[Metro4001]

I've made a few adjustments using Shape File Mgr. I realized the issue is the viewing distance as I have it set in OR. I've doubled the viewing distance from 2000 to 4000 so LODs that were fine for MSTS stand out in OR. I have a decision to make; reduce my viewing distance or change the LODs of thousands of cars and locomotives.

[roeter]

Metro4001, on 24 January 2014 - 02:57 PM, said:

I've made a few adjustments using Shape File Mgr. I realized the issue is the viewing distance as I have it set in OR. I've doubled the viewing distance from 2000 to 4000 so LODs that were fine for MSTS stand out in OR. I have a decision to make; reduce my viewing distance or change the LODs of thousands of cars and locomotives.

See post above - you don't have to change any file at all!

Regards,
Rob Roeterdink

[Metro4001]

Resetting the viewing distance is no bueno. Here's a photo of what I'm dealing with. This is jarring to me.

http://i1060.photobucket.com/albums/t446/Metro4050/Train%20Shots/662f719e-2d9e-43bf-82b3-e7fb5d386c1c_zps92ca7308.png

[Metro4001]

roeter, on 24 January 2014 - 03:05 PM, said:

See post above - you don't have to change any file at all!

Regards,
Rob Roeterdink

I have set highest LODs to maximum ticked on. It doesn't make a difference for me.

This is 6000m viewing distance with highest LODs ticked on.

http://i1060.photobucket.com/albums/t446/Metro4050/Train%20Shots/OpenRails2014-01-2403-22-01_zps811af54a.png
http://i1060.photobucket.com/albums/t446/Metro4050/Train%20Shots/OpenRails2014-01-2403-22-20_zpse3e64478.png

Notice the floating tanks in the background.

[Genma Saotome]

Yeah... old MSTS will do it to ya.

For a 1920x1200 (or 1080) resolution screen you can use as a reasonable estimate that 1 inch of width will need less than 2 pixels at 125m distance... 4 inches at 500m, etc, etc.

Waaaay back when MSTS was new and we were using 1024xwhatever-it-was resolution that would have been double the width at the same distance... 1 inch at 250m And of course on top of that MSTS wasn't using the GPU for much of anything and so really big stuff disappeared at fairly short distances.

Other than than editing the shape files there isn't much of anything you can do right now. However, for some years now I've been agitating for Open Rails to expand the use of the .sd files -- I think of them as Shape Description files -- and what I've been proposing is to both expand viewing features (things like setting the time of day for night textures to turn on and off) as well as over-rides of what is in the .s file (mostly the substitution of texture names). It seems perfectly reasonable to me to provide for the substitution of LOD values as well. Taking into account the named sub-objects would make it all a bit more verbose than might otherwise be the case but I'm pretty sure the same principle of "if is this use that instead" would apply.

Making use of a .sd file for a car could also provide for alternative textures -- snow on the roof for instance. I'll bet the Narrow Gauge folks would like that.

[Metro4001]

This is the unfortunate result of high poly models being inserted into a low end program. The trade off had to be somewhere and here it is. Awesome models tarnished by outdated software. But at least I can run whole trains of awesome models thanks to OR. So in hindsight this is a pretty good problem to have and one I'm sure will solved in due time.

[markus_GE]

Well, your PC is better than mine, and I´m fine with what I get. But now that you attached the screenshot, I finally fully understood what you meant: It´s not that objects pop up, but that they aren´t rendered as detailed as would be possible, due to lod setups...

This problem I also have noticed on my compter, but I didn´t care too much about it. For me the other advantages of OpR over MSTS simply more than weigh this out :)

Cheers, Markus

[James Ross]

In X1977 I have added a new LOD control option (and renamed the existing one):

• Always use highest detail objects (New) This one forces Open Rails to always select the highest detail LOD model.
  
• Extend object maximum viewing distance to horizon This is the existing option to extend all objects as far into the distance as possible.

All four combinations of these two settings do different things. Selecting both will put the most load on your system (and OR) but give you the best visual experience. I would recommend this for screenshots and videos, as it avoids all pop-in effects.

[Genma Saotome]

James Ross, on 31 January 2014 - 04:55 PM, said:

Always use highest detail objects (New) This one forces Open Rails to always select the highest detail LOD model.

IOW, OR will treat the object as-if there were no LOD distances set, right?

Yeah, for screenshots, that could be handy.

[Metro4001]

James Ross, on 31 January 2014 - 04:55 PM, said:

In X1977 I have added a new LOD control option (and renamed the existing one):

• Always use highest detail objects (New) This one forces Open Rails to always select the highest detail LOD model.
  
• Extend object maximum viewing distance to horizon This is the existing option to extend all objects as far into the distance as possible.

All four combinations of these two settings do different things. Selecting both will put the most load on your system (and OR) but give you the best visual experience. I would recommend this for screenshots and videos, as it avoids all pop-in effects.

Thank you James. Oddly enough I found one of the reasons I was having these LOD issues was because of how low I set the FOV settings to get the MSTS style CAM 4 view. Adjusting the settings for a wider shot removed some of the issues.

But this update is greatly appreciated.