Moon orbit not saved

Discussion in 'Support!' started by gillza, January 1, 2014.

  1. gillza

    gillza Member

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    Hello,

    I have searched the forum but cont not find a similar topic. If I did miss it please point me to the right direction.
    The problem: in the custom made planetary system that consists of two planets each orbited by a moon, the orbit of the moon is not always saved. I'd click the save system button and exit the system manager, reload the system and one or both of the moons are orbiting sun instead of the planets. It happens fairly randomly. Is there a trick to making moons orbit stick?
    Tried changing types of the planet and moon biome and same thing happens no matter what is selected.

    System made and moon orbit save. Pressed save system and left system manger.
    Screenshot from 2014-01-01 05:01:26.png

    Loaded the same system and...
    Screenshot from 2014-01-01 05:02:06.png
    Screenshot from 2014-01-01 05:02:08.png

    I am running PA on Mint 16.
  2. zaphodx

    zaphodx Post Master General

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    The mass of the orbiting planet has to be lower than the planet it is orbiting. Change it to be 1k/10k.
  3. gillza

    gillza Member

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    The difference has to be that drastic? The main planet is 7.5k while moon is 5k

    P.S. Here is an example of the same system, I just removed both planet and moon and re-added them with different biomes and slightly different masses. The planet is 5.8K while moon is 5k and it still works fine after reopening...

    Screenshot from 2014-01-01 13:56:46.png
    Screenshot from 2014-01-01 13:56:50.png
    Last edited: January 1, 2014
  4. zaphodx

    zaphodx Post Master General

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    Nvm, Last time I checked I thought if you had a larger mass differential then you could orbit further away but it doesn't look like it is the case anymore.

    Maybe you accidently moved one of the planets or discarded changes when you left to reload it.
  5. gillza

    gillza Member

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    This is a reproducible issue. Happens more often when you have more than one planet in the system.
  6. popededi

    popededi Well-Known Member

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    Now that you mention it I had a similar issue. If I use a custom system to play, and select the primary planet as starting, all orbits as I left them.

    But if I select the small moon as starting, it will be orbiting the sun instead of the primary planet. I'll hop in and see if I can reproduce the issue, and then confirm a bit later.
  7. gillza

    gillza Member

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    Interesting I have not tried using the moon as starting point... too small, but I will try next time I play. The problem with orbits became most apparent yesterday, when I had the planetary system setup, went to play a game and noticed that all the moons are now orbiting sun (so no nuking the enemies on the moon was possible :) ). Finished the game and checked the system manager, and confirmed the issue.

    Also I like to use random system generator for randomizing the planets based on the existing two_planet_two_moons system for game-play (so that I don't have to make new system every-time) and that works great when the initial system is setup properly :) The orbits are preserved but the planets are changed slightly in size and type
  8. popededi

    popededi Well-Known Member

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    Yup, I can confirm that I can reproduce the issue.

    Both screenshots below are from the same system I created in the system editor. The only difference between the two is that they are from two different games, and the starting planets are different. (Yes, I know it's a dumb looking system, I just threw it together for some quick testing purposes some weeks ago.)

    On the first picture, the large metal planet is the starting planet. This is how it was put together in the system editor originally.

    [​IMG]

    On the second screenshot, the starting planet is the earth biome that is supposed to orbit the metal planet.

    [​IMG]

    It seems that for some reason, if I select it as starting planet it orbits the sun instead.
  9. gillza

    gillza Member

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    Interesting. Could you try and make a system with multiple (3?) large planets and moons orbiting them. Set one of the big ones as starting, save, exit system manager and reopen the freshly created system, click on simulate or select each moon to see if orbits remain the same.

    set planets as 6000 mass and moons 4000-5000 and the size of of moons around 200 please
  10. AyanZo

    AyanZo Active Member

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    I know this issue, it has to do with editing a saved system. If you edit a saved system (saved as new, or overwrite) and change the moon orbits, it may default to just orbiting the main planet. In my case, I wanted an asteroid orbiting the moon, not the main planet.

    Create a new system and save and this will go away. I'm not sure of the cause.
  11. gillza

    gillza Member

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    This happens with new/fresh systems. My solution: remove the offending moon and planet and add new ones to the system. Works most of the time.
    Last edited: January 3, 2014

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