Question Custom Planet Elevation Maps for Orbiter 2016?

[Luke Reichelt]

Thanks, got it figured out. I set the maxpatch to 9 which made no difference, but when I set it to 19 it works! Also added ElevationResolution = 0.5.

A few notes on use:
Elev_mod re-activates after every import, this is for safety
You have to input Emin/Emax before importing
Level 1-3 can all be made with the same 259x259 map
A little confusing but global Surf maps of level 4 are 1024x512 but a global Elev map of level 4 is 512(+3)x256(+3).
Would be good later to compile the instructions and make a sticky.

It doesn't actually look too bad (for a hack-job) so I made the other levels, and it's certainly better than a flat world.
Europa Elev (levels 1-9) and .cfg attached.
I had to split and rename the zip to get it uploaded. Rename the zip files to: Europa_Elev.zip.001 and Europa_Elev.zip.002

And add this to your config/MicroTex.cfg for microtextures!

BODY Europa
NORMALS 1
LEVEL 0 D3D9Mars_A.dds 20.0
LEVEL 1 D3D9Mars_B.dds 5.0
LEVEL 2 D3D9Mars_B.dds 0.5
View attachment 45550
And thanks to @astrogull for making Tilesplitter

Do I need to install PeaZip or a similar program to be able to download the heightmaps for Europa? Because every time I try to do so, the files become corrupted and unusable.

 

[Luke Reichelt]

On a related note, Deviantart user Oleg-Pluton has created some really good elevation maps which he's given me permission to use. The links to each are included below.

Dione: https://www.deviantart.com/oleg-pluton/art/Dione-elevation-map-786936439

Iapetus: https://www.deviantart.com/oleg-pluton/art/Iapetus-elevation-map-Upd-2024-756451237

Rhea: https://www.deviantart.com/oleg-pluton/art/Rhea-elevation-map-767817482

 

[Buck Rogers]

Do I need to install PeaZip or a similar program to be able to download the heightmaps for Europa? Because every time I try to do so, the files become corrupted and unusable.

AFAIK it should work with other unpackers. It was created with PeaZip so that should defineately work. PeaZip has a very high compression rate which is great but seems to be a problem for some programs.
If all else fails I can re-upload with a different compression/packer?

 

[Luke Reichelt]

If all else fails I can re-upload with a different compression/packer?

That would definitely be a good idea.

 

[Buck Rogers]

That would definitely be a good idea.

The file is too large to upload here, and splitting it problematic.
I've put it in the Downloads section. Let me know if it works.

 

[Luke Reichelt]

The file is too large to upload here, and splitting it problematic.
I've put it in the Downloads section. Let me know if it works.

It's working perfectly, although personally I would recommend applying the Texpack function to the tiles.

On a related note, it's good to see that the staff finally did something about the whole file size cap.

 

[Buck Rogers]

It's working perfectly, although personally I would recommend applying the Texpack function to the tiles.

Good news, the upload was more "work" than expected (wanted to post in this thread). I noticed that it wasn't in .tree format, now knowing that it works I'll update to .tree when I find the time.

On a related note, it's good to see that the staff finally did something about the whole file size cap.

Thankyou @admin, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to upload.
I've deleted the old post files to save data bloating the website, a little.

 

[Buck Rogers]

Looks like I had already converted it. Updated the addon.

 

[Luke Reichelt]

Looks like I had already converted it. Updated the addon.

Do you think you could find the time to create some elevation tiles for Dione, Iapetus, and Rhea, using the heightmaps I linked in my earlier post?

 

[Buck Rogers]

Do you think you could find the time to create some elevation tiles for Dione, Iapetus, and Rhea, using the heightmaps I linked in my earlier post?

Oh boy, would love to, even if just to keep the process fresh in mind, a quick test flight over Europa certainly re-awakened my interest!
At the moment though I'm struggling to keep up with current projects and can't see that changing very soon.

Are you registered (can you download)? If no one takes it up in the mean time I'll certainly put it on the list.

 

[Luke Reichelt]

Are you registered (can you download)?

I am registered, but I have this weird habit of doing everything in pairs, plus a "schedule" of sorts that I want to stick to.

That being said, I could do the tiles, but first I need to know what to set the minimum or maximum altitude to in the Elevation Tile Splitter.

 

[Buck Rogers]

I need to know what to set the minimum or maximum altitude to in the Elevation Tile Splitter.

I guess real data would be best. Or try an arbitury -500 to +1000? Or even start at 0, I haven't seen any wrong shadows on Europa though (only very low resolution?).

 

[Luke Reichelt]

I guess real data would be best.

Do you know where I can find said data?

 

[Buck Rogers]

Do you know where I can find said data?

I just searched for "moon dione elevation data" and this very interesting doc came up:

https://douglashemingway.com/publications/Zannoni2020.pdf

I haven't read it all yet but the 2nd page says that Cassini did a fly-by as low as 98km, so as a starting point max elev must be below that.
No further details on elevation, a lot on gravity...

 

[Buck Rogers]

I got bored searching, got nowhere, to many rabbit holes.

Asked https://duck.ai/:

An estimate (using what’s publicly known about Rhea’s relief scale—e.g., “canyons…several hundred meters high” and impact topography likely reaching the low-km range) is:

Highest point above mean radius: ~ +2 km
Lowest point below mean radius: ~ −2.5 km

For Dione, a reasonable estimate for the topographic extremes (relative to the moon’s mean radius) is:

Highest point: ~ +4 km above the mean radius
Lowest point: ~ −4 km below the mean radius

For Iapetus, a solid order-of-magnitude estimate for the topographic extremes relative to the moon’s mean-radius reference is:

Highest point: ~ +15 to +20 km
Lowest point: ~ −10 km

These numbers line up with Cassini-based terrain/DTM results showing heights roughly from −10 km to +13 km (at least on the leading-side dataset), and with the equatorial ridge having vertical relief on the order of ~10–20 km in published summaries.

 

[Luke Reichelt]

I got bored searching, got nowhere, to many rabbit holes.

Asked https://duck.ai/:

An estimate (using what’s publicly known about Rhea’s relief scale—e.g., “canyons…several hundred meters high” and impact topography likely reaching the low-km range) is:

Highest point above mean radius: ~ +2 km
Lowest point below mean radius: ~ −2.5 km

For Dione, a reasonable estimate for the topographic extremes (relative to the moon’s mean radius) is:

Highest point: ~ +4 km above the mean radius
Lowest point: ~ −4 km below the mean radius

For Iapetus, a solid order-of-magnitude estimate for the topographic extremes relative to the moon’s mean-radius reference is:

Highest point: ~ +15 to +20 km
Lowest point: ~ −10 km

These numbers line up with Cassini-based terrain/DTM results showing heights roughly from −10 km to +13 km (at least on the leading-side dataset), and with the equatorial ridge having vertical relief on the order of ~10–20 km in published summaries.

I also need to remember to apply the blur effect to the heightmaps, because otherwise everything appears lumpy and misshapen