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Directed proceedural generation of asteroid belts
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| The_Schwam | Date: Thursday, 03.01.2013, 09:50 | Message # 1 |
 Observer
Group: Newbies
United States
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| Hey, this is my first post, and I have a question I'd like to ask the more knowledgeable members here. I use Space Engine for a 3D representation of solar systems I create in GURPS Space for an RPG campaign. I taught myself to custom add and tailor planets and such things into Space Engine, and so far it's proved an astounding too not just for my RPG games but just as a way to pass an afternoon. Sometimes when generating a system in GURPS, one of the generated orbits is classified as an asteroid belt. Normally this wouldn't be of note, as yet in my game have the players even had to think about an asteroid belt, much less go to one. However, a system they'll be visiting shortly has asteroid belt mining as a foundation for the local economy and thus they'll likely play a role, so I thought it would be nice to see an asteroid belt represented in Engine to the specifications that it was generated in GURPS. I like to think of myself as industrious, but hand coding a few thousand asteroids is still beyond my ken. However, I noticed while browsing procedural systems tonight that many of them have fully generated asteroid belts. My question is, would it be possible to insert such a generated asteroid belt, preferably with AU limits for both semi-major axis and edges (to stop from overlapping planetary orbits), and maybe to manually insert a few large, named ones that I already have detailed in writing?
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| Antza2 | Date: Thursday, 03.01.2013, 10:34 | Message # 2 |
 World Builder
Group: Global Moderators
Finland
Messages: 1049
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| Hello The_Schwam, welcome to the forum. Please remember to read the forum rules.
SE has asteroid belts, but someone smarter than me has to explain how to add them in custom systems.
To see asteroid belts ingame, you must activate markers from the toolbar on the right.
Go to antza2.deviantart.com for cool photos!
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Thursday, 03.01.2013, 10:39 | Message # 3 |
 Cosmic Curator
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United States
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| The_Schwam, in short, no, it's impossible. That is a capability that is planned for the future, but has yet to be implemented (I share your longing for it, however). So unfortunately, any custom asteroid belts must be placed one body at a time 
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| The_Schwam | Date: Thursday, 03.01.2013, 10:44 | Message # 4 |
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Observer
Group: Newbies
United States
Messages: 3
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| Ach, well, I don't think there's enough nights in the universe to hand code an entire asteroid belt. I guess I'll have to settle for adding one or two big ones and a couple little ones for flavor. Thanks for the speedy response.
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| Tim | Date: Thursday, 03.01.2013, 10:46 | Message # 5 |
 Explorer
Group: Users
Belgium
Messages: 296
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| Well, that's not even the biggest problem. You could export any procedural system and copy its asteroid belt in your procedural system. Minus a few adaptions which you can easily perform collectively through search and replace (or whatever that function is called in english).
The problem is loading time. Loading a thousand catalog stars lasts considerably longer than the procedural ones.
At least, that's how I experienced it.
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Thursday, 03.01.2013, 11:23 | Message # 6 |
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Cosmic Curator
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United States
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| (Tim) The problem is loading time
Loading time would not be a problem.
(Tim) You could export any procedural system and copy its asteroid belt in your procedural system.
Yes, this would be the most efficient method to add an asteroid belt to your system.
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My SE mods and addons
Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2 GHz, 16 GB DDR3 RAM, GTX 970 3584 MB VRAM
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| Salvo | Date: Thursday, 03.01.2013, 11:25 | Message # 7 |
 Star Engineer
Group: Local Moderators
Italy
Messages: 1400
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| (Tim) You could export any procedural system and copy its asteroid belt in your procedural system
Tim, you are a genius, i'm gonna try that, but i don't know if the engine exports even asteroids of asteroid belts...
The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.
CPU: Intel Core i7 4770 GPU: ASUS Radeon R9 270 RAM: 8 GBs
(still don't know why everyone is doing this...)
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Thursday, 03.01.2013, 11:30 | Message # 8 |
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Cosmic Curator
Group: Administrators
United States
Messages: 8717
Status: Offline
| (Salvo) i don't know if the engine exports even asteroids of asteroid belts...
It does export the asteroids
All forum users, please read this!
My SE mods and addons
Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2 GHz, 16 GB DDR3 RAM, GTX 970 3584 MB VRAM
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| Tim | Date: Thursday, 03.01.2013, 11:58 | Message # 9 |
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Explorer
Group: Users
Belgium
Messages: 296
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| (HarbingerDawn) (Tim)
The problem is loading time Loading time would not be a problem.
Not when entering the system, but when starting the program. I tried it once and the loading screened lasted at least for two minutes every time for just a thousand catalog asteroids. More systems with catalog asteroids would probably make it last way longer.
Edited by Tim - Thursday, 03.01.2013, 12:01 |
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| The_Schwam | Date: Thursday, 03.01.2013, 20:09 | Message # 10 |
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Observer
Group: Newbies
United States
Messages: 3
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| That could work, but I still wouldn't be able to ensure it was at the right distance, or didn't overlap any of my planetary orbits.
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Friday, 04.01.2013, 00:54 | Message # 11 |
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Cosmic Curator
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United States
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| (The_Schwam) That could work, but I still wouldn't be able to ensure it was at the right distance, or didn't overlap any of my planetary orbits.
You could if you hunted around enough and found the perfect one 
Also, if you found a belt that seemed good, but was too wide, you could always filter the asteroids by semi-major axis using a simple text find, and delete every asteroid that didn't fit your criteria.
All forum users, please read this!
My SE mods and addons
Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2 GHz, 16 GB DDR3 RAM, GTX 970 3584 MB VRAM
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| Disasterpiece | Date: Friday, 04.01.2013, 23:18 | Message # 12 |
 World Builder
Group: Users
United States
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| Wouldn't the system export file be huge? Added (05.01.2013, 02:18)
---------------------------------------------
Oh, it's just a text file. However, will this produce exact copies of the system or will each planet have different features than the one it was exported from?
I play teh spase engien
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Saturday, 05.01.2013, 01:33 | Message # 13 |
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Cosmic Curator
Group: Administrators
United States
Messages: 8717
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| (Disasterpiece) Oh, it's just a text file. However, will this produce exact copies of the system or will each planet have different features than the one it was exported from?
It's an exact copy, that is the purpose of the export.
All forum users, please read this!
My SE mods and addons
Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2 GHz, 16 GB DDR3 RAM, GTX 970 3584 MB VRAM
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| Tim | Date: Saturday, 05.01.2013, 12:58 | Message # 14 |
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Explorer
Group: Users
Belgium
Messages: 296
Status: Offline
| Well, you're not supposed to replace your entire catalog system with the exported one, that makes no sense either. You can just copy the asteroid belt, paste it in the right file and collectively edit its parent to your star or barrycenter.
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Saturday, 05.01.2013, 13:43 | Message # 15 |
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Cosmic Curator
Group: Administrators
United States
Messages: 8717
Status: Offline
| (Tim) Well, you're not supposed to replace your entire catalog system with the exported one, that makes no sense either.
Of course, no one was suggesting that.
All forum users, please read this!
My SE mods and addons
Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2 GHz, 16 GB DDR3 RAM, GTX 970 3584 MB VRAM
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