[scottb613]

Hi Folks,

Lately - I've seen some posts objecting to the DDS file format which seems to be favored by ORTS for the path forward - specifically because Shape File Viewer would not be compatible... I had occasion to have a conversation with Paul Gausden and mentioned the specific Shape File Viewer issue... He - very graciously (he left Train Sims years ago) - decided to provide our community with one more gift - he made Shape File Viewer fully DDS compatible....

Christopher helped me with some initial beta testing and found a critical issue that's now been fixed and I think it's time for wider testing...

Attached is the a file with a new "trainlib.ocx" file to replace the original...

I found "trainlib.ocx" in the same directory where I have Shape File Viewer installed... Paul seemed to think it may reside in your "Windows" directory in other installs…

There's also a test shape and texture provided by Paul...

If all goes well - I'll add it to both the ET and TS file libraries...

Let's keep moving the ball forward...


As per Paul:

Quote

Haha - simples :)

Just drop in this new OCX over the old one.

Now it ignores the extension and tries to load it as any DirectX texture format first (dds, jpg,png etc)

If that fails it will use the normal ACE file loading method.

Regards,

Paul

File Download
https://mega.nz/#!h0...eehwu4V-1sTm4Iw



Regards,
Scott

[ebnertra000]

The only problem I've had with .dds textures is that some of my scenery objects, especially signals, will display .ace textures just fine, but will not display .dds textures properly. But for that, I would probably use it exclusively on new projects.

Goku's shape viewer has displayed .dds textures for some time now, which is what I've been using for any projects that use such textures

[Solarnet]

Fantastic, It works for me. Thank You. please let Paul know I am very greatfull for this update.

Richard

[Hamza97]

Ohhhhh very good.... Just in time when I was thinking of fully DDS on my next project.... :dance3:

[scottb613]

Hi Folks,

Glad it works - someone mentioned on the other board - it may have trouble with non-square textures - which ORTS supports - I don't have any handy - can someone verify and report back ?

Thanks...

One question on ORTS - riddle me this - I'm familiar with the ORTS setting "Prefer DDS Textures" and have it "ON" all the time... Say this setting is "OFF" and I have a shape that lists an ACE file as the associated texture - however - the ACE does not exist - as someone placed a DDS file there instead - - - what will ORTS do ? Display it just fine ?

Regards,
Scott

[railguy]

It's not working for me for .s files pointing to .dds textures--I get an "Error 91 - Object variable or With block variable not set." I've tried it on numerous .s files tied to .dds textures.

[burgerbern]

scottb613, on 28 October 2019 - 05:53 AM, said:

Hi Folks,

Lately - I've seen some posts objecting to the DDS file format which seems to be favored by ORTS for the path forward - specifically because Shape File Viewer would not be compatible... I had occasion to have a conversation with Paul Gausden and mentioned the specific Shape File Viewer issue... He - very graciously (he left Train Sims years ago) - decided to provide our community with one more gift - he made Shape File Viewer fully DDS compatible....

Let's keep moving the ball forward...


Regards,
Scott

Works for me i can now see both ace file enabled shape files as well as dds enabled ones, its a big step forward for me as i can now set up stuff like lights and smoke with either setup using 1PosTool


on another note re your query re dds only shapes in the sim with "use dds files" enabled it looks for dds files first so if they are there not having ace files is not a prob the CN Ruel sub works fine and that only has dds files for the most part

[Stephen Hjellum]

Not working for me either. Same error as railguy.

[decapod]

It might be a good idea to report the versions of the ones that work and the ones that crash.

Under the Help -> About SView menu. Should normally be 2.2.237
and the old About sfCanvas should be 1.2.171 or higher - this is the trainlib.ocx version. This new OCX is 1.3.179(?)

(also an example of a failing file and where to get it from may be useful :) )

I might have to take a look at the logic for loading DDS files too - just installed Open Rails :)

Cheers,
Paul

This post has been edited by decapod: 29 October 2019 - 03:29 PM

[railguy]

My Shape Viewer version is 2.2.237, sfCanvas is 1.2.160. I'm wondering if the the sfCanvas being an older version could be the problem?