various bugs, nuisances

[komatii]

Is there a way to save my current simulation on top of itself? It seems that no matter how I save, it creates a new file. The quick save icon at top left creates a new file that is always "My System" + date/time, and saving with file name doesn't start with the current simulations name, but if I type the same file name, it always add a number rather than saving over top.
   Which means that saving as a I work to make sure I don't lose anything if program or computer crashes creates a lot of files, and when I go to load, trying to figure which one I should load is tricky.

Also, it seems that as I increase simulation speed, planetary rings fall apart, and if I make a sudden change in simulation speed they instantly fly away.

Lastly, could we get an option where clicking on a number to change it makes the value change when moving the mouse up/down while clicking. The current click on arrow and hold to increase or decrease is kind of cumbersome, especially when trying to fine tune a value, where I'd like to be able to move the mouse up quick for big changes, just a little for small changes, but if I'm not moving the mouse the value stays even while holding the mouse button. Similar to the behaviour of "spinner" type parameters in most all applications. The arrows could stay, but just have the usual spinner behaviour if you click and hold on the value while dragging up/down.

komatii

[vh]

not sure about the first, just delete the old files

for the second, it is physically impossible. This is because when you speed time up, the calculations become more inaccurate until the orbits become unstable and the particles fly away. There is no way to fix this, nor is it possible. The best you can do is get a better computer so that each time step can be calculated faster.

if you want to "fine tune" try just typing in, which is what i always do for precise simulations and objects

[komatii]

Fine tuning by repeatedly typing in new numbers is pretty tedious, especially when I'm not sure what I want exactly.
Also, a lot of times it won't let me type numbers into a text field. Sometimes it won't let me rename planets, or let me type letters into the box at top for selecting objects by name.
At least once, I've tried to type an object into the center of universe box, and had it crash after hitting enter.

Not sure what the repro steps are though, but possibly it's more likely to happen after having reloaded a simulation a lot of times.

komatii

[vh]

ok, the interface is probably changable, add that suggestion to the community idea list then

and to explain time step better.

ok, when you have a system irl, every single body interacts with every single other body for every single point in time. It'd take forever to do this in universe sandbox. So. When you set the time step, to say, 50 years, it calculates the position of each body in 50 years and ignores if any big gravitatinal forces comes or goes. ehhh i can't explain it well, but just don't turn the speed up too high

repro steps? whats that

[Bla]

The time step is the time between every time the position of everything in the simulation is calculated.
If a planet orbits a star in 8 days, and you set the time step to 1 day, it will only make 8 calculations every orbit. Because of that, the orbit will have an unstable octogonal shape, and if the timestep is increased even further, it will be slingshot away.

How fast the time in the simulation appears to be going depends on the time step and how fast your computer is. The faster the time step is, the more inaccurate the simulation will be, but the faster time will pass. The faster your computer is, the faster time will pass without needing to increase the time step.

Is that easier to understand?

As for saving simulations, I suggest just keeping the time and add your system name in front of that. If you do that consistently, you can just load the system with the highest time "number", because of the way the time is showed. If it sorts by filename in the folder, that one should also be at the bottom, and then you can just remove all the older versions of that system once in a while.
I don't think it's possible to overwrite old saves in the program.

[Dan Dixon]

Yeah... currently no way to have Universe Sandbox overwrite the old file. I'll consider fixing this in the next major update.

And you can use the mouse to make changes to the values. Click and hold in any text box and drag up or down to change the value. Try this in a mass text box (although it doesn't work if the value is zero).