[simon1234]

Well, I can't add that much to the lists my colleges already mentioned, but I would like to add some things:
- Using different Microtex per tile.
- Easy Dem import
- Possibility to use imagery from Google Earth and edit this in a paint program.
- An auto catenary system, with different styles/heights of catenary.
- Easy wiring of telephone poles.
- Jovet's gantry proposal.
- 'Follow this track': select a distance of track and add objects (bridge pieces, platforms, trestles) lined parallel with x meters spacing under/ along the track.
- 'Swipe-a-river' a brush to swipe the landscape, to lower or higher it (subtract x meters from the current height)
- higher terrain resolution for sharper and more precise cuttings and embankments (set local)
- Sprinkle weeds, grass and other vegetation.
- Simple gradients (like Eldorado said).
- I like how Railworks places it's rails, kinda dynamic track, transition curves, with curve radii in degree and/or degree of curvature
- And like Dave said: no Goode homolosine projection. I hate it when streets are not perpendicular on my track when they should be.
That is all I can think of for now.

Regards,

Simon

[Genma Saotome]

WRT wiring of telephone / power poles, what I do in MSTS is temporarily set up a pole shape and wire shape in the tsection file and then I can place a straight line of pole-wire-pole-wire-pole etc. as-if they were tracks. The wire snaps to poles and then I can change it's pitch to match the adjacent pitch of track or streets... then place the next pole which snaps to the wire. Repeat as wanted. Later on use Route-Riter to convert these "tracks" to ordinary static objects.

There was mention of a few Mosaic features -- unique microtex files per patch was one thing I recall seeing. I dunno how many have used Mosaic 2.0 but there are a couple of undeveloped ideas there that John didn't implement which clearly showed he was thinking of making Mosaic a full track and road editor as well as for doing tertex art. There's something about that that has appeal... and concern too but two things I really do like about Mosaic that I'd like to see in an OR world editor is

• being able to switch into a view-the-route-as-a-map mode.
  
• ability to adjust the UV locations, including setting them for no wrap-around.

[Lindsayts]

The first sugestion is whatever we do we keep the development team happy.......................

:)

Now its NEVER going to be easy to do a route, this being a fact of life, a decent editor will HELP the process of creating a route no end though.

A lot of good susgestions already, that saved abit of thinking..........

I will second (or third) a sugestion already put up, the abilty to operate the editor both with a mouse and/or the keyboard. I personally REALLY get along well with using the mouse as a pointing device and the keyboard to select the action, using the other hand.

Some way to produce proper vertical curves for track over the top of hills and the bottom of gradients.

This next one is an obvious item, much more decent automation, for instance an offset tool for positioning objects relative to the track at the proper distance, a linear tool for fences, power lines etc. An random area tool for trees, say allowing selecting of a "type" of group of trees, this tool generating the actual positions of the items, not handing the randomness to the train sim.

When positioning items allow for "collision" detection with the terrain so when say one is postioning items such as trees or fences etc one does NOT have to worry about the height.

Some way to group objects into some kind of hierachy to make selecting them easier, possibly with a way to assign "hot keys" to the more common items. So one can position common items by a point with the mouse and hit a key.

One last susgestion although a lot of people do not like this as it does not always make sense when one first uses the system, when one gets use to it though it greatly helps with the long term ease of use (have a look at the endless arguments over vim/vi verses other editors). Use "moded" hot keys, that is the hot key assignment varies in a fixed way to what one is doing. For instance when one is positioning items as in the previous paragraph, the hot key assignment is purely for selecting items.

[Lindsayts]

Another item has come to mind, though you appear to be already thinking this way........

An abilty to select and modeling single terrain squares in higher detail, and probably saving them as a separate object, the process though being transparent.

This appears to be one of the few ways to be able to increase the terrain detail WITHOUT substantialy reducing the viewing distance and massively increasing procssing power.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, hope people do not mind but a bit of a warning on increased detail, remember the processor and GPU have to in the end draw all this stuff and there is a definite LIMIT on how much it can do. An order of magnitude over what is currently been acheived in some of the routes and models is almost certainly not possible in a single system and run a large number of trains.

[Genma Saotome]

Any interest in being able to export/import some of the terrain polys into a CAD tool for both both vertex editing and texturing? The outside boundary would have to be un-editable so the mesh could fit in place on return to the route... but it would allow terrain to be just another object mesh, just like any other static object you might make.

[landnrailroader]

I firmly believe that the real weak link in the MSTS editor is it's querky nature, lack of
meaningful error statements, and difficulty in rebuilding a database, impossibility if there
are track related objects in place. I have used RW-2 briefly and while I don't plan to
pursue it further, it appears to have a rock solid editor. Not a really powerful editor
but I tried a lot of things that I knew would kill RE and the RW editor did not flinch.
So robust, relatively error free is my preference. If it is necessary to rebuild the
track/roads database and there is a problem, the error message should be as explicit as
possible in telling you what the problem is, and suggesting a fix or two.

lastly, if the proposed editor can import existing routes, I do not care if they are not
backward compatible with MSTS. From what I have seen OR is a vast improvement.

J. H. Sullivan, P.E. (retired)
(aka landnrailroader)

[simon1234]

- Google Earth (or something like that) overlay in the RGE: The railways drawn in red in the current RGE are way off reality: I often find myself adding and deleting tiles while working in the Route Editor.
- Adding items to your route without having to make an addition in the route.ref file.

Simon

[Genma Saotome]

Eldorado.Railroad, on 14 June 2012 - 08:05 PM, said:

... have the OR Editor "accept" basic formats like .jpg, .bmp, ,tga, etc.

It has been discussed, usually regarding .dds formats, but any to all are possible.

I suspect the reason for many game-specific image formats is to have some form of copy protection for the art. Ditto for the mesh. To whatever degree that is true is to describe whatever degree OR should also make provision to do. But IMO open formats should also be allowed too.

[Lindsayts]

Abilty to track the distance from a particular reference point on the railway so items can be placed at the correct distance, eg distance markers. This is in fact how full size railways are laid out. Interestingly in a recent project here in Vic Australia every object except the platforms the reference was to the centre line of the track,for the platforms it was the rail closest to the platform, the distance being specified to within 1 cm, the offset to 1 mm. The distance and offset being writen in black paint on a white background on anything convient, if nothing was avialible short star pickets or wooden stake were used.