SPACE ENGINE: Best Thing Ever. (0.97/V2 Released!)

[Southend Rage]

Link to V2 (0.97) DL: Forum Link

Here is the site link http://spaceengine.org
Be sure to switch to the English version for the busier forums.

Tips on running Space Engine on lower spec Computers.
I run this gem on a 3 1/2 year old home laptop with even older tech.
It took quite a bit of meddling with the in game options & config files to get it running pleasingly enough to explore and take screens. Here are some small tips:

• If you have a Laptop play with it PLUGGED IN, this increases the computing limit of most laptops compared with running on just battery power.
  
  
• The simplest way to increase playability is to reduce the resolution, I don't think there are in-game options for this in the current release, but it's in the main config file with options for full screen & windowed as well.
  
  
• There may be a memory limit for individual programs on your comp, but opening the task manager & increasing the process priority to 'high' will help, as long as you are running few or no background programs, on that note:
  
  
• Don't run with other programs!! Some people allow programs to start themselves when the PC is switched on, like Messengers & Widgets on the desktop. Space Engine is quite memory hungry, so it helps to turn these off.
  
  
• On the note of memory, a good way to have fun playing and still seeing what detail space engine is capable of, explore with Surface LOD at -2 (This is in the in-game options) and turn it up to a higher LOD when you find somewhere interesting.
  
• It takes my comp about 30-60 seconds to render a landscape moving up from 0 LOD to +2 , just for screenshots. Turning it back down when I move on.
  
  
• This can give you more time before the game reaches the cache limit in memory, I can normally play for about an hour before I have to restart.
  (This isn't as annoying as it sounds, the game starts where you left)

There are more things you can achieve with the in-game options, but if you really want to get the most out of the sim, fiddle with the config files, you can change things like maximum surface detail and mesh detail (This helps with memory)
You can also change the way the universe is procedurally generated, like the chances of a terrestrial planet having life and the chances of different kinds of planets & stars forming.

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This little, ahem BIG program is currently far more obscure than it deserves to be.

It's basically what it says on the tin, it's a Space Sim, but like no other in it's ease of use and short learning curve. At least, if your PC can run it well, but it should run better on a wider range of comps after the upcoming update. (0.97)

It currently has a wide range of features, but the creator seems intent on adding a huge amount more. If his development continues at it's current rate I see it becoming a premier program, for studies of such things.

I Missed one important fact, unlike some sims, this features procedural, as well as catalog locations, like nearby stars & galaxies, so if you yearn for a more complete view of the universe as it is currently understood to be this is the thing to use, it will blow your mind with it's infinity. Have fun!

Here are some screens, feel free to post some of your own, I hope this thread becomes full of what you can find! This program is a photographic dream!

 

[Wardez]

Woah wait, so this is like the Infinity Game Engine? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCzDKj3hjOE

Jumping on this right NOW.

 

[MeanElf]

I too have been keping an eye on The Infinity one for when I get a gaming PC as I was very impressed with their vision of making so many worlds.

It's like there is the Outerra/Anteworld game engine with the whole Earth to explore and work with. Then there is Infinity/with star systems and now this!

Definitely looking hopeful.

 

[sesselpupser]

I wonder if we'll ever get a game that combines something like Outerra with this, that would be pretty awesome. Something like intergalactic Arma or something... The ultimate open world game!

Thanks for posting this, I'm going to check it out when I have the time.

 

[dice1998]

I wonder if we'll ever get a game that combines something like Outerra with this, that would be pretty awesome. Something like intergalactic Arma or something... The ultimate open world game!

Dear Bioware...

Downloading Space Engine right now 👍.

 

[Southend Rage]

Guys, this isn't gonna become a discussion on how good it would be if it was part of an unfinished set of wargames is it now? Anyway.

Space engine is fun because it's about exploration and searching for pure beauty!
In a universe that's as close as any of us will ever feel to being a real exploration of true reality, for current technology anyway.

If you want to play star wars, little astronuts, go buy Mass Effect, Halo and other stuff of the sort.... That's not what this is about.

It's not overcomplicating things, I've never understood why most space-based videogames centered on war & financial civilization, the universe is about beauty and discovery for me. So, i'll keep going back to the beauty and discovery. [/rant]



















I love the way there is detail right down to the surface, though my computer cannot achieve the maximum detail, I believe there are pictures on the forums with surface detail at sub-meter texture and vertex resolution! Incredible..
[/nerd]

The most awesome thing, is that if you look back at the stars in the sky in those pictures, you can go to all of them, they will most likely have planets, moons, asteroids, gas giants, the lot.
This sim is unendingly massive and everywhere there is variation & detail, no two systems are the same.

 

[MeanElf]

I hear you on the exploration for exploration sake front.

I wasn't so keen on the people behind the Infinity game engine's proposed direction for a space trade/war game. Even the folks behind Outerra though the engine might be used for such to fund further development - turns out that it doesn't need to. There are quite a few people using that purely for exploration - okay, others are using it minecraft style too...but at least the option is there to explore/drive/fly to wherever you want and see what you see. Of course they now have enough funding through selling to various air forces as a training sim.

It is hopeful therefore that such an engine can survive and be used without a game application attached.

 

[chromatic9]

Amazing. Can't wait to try it.

Just imagine this with Elite - one the of the best games ever made

 

[dice1998]

Downloaded but I have a question:

Is there a way to change it to english? I have no idea how to read russian

**edit** nevermind, downloaded the english version XD

 

[Tired Tyres]

Amazing. Can't wait to try it.

Just imagine this with Elite - one the of the best games ever made

You know about this?

http://elite.frontier.co.uk/

 

[chromatic9]

You know about this?

http://elite.frontier.co.uk/

Yes. I first heard it on Click on the BBC.

How do you get the magnet link working for the texture packs?

 

[Bram Turismo]

You know about this?

http://elite.frontier.co.uk/

Colony Wars anyone?

 

[Southend Rage]

I hear you on the exploration for exploration sake front.
--
There are quite a few people using that purely for exploration - okay, others are using it minecraft style too...but at least the option is there to explore/drive/fly to wherever you want and see what you see. Of course they now have enough funding through selling to various air forces as a training sim.

It is hopeful therefore that such an engine can survive and be used without a game application attached.

You've got a good point, it's just when something becomes a game these days, publishers get involved, malicious interests tend to point their eyes in the direction of money..... especially mmo's
That would be the worst thing for space engine, with any luck even if the developer prices it at v.1 release it will remain a popular download, and not fade away.
I think something called Kerbal Space Program is an example to follow for developers like Spaceengineer.

Ok time for a couple more pics! Has no one got to grips yet? f11 key is for screenshots.

 

[dice1998]

Nothing too major:

 

[Southend Rage]

Nice! Suprisingly similar to the first pictures I took, it's a matter of just returning and trying more different things and settings until you find a niche!
Don't be dissapointed if the game doesn't look like the other screenies yet, I just takes the click of a couple of switches to find the right light levels & such.
I turn Auto-Exposure off so I can still see stars and galaxies while orbiting planets & stars.

I noticed the star warp, the star blur setting is perhaps a little pointless, but it's the thing that amazes most people the first time they travel in Space Engine, it really is a different perspective.... To think you can go to all of those stars!

No more pics from me today, I don't wanna overdo it! See you guys next week

Has anyone found a Black Hole yet? They have a cool lensing effect, might lag you out though.... xD
Dense Neutron Stars feature the same effect.

Oh, and Giant stars look like walnuts because they have puffy atmospheres in reality!

 

[Wardez]

Beautiful shots guys. Here's a couple quick simple ones.

I was having most fun looking around at different galaxies. Trying to find clusters and all the different categories. So fun being able to zip around.

Here's a binary I found trailing outside a large spiral galaxy:

I don't know how advanced the model here is but it's correct in the sense that the larger of the pair would be stripping the smaller one of its material, exposing its core, which is of course very hot, making it blue. Blue stars are usually new but they wouldn't be this far out, so the binary stripping makes sense. And notice the oblong shape of the blue partner, being stretched out due to its quicker orbit around the main.

Small cluster. Brown elliptical headed straight for its big brother there. Going to be gobbled up in billions of years.

The brown elliptical core:

Through the elliptical's scope:

Hyperspeed through the core:

Hyperspeed backwards for a rezo effect:

 

[dice1998]

I'm enjoying this too much

New batch!:

 

[Southend Rage]

Ha ha! You found a planet with an orangey-blue atmosphere, I have some of my favourite shots from another one like that!









I don't use the diffraction spikes, because they are often too strong! I don't really like a giant shiny starfish taking up half the picture when there's a star in the background.

 

[gagtooth]

Love me some Space Engine







Listening to ambient music and flying around the stars is pretty awesome

 

[Ridox2JZGTE]

How I wish there will be PS3 version for this, free on PSN

 

[CodeRedR51]

Wonder if my cheap PC will run this.

 

[Wardez]

Your second shot is so dramatically beautiful gagtooth.

This is like desktop wallpaper fuel, I just can't pick one!

 

[sesselpupser]

Is there any way to get it to run at a custom resolution? I would love to make a wallpaper out of this but I can't get it to run at my native resolution, it just sits in a window.

It also crashes a lot, but so far I haven't tried running it with everything else closed as I was only toying around with it briefly.

 

[bevo]

Does this support triple screens?

 

[sesselpupser]

Does this support triple screens?

Not off the bat, it sits in a window which is smaller than one screen and I can't see any resolution settings (I will now look again). Hence why I was asking if you can make it fullscreen and at a custom resolution. Outerra supports triples and is quite breathtaking as a result, so here's hoping.

 

[gagtooth]

Thanks Wardez 👍

Neema_t, you can try adjusting the resolution in the main.cfg file in the config folder and change it to run in fullscreen (Ctrl+Enter).





Very blue

 

[dice1998]

Thanks Wardez 👍

Neema_t, you can try adjusting the resolution in the main.cfg file in the config folder and change it to run in fullscreen (Ctrl+Enter).





Very blue

Too blue.. 💡

 

[sesselpupser]

Neema_t, you can try adjusting the resolution in the main.cfg file in the config folder and change it to run in fullscreen (Ctrl+Enter).

Thanks, I thought I had it for a minute there but it just crashed again. It really doesn't like it when I put the surface LOD up to 2!

Well this is predictably massive... I'll put one up and then post links to a few more, hopefully that won't get me told off.

Link for the above image, another, and a different view of the same scene.

Oh and one more, which I recommend you pre-squint for because it's a bit bright!

Does this support triple screens?

Ok so you go to /config/main.cfg, open that in whatever text editor you want and here's what I changed:

// display settings
ClientSizeX 5040 // window client area width
ClientSizeY 1050 // window client area height
FullScreen true // use fullscreen mode
Maximized true // start with maximized window
AspectRatio 1.0 // aspect ratio for displays with non-square pixels
UseDesktopSettings true // use desktop settings for fullscreen mode (fullscreen window style)
ScreenSizeX 5040 // screen x resolution (when UseDesktopSettings false)
ScreenSizeY 1050 // screen y resolution (when UseDesktopSettings false)
DisplayRefresh 60 // refresh frequency (when UseDesktopSettings false)

Then you press ctrl and enter twice to get it fullscreen. Thinking about it you might not even have to change those, just try pressing ctrl and enter and see what happens.

 

[chromatic9]

Had to remove the patch as I get a run time error with it installed.

 

[Bigbazz]

Looks awesome