Fun With Beta

Mwa ha ha, ha HA HA HA!!!!

Gravity Update

Version 1.3 is available! A co-worker told me, "I won't play your little game until I can blow stuff up." Well, now you can blow stuff up (sort of):

This release shall from now on be referred to as the CPU-Eater Edition. To see why, try this:

1. Run the sim

2. Press X to turn on fracture mode

3. Press S to open the Seed number dialog

4. Enter 31500 and click OK

5. Cackle with pitiless glee as whole worlds are rent asunder as they enter the cosmic maelstrom.

I hope you have a multi-core CPU if you want to do other things while this program is running. Other things to try:

• Press 0 (zero) to turn on auto time acceleration
• Press SHIFT+= to set auto acceleration to maximum
• Press I or G or to turn on pretty colors

When auto acceleration is on, the program will adjust the speed and/or graphical detail to try to maintain between 10 and 20 fps. Notice that orbits (and co-orbits) are now displayed with time acceleration on, so you can see how they evolve and affect each other over time.

Gravity Simulator Update

More pretty colors to look at!

The new version includes several new features, and still no help file or settings dialog!  Get it here.

Blah Blah Google Overlords Blah Blah

I just found out that Google will host a webpage, with 100MB of space, for anyone with a Google account. I know, I'm behind the curve on everything, but check it out. My page has links to download the Gravity Simulator Joe was posting about, including a screensaver version. Warning: not responsible for lost productivity while watching planets crash into each other.

Gravitationally Stable Three-Body System.



I've had this system running stably in Dave's Gravity Simulator for about two-and-a-half hours, with no end in sight. I have never seen a three-body system run so smoothly for so long, without any gravitational perturbations messing it up. The closest I did get was a three body system in which there were two planets orbiting in intersecting, counter-directional orbits for quite a long time, before one was perturbed enough to break orbit. What was interesting about that one was the two planets orbits were in 1:3 phase-resonance with each other, such that even though they were orbiting in opposite directions, and their orbits crossed, they never came very near to each other. This one, however, looks to be even more stable. I'm going to let it run overnight and check back in the morning.

--UPDATE 6/18 7:30am--

This is what I saw when I came in this morning.



It's actually not the same system. The number of starting planets is different (648 vs. 777). Also, this one has to have been running all night to rack up a score of 140,000. I was hoping that when I came in this morning, even if the system from yesterday evening wasn't running, the high score would at least indicate how much longer it had run. Unfortunately, this new system overwrote its high score. Crumb.

--Update 6/18 12:54pm--

The system just broke 200,000 points, and still isn't showing any signs of stopping. Further bulletins as events warrant.

--Update 6/18 4:33pm--

The system's at 240,000 points and still going. That means it's gaining about 100,000 points per nine hours, indicating it was running for about 13 hours or so before I got in this morning. I'll leave it overnight and see what happens.

--Update 6/19 8:03am--

The system died sometime last night shortly after I left. I got in and found a new system running, at 120,000 points. The final score for yesterday's was 268,911.

--Update 6/20 2:56pm--

The system that started night before last is still running, with over 400,000 points. I'm going to let it run over the weekend and see what happens.