Useful links to make addons

[ar81]

I decided to make a thread that gather useful info for developers and addon makers.

What do I need to make addons?
It depends on the type of addon.
1.Surface base = to write a config file for your base + 3D meshes (optional) + Textures (optional)
2.Vessel = custom DLL module + 3D mesh for vessel + 3D virtual cockpit (optional)  + Textures (optional)
3.Vessel = Vinka's Spacecraft3.dll module + to write a .ini file for your vessel + 3D mesh for vessel + 3D virtual cockpit (optional)  + Textures (optional)
4.MFD = custom DLL module
5.Planets and solar systems ... (I have made none, so I do not know)

DLL modules are coded in C++ programming language.
Textures are basically digital paintings.  Size of textures must be powers of 2.  For example 32x32, 64x64, 256x128. Try to keep them small if you want low end computers to be able to use them (256x256 would be Ok)

What is DXT format?
Orbiter uses .DDS textures that use DXT compression.
BMP textures need to be converted to .DDS using a certain DXT compression.
You may see alpha channel support for every type of DXT file.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S3TC

What is alpha channel?  
It is used to add transparency to an image.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_channel

Questions on aerodynamics.
Here you may ask questions
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/aerodynamics/

How do I create DLLs for vessels?
You need a C++ compiler.  C++ is a language to write programs.
Compiler is needed to convert the code you write into a DLL module that orbiter can run.
http://arsponline.org/TheFrontier/download/OrbiterCompiler.zip
These are tutorials made by Art on how to make C++ vessel code for Orbiter
http://starfrontiers.org/downloads/Frankeincoder_Basic.html
http://starfrontiers.org/downloads/Frankeincoder_Intermediate.html
These are not programming tutorials, but tutorials on how to create code using existing templates.

List of useful applications and tools to make addons
http://www.orbitersim.com/forum/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=4531

C++ programming tutorials
Vessels with custom behaviors (like internal systems) or MFDs require to code stuff in C++
http://www.orbitersim.com/forum/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=4531

Exporting from Anim8tor to Orbiter MSH format
This is a script for Anim8tor to export files to MSH

Anim8tor (3D modeller): http//www.anim8+or.com (copy the link without the + symbol, 8 and o makes 8o in this forum)
Script: http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2698

The script has no documentation, so you may need to follow these steps.
1.Go to:
File > Configure
2.Set the script directory and check "Preload Scripts"
3.Restart Anim8tor, and when your done with your model, select:
Object > Export
Then select .msh as the file type.



Post Edited ( 12-21-07 15:59 )

[n122vu]

Would make a nice sticky.....

[ar81]

If you are making addons, here are some ideas

Design and Modeling of the NU Smart Space Drilling System (SSDS)
http://www.coe.neu.edu/Research/robots/papers/Space2006.pdf

Launch sites on Earth
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/L/launch_sites.html

[ar81]

Natural sciences wikibooks (look for astronomy)
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Astrophysics#Astronomy

[BluryBlue]

n122vu wrote:
Would make a nice sticky.....

Yeah it would!;)

[James.Denholm]

Sticky! Sticky! *chants*

(Brief 5 miniute intermition during which the more "veteran" members of the forum chase James.Denholm around with
baseball bats)

Pain, pain, pain.

[Dig Gil]

"STICK" This Please!!!

[Dig Gil]

What do you think about a AntiMatter spacecraft travelling...

[ar81]

Antimatter + Matter = BOOM!!
Result: Blown up to another dimension...

[Urwumpe]

Actually, you are just turned into high energy photons. You can say you are traveling at light speed afterwards.

[Dig Gil]

Urwumpe wrote:
Actually, you are just turned into high energy photons. You can say you are traveling at light speed afterwards.

: -I see you made your homework, well done!

[Dig Gil]

No one is blown up to another dimension with Antimatter. But is truth an antimatter-matter engine works, because
the anihalation of opost forces respect the Newton's law.

[Urwumpe]

Dig Gil a écrit:
No one is blown up to another dimension with Antimatter. But is truth an antimatter-matter engine works, because
the anihalation of opost forces respect the Newton's law.

A spell check would now be worth a lot...

Antimatter is not Anti-mass. If you annihilate 1 kg Antimatter and 1 kg matter, you still have the equivalent of 2 kg left in
the form of photons, which carry the impulse. As the exhaust velocity you can get by photons is close to c, you can get as
much kinetic energy for your rocket as theoretically possible. If you don't eject the photons, but reabsorb them (which is
not impossible), you don't get thrust...

Also, you never loose external effectivity (=the gain of kinetic energy relative to a reference) with higher speeds.

When a rocket accelerates a payload to a relative speed higher than twice its exhaust velocity,it begins to actually loose
kinetic energy. Thats no big problem, as you are only interested in the velocity, but it has an important effect on launch
vehicle design.

When your rocket speed is equal to the exhaust velocity, you get the maximum effectivity: the exhaust has no kinetic energy
relative to your reference, all kinetic energy goes to your rocket. Now, of course, the formula for kinetic energy looks
pretty different in special relativity, compared to newton, but the principles stay the same.

[Dig Gil]

Sorry but I'm not English, some words or expressions make me "dizzy".

[ar81]

Dev sites
http://www.gameai.com/
http://www.aiguru.com/
http://www.gamasutra.com/
http://www.gamedev.net/
http://ai-depot.com/
http://www.generation5.org/

[Dig Gil]

Why all this AI stuff?

[ar81]

In case you want to add some behaviors to your vessels...

[ar81]

Relevant info to create a 3DS loader
http://www.spacesimulator.net/tut4_3dsloader.html
Useful tools for developers
http://www.spacesimulator.net/links.html
AI and 3D mountains simulation
http://www.elsy.gdan.pl/



Post Edited ( 02-08-08 19:51 )

[Dig Gil]

COOL!

Now I have something (that maybe someone have already questioned, but...) to ask you:
when I load something to MeshWizard it freezes then CTD(Crash To Desktop), I have read the Manual, but it
continues to crash.

[ar81]

There are several reasons why it could happen.

-Outdated config.txt from previous versions or config.txt referring to a removed disk drive.  Delete config.txt in the
Mesh Wizard directory.

-Non US Windows regional settings.  Download an addon from www.orbithangar.com called EU2US.  Run this program
in the background and it will change regional settings to US (dot as decimal symbol) while it runs in the background.  
EU2US must be running in the background while you run Mesh Wizard, or you may want to change Windows regional
settings yourself, so dot is the decimal symbol.

-ActiveX controls not active.  Mesh Wizard has some .ocx files.  If Widows does not know of their existence, it will tell
you that there is a missing OCX.  To solve this problem, just double click on the .ocx file so it is registered in Windows.

-Other.  I have not tested it under Vista.  But I can tell you that Mesh Wizard should run even in Win95/98 if you have
enough RAM.  It does not use DirectX or any fancy hardware setting.

[ar81]

Solar system textures
http://maps.jpl.nasa.gov/

[ar81]

Imagine that you have an initial heading (Vi) and current heading (represented by a velocity vector V) represented as
vectors.  How do you calculate the angle between both vectors?

Angle = InverseCosine{DotProduct[ Normalized(Vi) , Normalized(V)]}

Notice that
Normalized : Function that normalizes a vector (brings its length to 1)
Dot product : Function that calculates a number (scalar) using dot product rules
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_product



Post Edited ( 02-13-08 17:25 )

[ar81]

If what Urwumpe says is correct, a future version of orbiter would use Lua scripting language.
Celestia uses it BTW.
So in advance here you have the material to learn.

What is Lua? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lua_%28programming_language%29
Lua manual http://www.lua.org/manual/5.1/
Lua Tutorial http://lua-users.org/wiki/TutorialDirectory

[Dig Gil]

ar81 wrote:
There are several reasons why it could happen.

-Outdated config.txt from previous versions or config.txt referring to a removed disk drive.  Delete config.txt in the
Mesh Wizard directory.

-Non US Windows regional settings.  Download an addon from www.orbithangar.com called EU2US.  Run this program
in the background and it will change regional settings to US (dot as decimal symbol) while it runs in the background.  
EU2US must be running in the background while you run Mesh Wizard, or you may want to change Windows regional
settings yourself, so dot is the decimal symbol.

-ActiveX controls not active.  Mesh Wizard has some .ocx files.  If Widows does not know of their existence, it will tell
you that there is a missing OCX.  To solve this problem, just double click on the .ocx file so it is registered in Windows.

-Other.  I have not tested it under Vista.  But I can tell you that Mesh Wizard should run even in Win95/98 if you have
enough RAM.  It does not use DirectX or any fancy hardware setting.

I tryed all that you said, the problem was the decimal symbol. Thanks:top:

[ar81]

In future softwares of mine, I will start the program verifying the decimal symbol at first.