build the first time. We're preparing a 9.01 download and an updated exe which should be posted shortly.

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Topic starter Posted : March 18, 2011 21:10
 robn
(@robn)
Noble Member

Ok, go fetch: http://pioneerspacesim.net/download

There's a full package and a replacement executable. Hopefully this one goes better. Thanks again for the feedback, and now post pictures of pretty things 🙂

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Topic starter Posted : March 18, 2011 22:04
 OSH
(@osh)
Estimable Member

Same situation, old config deleted:

Code:
GL_ARB_point_sprite: No
Error: OpenGL extension ARB_vertex_buffer_object not supported. Pioneer can not run on your graphics card.
Error: OpenGL extension ARB_vertex_buffer_object not supported. Pioneer can not run on your graphics card.

Which cards are supported?? I have GeForce 6100 and alpha8 works without problems even with shaders!

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Posted : March 19, 2011 00:30
(@stardreamer)
Estimable Member

That's much better, guys, thank you. Game still crashes but it's always done that for me in every alpha so far. Am back to 'normal'. 🙂

Just taken her for a couple of quick test flights. The new navigation is brilliant - what a superb idea and implementation, although I'd still like hot buttons for every planet as well, not just Starports. On the other hand I can see why it's been made this way.

I'm still not completely sold on the HDR lighting. Distant stars look so much better without it, and it tends to make planetary surfaces a few shades too bright, garish in some cases.It does do some wonderful things for the atmospheric shaders, though, which is nice. But this is something that can be tweaked until perfect so I'm not going to complain too loudly just now. 😉

The new autopilot...wow, just wow. SOOO much better. Thank you! From start, If you leave from Earth and then select Mars High as your destination you are treated to a fabulous solar sunrise while the autopilot guides you around the Earth. Leaving Mars High headed for Io Base, however, it did crash me unceremoniously into Io, so perhaps there's still some tweaking to do here as well. Overall, though, this is a great improvement.

Will keep playing and reporting. Keep up the awesome work, guys!

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Posted : March 19, 2011 01:16
 robn
(@robn)
Noble Member
OSH wrote:
Same situation, old config deleted:

Code:
GL_ARB_point_sprite: No
Error: OpenGL extension ARB_vertex_buffer_object not supported. Pioneer can not run on your graphics card.
Error: OpenGL extension ARB_vertex_buffer_object not supported. Pioneer can not run on your graphics card.

Which cards are supported?? I have GeForce 6100 and alpha8 works without problems even with shaders!

That particular test has been in the code since September 2010 so I'm not entirely sure what might have changed - maybe something in GLEW. I'll check with the more knowledgeable folk in #pioneer soon and let you know (unless someone chimes in here first).

ReplyQuote
Topic starter Posted : March 19, 2011 01:55
(@ollobrain)
Honorable Member

loading of all save games causes a crash but im guessing work arounds being worked on so il wait for a alpha 10

ReplyQuote
Posted : March 19, 2011 02:06
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