SpaceSimCentral

answer: it's me ;)first a few opening words, after all the complications and "Tohuwabohu"* i produced, i like to return to what i was once.the kind guy who helps everybody with it's questions (a few will rember that from Frontier forums or even SSC). the one who slipped into FFE's code and tried to find uncommon solutions for every crazy question one could have.the helping hand who guided nubes to all the needed references for FE2 and FFE and later on Pioneer.the "soldier" who played pipes and drums together with geraldine to advertise Pioneer everywhere.the freak who explained Pioneers model scripts to everyone until they got perhaps better as himself.the hardheaded guy with the softcored heart. [/hr]*nonetheless the "Tohuwabohu" is the most important part of any creation, no order without "Tohuwabohu".no creation of new things without "Tohuwabohu".somekind of a "religion" for a deadhead like me.

let's start with the custom systems, again i know i started this before, but now i guess i have some crowd and i noticed that the appearance hasn't changed since alpha19 at least, so i assume it will perhaps stay for a little while. if not it won't matter much when finished it's completely custom and won't change except for the fractal generated terrain.
Code:
local system = CustomSystem:new("Mysys",{ 'STAR_G' }):seed(0) -- 0 reverts to the initial seed. we try this first to see what appears on the system chart. system:add_to_sector(1,-4,-3,v(0.231,0.394,0.210))
for the sector (X,Y,Z = 1,-4,-3 in above example) it's not recommended to have higher/lower z values as 4 resp. -4, i experienced, else it can happen that the system won't appear on the galactical map or is at least very hard to reach. for the intersector coordinates v(x,y,z) in units of the sector, while 0 is the centre and it reaches from -1 to 1.we have now quarter sectors in pioneer (personally i guess they will confuse more rather to be helpful, but i'm speaking only for myself).[attachment=1111:Bildschirmfoto 2012-03-14 um 02.13.24.png]that looks already like something useful.but we like to get a inhabited world with probably a oxygene atmosphere, no?let's fiddle around with the seed until we produced a system containing at least one planet with a breathable atmosphere.why not simply start to code the system right now?because i think it's hard to determine the proper values for all the needed specifications of the system, a randomly generated system will help us and we didn't have to be experienced in astronomy neither you need to know the exact physics behind.it will need some time and patience, but i guess it's worth the effort.imo, the system will look more reasonable after this torture as anything you can imagine.additionally you can't google for many known systems with known planets to get a idea how one is build.of course the random generated systems aren't exactly like real systems and some data might be incorrect or simply impossible, but it's still a game and modding is part of the game, imo.if you like to get a quicker access to the galactical map, two little hintsfirst, copy a new instance of the game, then remove all ships except "4Eagles", "Lanner_ub", the "ships.lua" and "default_ship_textures", pioneer will load like lightning now (the same i use to get a quick access to the modelviewer when i'm working on a model script).second, move the hyperspace target to the newly created system and save the game, you won't have to move there each time and i can tell you it can be very often, until you get bored of steady changing the seed and checking the result, some tips to that later (behave of procedural generated things).

lucky me, i had a hit at the 4th try [attachment=1112:Bildschirmfoto 2012-03-14 um 03.13.20.png]it's not a oxygene world, but looks nice to meseed is 4i usually start simply with 1,2,3,...up to 9if i have no hit i choose 11,21,31...if that wont help 12,22,33...if i get mad and can't find something i like, i hammer on the number keys to get something randomly but i was lucky and had a hit with :seed(4)if you now like to get something close to that, you just search in the following manner:35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,... perhaps up to 49the chances are relatively high to find something similar, why?it appears that procedural generated data forms some pattern and it's not truely random (even true random has a pattern if you could see the endless stream).due to that the probability of a hit is close to the number you had a hit with. close means not the next lower or higher numbers, close means you start with the drawn fitting number and raise it by the power of ten.in our example 40, chances are now high that something useful appears a few counters below or above (really only a few ones more as 5 is unusual i experienced).additionally i start with 39 down to 31 or 41 up to 49, the reason is again the chances are higher the closer you are.i will do so and show the result, if i get one if i didn't find one beween 31 and 49 i raise it by the power of 10 again (391...409)at this point it's useful sometimes to get above 409 or below 391, in the range of 351 to 449, that's a lot of numbers (98) but you don't have to try them all, if nothing ,really nothing useful results from that, stay away of it choose the next power of tenv (around 4000) and go on.if that again is frustrating, forget number 4 and choose another one. same procedure as... no not last year, as before.it's offense that it's impossible to check all possible seeds, but with this method chances are good to get around that.i'm at least as curious as you, because i noticed slight changes to the system generator, i'm not sure if i get a populated system without customizing it completely. further it seems that the seed has no more influence to the economy type, which would be bad, because we have no setting for that.(somehow i feel it's bound now to the type of star, that's somewhat reasonable, because you will never find a inhabited world around a class M star in reality as example. it has something to do with the fertile or "green belt" and the fact that this belt would be such close to a class M star, a planet couldn't rotate. but without a proper rotation of the planet no life is possible, one side stays hot the other cold, e.g. mercury).life will have from my pov very little chances, class G is not the most common class and most class G are multiple star systems, on which life isn't to expect, imo. in this point astronomers are divided much, some expect some say impossible.but i simply guess it's far more attractive to make yourself popular when you say life is possible then vice versa, such you can print in newsletters and make statements on tv. if you are contrary to that you won't be heard at all, even when your'e perhaps right.we humans like it to get fooled, unfortunately (or fortunately in case of computergames ).i would say "we are on our own", anyway.random generated systems look really far better rather anything one can make artificially, imo. i guess because artificial looks artificial

Code:
local system = CustomSystem:new("Mysys",{ 'STAR_G' }):seed(4024) --4, 402, 4024, system:add_to_sector(1,-4,-3,v(0.231,0.394,0.210))
with that you already can be satisfied, of course this seed will work only for a system in exactly this location and with the same star class.[attachment=1126:Bildschirmfoto 2012-03-22 um 12.37.26.png][attachment=1127:Bildschirmfoto 2012-03-22 um 12.37.42.png]you can edit also a existing system in the same manner.i.e. Beta Hydri
Code:
CustomSystem:new('Beta Hydri',{'STAR_G_GIANT'}):seed(400493):add_to_sector(0,0,-3,v(0.075,0.668,0.028))
i only inserted :seed(400493) into the existing line foe "Beta Hydri" in "local_stars.lua"possible other seeds would be4, 4001, 4003, 4005, 40052, 40054, 40049, 40047, 400493, 400496, 400497, 400499, 400501, 400505, 399995, 399988, 400488, 4004927, 4004923, 4004921, 4004915, but 400493, is [attachment=1128:Bildschirmfoto 2012-03-22 um 14.44.57.png]

some "new" systems to explore (slideshow)the replacement "local_stars.lua", only some changes to the seed, it's at least good for alpha20, next alpha we will see...

Good work potsmoke66! Just a few billion(s) more to do [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17532470[/url]

Is there a way to convert ICRS data (RA DE) to the sector values, or in other words, what is the mean of 'sector' coordinates (dimensions and placement)

i think so, but ask the devs. how they imported the data on the other hand there will be a explanation to that in the web.data in star catalogues are usually radians and distance in LY, i assume from our view point as centre, you just have to plot the data on a sector grid.i guess one sector is 10LY in dimension but i can be wrong.i'm not sure if they still hang on to it, but i guess they calculated the rotation and movement of the galaxy resp. the stars to (even if i'm not convinced about the result 1000 years are relatively short, to short to have a significant movement of a star at all sometimes. to depend only on the doppler effect can lead to wrong and foremost less precise results).besides of the "few" (not really a few, but compared to the rest a nothing) imported systems, the whole rest is generated and not based on any existing.further, by the way the systems get generated, imported systems won't have real specifications, though the mass or temperature of a star won't fit to reality unless you specified the whole system.personally i didn't think every red dwarf is worth to be taken in pioneers galaxy, already the amount of systems and depth of the galaxy is exceeding the games playability.the thickness is now this high, i guess no one will ever travel that deep in "z", most will hang to the x,y plane and a little above or below.but you can go 200 sectors up or down to if you like, have fun think of a scenario where you have to find a specific system without a precise location, a search for a needle in the haystack is nothing compared to that.[/hr]i've "hided" some imperial systems not far from sol, i wonder if one can find them, without checking the location in the script.yes, you will have one significant bright star as orientation.the "custom" imperial systems, no existing ones (with a lot of "junk" in it, but you can check the seeds i used yourself, perhaps you like different ones. i.e change a world from a argon atmosphere to a oxygene atmosphere).[attachment=1148:Akron.lua.zip]the little changed bright_stars (one to be exact)[attachment=1147:03_bright_stars.lua.zip]i'm not sure, i assume the game will use the latter data given of a system, but to avoid conflicts i changed the bright_stars script (only added a seed and political affiliation), instead to override the chosen system.perhaps a picture from one of them?[attachment=1149:Bildschirmfoto 2012-03-29 um 16.44.19.png]that's Akron the system who gave the name for the script.i also changed my way of "hunting" a seed a bit, actually i still start with numbers from 1 to 9, if one result pleases me i add 8 (eight) cyphers to it (i.e. found a one at 4, next try is 400000001*. due to that the variation is smallest to the next/prev. seed. further add some random numbers between i.e. 437612101 this will result in more variations in generated planetary data rather a ..000001 ..000002 and so on.*9 cyphers is the maximum size for the seedthe final procedure is then i.e. seed(437612101), next 437612102, next 437612103 and so on.chances are very high you get a inhabited system in this way, but it needs patience, a lot of patience, and a little experience in knowing what can possibly produce a inhabited world (in average 2 up to 4 inhabited systems per 100, if you haven't one hit per 100, take another first number or exchange the "random" numbers between first and last three).if you find a system inbetween seed 1 and 9 that contains a world with a suitable temperature (~ -50°C to ~ 50°C) and some atmosphere, you can be sure you find similar ones with the above described procedure.if you find a system with indigenous life between 1 and 9, but no population, you are very close, hang on to it! if you find a populated system between 1 and 9, you made the match, there will be many "close" to this number.first respect that class "G" stars are the most fertile, besides of "K" and "M" class (in pioneer and relevant only for generated systems).brighter and bigger stars will need perhaps a smaller companion to be a suitable place for life (all "imperial" sytems are giant or bright stars, i really disrespected the fact that they could be seen from earth already, if they would exist).there is no way to get a specific economy type (agricultural, industrial, mining), it's left up to coincidence a bit and depends imo somewhat on the class of the star(s) in the system. this results in systems where it's hard or impossible to get indigenous life, while others will never turn to a mining or industrial colony.i guess it didn't matters much with which number you start, but still i feel that all which have i.e. a 4 as first cypher look very similar to seed(4),of course it can still vary a lot between them.the generated systems will have sometimes a strange appearance, worlds with less then 0.05 earth masses or above 5 earth masses i.e..if you take "boring" numbers (like 400000001) the result will be a boring planetary surface usually, that's why you should insert some numbers instead of "0".further i found out that the appearance is not longer bound to the systems sector or inter sector coordinates, though it can be moved without loosing any.greetings, "the number fumbler"

Expansion of this in the future could allow automatic ingame changes to systems based on ingame elements ( of course this relates to colonies, political changes, pirate changes and all the ingame factors we havent had developed ..... yet) may never have i note though vegastrike is starting to enhance what they have some of those ideas may be doable on a small scale here.

i guess they thought about such already...some additional systems for alpha21the directory systems replaces the whole existing one, existing systems won't be overwritten only moved and some new or altered added.check "p66_simple_systems.lua" for the systems which are imported from "local_stars" or "bright_stars".http://spacesimcentral.com/downloads/Pioneer/Potsmoke66_Files/custom_systems_p66_12-04-27.zipactually i use a way to find the seed like you would play lotto in a intelligent manner, randomize 7 numbers and add 01 - 99, i.e. 123456701 ...02, i had at least a quick success with the changes this time.