[Weter]

Just as gpz or Carlo use to do...

[Genma Saotome]

Jack@Elvas, on 05 December 2023 - 11:56 AM, said:

... there's no easy, out of the box way to show a new user what Openrails can do.

Jack, I can help WRT rolling stock. PM or Discord?

[Weter]

Hi, Brandon.
My thought as an answer to:

Quote

When it comes to showing others what Open Rails is capable of Jack is right in the fact there really is no easy way to show new users what Open Rails can do. There is no official YouTube Page and there really seems to not be much interest in promoting Open Rails in the short and long term. Yes there is a website but not many people know about it or even how to install Open Rails.

Why not, for some of us to participate in ORTS promotion and it's progress informing?
Really, ORMT can't do everything perfect.
Informing is easier, but it demands care, constant attention and creativity and dedicating of plenty of time!.
Maintaining code, coordination of development and administrative work is more sophisticated and critical - so it has sense to leave that to ORMT, prividing help to them in promotion, as a relief.
I see, You have very exciting YT channel to show highlights of 261's action.
Didn't You thought to extend things, sharing Your modeling progress, content testing, Mega route's building?
To highlight ORTS acievements, looking important for You?
You channel's auditory might not be aware about ORTS existence, but maybe some of 261 fans would like to get and try it's virtual model, then - they would tell their friends...

[ATSF3751]

Yes I have thought of that very concept and I do share some of my stuff on my personal Facebook page my modeling progress along with photos and progress on my Mega Route. As for a YouTube Channel I think it would be best to have someone start an official YouTube Channel just for Open Rails that showcases the capabilities of Open Rails as a whole, links to other Open Rails videos from others on YouTube and see if we can't get a following that way! Just a thought I have had for quite some time and we can upload new videos as new features come to light or the new stable version becomes available!

Yes I do have quite a big following on my own YouTube Channel but it is mainly for my real railroad videos that I make along with Milwaukee Road 261 highlights over the years as I have been with the group for a number of years!

I feel Open Rails would bennifit better if it had its own separate OFFICIAL YouTube Channel instead of off of someone's personal YouTube Channel.

Brandon

[Jack@Elvas]

Genma Saotome, on 05 December 2023 - 04:06 PM, said:

Jack, I can help WRT rolling stock. PM or Discord?

Thanks!

That'd be great!

- Jack

[Jack@Elvas]

ATSF3751, on 05 December 2023 - 04:53 PM, said:

I feel Open Rails would benefit better if it had its own separate OFFICIAL YouTube Channel instead of off of someone's personal YouTube Channel.

Brandon

There's pros and cons to both.
Certainly if a popular train simmer were to post openrails content on their youtube channel, it would lend credibility to openrails and expose it to a wider audience.
That said, an official channel would be a great place for tutorials, installation videos, etc... One nice thing about a youtube channel is that in the about page, you can reference other channels, which could also help tie official/user content together.

[eric from trainsim]

ATSF3751, on 03 December 2023 - 12:10 PM, said:

What I would like to see from the coding side of things is working together to get the bugs worked out before going on to the next project or update. The way I see it and it has already been mentioned but the coders have to work together to get things done and be more pro active! Why do we have more then one coder working on the same coding? It would be much more productive to make a list on what others are going to work on and when?

Well.... that's not how modern methodology (e.g. variants of Agile) works.

Five resources are far better off tackling different issues... a very dated adage we used to relate this to executives was "putting nine women in a room to build a baby in a month"...

Under Agile, you get several resources working in short sprints to get "something" out and working.

In some frameworks, it's a success if you have 80% of what you wanted.

Something else that works against your "why can't they coordinate"... you're dealing with volunteers. They don't have a predictable work pattern. We each have different productivity curves. Some people can work 20-30 minutes a day every day and a sprint done in two weeks. Others do six-eight hours in a single stretch and accomplish an entire sprint in one day.

I do my best coding when I'm watching a football game and my team is losing. I can't predict that (or my overall productivity) from week to week or game to game.

All that said to try and illustrate why you can't just apply a commercial approach to a volunteer project... we get the best out of our people when we let them work the way they work best.

[Genma Saotome]

eolesen, on 06 December 2023 - 09:28 AM, said:

Something else that works against your "why can't they coordinate"... you're dealing with volunteers. They don't have a predictable work pattern.

Eric's is perhaps the most important thought in this thread.

If a volunteer thinks his 3 of clubs takes the poker pot, it does... or he may just find something else to do. It might not be fair but it is the reality.

[mrmosky]

Jack@Elvas, on 04 December 2023 - 10:33 AM, said:

I'd make the argument that we really do not have 3D cabs in open rails!

What I mean here is, there's no download people can grab that "Just works"

TrainSimulations.net are the closest to a professional commercial route designed for Open Rails, but those don't have 3D cabs.

It would be a great step forward for OpenRails if a feature it already had was usable by people trying out the sim for the first time.

I recently uploaded a locomotive with a 3d cab to this website and Trainsim.com, and TrainSim Safe house. I always try to upload all the files needed to run the locomotive - including a consist.


So there is one example. You need to update yourself.


Loads of people have downloaded it, but very very few comments. That's OK... I understand. But is it surprising that more content is not produced when little encouragement is given, and then when it's very existence is denied??

Geoff

[cjakeman]

Genma Saotome, on 05 December 2023 - 04:00 PM, said:

Hopefully a constructive suggestion: Perhaps with each project pull the responsible person could drop a note into either the News forum or the Developing Features forum and simply comment what they're working on next. No great explanations required.

A good idea, and it's already part of the guidelines.

We recommend that a forum thread is created before work starts and require it before a new feature submission is approved.