View source for Guide to Ambience OXPs

This page focuses on two types of Ambience OXPs - those which affect ''all'' solar systems. Not those which just change one individual system such as Tionisla, or those which change the look of the skies (Zygo's offerings), or change asteroids ''etc''.

Oolite's collection of Ambience OXPs is a rather rum selection. Some aim at scientific realism in varying degrees. Others aim at spectacular eye-candy. Written by human beings rather than [http://aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?p=273533#p273533 disembodied organic brainlets], some are stand-alones whilst some form part of suites. Some just twiddle with the one thing (''eg'' distance to the sun) whilst others do many different things (distance to the sun, colour of the sun, grade of [[quirium]] scooped from the solar corona ''etc'').

Hence '''Cholly's partial Guide to Ambience OXPS'''.
[[File:Glowroids (cbr).png|thumb|right|320px|Griff's Glowroids (not yet included here)]]
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== Suns (distances and varieties) ==

Tweaking of the distance between the planet and the sun started early. Here are 7 OXPs which do this.

*Kaks [[Far Sun OXP|Far Sun]] Simple (March 2008) Just the one .oxp
*Wildeblood’s [[Sensible Sun]] before 2011
*Keeper1st’s [http://aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=18257 KeeperSky] (Ron O’Dell) inspired by Frontier/FFE (before 2016)
*Knotty’s [[Realistic Stars]] (Richard Knott; July 2012)
:Affects look of galaxy, star colour, corona size and distances. Constant size for sun coronas. (RealisticStars & Realistic Stars SSC seem identical)
*Wildeblood’s [[Distant Suns]] Simple (July 2014).
:Keeps the same basic distance between the planet and sun but varies it according to sun colour/star type.
*Rustem’s [[Distant Stars OXP|Distant Stars]] Later (Oct 2017) Combines with cim’s Sunspots.oxp
:As for Wildeblood, but adds variable corona flares, local economy correlated with star type and with observed reality etc.
:Partly done in collaboration with Wildeblood, Stranger & cim.
*Stranger’s [[Sun Gear]] Most recent (July 2020 - but started in 2013): part of the [[Strangers World]] suite of OXPs for more experienced players.
:Requires Stranger’s [[Habitable Main Planets]] OXP which redefines planets radii, and may need a selection of other OXPs from the [[Strangers World]] suite.
:Varies distances according to star type. Star types correlated with observed reality.
:Varies star radius and luminosity. Includes solar flares and solar winds.
:An Advanced (Solar) System Data MFD displays 2 pages with data on sun & planets (Lock Advanced Space Compass onto sun or planet and then cycle through your MFD modes). 


=== Stellar OXP comparisons ===

{| border="1" cellpadding="9" align="center" 
|+ 
|-style="background:yellow; color:black"
! width=15%"| !! width="10%"| FarSun !! width="10%"| Sensible Sun !! width="10%"| KeeperSky !! width="10%"| Realistic Stars !!  width="10%"| Distant Suns !! width="10%"| Distant Stars !! width="10%"| Strangers World
|-align="center"
! Functionability
| Broken? || Broken? || Broken? || Old || Old || Up-to-date || Up-to-date
|-align="center"
! Increases distance to sun
| Yes || Yes || Yes || Yes || Yes || Yes || Yes
|-align="center"
! Changes colour of sun
| No? || No? || No? || ? || ? || Yes || Yes
|-align="center"
! Changes size of sun
| No? || No? || No? || ? || ? || ? || Yes
|-align="center"
! Affects solar flares
| No? || No? || No? || ? || ? || ? || Yes
|-align="center"
! Changes show up on F6 screen
| No? || No? || No? || ? || ? || ? || ?
|-align="center"
|}
<br><br><br>
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== Planets (descriptions, extra planets, moons and extra textures) ==

This does not include ''individual'' planet OXPs (''eg'' [[Lave OXP]], [[FPO Lave]], [[Tionisla Orbital Graveyard]] ''etc''.)

=== Tweaking relationships between planet & F7 description ===
* [http://aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=20179 Planet Forests and Oceans] (2019) ensures [[Vanilla game]] planets & F7 descriptions match!
* [[Famous Planets OXP|Famous Planets]] gives the F7 description (and even some theme music!) for the Povray Planets OXPs - see below.

=== Tweaking of the [[Vanilla game]]'s one moonless planet for each sun model. ===
* The very first attempt to do this was Charlie's. He wrote an inital [http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?p=37543#p37543 Plannets.oxp] back around 2006, then got distracted by his Orb.oxp, then was swallowed up by Real Life ... and that was that!
* [[System Redux (Oolite)]] fully mapped out every system (with planets, moons and stellar environment).
The first version ([http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?p=45888#p45888 April-2007]) just added extra planets and moons. By mid 2008 it was also changing the main planet to resemble the [[Vanilla game]]'s F7 description (or the [[Famous Planets]] description. Last version was 2011.
* [[System Demux (Oolite)]] (2010) provided a selection of textures for planets and moons.
* [http://deephorizonindustries.com/DH-Systems.html DeepHorizon - Systems]: (2011) [http://aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?p=239951#p239951 Issues] with v1.82 and onwards?
* [[PovrayPlanets OXP|Povray Planets]] (2013): 8 Povray Galaxy Sets and Famous Planets (F7 descriptions) fully map out every system in the 8 galaxies.
* [[Additional Planets]] (SR) adds random textures to extra planets/moons only (2013-7).
* [[BPlanets]] for system 1.90 (2020 ...) - Graphics for the 119 earth-like main planets in Galaxy 1 (Jan 2021 - hopes to cover the other main planets too).
* [[Planetary Systems]] & [[Moons]] in the [[Strangers World]] suite - maps out every System's main planet, rest is randomised (most recent versions 2020).

=== Graphics improvements ===
[[User:Another commander|Another commander]], our most active developer, has been improving the rendering of planets continually with every version since 1.84 (in 2016):
*1.90 (2020) - Extended graphics capabilities for custom planets, improved and configurable planet atmosphere, filmic tone mapping
*1.88 (2018) - new lighting system improvements and atmospheres
*1.86 (2017) - Shader-based atmosphere effects, Perlin 3D-based planet textures, default ambient lighting changes
This means that the most recent OXZs have been able to take advantage of these improvements.

=== Planetary OXP comparisons ===

{| border="1" cellpadding="9" align="center" 
|+ 
|-style="background:yellow; color:black"
! width=15%"| !! width="10%"| System Redux !! width="10%"| System Demux !! width="10%"| DeepHorizon !! width="10%"| Povray Planets !!  width="10%"| Additional Planets !! width="10%"| BPlanets !! width="10%"| Strangers World
|-align="center"
! Functionability
| Broken? || Broken? || Unfinished || Old || Recent || Up-to-date || Up-to-date
|-align="center"
! Details all of Galaxy 1
| Yes || No || No || Yes || No || No || Yes
|-align="center"
! More than one planet?
| Yes || Yes || Yes || ? || Yes || No || Yes
|-align="center"
! Moons?
| Yes || Yes || Yes || ? || Yes || No || Yes
|-align="center"

|}

== Skies ==
There are two OXPs which specifically affect the nebulae in the skies:
*[[Submersible Nebulae]] - simpler - just replaces the four models of nebulae in the Vanilla game with new ones
*[[Zygo Cinematic Sky & Nebulas]] - more complex, and if you can tweak, then you can alter all sorts of factors and customise your skies
:Note that the [[Tianve OXP]] & the [[Diso OXP]] also introduce local lurid nebulae to those systems!

Two OXPs affect the ambient light levels
*[[Darkspace]] removes the nebulae from the sky and limits the number of stars visible. It's based on the same concept as clearskies.oxp by johnsmith (broken). Useful for old computers whose graphic chip is feeling its age!
*[http://deephorizonindustries.com/Lights_Down.html Deep Horizon's Lights Down OXP] lowers ambient light within the system to give a more natural feel to planets and ships.

== Links ==
* [http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=20730 BB] discussion
* [[Distance (Oolite)]]
* [[Rescaling experiment]]

=== More radical rejigging ===
For more radical options see
*[[SOTL Exploration]] - 2 different games with very different maps
*[[Galaxy Seeds]] - changing the game code to create a new map

[[Category:Oolite]][[Category:Ambience OXPs| ]][[Category:Factual]][[Category:OXP Lists]]