[Lindsayts]

If your used to tinkering with any of the files in MSTS there will be little problem with the hi--res views. The killer though being the images used. There are a number of points to consider, first being the aspect ratio. OR will scale all cabviews to the aspect ratio of the monitor used so if one want no distortion you have to do the background image to suit the monitor's concerned. This creates a small issue these days as there are two aspect ratios to consider, 1 to 1.77 (1920x1080) and 1 to 1.6 so called business class monitors (1920x1200, 2560x1600). I always use the latter monitors as these have more work room and also are more suited to the quite vertical arrangement found in most cabs.
Second point is the background image, this needs to be quite a good detailed image. Photos of this quality being quite difficult to acheive in most cabs, steam locos being much better than almost anything else due to a bit more room. I usually take photos from the drivers view (drivers usual head position, the firemans view (if a steamer) and individual photos of all gauges. The better the photos the easier the cabview is. I have spent very many hours on most of my cabviews correcting various issues in the back ground images. In all my views the gauge faces have been replaced in the background image with the detailed photos mentioned in order to mainatain maximum readabilty.

All image editing I have done is in gimp at 2560 x 1600 on completion this is scaled down to 2048x1280 (2048x1152 if using the 1.7778 monitors) and saved as a tga then converted to ace file format using the aceit version of tgatools 2a.

Currently the only hi-res animations OR (V0.7) can do is the gauge needles. I usualy do these at 1.5 to 2 times the resolution these would be in if the cabview was displayed at 2560x1600. This usually means in image around 20 x150 pixels in size, this size will well do justice to any fancy needle shape. The needle MUST be centred in the image. An idea of how this needs to be specified in the cab view file follows.
Below is the speed recorder definition in the bluebirds hi res cabview file

Dial (
Type ( SPEEDOMETER DIAL )
Position ( 534 57 39 58 )
Graphic ( Speed_recorder_needle_2.01.ace )
Style ( NEEDLE )
ScaleRange ( 0 140 )
ScalePos ( 243 115 )
Units ( KM_PER_HOUR )
Pivot ( 137 )
DirIncrease ( 0 )

The two lines to note are the Position and The pivot, the bluebird uses a Hasler-Bern speed recorder. The ace file of the needle is 189x39 pixels in size, the distance from the top of the image to the pivot point of the needle is 137 pixels, this being the value in the Pivot parameter. The Position numbers in this case are (534 57 39 58) the first two are the X and y position of the top left corner of the UNSCALED image in the cabview in cabview units. The cabview units being X 0 to 639 and Y 0 to 479, note these are the units used regardless of the cabviews aspect ratio. The third parameter is the width of the UNSCALED needle ace file. The final parameter is the "killer" this controls how much the ace file of the needle is scaled. the number represents the aprox length in cabview units of the scaled needle in the displayed cabview. One can fine tune the length of the needle to match the gauges scale ring by altering this number.

I use OR as a cabview viewer, chose a route that loads quickly and use an explore activity where the rolling stock concerend is sitting on a straight piece of track, this is so one (this writer any way) can spot if the cabview is not looking in the correct direction. The method of changing the cabview file being have a look at the gauges exit from the activity (but not the train sim) edit the file starts the train sim etc. One usual has to drive the vehicle to see if the needles are all in there correct places, rotate around the centre and point to the correct numbers. Trial and error procedure but one soon gets used to this (well I did any way).

A minor issue is the the cabview position units being only 640 and 480 respectively do not have a fine enough resolution and one finds its almost impossible to get the gauge needle correctly in the centre of the gauges.

Any question's wellcome.......

This writer considers the results are well worth the effort in building these hi res cabviews, one of OR's REALLY good improvements.

Lindsay

[Lindsayts]

Blast, The thread title was supposed to be "A method for hi-res cabviews in OR" . Can this be corrected please.

Lindsay

[Lindsayts]

The explanation is not as clear as I like it, but there is only a limited amount of time in this universe. If any point is not clear do not hesitate to ask.

Lindsay