[Genma Saotome]

New month... new list. I'll add one:

Use fewer draw calls when rendering terrain (perhaps render by tertex rather than by patch?). 1 call per patch / 64 per tile really adds up when the view distance is > 5km.

[wacampbell]

Here's my top wishes ...

- support for timetable and train order operation on unsignalled routes
- advanced shaders for 3D models - eg AO, environmental reflection, bump mapping, multiple UV maps
- route editor
- finer terrain grid and blended terrain shading
- ability to add custom scenery objects in an activity

[Genma Saotome]

Ooooh... the last one sounds interesting. What do you have in mind?

[wacampbell]

Quote

- ability to add custom scenery objects in an activity

 Genma Saotome, on 06 January 2014 - 06:32 PM, said:

Ooooh... the last one sounds interesting. What do you have in mind?

We can add static consists in an activity now. I'd like to be able to add static scenery items also. For example:

- have different ships docked at Port Stanley
- one activity could be set in 1920, another set in 1950 by changing out certain scenery elements, eg period appropriate cars etc
- have people at the stops only if the activity calls for you to stop there
- have hazards, eg work crews out on the track etc, with related slow orders etc

Some of the above can be done by making the static scenery item into 'trains' and placing it as a static consist - but its messy doing it that way.

[MMSS]

 wacampbell, on 06 January 2014 - 06:42 PM, said:

We can add static consists in an activity now. I'd like to be able to add static scenery items also. For example:

- have different ships docked at Port Stanley
- one activity could be set in 1920, another set in 1950 by changing out certain scenery elements, eg period appropriate cars etc
- have people at the stops only if the activity calls for you to stop there
- have hazards, eg work crews out on the track etc, with related slow orders etc

Some of the above can be done by making the static scenery item into 'trains' and placing it as a static consist - but its messy doing it that way.

I know Rick Berg's Monon-2 v16 route you can switch out static cars, caw spawners, station markings, etc for different eras (MONON 1950, 1965, L&N 1972 & CSX 2000) by using the .bat files he created for them in the route's folder. It makes it a lot of fun with his work doing that for different eras. But I do like the idea you have with passengers only at stations when the activity calls for it and for slow orders too.

[markus_GE]

Trainz2010EE (engineer´s edition) was capable of placing such activity (they call it scenario, for that matter...) related objects. It was done using layers. But there it adds in, that Trainz uses the same editor for route- as well as scenario-creation: When placing an object, you can decide which layer it should go to - scenario or route. So, with the current editors, using MSTS c***, this could be a little difficult.

A see, however, a great possibility: First, I´d like to ask, how is the OpR AE planned to look & work like? Similar to MSTS, only giving a Top view, or allowing to move around like in the TRZ editor? If the latter is true (anyway, I´d like to add is as a wishlist item), the layers shouldn´t be too much of a problem, in terms of how the content creator could handle things. In only-top-view-type of AE, like MSTS, things could become a little more difficult...

My two cents (that´s worth nothing) :pardon:

Cheers, Markus

[Genma Saotome]

 wacampbell, on 06 January 2014 - 06:42 PM, said:

We can add static consists in an activity now. I'd like to be able to add static scenery items also. For example:
- have hazards, eg work crews out on the track etc, with related slow orders etc

Ahhh, burning railroad fusees too.

You know, the code could handle Activity based sprite text in the exact same way as Activity based objects: a list of tile names plus UiD()'s. Certain Class Names would have to be handled as do not show unless specified by the Activity... stuff like siding names and hazards for example. A new "reserved word" *.ref category could be designated for any static items that would use the same rule.

The new Activity editor could include the means to select whatever items of those classes that should be displayed in the Activity being constructed.

[rdamurphy]

 Genma Saotome, on 06 January 2014 - 06:32 PM, said:

Ooooh... the last one sounds interesting. What do you have in mind?

You know, this could be done using the MSTS "Detail Level" settings, only using them slightly differently. Since nobody in MSTS ever really used them for what they were for. So, you could set the Detail Level to for example "7" for a Seventies scenario, or "5" for a wreck scenario. Although, that has been done in activities just by using a wrecked train as a static consist....

Robert

[Surfliner462]

A version of Open Rails that doesn't need a NASA supercomputer to run, Railworks and Trainz have always ran great on my computer with great Frame Rates/High Graphics, ORTS in the only one that doesn't.

This post has been edited by Surfliner462: 08 January 2014 - 05:12 PM

[That Genset Foamer]

 Surfliner462, on 08 January 2014 - 05:01 PM, said:

A version of Open Rails that doesn't need a NASA supercomputer to run, Railworks and Trainz have always ran great on my computer with great Frame Rates/High Graphics, ORTS in the only one that doesn't.

As I've said it's typically the GPU bearing the load of the operation with OpenRails. I've found that in running it on my laptop--which has a superb CPU and 6GB of VRAM--the weak link is the Intel Integrated Graphics program.

In theory, couldn't OpR have some kind of performance tuner which allows you to shift certain processes between the CPU and the GPU? Oftentimes I'll be chewing through only 700MB of VRAM, but my GPU is panting, wheezing, and spitting out a measly 26 FPS. I've also noticed that the render process will chew through much of OpR's memory, even on relatively empty routes like the Cal Northern. Once the loader process kicks in all [[Tartarus]] seems to break loose, frame rates plunge even further, and it doesn't "recover" until the loader takes a break.

That being said, in theory the end-user could "shift" processes such as the updater and loader between the CPU and GPU. That might help with the matter.