[gpz]

I believe fixed the yesterday's not starting TrackViewer issue. The OpenAL32.dll was unable to load, and I had to apply the same workaround that was done in RunActivity. (Needed because the whole RunActivity is pulled in as a sub-window.)

[cjakeman]

Here are some notes from the last session of the ORMT.

glTF Graphics
The glTF graphics has been stalled over animations, which are significantly different. We want to get this right and avoid the need for breaking changes to the animation system later which would, of course, leave new content in an orphaned state. It's a large PR (4,000 lines of code) so I'm grateful to James Ross for undertaking to review this.

v1.6
It's our aim to have a new release of the Stable Version twice a year. Of course, this includes nothing that isn't already in the Testing Version, but it is a sign to users that Open Rails continues to improve. Currently we are waiting for the Notifications system to become available. The link gives more details, but it will allow us to notify all users of Open Rails of changes. One change will be the reporting back of system data, so that we can know, for example, how many users are still on Windows v7.1. Collection will be anonymous and optional, but very helpful.

We'll also need a video to publicise the changes as we did for v1.5. Anyone willing to take that on?


The next session will be on Saturday 16th Dec.

[superheatedsteam]

Would it be possible to update us on the current status of glTF adoption into the stable version of OR.

Cheers,

Marek.

[Genma Saotome]

cjakeman, on 09 December 2023 - 08:13 AM, said:

v1.6
Currently we are waiting for the Notifications system to become available. The link gives more details, but it will allow us to notify all users of Open Rails of changes. One change will be the reporting back of system data, so that we can know, for example, how many users are still on Windows v7.1. Collection will be anonymous and optional, but very helpful.

Are we to understand this is not yet found in the unstable version? Or is it there and someone is squeezing the bugs out?

I think it's an excellent idea and I am curious to see what sort of metrics you can produce.

[cjakeman]

Genma Saotome, on 22 December 2023 - 11:51 PM, said:

Are we to understand this is not yet found in the unstable version? Or is it there and someone is squeezing the bugs out?

I think it's an excellent idea and I am curious to see what sort of metrics you can produce.

The Unstable Version is currently recording system data in the log file only and James recently updated the data that was collected. You can see a comparison "before" and "after" here.

The log file is now recording details of the graphics (ready for glTF graphics) and the languages installed. The project to report data back to a server is not yet included in the Unstable and the project to display notifications is submitted but not doing anything useful yet.

In theory, we could collect data on the option settings that users prefer and the way that they use Open Rails. As we've mentioned before, collection will be anonymous, optional and not hidden in any way.

[Genma Saotome]

cjakeman, on 23 December 2023 - 04:13 AM, said:

The Unstable Version is currently recording system data in the log file only and James recently updated the data that was collected. You can see a comparison "before" and "after" here.

So to date it's all about the PC. Makes sense. You might want to consider the elapsed time consumed by the game program -- a normal distribution of the data vwould be interesting. Options of course would be informative too.

[cjakeman]

superheatedsteam, on 22 December 2023 - 09:48 PM, said:

Would it be possible to update us on the current status of glTF adoption into the stable version of OR.

James is working on checking it, so it can be included in the Testing Version.

I don't expect it to be included in Stable Version 1.6 but in v1.7. The reason that it might not be in v1.6 is that glTF requires some features of DirectX 10 and this is not available in Windows 7.1.

When users upgrade to v1.6, they should receive a warning that the next stable version will not be compatible with Windows 7.1

[superheatedsteam]

Thanks for the update Chris, much appreciated.

Cheers,

Marek.

[Weter]

Quote

they should receive a warning that the next stable version will not be compatible with Windows 7.1

How sad to read!

Quote

I don't expect it to be included in Stable Version 1.6 but in v1.7. The reason that it might not be in v1.6 is that glTF requires some features of DirectX 10 and this is not available in Windows 7.1.

And animation elements are still have no conventional names now - so animation is yet turned off.

[cjakeman]

Weter, on 23 December 2023 - 08:47 PM, said:

How sad to read!

We're hoping that our data collection (with v1.6) will tell us how many active users will be affected.

What alternative would you suggest to dropping Windows 7.1?