Star Explorers Testing Branch Updated to Pre-Release Version 0.6.8
A strange problem with liquids on planet surfaces has been fixed. Somehow the water/wave shader stopped working at certain distances, causing the liquid to turn into a flat color.
Here's what it may have looked like:
I found out that I had foolishly set a distance on whether shaders would be drawn or not. This caused the water shader to turn off at a certain distance from the center of the map, where the water model's origin was. Turning this limit off fixed the problem.
However, in the process of figuring this out, I was able to address a similar but unrelated issue. The water model also had a strange way of reflecting light, causing it to brighten up significantly when the player approached the center of the planet map. This actually looked very similar to the image above, though one could still see the water ripples in this case, and the color would stay roughly the same (though brighter).
I assumed this was the problem being experienced, and tweaked the way liquids respond to light. The result is a much more stable water shader that should not brighten up in unusual ways, nor disappear completely. Enjoy!
Here's what it may have looked like:
I found out that I had foolishly set a distance on whether shaders would be drawn or not. This caused the water shader to turn off at a certain distance from the center of the map, where the water model's origin was. Turning this limit off fixed the problem.
However, in the process of figuring this out, I was able to address a similar but unrelated issue. The water model also had a strange way of reflecting light, causing it to brighten up significantly when the player approached the center of the planet map. This actually looked very similar to the image above, though one could still see the water ripples in this case, and the color would stay roughly the same (though brighter).
I assumed this was the problem being experienced, and tweaked the way liquids respond to light. The result is a much more stable water shader that should not brighten up in unusual ways, nor disappear completely. Enjoy!