GSim 0.32.01 - 0.32.06

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testtubegames
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GSim 0.32.01 - 0.32.06

Post by testtubegames »

A small (but important!) update to the gravity sim...

GSim 0.32.01

Changed:
-Added in elliptical trails, so that you see an object's full orbit instead of just a trail. Still fairly beta, so feedback on it welcome
-Improved the relativistic calculations (wow, I spent a lot of time learning waaaay more than I thought I'd need to)
-Added instructions panel
-Gave the screen some momentum when you slide it around
-Renamed "Lagrange" button to "Follow Both (rotating frame)", to be a bit clearer. Eventually I'd like to add the lagrange points themselves
-Lots of bug fixes

On the relativistic calculations, I'll spare you all the details, but note that the 'problem' with conservation of momentum isn't, I believe, a problem at all. I rebuilt the whole system multiple times, going through with a fine-tooth comb... and I did indeed find some bugs in it. So now relativity is working a lot better. You can now, for instance, do 'circular' orbits around moving black holes... which get compressed into oval orbits. You can also get a lot closer to the speed of light, as objects now use a momentum variable instead of a velocity variable (which eliminates some floating point error issues).

Ah, sorry, I said I'd spare the details.

Back to the conservation of momentum issue -- I believe what's happening is that some momentum is going into the gravitational field itself. Just like how in electromagnetism, the field can carry momentum (as in, photons flying away from the charged particles), the same can happen in gravity. And I didn't realize that the simulation I built actually contained gravitational waves, but I guess it does! So the change in momentum that you notice is in fact due to gravitational waves.

Weird!

To Do:
(Nuts-and-Bolts)
-Better SFX


(Menus)
-More Science Equipment (protractor, etc)

(Sim Additions / Overlays)
-Polar Grid, Apsis view, eclipses (viewtopic.php?f=7&t=156&start=140#p2937)
-Inertial Mass != Gravitational Mass? (viewtopic.php?f=7&t=156&start=160#p3281)

(Under Discussion)
-Changing Newton's Laws (viewtopic.php?f=7&t=156&start=160#p3281)
-Use dr/dt as a variable in force law (viewtopic.php?f=7&t=156&start=170#p3455)
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Re: GSim 0.32.01 + 0.32.02

Post by testtubegames »

And a minor update -- did a couple bug fixes and released 0.32.02.

Of note:
-Much smaller file size
-Solve the problem of flickering ellipses
-Tracked down the drop-down menu problem
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wtg62
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Re: GSim 0.32.01 + 0.32.02

Post by wtg62 »

It seems every time I check back, the UI gets more and more sleek. Nice job!
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Re: GSim 0.32.01 + 0.32.02

Post by testtubegames »

wtg62 wrote:It seems every time I check back, the UI gets more and more sleek. Nice job!
Thank you!

I will say, when working on that UI, I often think back to that discussion we had in the short-lived IRC channel -- where you really pushed for improvements to it. It reminds me that if there's a problem "dammit, it *can* be better*"... and keeps me from settling.

*Not a quote or anything... and for all I know, I may well remember the conversation differently than you! :D
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Re: GSim 0.32.01 + .02 + .03

Post by testtubegames »

Another minor update, (0.32.03) added in sound effects, and did some bug fixes.
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wtg62
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Re: GSim 0.32.01 + .02 + .03

Post by wtg62 »

I just noticed the "ellipses instead of trails" feature. So awesome.

In my opinion, as is right now, the UI is perfectly fine. I'll let you know if I find anything I don't like, but for now, it's a solid UI.

Edit: Using the "Follow Both" mode causes the ellipses for eccentric orbits in the aforementioned feature to break.
It would also be nice if trail length could go up to 5.0

Trail color should also default to planet color, not blue. Actually, you have auto line color, but why is it not on by default?
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Re: GSim 0.32.01 + .02 + .03

Post by testtubegames »

Yeah - I'm a big fan of the ellipses mode. It's still fairly buggy, but gets the job done. Great for all those times you just want to see what some orbit is without waiting for it to go all the way around. Or see a bit clearer how an object is orbiting a moving body.

And wow, yeah, I'll disable the ellipse setting for the Follow Both mode. That's trippy.

A trail length of 5 seconds? Aside from being a nice round-ish number, any particular reason? (I'll try it out, though there's a chance it'll cause some lag if I let the value get too high)

I turned off auto-color by default just to try to make things look a bit nicer. When you have a bunch of different trail colors, it can get a bit muddled/confusing. (It can also, for the record, look amazing!) So for someone just starting out, I figured I'd give them nice blue orbit lines by default.
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Re: GSim 0.32.01 + .02 + .03

Post by testtubegames »

Just posted 0.32.05 up on Humble and on the web. It fixes that notorious bug where people couldn't add planets or zoom after (clearing/selecting a planet/etc).
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Re: GSim 0.32.01 - 0.32.05

Post by GmN2k »

Am i dumb? :/ Where can i download the update.
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Re: GSim 0.32.01 - 0.32.05

Post by testtubegames »

GmN2k wrote:Am i dumb? :/ Where can i download the update.
No worries - just sent you a link via a private message.

In general, for any other folks reading this with the same question, if you bought it through the Humble widget on my site -- there's either a download link in your email from Humble Bundle, or you can sign in at HumbleBundle to download the latest versions of the sim. But if you run into problems (technology? problems? no way...) do let me know.
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