[copperpen]

Scott

AFAIK right now OR does not use the coupling type, anything can be coupled to anything, and a wagon will even run fine with no couplers because OR is set up to add a default one if not present.

[scottb613]

steamer_ctn, on 01 June 2019 - 05:27 PM, said:

As has been suggested I am doing some changes on the coupler code to allow it to operate in a more representative fashion with slack, but I am waiting for some test stock to be configured and testing to commence.

Under the new code the handling of stiffness will change.

I don't believe that the stiffness has a large impact upon the current code, but this would need to be confirmed through some testing.

Hi Peter,

I don't mind playing around with values - I'll see what changing the stiffness does next weekend when I get in...

Thanks for the info...

Regards,
Scott

[scottb613]

Genma Saotome, on 01 June 2019 - 09:09 PM, said:

Scott, the use of the Include statement allows us to break up .wag amd .eng files into multiple commonly shared blocks. What remains in the .eng or .wag are just those parameters that could be edited to produce something unique. For example. almost all of my OR-only .wags look like this:

Wagon ( XM_SPS_10164_Animal_Feed_LD

WagonShape ( SP&S_Box_10164.s )
FreightAnim ( USRA_50t_parts.s 1 1 1 )
Include ( "..\\Common.Inc\\Models\\Tim_Muir\\USRA_DS_Boxcar\\XM_USRA_DS_Empty_Car.inc" )
Include ( "..\\Common.Inc\\Models\\Tim_Muir\\USRA_DS_Boxcar\\XM_USRA_DS_Animal_Feed_Ld.inc" )
Include ( "..\\Common.inc\\Fleet\\DHNelson\\Std_Type_D_Coupler_Generic_Draft_Gear.inc" )
Include ( "..\\Common.inc\\Fleet\\DHNelson\\Single_Pipe_AB_Brakes.inc" )
Sound ( "genfreightwag2.sms" )
Name ( "XM 40' SPS USRA_DS 10164 Animal_Feed Ld 1919-55" )

)

And here is the .wag for a completely different car:
Wagon ( TM_UTLX_55210_Copra_Oil

WagonShape ( UTLX_6K_55210.s )
Include ( "UTLX_Type_V_Empty_Car.inc" )
Include ( "UTLX_Type_V_Linseed_Oil_6k_gal.inc" )
Include ( "..\\Common.inc\\Fleet\\DHNelson\\Std_Type_E_Coupler_Generic_Draft_Gear.inc" )
Include ( "..\\Common.inc\\Fleet\\DHNelson\\Single_Pipe_KC_Brakes.inc" )
Sound ( "GenFreightWag1.sms" )
Name ( "TM 6k UTLX Type V 55210 Copra Oil " )

)
It can now be all very standardized.

And in this case the FreightAnim() line might be able to be moved to the Empty_Car.inc file.

What you see there are four Include statements, two with paths to a folder that holds all of .inc files for this specific model from Tim Muir and two to a folder that contains fleet-wide data values defined by myself. The inclusion of peoples names is an attempt to ensure any subsequent from those named persons do not overwrite your own work or that of others.

The point of this is simple -- there is data about this class of cars that is common to all instances of that car in your roster:

• Parameters about the empty car
  
• Parameters about the lading as well as those affected by the lading weight into the second .inc You omit this line for an empty car.

And then there is data that is common to most of your roster/total fleet:

• Parameters about the brake system
  
• Parameters about the couplers

Examine it a bit closer and you'll see that now it is trivial to set up a new .wag for different coupler types or ladings.

As you can see there is not much here that is left for car by car customization. If you want to learn more about this, send me a PM and can clarify as needed.

Hi Dave,

Thanks for taking the time with the detailed write up - yeah - I fully intend to move to "include" files (I'll ping you when I do) - but first I want to distill the wag down to their bare ORTS essentials before I chop them up... I've been playing with a test set of half a dozen freight cars - so if you include loaded and unloaded - that's 12 wags I need to edit for each change I make while testing - a PITA...

Regards,
Scott

[scottb613]

copperpen, on 02 June 2019 - 12:15 PM, said:

Scott

AFAIK right now OR does not use the coupling type, anything can be coupled to anything, and a wagon will even run fine with no couplers because OR is set up to add a default one if not present.

Hi Mervyn,

Thanks as well...

I've been playing with the "r0" value in the coupler section to adjust the spacing between cars - that seems to have an effect as it will dramatically affect the spacing - perhaps if not included - it just defaults to a basic number ? I'm not sure if this is the value I should be playing with to adjust spacing as I believe "size" and "InertiaTensor" also affect spacing ?

Regards,
Scott

[steamer_ctn]

scottb613, on 03 June 2019 - 02:47 AM, said:

I don't mind playing around with values - I'll see what changing the stiffness does next weekend when I get in...

Thanks for that. If you are doing tests for your own investigation, then that is fine. However if you are doing it to provide me with some info, then I am not really interested in seeing how the current stiffness works, as I would prefer to put any effort into working on the Advanced coupler.

So if you want to assist me with testing, we would need to set up a formatted test process and stock.

Thanks

[scottb613]

steamer_ctn, on 03 June 2019 - 03:11 AM, said:

Thanks for that. If you are doing tests for your own investigation, then that is fine. However if you are doing it to provide me with some info, then I am not really interested in seeing how the current stiffness works, as I would prefer to put any effort into working on the Advanced coupler.

So if you want to assist me with testing, we would need to set up a formatted test process and stock.

Thanks

Hi Peter,

OK - thanks - understood - I'd be happy to help - please keep in mind my time with the sim is pretty limited though - I travel for work during the week and I'm only home on weekends where I have access to ORTS...

Regards,
Scott

[copperpen]

scottb613, on 03 June 2019 - 02:59 AM, said:

Hi Mervyn,

Thanks as well...

I've been playing with the "r0" value in the coupler section to adjust the spacing between cars - that seems to have an effect as it will dramatically affect the spacing - perhaps if not included - it just defaults to a basic number ? I'm not sure if this is the value I should be playing with to adjust spacing as I believe "size" and "InertiaTensor" also affect spacing ?

Regards,
Scott

Size will affect spacing as does r0 although this should only affect the distances at which the various other coupling values kick in. InertiaTensor not used.

[Genma Saotome]

You can see the effect the r0() parameter has by entering very large or small values on one /wag and then placing several instances of that .wag next to each other in a consist. You will see couplers that are so widely separated there is a very visible air gap between them or are smooshed together as-if they were made of ripe banana. The problem is couplers are not named named sub-items in the model and so unlike the real thing they cannot move.

At present I'm using r0( 7.68cm 15.24cm ), which approximates the 3 inches of travel that's pretty common for steam era couplers. I think it's too conservative in-game so I regard it as good enough until I have time to test other values.

Given the visual problem our .s files inherently have I would prefer the OR software to be modified to look for named couplers that can move and to move them as needed in-game. There won't be any models that do that at first but there are still people making new car and locomotive models so some that do move will become available.

[steamer_ctn]

scottb613, on 03 June 2019 - 03:16 AM, said:

I'd be happy to help - please keep in mind my time with the sim is pretty limited though - I travel for work during the week and I'm only home on weekends where I have access to ORTS...

Thanks for that.

I will PM you.

[scottb613]

Hi Folks,

Thanks...

OK - deleting "IntertaTensor"...

Regards,
Scott