Elvas Tower: New Route Editor for Open Rails - Elvas Tower

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New Route Editor for Open Rails Build routes without msts Rate Topic: -----

#11 User is offline   Goku 

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Posted 16 May 2015 - 01:50 PM

View PostGenma Saotome, on 16 May 2015 - 01:30 PM, said:

There is a lot of moire showing... I know that's always hard to deal with but as it stands right now it's showing many times more than either MSTS or Open Rails. The blue pin looks perfectly flat instead of the sphere it actually is; I expect that's because you've not had a chance to do much w/ shadows.

All this is easy to do and I did it two years earlier (just AA and normals disabled), but in editor functionality is far more important than graphics quality.

View PostGenma Saotome, on 16 May 2015 - 01:30 PM, said:

Every route I've opened has no terrain displayed.
Several routes cause the program to crash and disappear... it's like click on open and before you can blink the program window is gone. I'll try again.

It could be some system specific issue or maybe routes from other world side doesn't work. No one tested it before excluding me.
You can give me some route with no terrain issue for testing.

#12 User is offline   copperpen 

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Posted 16 May 2015 - 02:03 PM

As a program in its early stages it is not bad. It is inconsistent in how it displays routes. Some show everything, some show tracks and world objects, but no terrain. Some only show track. None I have tried so far have actually crashed this editor, not even the mighty PRR East although that was one with no visible terrain.

EDIT. Having read the above post, I reconsidered what I was seeing. The routes that displayed terrain were European. The routes that did not were USA.

In a lot of cases where terrain is missing it starts at a point well below any track that is there. Actually when only track is shown it is hard to decide if it is above or below the viewpoint.

Do not get put off by all this criticism, but there is a long way to go yet before this becomes a fully functional editor. I think you should get together with some of the Open rails development team coders and see how this would fit in.

#13 User is offline   Goku 

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Posted 16 May 2015 - 02:48 PM

View Postcopperpen, on 16 May 2015 - 02:03 PM, said:

EDIT. Having read the above post, I reconsidered what I was seeing. The routes that displayed terrain were European. The routes that did not were USA.

Fixed now - link replaced. Was very small bug, easy to fix. I had only european routes so I missed that :)

I discovered now that route file .tdb could have other name than route folder. That's new issue, but from all my routes only original msts routes have that weird names.
Fixed.

Random rare crashes also fixed.

#14 User is offline   conductorchris 

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Posted 16 May 2015 - 04:46 PM

I think it is terrific that you have made this. I'm sure it will be quite a contribution.
I echo what other people say -- the best course is to coordinate with the open rails team. You've done the easy part . . . putting what you've done out there for community push-back is hard. But the benefits are large and the result is a product that would have the benefit of broad support, in both senses of the word -- you'd have lots of help as well as lots of grateful users.

It might make sense to recruit a few other people to help you, to make the work easier (and maybe less lonely).

I have been putting off starting to create routes because I've been waiting for an open rails route editor. In the meantime I can't use MSTS tools any more because my main computer is now windows 8 and my previous one lost its motherboard. I have what a dozen, two dozen routes I really want to dive in and make. But I've been waiting, holding back. So the appearance of this route editor is a terrific excitement. I look forward to when it is ready for me to jump in!

For example . . . Dave was just asking about a nice B&O route. We need one of those . . .

Christopher

#15 User is offline   Stephen Hjellum 

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Posted 16 May 2015 - 04:49 PM

This is great to finally come across. When my laptop took a dump last year, and the refusal of MSTS to work on my new machine, I debated whether to switch to TS2014 (2015 now) or hang onto ORTS. As a route builder, my main focus is on an editor that allows me to import terrain, read .kml files for placemarks, and lay down track and scenery. Subsequently, I went to TS2015, but this might just draw me back to ORTS now that there is a route editor in the works. Maybe a list of future or potential features can be posted?

#16 User is offline   eric from trainsim 

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Posted 16 May 2015 - 05:01 PM

Excellent work, sir.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IHEIt-o76Fg/VVfnm5QqdzI/AAAAAAAAaBg/KQ9WL3aA3Sc/s1024/capture__200444.jpg

I like how you filtered all of the track sections in the selection box by prefix. It would be nicer if I could expand on the filter (e.g. SR_3T) or use wildcards (e.g. *end)*) to get a smaller selection list.

Is there a way to get the properties of a given piece, i.e. UiD, XYZQ, terrain object setting?

#17 User is offline   R H Steele 

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Posted 16 May 2015 - 06:32 PM

MAN-O-MAN --- :) :) I just opened a route! Very intuitive, got to the correct folders no problem (using V 5.01). Found the junction linked Global folder and all else. Now to delete some shrubbery. ...this is low level stuff here, (meaning my obsession with shrubbery).

What a wonderful sight, a wide screen, full screen route editor.

Great beginning...like the other folks said, you should link up with the team and others to push ahead with this. Probably one of the two most important tools needed...the other being a viable AE.
Great Work, thanks Goku!

edit: not seeing track like some of the others are showing....trying to figure out why. But I still LOVE it

Attached File(s)



#18 User is offline   CrisGer 

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Posted 16 May 2015 - 07:19 PM

Goku i want to say first and last ..THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!! this is one of the most wonderful developments for the Sim/..Msts/OR since OR started and we really really needed this. You have done wonders and I am so glad you don't mind hearing the suggestions here from those who know far more about the technical side of all of this than I ever will.

I am so glad you shared your wonderful work with us, that was generous beyond words and I really appreciate it so much. Please keep going on this, and thank you again!

#19 User is offline   Mike B 

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Posted 16 May 2015 - 08:23 PM

This could get me into some route editing. Wow! It's what MSTS really needed all along, and ORTS even more.

Does it really work at fixing errant shrubbery? That's a problem in many routes with ORTS.

#20 User is offline   eric from trainsim 

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Posted 16 May 2015 - 08:33 PM

Just to manage expectations, I managed to get an "ET Phone Home" message after about an hour of using it... ;) Something never change.

Remember to hit the Z key after putting in a piece of track, save, and it shows up in the legacy RE as well as in the track viewer, so all appears to work nicely. The UI will take some getting used to, but I could get used to this in a couple of months and never look back at the RE ever again.

Track doesn't snap if you're close -- you have to actually find the adjoining axis point before placing the track. What I haven't quite figured out is how to elevate track by X degrees like the F4 in Legacy.

Is there a way to reconsider the "number pad required" functions? Most laptops don't have the extra keys...

#21 User is offline   eric from trainsim 

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Posted 17 May 2015 - 06:05 AM

Found another possible bug.... **ALL** of my predefined paths in the PATHS folder got overwritten with track vector paths.

Fortunately I'd just done a backup earlier in the day where the PATHS folder could be recreated, but this could be catastrophic for folks who aren't as diligent in doing backups.

I didn't mind the paths being created, but why delete out the non-vector named paths?

#22 User is offline   Goku 

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Posted 17 May 2015 - 06:39 AM

View PostR H Steele, on 16 May 2015 - 06:32 PM, said:

edit: not seeing track like some of the others are showing....trying to figure out why. But I still LOVE it

Check .w files format. Only text is acceptable.

View Posteolesen, on 16 May 2015 - 08:33 PM, said:

What I haven't quite figured out is how to elevate track by X degrees like the F4 in Legacy.

Before 'Z', select roration tool by pressing 'R' and use '8' , '2'.

View Posteolesen, on 17 May 2015 - 06:05 AM, said:

Found another possible bug.... **ALL** of my predefined paths in the PATHS folder got overwritten with track vector paths.

It's not bug, it's feature. First post:
0 - (zero) delete old and create new paths
If you don't like it, don't use '0' key. It's not needed for route save.

View Posteolesen, on 17 May 2015 - 06:05 AM, said:

I didn't mind the paths being created, but why delete out the non-vector named paths?

Old paths often need fixes after TDB editing and without msts editors it's hard for users to do. My intention with sharing this editor was creating complete simple new OR route, not editing complex MSTS routes, and '0' key function is only for that purpose.

#23 User is offline   eric from trainsim 

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Posted 17 May 2015 - 06:50 AM

View PostGoku, on 17 May 2015 - 06:39 AM, said:

Old paths often need fixes after TDB editing and without msts editors it's hard for users to do. My intention with sharing this editor was creating complete simple new OR route, not editing complex MSTS routes, and '0' key function is only for that purpose.


The Track Viewer has a routine to fix broken paths and it works great. I've used it pretty extensively in the last three weeks.

I don't recall hitting the zero key , but I'd re-think having something that destructive without backing up the previous path files first OR displaying a confirmation dialog. A single keystroke could destroy months of work.

#24 User is offline   Goku 

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Posted 17 May 2015 - 07:01 AM

For me it's obvious that with writeEnabled = true don't even run route with no backup.

#25 User is offline   vince 

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Posted 17 May 2015 - 08:53 AM

Goku & All,

I tried the new Editor last night but there is a problem when I added 100m tracksection to my route build.
The Track Database was corrupted left unuseable.


The details . . .
Here is a clip from the original Track Database +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++SIMISA@@@@@@@@@@JINX0T0t______
TrackDB (
Serial ( 3346 )
TrackNodes ( 5572
TrackNode ( 1
TrEndNode ( 0 )
UiD ( -10962 14358 4158 1 -10962 14358 -980.576 13.5872 812.006 0 -0.711418 0 )

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++end clip original tdb ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here is a clip from Track Database modified by using the new editor to add one 100m tracksection and 'Z' Insert into TDB followed by a Save:

SIMISA@@@@@@@@@@JINX0T0t______
TrackDB (
TrackNodes ( 5572
TrackNode ( 1
TrEndNode ( 0 )
UiD ( -10962 14358 4158 1 -10962 14358 -980.57599 13.5872 812.00598 0 -0.71141791 0 )

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ end of tdb clips ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Note that the line 'Serial ( 3346 )' is missing from the new Track Database.

Route_Riter [ICHK] test terminates with the following:

Trackdatabase 'E:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Train Simulator\ROUTES\LIRR\LIRR.tdb' is checked!
---> Entry 'Serial' not found ('tracknodes')
Error while loading Trackdatabase 'E:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Train Simulator\ROUTES\LIRR\LIRR.tdb' (Pos=18) -- Function terminated!

ORTS dies with:

Error: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at Orts.Formats.Msts.TrackDB.AddTrItems(TrItem[] newTrItems) in e:\Documents\Coding\Jenkins\jobs\Open Rails Unstable\workspace\Source\Orts.Formats.Msts\TDBFile.cs:line 180
........................................ snipped following pages of ORTS error info ................................................

So on saving after placing a new tracksection apparently causes a corruption of the routes Track Database file by not putting the 'Serial ( nnnn ) in.

The route loads into the new editor quickly, even using the huge PRR-East loads very fast.Juust for grins I placed a few Static Objects sucessfully.
I am also able to place Static Objects into my LIRR route build sucessfully.

It also seems able to generate a new tile if needed to add in a tile to the route but I have not fully tested this function yet. It DID appear to generate a new tile that I needed to generate where one was missing (or more likely I probably mistakenly deleted it last week when I was trimming unneeded tile ).
I was unable to test this because of the problem that showed up when I attempted to place a tracksection. I report more on this (adding a tile) today.

All in all a very good first effort at developing a new Route Editor. Nice work Goku. The usuall development pains are sure to follow but I salute you for at least getting started on this.

I have restored the LIRR from the backup to a working route again and plan to test adding a Tile later today.

Best Regards,
vince

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