[Fablok]

Thewre is again problem with snow on higher speeds. Settings 100/500/3000

http://wstaw.org/m/2015/10/06/Nowy_obraz_mapy_bitowej.jpg

http://wstaw.org/m/2015/10/06/Nowy_obraz_mapy_bitowej2.jpg

[SP 0-6-0]

Some thoughts and feedback,

I am not sure how much of the original MSTS weather we can disect to try and replicate the Kuju/MS coding for rain, snow, clouds, stars, sky, etc?

I can add that maybe some research into how OpenBVE does weather and rain might be warranted. I do like the rain drops hitting the wind screen in the cab and the linking of sounds of wind to the weather mode selected. https://www.youtube....h?v=CRQtycIy-2I https://www.youtube....h?v=sbbGDqkD_JI

OpenBVE animated swaying trees and conductor cables. Notice the lights go out when the panto is lowered. Very cool. https://www.youtube....h?v=4dzh8df0suo

Interesting lighting effects towards the end of the video from windows, signals, catenary. https://www.youtube....h?v=QxgfhGZHznU

Swaying rocking motion. https://www.youtube....h?v=CRQtycIy-2I Make sure to adjust the resolution when watching this video to 480P.

OpenBVE founder has since walked away from this program and currently OpenBVE has no direction to keep it in development so work has stagnated.

Maybe ORTS could use much of the code of OpenBVE giving the best of both worlds.

With TS 2015 and 2016 being stiff competition to ORTS, I would love to see more included from other programs like OpenBVE and the ability to use 2048 textures for terrain or even 4096 tectures.


Regarding XNA and Directx9,

I can understand and appreciate the decision not to go full bore into using all of the abilities present in XNA and Directx9. However, I feel that a good bit more could be done in ORTS if DirectX9 was used to the fullest extent possible and was a minimum requirement for ORTS to function.

I am actually disapointed that ORTS is not going full bore into DirectX9 and fully using all that DirectX9 has to offer.

Some very nice work has been done using DirectX9 to the fullest extent in other platforms. Some car and first person shooter type games.

Even MSTS V1 required at minimum DirectX7 to be installed. Some of DirectX9 did improve the appreance of textures in MSTS V1.

I have posted previously in my ORTS Linux version, A list of open source programs that could be used in place of some microsoft XNA and DirectX elements. Maybe someone would like to have a look at the list so I am again posting those links here.

Here is the list of some of the open source projects that are available in case anyone wants to have a look.

http://www.mesa3d.org/intro.html

http://www.mono-project.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAL

http://sourceforge.n...ojects/opendx2/

SharpDX- Open source .Net game engine. http://sharpdx.org/

A couple of other open source game engines.

http://www.ogre3d.org/

http://www.garagegam...ducts/torque-3d

http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/docu/

Tao Framework http://sourceforge.n...s/taoframework/


For MSTS Weather,

Lets step back and remember that the rain in MSTS looked like junk. It was not until the likes of Sky Conductor 2 came along that the ability to adjust certain weather perimeters came about. Later on we had Kosmos Evironment program to play with.

I still use the basic Sky Conductor 2 program and it is still possible to download it at www.trainsim.com for those who would like to examine the ace files for hints on doing rain, snow, etc.

Kosmos is also still available also at www.trainsim.com.

There have been available replacement files for MSTS to make the snow finer in an attempt to fix the blotchy MSTS snow effects. These are also available at www.trainsim.com.

Robert

[disc]

 SP 0-6-0, on 06 October 2015 - 08:40 PM, said:

I can add that maybe some research into how OpenBVE does weather and rain might be warranted. I do like the rain drops hitting the wind screen in the cab and the linking of sounds of wind to the weather mode selected. https://www.youtube....h?v=CRQtycIy-2I https://www.youtube....h?v=sbbGDqkD_JI

Sounds shouldn't be hard, wind screen raindrops also not seem to be hard, even Dovetail games aka RSC could do it :D Just a new shader is needed for windscreens, however that needs the modification of the .s files, and the breaks the MSTS compatibility.

 SP 0-6-0, on 06 October 2015 - 08:40 PM, said:

OpenBVE animated swaying trees and conductor cables. Notice the lights go out when the panto is lowered. Very cool. https://www.youtube....h?v=4dzh8df0suo

that seems to be a simple static animation, shouldn't be hard to implement in OR, but the current content does not have such animations.

 SP 0-6-0, on 06 October 2015 - 08:40 PM, said:

Interesting lighting effects towards the end of the video from windows, signals, catenary. https://www.youtube....h?v=QxgfhGZHznU

Pantographs sparking can be done now, the question is how it should be done. Procedural, or a new viewer facing polygon should be added to current .s files.

 SP 0-6-0, on 06 October 2015 - 08:40 PM, said:

Swaying rocking motion. https://www.youtube....h?v=CRQtycIy-2I Make sure to adjust the resolution when watching this video to 480P.

It's in OR currently.

 SP 0-6-0, on 06 October 2015 - 08:40 PM, said:

With TS 2015 and 2016 being stiff competition to ORTS

i don't think so. TS is full of untouched bugs, it's arcadeish, ai dispatcher is a junk, and Dovetail games do nothing except releasing DLC, so that game don't have any future except static eyecandy. In TS 2016 the only change was a new menu :D

 SP 0-6-0, on 06 October 2015 - 08:40 PM, said:

SharpDX- Open source .Net game engine. http://sharpdx.org/

Wow sharpdx has D3D12 support already. (D3D12 would eliminate the biggest problem of OR, the high draw call count, which would unleash the game to the limits of the GPUs)

OR is using OpenAL already.

[copperpen]

@Howky
Try your precipitation box with 100,1500,1500. I think the box is world oriented, not player oriented, so when you see that area with no snow you are close to the edge of the box. with it at default width.

[SP 0-6-0]

disc, Thanks for the feedback.

I can agree TS2015 is mostly eyecandy. When I watched this video and saw even spinning turbine blades in the exhaust I knew they must be insane. That is a waste of computer power for sure. https://www.youtube....h?v=OCl1i7dYBzE Even the lens fare and the animated window crank and doors are very cool eyecandy. But, Then is that not what the majority of the public is looking for to begin with?

Some eyecandy is not a bad thing. The flames off the turbine unit exhaust is pretty cool and not too far off the mark with turbine locomotives. Can ORTS to anything of the sort? I am not sure.

How does the shine effect work in ORTS? Is there any particular improvements over the way MSTS handled this function?

I believe Paul Gausden would be the authority on this subject. Paul first figured out how to make the function work correctly. Paul even played with the unreleased first MSTS 2 shaders. http://msts.steam4me...supershine.html

I admit I do not have a machine that can run ORTS at present. I am asking a heck of alot of questions to help fill in all the blanks since I cannot actually take part in running ORTS just yet.

One of the orignal functions of the Kuju Rail Simulator was the walking passengers on the station platforms and moving cows and other animals. I would love to know exactly how this function worked in Rail Simulator and whether or not ORTS will eventually have anything of the sort?

I still find working turntables to be a bit hard to believe as being impossible? Certainly someone out there knows how RS and RW did working turntables and could draw up a blue print for working turntables.

Besides moving people on station platforms and working turntables I would like to see some of the features of Run8 eventually work into ORTS. Particularly the working hump yard operations. https://www.youtube....h?v=ENFUbg3iq9k Specifically the data handling and such as seen in the video.

Edit, Seems ORTS can already do humpyard operations. But the cars seem to come off the hump a bit too fast? https://www.youtube....h?v=pPnCrEONu6c So I guess what we really need to figure out is simulated car retarders on the track to slow the cars?

P.S. Sorry for getting so off topic.

Back to weather related concernes. Could someone put up a video showing ORTS with a lightning storm? And can sound be sync'ed to the flashes of lightning?

A neat idea for a hazard object for a route could be random generated tornado like a certain Ntrack module featured. Grrr, Carry Underwood song stuck in my head again. (Blown Away)

Robert

[disc]

New material effects are possible, but with .s format it's pointless, new 3d format is need.
Walking passengers are just animations it depends on content developers. MSTS had walking passengers too on some routes.

So everything is possible, the question is who will program/animate/model it.