[cjakeman]

cjakeman, on 21 November 2020 - 07:11 AM, said:

Not sure if I've understood you correctly, but I like the idea of saving window settings when you press F2 to save and then automatically re-apply them when the activity/timetable is resumed.

I'm getting quite excited about this idea - principally because it helps with providing Open Rails as a museum exhibit (both attended and unattended). In such a case, the system would likely resume from a previously saved activity or timetable, so it would be very helpful if it could also restore settings such as the pop-up windows and Map Window.

I don't think this clashes with Ryan Young's work as his work is saving some settings in the registry, whereas we are saving them in the Save itself.

I've create a Launchpad blueprint at Resume restores settings such as pop-up windows.


Any thoughts?

[Weter]

I think, it would be better not to touch system registry.
May be text config files, like them done for contributed trackviewer?

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I'm getting quite excited about this idea - principally because it helps with providing Open Rails as a museum exhibit (both attended and unattended).

Could You please clear the sence of this idea?

[conductorchris]

This is terrific!

Like Chris, I thought of a "restore original settings" button. How many times have I been annoyed at how some piece of software if acting but I can't even remember what setting I messed up.

Christopher

[R H Steele]

I think it's an essential component to making the simulation easier to use for the average user...not having to configure/reconfigure all the toggles when restarting from a save.
I also have found that not all routes benefit from having the same options checked, some do not need the overhead wires, some are too detailed and take a bit hit ( FPS ) when choosing shadow all shapes or dynamic shadows, different super elevation settings, payware route recommendations for running OR, the list goes on. I would be nice to have route specific options saved.
There could be a "Save options for this Route" choice somewhere...although I think you folks with more coding knowledge could come up with something more elegant.

[YoRyan]

Before we suggest any more saved preferences, let's think about where we want to store them. There are several choices:

• In the global settings store, which applies to all sessions across all installation profiles. This is the mechanism my current work is concerned with. I've already placed the states of the Ctrl+1, Shift+F4, Shift+F6, and Shift+F7 toggles here. I'd argue that window positions should go here, too.
  
• In the save file, which is saved and restored across a single session. To my mind, settings that are encoded here should be directly related to the simulation and the activity at hand. I think you could plausibly make a case that the Shift+F6 and Shift+F7 labels could go here, but I'm not convinced it's the correct place for saved window positions.
  
• As part of the installation profile, so players can have different graphical settings for different routes and equipment. This is a longstanding and popular feature request. In general, it's something I'd like to see too, with the caveat that I'd be worried about over-complicating the preference system. In addition, James has expressed a preference for doing away with installation profiles. Not sure how that would play with this idea.

jasonattorney, on 20 November 2020 - 10:10 PM, said:

I would actually like to have the Dispatcher Window open in the background everytime the simulation starts - perhaps this could be added to your list. It would also be cool to save the Dispatcher Window's status when you save the game and automatically reopen it if it was open when an activity was saved. And it would also be convenient if it could reopen maximized.

The funny thing is, we already have a "Dispatcher Window" checkbox. I wonder if, rather than having the player press Ctrl+9 to open the window he or she has already opted in to enable, it might be better if we just opened the Dispatcher Window automatically if it's been enabled?

[Weter]

Dispatcher's window demands more computing, so when unneeded-it's better to keep off.

[vince]

I've noticed that the Dispatcher window when opened on a second monitor impacts performance of the Sim, especially if I re-size the view or move the viewpoint in the Dispatcher window.
For this reason I'd rather have it default off.

regards,
vince

[YoRyan]

Except that once you press Ctrl+9 to open that window, you can't close it again until you close the simulator; you can't actually reclaim those resources. So then, what's the point of the secret Ctrl+9 shortcut? Why include it in addition to the checkbox?

Does anybody know if there is a performance penalty for checking "Enable Dispatcher Window," but then not pressing Ctrl+9?

[Weter]

On complex route with massive AI traffic (timetable mode / Wupper express 11) when I opened dispatcher's window, zoomed it out to see more trains, then dragged it, the game was crashed.

[vince]

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Does anybody know if there is a performance penalty for checking "Enable Dispatcher Window," but then not pressing Ctrl+9?

No, I've never noticed that.

Re crashing:
I had very similar experience as Weter on the PRR-East in activity mode with LOTS of AI traffic trains

regards,
vince