Noctis: a dreamable space simulation.
FREE PROGRAM, written by Fottifoh, somewhere between 1996 and 2000.
Send any comments to alex.tg@tiscalinet.it: I'd like to hear from you!!
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What's Noctis?
It's an entartainment program, based on space travel simulation,
using a tweaked 256-color display to travel players thought many kind of stars
and their planets, none of which looks the same as another one. You can target
and reach as much as 70 billion stars, jumping from star to star.
What's it like?
Well, the program's rather old, I started coding it in 1996, so its graphics
may look simple. However, it's fully 3D, texture-mapped and shaded.
You can also land on planets and explore their surface.
What do you need to run it?
A PC using DOS or Windows, any version... oh, er... any versions above 1990...
and definitely a Pentium processor. Least 100 MhZ I think. A mouse. That's all.
I still didn't figure out wether Noctis is a game or a simulator...
um... there are no points to collect, no bad guys to kill, no particular
things to do but exploring, so I think it's more likely a simulator...
or - maybe - a senseless program, but seems funny so I don't even worry.
As for what concerns the birth and evolution of this project, it was
something "I wanted to try doing".
In the simulation, you're an undefined "being" (alien or human, you choose),
travelling across heavens for no particular reasons, and using a special
vehicle to do that. I've decided to call the vehicle "stardrifter", which
stands to a starship exactly like a ship stands to a drifter.
What players were intended to do in the original project, was to survive,
collecting food (haunting lifeforms) and fuel to continue their travel.
Subsequently, the project had been abandoned and, now that I'm working
again on it, I decided to stick this alpha version on my pages. Still
your survival is automatic: don't worry about food. Just go.
Since four years ago, this little program kept me busy sometimes... and day after day,
it got ever better. So, I mean, come back to its web page sometimes: there is a high
probability that Noctis will keep updating again for long time...
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What do you have to do in this game???
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Explore the galaxy. Give a name to unknown stars. You can also send me reports
of things you've found on the planets (such as interesting mountains, craters,
skies) and e-mail me your STARMAP file, so I can see how many new stars you have
discovered and merge them with the "official" STARMAP provided
on the site.
Players reports may form a galactic guide, also, for other players to see.
Not even I know what's on planets or where are the stars!
There are no enemies, no missions to complete, there's nothing you MUST do, at all.
For now, and definitely, relax and keep exploring...
...quit the program (so you can get out of panic when you mess up your mind...)
Press the ESCAPE key.
Remeber: every time you quit, Noctis will save all data related to the
simulation within a file called "Current.NCT". If you delete that file,
you'll have to restart the simulation from the initial position.
...look around
Drag the mouse to turn left and right. Press and hold down right mouse
button, then drag the mouse, to turn up and down.
...move
Move the mouse forward and backward to walk in the chosen direction.
Hold right mouse button down and drag left/right to strafe.
...use the stardrifter
The stardrifter has an on-board navigation console, using which you can
approach stars and planets in an easy way. The navigation console looks
like a transparent screen superimposed to the drifter's front window.
By double-clicking the RIGHT mouse button, you'll move in front of that
screen. Then, if you keep the right button pressed and drag the mouse,
you will be able to see and select the various areas on the screen.
The console's main menu is placed on the left, while sub-menus are
placed on the top of the console. To run an option, look straight
at it, until it's highlighted by a frame, and hit the LEFT mouse button once.
The following screenshot shows what I mean:
...reach a star
Select "Flight control drive" from the main menu, then "Set remote target"
from the submenu (the submenu is the topmost line of the navigation console's
screen). After doing this, you'll notice a small crosshair is following your
movements. It always indicates a star. To fix the target, double-click the
right mouse button. You can read informations about the targetted star on
the main console's display (middle of the screen).
To undo the selection and select another star, select "Set remote target" again.
Once you fixed the target star, select "Start vimana flight" to get there.
...reach a planet
First, remember: you can't reach planets around a certain star if you first
don't reach that star. So, once you arrived in vicinity of a star, select
"Set local target" to begin searching for planets.
Planets will then be highlighted by a tiny square frame. Again, to fix the
target, double-click the right mouse button. Once you selected a planet,
"Set local target" will become "Start fine approach". By selecting it,
the stardrifter will begin approaching the target planet.
...land
The stardrifter has an all-surface lander, a small, spherical capsule, which is
normally locked in the middle of the craft (it forms the panoramic cupola you
can see in the picture below).
When you've got near to a planet, selecting "Deploy surface lander" from
the "Flight control drive" menu, will show you a section of the planet's
surface thought one of the monitors integrated in the left wall.
Now you'll have to place in front of that monitor until a small light,
above the monitor itself, will be turned on. From there, you can then use
cursors' arrows to scroll the map. The surface is divided in 43,200 quadrants.
The crosshair in the middle of the monitor shows the selected landing quadrant.
Latitude and longitude of selected quadrant are shown by the H.U.D. (longitude
goes from 0 to 359, latitude is renormalized and goes from 1 to 119,
60 being the planet's equator, 1 and 119 being the poles).
It all looks like so:
To cancel the planetary map and the landing request, select "Cancel landing
request". To effectively unlock the capsule and begin the landing procedure,
press the ENTER key while in front of the surface map's monitor.
After that, you'll immediately take place in the middle of the capsule.
The capsule will then be sealed with fire-proof materials, will be unlocked
and pulled towards selected quadrant on the planet's surface. Your sight will
look black during this quiet procedure. Upon reaching higher atmosphere, a small
window will open in the middle of the capsule, so that you can take a look to
the ambient outside: now, you see, the capsule has no engine, so if the planet
has an atmosphere, turbolence may rotate the capsule for a while. Don't worry...
After touchdown, since a set of airbags is pumped up to minimize hurts due to
the high speed impact, the capsule may bounce a few times on the ground.
When it stops, the capsule will finally open and you'll be able to walk
on the planet's surface on your own. You're allowed to move upto 3 miles
away from the capsule. If you needed to run, hold down left mouse button.
Have a nice exploration...
When you want to get back on the stardrifter, simply re-enter the capsule:
it will be automatically lifted up and locked again in the middle of the spacecraft.
Since surface quadrants are usually very large, the capsule is equipped with a
little laser beacon, to help you in finding it again in case you moved very far
from the landing spot. Following picture shows the capsule and indicates what's
the laser beacon.
Informations:
The HUD shows informations about the names of currently targetted star and planet.
Also it gives current distance from the star (L.Y. = light years) and from the planet
(in DYAMS, where 1 DYAM = about 70 million kilometers, approximately half the way between
Earth and Sun).
Onboard computer status:
The HUD also shows what's the onboard computer currently doing, and its error signals.
Here's a detailed list of most common messages:
IDLE
The onboard computer is currently doing nothing...
TRACKING
Navigation around a planet or a moon proceeds by tracking the movements
of the said aster, either by fixed-point chase or high orbit.
CONFLICT
The stardrifter's onboard computer is a SYMES (synchronous multi-event system)
machine, and it can perform many different tasks at the same time. This error
status is asserted when you attempt to execute two tasks that cannot be
performed at the same time. Example: trying to start the Vimana engine while
scoping for lithium. You first have to shut down the lithium scope.
TGT-REMOTE
The onboard computer is awaiting for selection of the remote target (a star).
TGT-LOCAL
Like above, but awaiting for selection of the local target (planet or moon).
NEED RECAL
The interplanetary drive system needs RE-CALIBRATION.
You have to start the vimana engine, in order to approach the local star at
the distance where the flight control system places its reference point.
Re-calibration is usually needed when you halt the fine approach to a planet,
before having effectively reached that planet, because there will be no
reference points at all if you stop in the middle of the interplanetary
space, and the drive system will just get confused. A typical sympthom
of a situation where you should re-calibrate is reading the distance from
the local star being not 0.00 LY: unless you were around a very, very far
planet, the distance from the star when the star is in sight can't
*absolutely* raise the LY indicator, not even by a hundredth of LY.
CONFIRM
You've just confirmed an operation.
TGT REJECT
You've just rejected the local target (de-selected a planet).
IMPOSSIBLE
You have asked to land on a planet which has no solid surface,
such as a gas giant or a substellar object.
SURFACE
You're selecting the place where to land.
ERROR
Generic error status. Asserted in case you make something that's
obviously wrong, like trying to land on a planet while there are
no planets around!
READY/ACQUIRED/ASSIGNED
Generic status to signal that an operation completed successfully.
REMOVED
States you've removed the label for a planet or a star.
INT. ERROR
Internal error: it's a bug, and should never happen. It has no solution.
PROMPT
The computer's prompting you for something. For example, appears while
you have to write down the names for stars and planets.
TOO CLOSE
You're trying to destroy a planet with the fationic cannon,
but you're too close.
CANCELLED
You have cancelled an operation which needs your confirmation.
SIGNAL
You have activated the emergency call (help request).
UNSUITABLE
You have tried to scope for lithium, but no lithium's there.
FCS: READY
The Flight Control System informs you the Vimana engines are ready.
It appears when a block of lithium (a block equals one gram) has been
successfully injected for nuclear resonance. Some times while travelling,
the FCS reactor needs some time for injecting resonsance into a new block
of lithium, and if it needs too much time, the Vimana engine will turn off.
At that point, if it reads "FCS: READY" you just have to re-start the
engine. If, otherwise, it reads "NO POWER", you're in trouble, because
there's no more lithium in your reserve. You'll then have to ask for help.
TGT FIXED
The target (either local or remote) has been acquired.
NO TARGET
There are no local targets (planets and other minor bodies).
Some stars DO NOT HAVE planets: it happens...
NO TARGETS
There are no known stars around.
UNLOCKING
The all-terrain capsule is being unlocked and you'll get to the surface
as soon as possible...
PITCH-L/R
You're rotating the capsule...
SCANNING
The onboard computer is scanning the space around, to find known stars.
CALIBRATED
Local coordinates system's re-calibration process completed successfully.
DENIED
You have tried to remove the label for a star or a planet which is part
of the official STARMAP.
SYSTEM RESET
This flashing message appears for a while during re-initialization
of the onboard computer. Reset happens when, after the lithium reserve
and main energy source (lithium resonance accumulators) dropped to zero,
refuel is performed and the black-out is over. Also, a system reset can
be forced by selecting an appropriate command in the "emergency" sub-menu.
A reset cleans the configuration of the onboard computer, bringing
navigation parameters, targets, preferences, and external devices,
back to their initial state.
Starfield amplificator:
Select "Onboard devices" / "Navigation instruments" / "Starfield amplificator"
to activate/deactivate it. It will make further stars visible and reachable
with a single jump; the drawback is that it consumes little more lithium.
Local planets finder:
Select "Onboard devices" / "Navigation instruments" / "Local planets finder"
to activate/deactivate it. It will drop a note on the console's main screen
stating how many planets are present in current system.
Again, energy consumption raises a little while it's active.
Drive tracking mode:
Select "Onboard devices" / "Navigation instruments" / "Drive tracking mode"
to choose one of its options. "Fixed-point chase" will follow current planet
from a fixed point above its surface, "Equatorial orbit" will orbit the planet
at high speed, to show all of its surface. Manouvers also consume lithium.
Force radiations limit:
Select "Onboard devices" / "Navigation instruments" / "Force radiations limit"
to toggle it on/off. When active, this tool will automatically avoid high
radiation fields especially in vicinity of stars. You may turn it off if you're
curious to see how stars look like when you get very near to them. It's not
dangerous for life support inside the ship, but sometimes few strongly charged
particles may hit computer's connections, occasionally causing little troubles.
Internal light:
Select "Onboard devices" / "Life support" / "Internal light ON-OFF"
to toggle it on/off. The internal light may be turned off when you're near
enough to a star. Remember to turn it on when a planet eclipses that star.
Or, you may simply leave it always on... power consumption is minimal,
and also it's automatically turned off while in emergency.
Giving a name to a star:
Select "Onboard devices" / "Galactic cartography" / "Label star as...",
type the name where the cursor blinks, then select "Assign star label".
Why should you give names to stars? Well, the name will be used to acknowledge
the star in the future. Keep reading and you will see...
Giving a name to a planet:
Select "Onboard devices" / "Galactic cartography" / "Label planet as...",
and then proceed as explained in the above paragraph...
Show targets in range:
Select "Onboard devices" / "Galactic cartography" / "Show targets in range":
this is the first thing I suggest you to do when you start using your
stardrifter. It will pop up a list with the names of upto 50 of the nearest stars.
By using the cursor arrows, you can scroll the list. When you hit the ENTER key,
selected star will be assumed as a remote target for the interstellar drive.
Set target to Parsis:
The Parsis galactic coordinates system is explained in detail if you take
a look to the technical reference guide.
While you're in the cartography sub-menu, the status display shows your
actual coordinates. Here's an example showing coordinates for a star
called "Lyonesse"...
Let's say, when you set the remote target to a specific point in space,
you can jump to an arbitrary distance, providing you have enough lithium.
Unfortunately, the system can't manage more than 120 grams of lithium,
and they'll never be enough. Consumes raise at exponential ratio when
trying to get thousands light years away. A simple example: if you select
"Set target to Parsis" and type in 999999999; 999999999; 999999999 you'll
be trying to travel for about 80,000 LY in a single Vimana jump.
If, at that point, you really try ("Start Vimana flight"), you will
be burning out your entire reserve, no matter how much lithium you had.
But the SM Goes module is here to help. You can search for stars and
planets coordinates throught the SM Goes module. This is how to use it:
In the example, I've searched for star "Miracle" by typing:
      SM -C:MIRACLE
and then pressing enter in the Goes command net display.
The outlet display, to the right of the command display,
reads the coordinates for Miracle. See this:
So you see, now if you go to the onboard computer console on the front screen,
you select "Set target to Parsis", and type in these coordinates, you'll be
targetting a point very near to Miracle. Of course, since Parsis units aren't
precise enough, by flying to the spot you won't really find Miracle. BUT you'll
be certainly near enough to see Miracle in the list of nearby targets. From there,
you can perform the last, little jump to get around that star.
The SM Goes module also supports for some other syntaxes on the command line,
and typing SM alone (SM then enter) will present a list of them:
      SM
SM -L COMPILES A FULL TREE-LIST OF STARS AND PLANETS
SM -S LISTS ALL LABELED STARS
SM -P:starname LISTS ALL PLANETS AROUND starname
SM -C:range FULL LIST WITH PARSIS COORDINATES FOR EACH STAR WITHIN "range" QUADRANTS
FROM ACTUAL POSITION. range IS A NUMBER. HIGHER VALUES TAKE LONGER TO CALCULATE: YOU SHOULD
NORMALLY SET range BETWEEN 10 AND 50.
SM -C:name range FINDS COORDINATES FOR name PROVIDING IT'S WITHIN range QUADRANTS
FROM ACTUAL POSITION. e.g. SM -C:FENIA 15
SM -E EPURES STAR MAP FROM DELETED OBJECTS.
Last option has no pratical effects: well, whenever you remove the
label from a star of from a planet, it's like throwing a file in the
"recycle bin". Each label takes 32 bytes within the STARMAP.BIN file,
and selecting option E will physically delete removed labels, therefore
shortening the file a little.
Curiosity: what's there at Parsis 999999999; 999999999; 999999999?
Nothing at all. Huge void. It is not possible to get there. Theoretically,
it's possible to get at 999999999; 0; 999999999 so that the Y coordinate
would be zero or quite near to zero. Raising Y to 999999999 is not possible
because you'd get in the galactic halo, outside the galactic plane. In the halo
there are too few and distant stars to "connect" repeated jumps. Yet, you could
travel for some further hundred LY if you had enough lithium, but at a certain
point you'd be unable to move further. And who, then, would bring you back to
a "reasonable" position?
Reset onboard system:
Forces onboard computer to perform a reset.
If you experiment some troubles in computer's delay,
which are possible because of bugs AND of high radiation
particles messing up internal circuitry signals, here's
rather a safe way to bring the computer back to normal operation.
Help request:
Select "Onboard devices" / "Emergency functions" / "Send out help request"
to use it. That's a really needed tool: after a few jumps from star to
star you'll be missing fuel. Stardrifters use little quantities of
lithium to travel (by stimulated vibrations in lithium's nuclear forces which,
as everyone certainly know, can amplify movements throught void space upto
a factor of over five billions). You will have to ask for help whenever your
reserve reachs zero grams. A similar stardrifter will approach you as soon as it
detects your request, refueling your drifter immediately... However, this is
an emergency call and will take some time to be answered. It's your last chance
to get back in businness. Normally, you should scope lithium by approaching
CLASS SIX stars. Keep reading for further infos on scoping lithium...
Scope for lithium:
Select "Onboard devices" / "Emergency functions" / "Scope for lithium"
to use it. It will work only if there are enough lithium ions around.
Normally, these ions are found around some invisible stars (which are
anyway highlighted by the onboard computer), remnants of oldest stars
which have no more nuclear fuel and long time ago exploded as Novae.
The onboard computer defines such "fossile" stars class 6 stars.
They constantly emit lithium ions around, along with other heavier elements,
by "squeezing" their external layers due to the effects of the 5th interaction,
which works as some sort of "reverse gravity". Other elements are discharged
by the stardrifter, apart from oxygen and nitrogen useful to build breathable
air inside the stardrifter itself.
Now, ions are electrically charged atoms and can therefore be collected
by magnetic fields triggered from long distance. There can be two kinds
of ions for lithium: Li+ and Li++. Only one of those can be used for Vimana
interstellar flight: Li+. It means that some 50% of the stars in class 6 may
result unsuitable for scoping lithium. Keep trying, and when you find a
suitable star, mark it by ASSIGNING A LABEL TO IT: this will allow you to
easily target the star in case your lithium reserve should drop very low,
and you couldn't waste a lot of lithium in the search for a suitable star.
Even some class 5 stars could be used for scoping lithium: that's because
class 5 are the "dwarf substellar objects". While the other stars destroy
lithium as a consequence of their nuclear reactions, class 5 stars are unable
to destroy their lithium, because they are not enough powerful. It's rather
improbable that such dwarf stars would be suitable for scoping...
Clear status:
Just clears the status messages given by the onboard emergency devices.
Local target preview:
Allows taking a quick look to how the selected planet (or moon)
appears, from the line of sight given by your actual position.
It serves the purpose of evaluating how interesting may the target be,
before deciding to waste lithium to reach it.
| Saving pictures from the screen: |
Space snapshots:
Noctis can take space snapshots in BMP format: whenever you see a place you
found somewhat beautiful, if you hit the asterisk (*) key on the numeric keypad,
the scenery will be saved in an image file called "FOTO.BMP". You can
then re-open that scenery from any painting tool you like, providing it can
read standard Windows bitmaps (BMP files).
Stardrifter's "roof" outside the cupola also provides life support.
You can hop on it by standing in the middle of the ship and pressing
the CURSOR UP key (arrow up). To get back down, go throught the cupola.
| Technical infos on stars, planets and other: |
Just click to open this TECHNICAL REFERENCE MANUAL.
You'll find extended descriptions of the Noctis Galaxy, its stars, planets,
historical background, and also, what you can do and what you cannot do.
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