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Downloads, Git instructions, & how to make a new project from the Project Template

Charlie WCharlie W
edited February 17 in Tutorials
All of our code repositories and downloads are at github.com/ivoyager. Links in the sections below will take you directly to repositories, code releases, or individual downloads. Before you get started, here are some key links that you should be aware of:
  • Our Forum – for help, feedback, discussion, or feature proposals.
  • Issues Tracker – to report bugs, astronomical inaccuracies, or other problems.
  • Changelogs – see what’s changed and what we’re working on in the master branch.
  • Roadmap – our plans for the future!

Free-Standing Apps

Windows users can download the free-standing Planetarium at the link below. Game developers should download the Project Template “Demo” to see game save/load functionality and a “starter” game GUI.

Download the Planetarium 0.0.8-alpha: Windows 64-bit (~150 MB)

Download the Project Template “Demo” 0.0.8-alpha: Windows 64-bit (~150 MB)

Important note! You will likely get a “Windows protected your PC” warning the first time you attempt to run the .exe file. If you want to run the program, you will have to click “more Information” and then “run anyway.” Unfortunately, this will be the case until we pay a yearly fee (quite significant) to a certificate authority. If you would like to make a contribution toward that effort, please visit our GitHub Sponsors page here.

Clone using Git

The Planetarium and Project Template both include a submodule (“ivoyager”). To clone the Planetarium and init the submodule in one step:

git clone --recursive git://github.com/ivoyager/planetarium.git

For the Template Project, click the big green “Use this template” button at our repository here. This will create your new project repository with the (un-inited) ivoyager submodule. Then clone that and init the submodule:

git clone --recursive git://github.com/<account>/<repository>.git

If you clone using GitKraken, it will prompt you to init the submodule.

After this, you will have a project that lacks large file assets (images, asteroid binaries, etc., which are not Git-tracked). You will need to download the “ivoyager_assets” directory separately, which you can find for the latest releases here. It’s best to remove old ivoyager_assets first (so you don’t have no-longer-used assets hanging around), extract the .zip in your project directory, then strip off any version number so it is just “ivoyager_assets”.

And, of course, you will need Godot Editor. Check our changelogs to see what Godot version we used for the I, Voyager version you have. Usually, current Godot will work just fine.

For game developers, be sure to do all of your project-specific coding outside of the ivoyager directory! That way, you can keep your ivoyager submodule current with our latest version, and also contribute your improvements to core ivoyager back to us via pull requests. You will be able to extend (or sometimes replace) any core ivoyager class, as well as change init sequence or almost anything else, from your project code outside of the ivoyager submodule.

Whether you are a Git newbie or pro, I highly recommend GitKraken. It’s made my life much easier managing sumbmodules across multiple projects. But if you really are a Git cmd line pro, then don’t come complaining to me about submodules! :wink:

Godot Projects (without Git)

If you have Godot Editor and don’t want to Git for some reason, you can download a project in three parts:

  • First, you need the project directory. Look for the latest version of the Planetarium (here) or the Project Template (here). You’ll need the “source code” under Assets. Download, extract, and rename the project. You’ll notice that there is an empty folder inside called “ivoyager”, which you will replace in the next step below (if you Git, you would init this as a submodule).
  • Second, you’ll need the core ivoyager submodule. Find the the latest version here. Once downloaded and extracted, you’ll need to strip the version number (so it’s just “ivoyager”) and use this to replace the empty “ivoyager” folder inside the project directory from above.
  • Third, you’ll need ivoyager_assets (containing images and other large files). You’ll find directions where to find that in the same place as the ivoyager submodule here. Usually, the most current assets directory is one or two versions older than the most current code version.
After steps above, you’ll have a project that looks something like this (for the project template):

my_project
   |- ivoyager (contains all of our core code)
   |- ivoyager_assets (images, asteroid binaries, etc.)
   |- replace_me (this is the “extension” that customizes this project)
   |- project.godot
   |- LICENCE.txt
   |- README.txt
   |- etc.

After all that, you should have a project ready to import into Godot Editor. See comments in section above about coding without making changes in the ivoyager directory.

To get you on the road to learning Git, try out GitKraken! It’s free for public repositories.

Comments

  • JacobCop2208JacobCop2208
    I use I, Voyager web planetarium to study our solar system, the location of planets and satellites. Still, I had no idea that I would want to do my own project. Moreover, your instructions make me think that it's not as difficult as it seems. Why not explore space in another way?
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