Moving between a solar system and a galaxy

[Technotica]

Hi!

I am new to Universe Sandbox, just bought it yesterday from Steam, I really like the 'game' (simulation? scientific software? )

I was thinking about a little improvement though, wouldn't it be great if it was possible to move from the solar system directly to the galaxy?

Its probably not possible right now because simulating both the solar system and the galaxy would take too much computing power?

But there would be a way around that I for the Universe Sandbox programmer think?

Just let the player zoom out of the solar system and once they are at a suitable distance away save the current state of the solar system simulation (like a regular savegame), then delete the solar system and replace it with one of the suns that make up a galaxy simulation and add the rest of the galaxy.

When you zoom into a certain distance of the solar system you could then save the state of the galaxy simulation (for when we zoom out again)
delete the galaxy and replace the galaxy sun with the solar system in the state it was saved after zooming out.


Would this be technically possible? Or is it a stupid idea?

[Neon]

No, it's not a stupid idea. I just don't think it's an idea suitable
for US. US is more a gravity simulator, not a universe/galaxy
simulator.

What you want, is either Celestiaa or Space Engine. Of
the two, Celestia is more stable, and will operate on
just about any PC. However Space Engine requires a
really good PC, as it also allows you to cruise the entire
known universe, visit any galaxy, and go to any star in
any galaxy. Plus the miriad of objects in our galaxy.

Here's the link to space engine, google celestia if u want
to try that. Both are free. Celestia has masses of addons,
including fictional systems, spaceships n just about anything
you can think of.

http://en.spaceengine.org/load/core/spaceengine_0_93_full_version/2-1-0-1

Another great program is Orbiter, which is also a simulator, but is a spaceship
simulation, but is limited to the solar system. But you need to know
a little of Orbital Mechanics to get the most from it. There's masses
of tutorials on learning how to use it and masses of addons,
from bases, to ships to equipment for transport you name it,
as well as missions you can do. Google it, u should be able
to find videos on youtube for each of these to get a peak.

Hope you enjoy them

[cristian989]

Actually, I noticed that one of the simulations available (called "powers of 10") has both our solar system and our galaxy (if you zoom out enough).

[Technotica]

Thanks that scenario does exactly what I thought wouldn't be possible! I thought simulating gravity on a galactic scale as well as in the solar system would be too cpu intensive.

[Carnage2K4]

I think it would be AWESOME to be running your own Galaxy with hundreds of solar systems within.
any 1 ever played the EA game Spore? something like the galaxy set up in that but with pure customisation would be unreal.
lay out a Galaxy then edit dust clouds, star sector's, having the BG of any 1 solar system being the actual galaxy your in would be beyond words... if a little system & production hungry...

[Dan Dixon]

How come all the good ideas are so complicated to make happen?

[Joshimitsu91]

I don't know how difficult it would be with regards to programming but i know that any decent PC can run two simulations at once, so its feasible in that respect Plus, if its going to save the solar system as you zoom out and load the galaxy, that wouldn't be a problem anyway since you'd only be running one at a time.

Josh

[Dan Dixon]

It's not as much running two simulations at once but making the zoom and simulations at different scales all work together in a seamless way, as one would expect it to work, and as it should work.

[Joshimitsu91]

It's not as much running two simulations at once but making the zoom and simulations at different scales all work together in a seamless way, as one would expect it to work, and as it should work.

Yeah i can imagine the difficulties in making that work By the way, just wanted to say congrats on the program, i really do love it. I'm hoping to get into programming in the future (i'm currently studying Physics), so this sim is particularly fascinating to me. I'd always wanted to have a gravity simulator, can't believe i'd never heard of US before!