I just tried the new galaxy map, but I have to say that I could not feel a big difference between the 2 versions.
IMO the initial delay after the first click stayed about the same but after that the delay got a little smaller.

So if I just click on one system, then I have to wait for about 15sec (the PC is calculating something, altough the star system has already appeared onscreen) and from then on everything runs quite smoothly.

I hope the game is developing well, because I can't wait to move my Warbirds on this beautiful map.

whoelse

Only thing i find wrong with it is that its increased my excitment levels quite a bit again

Since I had to reformat my computer, i'm installing the WinFX Runtime components again. Once that's done, i'll test the update, MStrobel.

You might want to think about editing your first post and including the update in that. I only noticed your update post because I went back a page, and I imagine there will be people who won't think of doing that.

*Edit - my god! The improvement is unbelieveable, MStrobel! it now takes about 6 seconds for the program to load initially, and every system click - including the first one - is now instantaneous!

You've definitely solved the loading problems with this update!

Nice one!

Just tried this and it works perfectly on my system:

A64 3800 X2
1 Gb DDR 400
GeForce 6200
Dual 1280x1024 Displays


Worked at lightning speed and looks great! I can't wait for the full release!

I am quite pleased with it and had no problems viewing it at all. (I followed the instructions to the letter)
It did seem just a tish slow loading, but, that's no biggie.
Now, being the nitpicker I am, I was wondering if Star systems that are KNOWN to have inhabitants will be set up that way? Or at least the planets be as they are suppose to be, such as Class M.
I noticed that Sigma Iotia only had 5 planets (suppose to have And that Sigma Iotia II should be Class M and inhabited.
I thought the Moons were a nice touch as well, but unsure as to whether a class M should have any more than 2. Seems like overkill to me. Just an opinion, nothing more.
Well, there's my whopping two cents worth!

Thanks for the feedback, jadriel. At the moment, there are no populations anywhere in the galaxy. This test is only intended to test my galaxy grid control and view the star and planet distributions. The number and sizes of moons are based on probabilities defined in a table, so those can (and will) be tweaked at some point in the future.

Cheers,
Mike

8O works well

Tested out the map...

Here are my thoughts/observations/suggestions:

First of all, it looks really good at this stage!

1. I think it would be a nice touch to animate the stars in the "system window" were you can see the planets. The planets rotate very nicely.
2. Along the same lines, might be very cool to add a little animation to the asteroid fields for that extra touch.
3. In the main starfield, I think some nebulae should take up more than one sector. I think that would make the map look better. I don't know if this is possible or not while making it look clean and sharp.
4. The moon graphics... it's awesome that we have moons on some planets. With that said, I think it would be good to have several moon "types" as all moons do not look like ours. Jupiter's moons all are very unique! Perhaps the moons can be smaller versions of some of the planets (icy moons, terran moons, volcanic, etc...).
5. I felt the map was too crowded. I feel as though increasing the map size and letting the star density decrease accordingly would be good.

I'd be more than happy to discuss these with you in further detail.

I already posted a link to a *wierd* Moon pic from Nasa in the staff room, MStrobel.



I know the bottom half of the pic is cut off, but at 16x16 pixels, you CAN'T see that there is anything wrong with the image!

...

Could you send me the animation of the Asteroids, MStrobel? I might be able to solve the transparency issue for you, but I want to check it out first.

OK, I've implemented animated asteroids and 4 different shapes of moons. At the moment, the moon images aren't actually different shapes, but are different colors (grey, blueish, reddish, yellowish). Feel free to replace the images (located in Resources/Images/Planets/Moons) with your own. If you come up with some moon images that look good, feel free to post them.

You can download the updated version using the link in the original post.

Sweet! I will check out the new map. Did you make any other changes other than the moons/asteroids?

The map is a work of art. You have singlehandedly given me new hope for a rebirth of the most played game in my colection. I salute you sir.

The images that i've posted were simply crops of images made by Nasa that I found. I wouldn't know where to begin to make one. I could have a go in Paint, but all you'd end up with is a grey blob of colour, not something that even remotely looked real.

The images were all pictures of Jupiter's Moons, if anyone was interested. These are the originals:





If you want coloured variations of the same moon though, this image might help, MStrobel:

Got to say, I just looked the map over. no problem with install, I really do like this map..... Talk about realism! AWESOME!!! I WANT MORE PLEASE!

lol