If you do not find the
answer you need, send me an email
and I will answer you as soon as possible
I
have just installed the program and I am getting a runtime error. What is going
wrong?
You are likely
installing an old release. New setup files and
updates are available in the website. The
runtime error happened with the old setup files created with the Microsoft
Application & Deployment wizard from Visual Studio 6. New setup files
created with Microsoft Windows Installer do not present runtime errors and are
installed without any problem to my knowledge. Please, report me any
setup error.
Be sure that you are not trying to update an old release
of the program (Windex, SkyIndex or a release of CNebulaX 1.04 or older) by
copying the CNebulaX.exe file in the program folder. That is not enough: you
should uninstall the old release, installing then the new release. I advise you
to make a full update to the new release, since the changes, corrections and
new features make it highly recommend.
The
map shows meaningless characters (screen font), and I cannot read anything
Grab the new release.
No errors have been reported up to now with the new setup files. Please, report me any
error you could have in this sense.
I need some help to learn how to use the
program
Have a look to the new handbook. The major
update 1.05.59 includes new help files. Consult me
any doubt you could have.
I want more databases. How can I get the maps I
see in the web?
You need to install
the additional databases AND the latest CNebulaX exe file. All those files are
linked is in the complements webpage. Just
unzip the database files in the specified directories.
How can I display photos?
The 1.03 release (and later) can display pictures, provided some
cautions are kept:
● The allowed formats
are GIF or JPG
● Each file name should
coincide with the respective object name in the database without spaces: A file
for "PK 164+31.1" could be "PK164+31.1.JPG", and
"NGC7331.JPG" is a graphic file for NGC 7331
● The files should be
properly stored in the folders indicated in Setup/Config/Files tab
How do the image folders work?
Three categories of
image folders are established:
IMAGEDB - the root main image folder, which contains several
subfolders, one for each object class (OPNCL, GLOCL, GALXY, CL+NB, PLNNB,
BRTNB, etc). A given object file should be stored according to its class in the
respective subfolder (e.g., "M 97" within PLNNB, "M 31"
within GALXY, etc)
USERDB - the user database folder. It is a special folder that
can contain unclassified graphic files (without subfolders). It is not recommended
to use this folder to store all images since it would slow down the program.
However, it can be used for storing a "small" collection (i.e., less
than one thousand)
DSS - The Digital Sky Survey files. If the NGC/IC project has
been downloaded for offline browsing and the location of the DSS subfolder
properly specified in the Setup/Config/Files tab, the program will display the
pictures.
Since the NGC/IC project represents a thorough
revision of NGC and IC objects. I have given to DSS higher hierarchy for being
displayed. So, the order is: (1) DSS, (2) IMAGEDB, and (3) USERDB. The
displayed image corresponds to the first file found following this sequence.
There are other special folders/subfolders (i.e., PGC) in my personal
release.
The colors are not well displayed in my screen,
and I need more/less stars in my screen
The program is being developed in a 3GHz
notebook at 1024x768 resolution and 32M colors. Blue colors, which are shown
nicely soft in my TFT screen, appear often too dark in plasma screens. You
should customize the display to your screen to get a proper representation for
your computer:
●
COLORS: Go to the Setup/Colours tab and change
the map background to a dark value, and the MilkyWay to a slightly brighter one
with the same hue. The faintest stars in the 1.04 release are dots to avoid
cluttering, so select a star background bright enough to allow showing them (a
mid or bright gray is quite good). In the 1.03, the faintest stars are small
circles, so a dark gray works better.
● STARS: Go the Main tab and find the boxes labeled as
"m-object", "r-offset" and "level":
● m-offset: magnitude offset to
be added to the automagnitude value. If you want less stars, put a negative
value (e.g., ‑0.5) and if your screen is larger and you want more
stars, put a positive value (e.g, +0.5)
● r-offset: radius offset that
make the stars appearing larger. Introduce a value larger than zero
(e.g., +0.5) to enlarge stars, and a negative one (e.g, ‑0.5) to
make them smaller
● Level: contrast value, that
make the progression in bright soft or more sudden (a value form 1 to 10). A
mid value (5) gave a nearly linear increment in star radius.
What has happened with
the MSDOS release?
It is obsolete. The latest
distributed release (4.2) is not compatible anymore with the new database
files, so I had to update it (4.3rs) to make it able to display the GSC and new
databases. However, memory limitations under MSDOS emulators prevent me
introducing more improvements that are needed. Thus, I have decided to stop its
public distribution: the windows version is nowadays able to perform nearly
equivalent tasks without memory limitations, so let's go ahead with the new
one.
I lost the
latitude/longitude settings when I close the program (or the eyepiece list)
This was a bug fixed
in the 1.04 release; update the program and
install the current release
How much space do I need for a full setup?
● The minimal installation requires, besides the windows controls and
visual basic 6 runtime files, around 45 Mb: the program and auxiliary files (2
Mb), Tycho II star database (12-16 Mb), the first section of the GENERAL
database (7 Mb) and the help files (25 Mb).
● The full installation add to these the Guide Star Catalogue 1.2 as
star database extension (120 Mb) and some deep sky catalogues: Galaxies (50 Mb
including HyperLEDA), variable stars (15 Mb), double stars (21 Mb) and other
nonstellar objects (14 Mb). This means around 220 Mb , so 265 Mb is what a full
installation with the complete GSC and 1,250,000 deep sky objects would
require. There are also some other minor databases and auxiliary programs as
well.
● The image collection can be as huge as one wishes. I have around
150,000 files occupying around 1Gb, but a quite good image collection (NGC/IC
project) can be stored in 200 Mb.
● To sum up, a very good
installation with a power similar to Guide or the Sky would require 265 Mb (500
Mb including images).
All the files you need
(with the exception of images) are in the download
and complements webpages.
I want the program in another language (e.g.,
Spanish)
I am not in conditions to tackling it. Translating
CNebulaX would be too hard and time-consuming, and I have no help of other
people. I think that people using the program will really prefer having new
features implemented, that loosing them for having the program translated
instead. I developed CNebulaX in English (instead of Spanish, my native
language) with the intention of helping people of other countries.
I have read in some webs negative connotations
on this, but sincerely, they are wrong. If CNebulaX would be a professional
project with earning intentions and a team was working on it, the translation
would be essential. Unfortunately, I am guy working alone and investing my free
time with no compensations.