Here are the results of a good few hours trying to figure out how to add mods to Mars successfully in Celestia. Some pics very mildly photoshopped for that extra JNSQ...





Dawn over Mars










Mars Rover makes the most of the Opportunity to see the sun come up.










Phobos contemplating the dark side










Now I'm beginning to see the light.










Blue Peter's model of the Enterprise finally stabilised in orbit.









Mars Global Surveyor over polar ice. Any bears drinking coke down there??










Beautiful Mars...  



Here's a larger size pic if you like it...

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o299/krigl/FS%20screenies%202/g-beautiful-Mar...







Deimos keeps its distance.









Just squeezing in a last one of the Global Reconnaisance Orbiter.





Hope you enjoyed!

Krigl

Mars looks beautiful!

I just tried Celestia and already I'm in love with it. Your shots of Mars are simply spectacular, and have inspired me to go and spruce up my solar system.

Now if I could only figure out how to install the darn things...

Thanks a lot for your positive comments guys... it's becoming an obsession with me pimping it up 

Lazerbeak wrote on Mar 4^th, 2008 at 12:31am:


I know. Their 'read me' files and 'help documentation' really are SO helpful aren't they...

I guess it's proof that this stuff really is made by astronomy enthusiasts with their heads in the clouds.

It works very similarly to installing stuff in FS, really. Open up the file structure in wincommander or whatever and look inside.

Extrasolar objects like galaxies and nebula are the easiest. Just stick them in the extras folder. Take a look at what they each contain.
This works with many planets too. You have textures in one file and (sometimes) models in another + a .ssc file that tells the sim where to look. You may have to make a simple .ssc file using notepad and their 'read me' if you are telling the sim to use alternate textures which you then can bring up in sim with right click on the object.

More detailed planets have more levels of textures. The sim draws them as you get closer. Just keep everything in the original folders.

Also you need to edit the solarsystem.cfg file occasionally but there's usually a readme for those tasks. Just add what it says and save - after backing up. Some files overwrite existing images (in the Textures folder) so you need to back them up too.

For spacecraft there seems to sometimes be an .xyz file for movement which I think goes in the data folder (I'm not at home now, can't check).

There's a .cfx (or something ??) too, sometimes, can't remember what to do with that one. Either extras or data is my guess.

I had a lot of trouble with Mars, it was a bad one to start with... though iin a sense a good one as it taught me where the important things are. There were some mistakes in the .ssc if I remember, and the read me told me to put things in the wrong place. I recommend doing it later.

That's the limit of my knowledge, it isn't any more difficult than FS after a little puzzling. I recommend downloading tons of stuff and finding those files with the best read mes and working with them first. Also there are sometimes instructions how to install on the Motherlode internet page but nothing with the file itself so it pays to use MGrab to take a pic of the page for use as install instructions...

Okay that's it...cheers

Krigl

Aw man, that looks awesome. What happens if you, eh, have an accidental collison with something?