More earthlike planets and more life - a WIP

[Loki999]

I've often felt that the Pioneer universe is too lacking in earth like worlds and there just isn't enough life out there (shame no actual representation of life on the planets at this time. Maybe one day it will have something like what spore is capable of in terms of generating plant and animals on a planet... but i won't hold my breath waiting for that).  Sure, Drake's equation has a lot of variables we truly cannot accurately predict yet, and this being a game we are allowed some artistic licence. The changes i've made so far are the following: 1) Increases the chance of earth-sized worlds at the expense of small rocky planets and gas giants (kind of)2) Slightly increased the amount of volatiles that can be found (basically chance of atmosphere and density)3) Increased the range of temperatures under which life can be present based on the understanding that while life is most likely to evolve under early Earth like conditions, planets change and life has demonstrated an astounding ability to continue in hostile (to higher life forms) environments. What still needs doing is playing with terrain generation and seeing if i can make those more earth-like worlds have more earth-like terrain, although not sure that is going to be possible for me. I'm still trying to figure out how best to share my changes with others to have a play with and give feedback (its done in the C code so not like i can just release an Lua mod). But in the meantime here are a couple of sceenies to show what happens to the universe. This is Eta Bootis (found at -3,3,1) Before (base game): And after:

[fluffyfreak]

That's good work Loki!

[Loki999]

For the moment its mainly an experiment. When its "done", i can make a pull request. The code and changes will then get reviewed. If the lead devs like the change, then they will check the code. They may reject it if they see some problems with the code, or ask for some changes, or maybe directly help with the changes. It will then get accepted into the main branch and available in the next nightly build. If they don't like it for whatever reason, then I am left with the following choices:1) Forget it2) Improve it in some way that is more acceptable to the core team and try to submit again3) Release it as a replacement exe (kind of like a mod).4) Fork it Options 1 and 2 are possible.3 - could be done as a one off (like i plan now to give people a teaser and get feedback), but that would become rapidly out of date against the master branch, and one day the replacement EXE would not longer be compatible with the data files and scripts.4 - no way. A fork with a single change is not really worth contemplating. Even if i had the skill, time, and energy for making sweeping changes to the game, i'd much rather spend my efforts assisting the core team or at least giving feedback and reporting bugs. Bottom line: Either it will get merged into the master at some point, or it wont. If it doesn't, then its cool. Its been fun playing with the code and trying things out. Its been a long time since i did any messing around in C, and it may lead me on to looking at other things I could help out with. There are currently 358 open issues in GitHub, some of those maybe i have the skill to help out with (the simplest of them). We will see, it all depends on time and effort, the former I tend to be severely lacking in especially with my other commitments (Multiple jobs, and player/builder/scripter for an online game).

[Loki999]

Note: Windows ONLY! Sorry linux guys, i'm a penguin fan myself. Here we go. [url]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29921927/pioneer-more_earths.7z[/url] If anyone wants to fly in a different universe, download this, extract it directly into your pioneer directory and give it a shot. It will replace your pioneer.exe, so back that up or be prepared to replace from archive when you want to revert. Note: It will not be save game compatible. Well, definitely not if you are in a system that has changed... not sure if you are in a custom system. I'd expect crashiness at least with an existing save game. Note: If you don't know how to extract .7z files, you need 7-zip from here: [url]http://www.7-zip.org/[/url] PS: If it doesn't work, let me know, along with any error messages. Worked fine on my local install from Build 201307.61-win32

[shadmar]

Nice work :)Do you have a branch on git somewhere for the code curious? Just to see the diff?

[Loki999]

Nice work :)Do you have a branch on git somewhere for the code curious? Just to see the diff? I have a branch but not synced the changes. My internet has gone gaga for the last couple of weeks and getting terrible dB attenuation on the line (its ADSL) causing very slow uploads and frequent drops. Just taken me several attempts to upload that small file to dropbox. If they don't get it sorted soon ill be switching to cable internet after the holidays. But really, the changes are trivial. If you are really interested, then here is my modified StarSystem.cpp [url]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29921927/StarSystem.cpp[/url] You can use something like WinMerge or any diff tool to see the differences.

[TheBob]

 Can i use it in any version!? like A26 or A10!? i ask this because of the ships i have in data folder and music. It is a replacement executable. It will be identical to the latest Pioneer build, except for the changes to the system generator. LMR models will not be compatible.

[Loki999]

It is a replacement executable. It will be identical to the latest Pioneer build, except for the changes to the system generator. LMR models will not be compatible. Exactly.

[shadmar]

I have a branch but not synced the changes. My internet has gone gaga for the last couple of weeks and getting terrible dB attenuation on the line (its ADSL) causing very slow uploads and frequent drops. Just taken me several attempts to upload that small file to dropbox. If they don't get it sorted soon ill be switching to cable internet after the holidays. But really, the changes are trivial. If you are really interested, then here is my modified StarSystem.cpp [url]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29921927/StarSystem.cpp[/url] You can use something like WinMerge or any diff tool to see the differences. Thanks!

[shadmar]

PS! There are some natural oxygen worlds around G class stars already : This was a K class I think, not sure if it was oxygen, but it was a "nice" planet : 

[shadmar]

Earth in sol without heightmap (seeded) : 

[Loki999]

Nice pics Shadmar. See you using a Wave... love dropping a level 3 military drive in those babies. Can take you anywhere. I discovered a lovely little earth like world this morning. Its capital was called Gay Town. I hear the night life there is fabulous Was trying to take a screenie of it but game crashed as I hit the launch button

[Loki999]

Don't worry about the build number (or lack of one), its just a development thing. There is no need for me to assign a build number... i could give it the build number of 1234343534535645654645 if ilked, its irrelevant. Build numbers are just useful for the devs when people are reporting problems and keeping track of when changes were made. Only thing that matters for you is not to use same save games between my version and the official version.

[Vuzz]

TheBob, on 15 Jul 2013 - 10:43 PM, said:It is a replacement executable. It will be identical to the latest Pioneer build, except for the changes to the system generator. LMR models will not be compatible. Exactly.

[Loki999]

Hmm... why so sad? Is Genesia using LMR models? The changes are simple, you can dev can't you Vuzz? Could go through the changes with you and you could make your own changes.

[lionheart]

This looks excellent, more earthlike planets instead of tiny rocky ones makes things a lot more interesting p.s. "nice" to meet you MadMax0110 are you another one of Biomechanoid's friends?

[shadmar]

p.s. "nice" to meet you MadMax0110 are you another one of Biomechanoid's friends? Whack a mole game comes to mind.

[Zordey]

Whack a mole game comes to mind. I'v actually just went to the trouble of finding out how to block users. (I like the feature to block signatures, I hate signatures in forums.)

[Vuzz]

Hmm... why so sad? Is Genesia using LMR models? The changes are simple, you can dev can't you Vuzz? Could go through the changes with you and you could make your own changes. Yes , Genesia is Full LMR .I'm not a coder , and can't compile , so can't dev/change the source myself . 

[Loki999]

 Yes , Genesia is Full LMR .I'm not a coder , and can't compile , so can't dev/change the source myself . Are you on windows? I could provide a step by step guide for you. It really is a piece of piss. Or who is responsible for Genesia? Are they a dev?