The planets in my game are "see through" how can i fix?

I just got the game and am having the same exact problem.  Everything else looks great and runs fine, but all the planets look transparent when zoomed in near them. 

Has anyone else who has had this problem found a solution to it yet?

Best guess, mess with the planet detail level in the options.

I've got the same thing, my planet detail is set to max. My sister has sins on her computer but doesn't have the problem so I copied everything her settings are set to and it didn't change a thing. My guess is it's because my graphics card is so old, Nvidia geforce ti 4200 to be exact.

Yep, that's the same graphics card I use too, so that must be it.  Changing settings didn't work, but I did find a work around.

I've had some experience working with the .dds files this game uses for textures.  So, acting on a hunch, I went into the texture folder and found the files for the desert planets, and removed the alpha channels from them. (Alpha channels are often used in these types of games to add transparency to a texture.)  Now, when I load up a game, the desert planets look solid.

Now I just have to go in and perform the tedious task of adjusting all the other planet textures in the same way.

I had that back when i used a Radeon 9250, so it might be linked to the shader version supported by your card. My next card was a Radeon 9600, and that fixed it right up.

Thanks, I'll do this sooner or later, maybe, if I get tired of watching things happen through my planets lol.

Yup, this is only an issue with sub-spec cards.

Actually, this is NOT entirely true.

My game worked perfectly until I recently patched up to the .12 build. Immediately, all my planets are transparent on zooming in!

I am running 7600GT, so hardly a sub-spec card for a 1yr old game....

I believe this is an issue with the later patches. Stardock, have you increased the shader specs with one of the patches?

Pity if I have to upgrade just to get the planets back for the X-pack I've already purchased...

I have this problem too, but only for terran, desert, ice, and volcanic planets.  Asteroids and stars are perfectly life-like.  Also, I play with ship and structure detail on high with no problem (other than it taking longer to load a game.)

Granted, my graphics card is sub-spec, but I have a friend who plays this game on a card only slightly better than mine, and he doesn't have this problem at all.

Well for me i found that the normal texture file that the planets use such as bm.dds doest exist in the original texture file from the cd. I think this is why its transparent because the asteroids all have bm.dds file. so i took that off the mesh file and boom transparent asteroids!!!! WEll that what is wrong with me i duno about all of you or it could be my graphics card but it 6600 geforce. So i  dunooo