Elvas Tower: Number size in the Cabview - Elvas Tower

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Number size in the Cabview Rate Topic: -----

#21 User is offline   Lindsayts 

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Posted 16 May 2014 - 10:12 AM

View PostSid P., on 16 May 2014 - 07:30 AM, said:

If I modify a .cvf or other file for my own use, I believe that I am free to do so, but I understand that I may not offer it to all without permission of the original creator. But there is benefit to the MSTS and ORTS community in sharing useful modifications via the file itself, so that everyone doesn't have to do the (sometimes tricky) modifications themselves.

I was thinking about some of the statements that I find in some contributed MSTS material on TrainSim.com and ElvasTower.com, such as Cabview sets, locomotive shape files, etc.. These files are really the heart of the user world of MSTS (and ORTS). In some cases, the authors simply request an acknowledgement of source. If the original files were part of payware, for example, modifying them and distributing them could be a problem.

Or am I being concerned unnecessarily?

Sid


No......... I discussed this whole topic on another forum that had more than a few "legal types" on it. They said files like the eng cvf and all such config files are derivative of some else's (Micrsoft or whoever current holds MSTS's Intelectual property rights) work so cannot be copyrighted again. So one is free to distribute such files.

He case for the artwork, shapes and textures, is a completely different story.

There's a lot of missunderstanding of Interlectual property rights in the MSTS world I have found, this makes the whole process very distressing so I have almost given up entirely any hope of producing anything decent and keep all work to myself and I know I am not the only one working that way.

Lindsay

PS, I come from the linux world where this problem simply does not exist and I find MSTS very frustrating to work in after doing much work in far free-er Linux.

#22 User is offline   Csantucci 

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Posted 20 May 2014 - 11:59 AM

I have implemented the patch to have a variable font size and something more, see this test picture:
Attached Image: Open Rails 2014-05-20 09-39-25.jpg
The patch allows for different font sizes, regular and bold style, and different font families.
An optional line of the format ORTSfont ( fontsize fontstyle "fontfamily" ) has to be inserted in the .cvf block of the digital controls or digital clocks, where fontsize is a float (default value 10), fontstyle an integer having value 0 (default) for regular and 1 for bold, and fontfamily is a string with the font family name (ex. "Times New Roman", default "Courier New").
The modified Dash 9 .cvf file, that I put here only as an example is as follows:
Attached File  dash9.zip (2.3K)
Number of downloads: 328
And here the source patch:
Attached File  Fontextension.zip (1.21K)
Number of downloads: 350

If I get an OK by James or Chris or Rob, if necessary pinpointing formal improvements to the code, I would be happy to commit this, as it is first of all a way to adjust some dimension mismatches that now appear in many MSTS cabviews when run under ORTS.

I stress again that MSTS does not care at all about these added lines.

#23 User is offline   gpz 

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Posted 21 May 2014 - 02:30 AM

Just one question: Why have you chosen Courier New as the default font? The problem is, that this font is a serif type (with having small shoes and curlicues), while the font type used in real life at places needing fast and easy readings, such as the various vehicle displays, are usually sans-serif (without serif). In this aspect a Helvetica (Arial) type fontface is a better choice.

#24 User is online   James Ross 

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Posted 21 May 2014 - 02:49 AM

The default needs to match MSTS - both in terms of the original's size and font family. I'm not at home right now so can't check but that is critical to the patch.

#25 User is offline   Csantucci 

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Posted 21 May 2014 - 03:14 AM

Yes, as can be seen in the last part of the patch, Courier New was already default for OR, so I simply followed that in my patch.
I inserted the possibility to select also the font not only to widen possibilities, but also because I saw some MSTS cabs that used their own fonts with some trick (e.g. 7-segment numeric fonts).

#26 User is offline   gpz 

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Posted 21 May 2014 - 04:04 AM

View PostCsantucci, on 21 May 2014 - 03:14 AM, said:

Courier New was already default for OR

Unrealistic choice, either by MSTS or OR. :rotfl:

#27 User is online   James Ross 

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Posted 21 May 2014 - 04:26 AM

View Postgpz, on 21 May 2014 - 04:04 AM, said:

Unrealistic choice, either by MSTS or OR. :rotfl:


Not really a choice in OR when dealing with MSTS content. We can, of course, pick something better for our own formats. :)

#28 User is offline   Sid P. 

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Posted 21 May 2014 - 08:37 AM

View PostCsantucci, on 20 May 2014 - 11:59 AM, said:

I have implemented the patch to have a variable font size and something more, see this test picture:
......
If I get an OK by James or Chris or Rob, if necessary pinpointing formal improvements to the code, I would be happy to commit this, as it is first of all a way to adjust some dimension mismatches that now appear in many MSTS cabviews when run under ORTS.

I stress again that MSTS does not care at all about these added lines.


Great suggestion, Csantucci.
I have been working for a while looking at the wide range of sizes of the digital boxes in a lot of .cvf files (some of the values don't make sense) in the hope of writing a patch that would attempt to automatically assign the font size. As I believe James thought, it is not likely to work.
I think that Csantucci's method is the most straightforward way to solve the problem, even though it means modifying the existing .cvf files.
It might be useful to have a default font and style, so that optionally only the font size needs to be entered in the file.

Cheers,
Sid.

#29 User is offline   Csantucci 

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Posted 21 May 2014 - 01:05 PM

View PostSid P., on 21 May 2014 - 08:37 AM, said:


It might be useful to have a default font and style, so that optionally only the font size needs to be entered in the file.

Cheers,
Sid.

I haven't tested it, but I guess my patch should already accept this.

#30 User is offline   Sid P. 

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Posted 22 May 2014 - 07:32 AM

I just tried the Csantucci patch on the NALW AC4400 and NALW D9-40C locomotives, and it looks fine to me.
Since only one line has to be added to the .cvf file, it probably isn't worth considering my suggestion about having a default style and font.

Cheers,
Sid

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