Free camera enhancement proposal Let's discuss an addition of 8 camera functionality
#11
Posted 21 September 2020 - 08:34 AM
Try to press left Shift with PguUp.
By the way, right Alt rotates camera more smooth, than left.
#12
Posted 21 September 2020 - 09:11 AM
I do think the free camera could move a bit faster. Doing 60 it is difficult to get ahead of a train to verify that crossing signals are set up properly
#13
Posted 21 September 2020 - 01:59 PM
It would be nice to be able to lock the elevation to the terrain also.
Steve
#14
Posted 21 September 2020 - 02:26 PM
That said, in the grand scheme of things hasn't enough already been done for those who run trains? You know, like 99.9% of everything in this program. How about us content creators and route builders getting something for a change? Ya all got nothing w/o routes and content and almost nothing is what's been given back by this program.
#15
Posted 21 September 2020 - 04:33 PM
#16
Posted 21 September 2020 - 06:50 PM
xavivilla, on 08 August 2020 - 03:32 AM, said:
I also think that there are more interesting things to develop than what is proposed here.
I wouldn't be for changing the views. But I will say that it's nice that someone thought of us Left Handed folks for a change. :rotfl:
#17
Posted 22 September 2020 - 04:56 AM
Genma Saotome, on 21 September 2020 - 02:26 PM, said:
So, Dave, can you nominate an improvement for the benefit of content creators which is short and sweet?
Low-hanging fruit, of course, but starting us on the road to bigger things.
#18
Posted 22 September 2020 - 10:20 AM
cjakeman, on 22 September 2020 - 04:56 AM, said:
Low-hanging fruit, of course, but starting us on the road to bigger things.
Well... I had a spiffy answer typed and was moments away from hitting post when my hand slipped on the mouse and somehow the browser window closed. <sigh> So lemme see if I can reconstruct it....
Biggest band would probably be enhancing the .s file, even if that meant hand editing a few lines. What I have in mind is things like a texture w/ bumpmaps. Once upon a time glossmaps were hand edited too but I've no idea if OR processed those. I'm sure other model makers have ideas here. For myself, I'd really like to see something akin to what happens w/ the trasnform a microtex file does to it's terrtex. Not necessarily the same many to one scale but more to the idea of two faces occupying the same space with the texture of one of affecting the texture of the other.
I once laid out some ideas for reworking the relationship between a mesh file, it's default textures, and n number of game objects that can substitute both LOD values and texture names.
Accepting that the .sd file is the place to put game controls for things that cannot be set in the 3d modeling tool. The lowest hanging fruit is things like time of day to turn on and off night lighting, an old suggestion. That should be recorded in the world file by the editor but that isn't going to happen any time soon, if ever, and so some alternative is needed to get it to the software. An .inc file? Checking the .sd itself for such instructions? I dunno. Cones of light that are not on locomotives. There specifications need to go somewhere, why not the .sd? Nesting models: The model placed in the world file has an .sd that specifies where n other models sit relative to each other. The subordinate models retain their LOD's. The parent model could be those faces that share a texture. Sort of a modified named parts idea for static models. This probably could also fix some long standing problems with complex locomotives.
By the numbers, there are not many content producers left. It may be their ship has sailed and it doesn't matter anymore. The .s file is common to both rolling stock and static model creators so that should be the priority (unless that's not low hanging fruit).
#19
Posted 22 September 2020 - 11:58 AM
Genma Saotome, on 22 September 2020 - 10:20 AM, said:
The thing is, it's not low-hanging fruit. You can't add new features to the .S format without breaking everyone's tooling - the Gmax and Blender exporters, Shape File Viewer, Train Sim Modeler, TSRE. So a better course of action would be to switch to a more contemporary and more interoperable format with the features we want. But that means touching the graphics code, which again, can't happen until Monogame is merged.
#20
Posted 22 September 2020 - 12:16 PM
YoRyan, on 22 September 2020 - 11:58 AM, said:
Sure you can. It's already been done w/ glossmaps. You pull you .s file into a text editor and start hacking. You keep an unhacked version in case you need to go back into the 3dmodeling software. Of course it would be better if everything neat could all be done in 3dmodelling software and I expect the modern / really expensive packages can do that. But there is still an ocean basin filled with old .s files that could be hacked as well as those who know those old tools.
I respect what one can do w/ Blender but to be frank, it is beyond my capacity to learn and obsolete Sketchup is a near perfect match to the models I make (99% static). Others remain experts in TSM, etc. etc. and so unless it is the programs objective to drive most of the remaining content creators away new .s files will continue to be produced for a long time yet.