[scottb613]

Hi Folks,

I searched the forums but I haven't seen it mentioned... One if the biggest things that suspends the immersion factor for me while running activities - is when an "Activity Message" pops up - everything freezes - and - I have to go scrambling for the mouse to click on the "close window and resume" button...

Has anyone considered not having the activity freeze every time a message is displayed - or - maybe make it an option in the setup ? At the very least could we have a simple keystroke associated with "close and resume" it could even be linked to a horn/whisltle blast or something to make it as quick and painless as possible ?

Thanks for the consideration...

Regards,
Scott

[Csantucci]

I too find disturbing that these messages suspend execution of the activity. Maybe the opposite could happen: the activity continues and the player can suspend it, if he wants.

[scottb613]

Hi Carlo,

Yeah - concur - it's easy enough to pause...

One other thought that just came to me - what do we do when multiple messages show up in rapid succession ? Ideally the message window should feature a history - in reverse order so as you scroll down you go through the older messages ??? LOL - not trying to make more work for anyone - just food for thought...
:thumbdown3:

Regards,
Scott

[Genma Saotome]

IMO there are lots and lots of good reasons to add an html output feature to OR, one that you can tie your smartphone or tablet into. If the user configures his options to get OR information that way, send it that way... help text, command confirmation, activity instructions... a whole lot of stuff could be best displayed that way.

James said it was certainly doable but AFAIK nobody has yet picked up the task to do it.

[Jeffrey Kraus-Yao]

Erased.

[James Ross]

scottb613, on 08 March 2015 - 07:38 AM, said:

I searched the forums but I haven't seen it mentioned... One if the biggest things that suspends the immersion factor for me while running activities - is when an "Activity Message" pops up - everything freezes - and - I have to go scrambling for the mouse to click on the "close window and resume" button...

Has anyone considered not having the activity freeze every time a message is displayed - or - maybe make it an option in the setup ? At the very least could we have a simple keystroke associated with "close and resume" it could even be linked to a horn/whisltle blast or something to make it as quick and painless as possible ?

We can't really change the behaviour to not pause, for MSTS activities, although we could provide an extension flag they can set for OR.

But we should certainly have keyboard controls for the dialogs; it is something I've been meaning to look at for ages but haven't had time yet, and probably needs some tie-in to the new GUI as well. People are certainly free to try out some ideas in the code and share their compiled RunActivity for others to see what works and what doesn't.

[Csantucci]

In release 2927 I have implemented Scott's (and my) wish this way:
- if the .act file is as now nothing changes; I have only improved the activity window textes in some cases, where they were incoherent, but no functionality change
- if in the .act file this line is added in an event description

				ORTSContinue ( nn )

as in this example

		EventCategoryLocation (
				EventTypeLocation ( )
				ID ( 1 )
				Activation_Level ( 1 )
				Outcomes (
					DisplayMessage ( "Test nopause." )
				)
				Name ( Location1 )
				Location ( -146 14082 -1016.56 762.16 10 )
				TriggerOnStop ( 0 )
				ORTSContinue ( 10 )
			)

the activity continues running while the activity window is displayed; if the player does nothing the window disappears after nn seconds (10 in the example); he can also close the window with a click on the related field of the window, or he can pause activity execution with a click on the related field of the window.

MSTS (both at runtime and at activity editing) is not affected by this change.

The bad news: the addition of such line is removed by the AE if a save of the activity is done with it (not so bad, this addition can be done at the end of activity development, and it is a fast change).
The good news: if an activity with such lines is opened with the MSTS AE, and a "Package Activity" is performed, the .apk file includes the added lines!

A demo activity for route Japan1 can be downloaded here:
 Testactfinish.zip (1.73K)
Number of downloads: 276
After about 300 meters run the activity window opens with a message, but the activity continues running.

PS: Updated following James' remarks.

[James Ross]

Csantucci, on 16 March 2015 - 07:10 AM, said:

				Continue ( 1 )

All additional elements to MSTS file formats for OR should start ORTS, e.g. "ORTSContinue", to make it clear what is an extension and what isn't. Otherwise, seems quite good; maybe we should use the number inside as the time the window is kept on-screen?

[Csantucci]

You're right James,
Updated with the two changes in release 2927.

[edwardk]

We have come up with new ideas, but I have to wonder if there is a sticky post that keeps track of these ideas until added to the manual. I will usually perform a save on the post to archive important information.

Edward K.

[scottb613]

Hi Carlo,

This is truly an amazing place... Thanks so much - really looking forward to trying it... Appreciate everyone's input...
:)

Regards,
Scott

[Sid P.]

Hi,
It works beautifully, Carlo. Great idea!

edwardk, on 16 March 2015 - 11:24 AM, said:

We have come up with new ideas, but I have to wonder if there is a sticky post that keeps track of these ideas until added to the manual. I will usually perform a save on the post to archive important information.
Edward K.

A description is being added to the manual.

Cheers,
Sid.

[R H Steele]

That's wonderful, thanks Carlo, and thanks Scott for the thread.

[scottb613]

Hi Carlo,

Sorry to be a pest - I'm running X2930 and I haven't been able to get it to work... Here is my activity file - I believe I made the necessary changes - but - I don't see any change in the way the activity behaves - it still freezes on every event... Am I missing something ???

 SCO_01_First_Run_To_Chad.zip (5.97K)
Number of downloads: 210

Snip of activity file:

	EventCategoryTime (
				EventTypeTime ( )
				ID ( 0 )
				Activation_Level ( 1 )
				Outcomes (
					DisplayMessage ( "First thing you need to know is our entrance to the yard is from the west side. So disregard your track monitor for now and put the engine in reverse. Back on up to the switch that will make your entrance from the yard. I'll be here to point it out." )
				)
				Name ( Time0 )
				Time ( 5 )
				ORTSContinue ( 1O )
			)
			EventCategoryLocation (
				EventTypeLocation ( )
				ID ( 1 )
				Activation_Level ( 1 )
				Outcomes (
					DisplayMessage ( "You have to backup to the switch, don't go this direction. Put it in reverse." )
				)
				Name ( Location0 )
				Location ( -11317 14150 -985.244 -773.135 10 )
				TriggerOnStop ( 0 )
				ORTSContinue ( 1O )
			)
			EventCategoryLocation (
				EventTypeLocation ( )
				ID ( 2 )
				Activation_Level ( 1 )
				Outcomes (
					ActivityFail ( "You did not successfully complete this Activity." )
				)
				Name ( Location1 )
				Location ( -11317 14150 -877.832 -809.748 10 )
				TriggerOnStop ( 0 )
				ORTSContinue ( 1O )
			)

Regards,
Scott

[Csantucci]

Scott,
looking with a Hex editor I have found that your zeroes in the ORTSContinue ( 10 ) line are not zeroes, but capital alphabetic Os: you will in fact notice that the shape of your "zeroes" in ( 10 ) within your file excerpt is not the same as the one of the true zeroes (see e.g. Time0 in your excerpt). ;)

Perform the replacement and things should work.