Culture Globe version 1.0 beta revision 1  2002-10-17
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Author: Kim Randell
E-mail: kim (dot) randell (at) blueyonder (dot) co (dot) uk
Homepage: http://members.lycos.co.uk/kim0randell/ (apologies for giant advert, it goes away after a while)

Files
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globe.exe	-	executable
readme.txt	-	this file
update.txt	-	the update file
globe.ini	-	configuration file; variables are explained in comments in the file

Additionally, the requisite textures for the program are to be found in a separate zip:
http://members.lycos.co.uk/kim0randell/globe/globe_textures.zip
earth.tga	-	surface of the earth
land.tga	-	stencil showing specular areas of the surface (i.e. oceans)
clouds.tga	-	clouds over earth
moon.tga	-	surface of the moon

Usage
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This program relies on update.txt, which can either be the local file, or downloaded from the internet and updated on a server.

update.txt format (example provided):
One e-mail per line up to a maximum of 16 (any more will be ignored)
Name, "Subject (quotation marks necessary, and don't ask me about what if the subject itself contains quotes", Latitude (+ for North, - for South), Longitude (+ for East, - for West)

Each person is marked with an arrow and a label over it; if they have sent more than one mail, the number of mails is displayed in brackets after the name. By repeatedly clicking on the name, you may cycle through that person's mails.

For internet access, requires wget, available from: http://space.tin.it/computer/hherold/
You will need to enter the directory in which you have installed wget into the globe.ini configuration file. Be aware that (on my Win98 machine, at least) it's using the rubbish old DOS 8 character filenames (for reasons I have yet to fathom), and so directories such as C:\Program Files\wget\ will become C:\Progra~1\wget\

Requires the OpenGL extension, GLUT, available from http://www.opengl.org/developers/documentation/glut.html
You will need to place the glut32.dll file in either your windows directory or in the same folder as globe.exe
(latest version at time of writing is http://www.xmission.com/~nate/glut/glut-3.7.6-bin.zip)



Controls
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Hold right mouse button and drag or use cursor keys to rotate.
Hold middle mouse button and drag up/down or use 'A' and 'Z' to zoom in and out.
Use ',' and '.' to select mails, or click on the name, or use the number keys to select the first 9.
'M' toggles the display of text and markers.
'O' toggles overlapping names; if they are spaced out, less of the background is visible, but the text becomes more readable.
Escape or 'Q' quits.
The window can be resized or maximised if desired, although readouts may become messed up if shrunk too far.

Known issues
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-Sun flare disappears at edge of screen.
-Lunar and solar eclipses every month.

Future additions
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-Higher resolution textures
-Night time city lights.
-Correctly placed starfield and generally improved astromechanics
-Procedurally generated/satellite photo updated clouds?