[captain_bazza]

BTW, the input and ideas are most welcome. It's my intention to stick to what I know by experience. There are thousands of stray MSTS ideas floating around out there....so if anyone has anything to relate from their own experiences with other aspects of the sim, then please feel free to mention them.

What we need are those sorts of tips and hints that really make a difference to the user-friendliness of the sim and therefore adds collective information to the MSTS knowledgebase.

Cheers Bazza

[longiron]

captain_bazza, on Sep 15 2009, 08:22 PM, said:

Hi'ya Chris, does the 'work folder' reside outside of the MSTS installation?

Cheers Bazza :o

Nope, right there nestled in with everything else. It appears MSTS is hard coded to only search for specific Folder names. It ignores anything else. :mellow:

Here's a shot of my current WIP effort and the game folder for it.

 WorkFolder.gif (56.49K)
Number of downloads: 5
chrisvw

[hiball3985]

I use the same method as Chris except I name my folder originals. It works quite well without having to rename.

[captain_bazza]

Thanks, I'll include it as an alternative idea. Just shows the different methodologys at work here. ;-)

Cheers Bazza

This post has been edited by captain_bazza: 16 September 2009 - 05:53 PM
Reason for edit:: I add stuff late evening, and it shows sometimes. ;-)

[captain_bazza]

I've been to'ing and fro'ing per PM with CB about this thread topic. Bill suggests that eventually it will be compiled into a more user-friendly layout on a dedicated page. I think that's a great idea, so meantime, this thread here - please regard it as a worksheet to which your own tips and hints can be added to compile a knowledgebase.

Cheers Bazza

[captain_bazza]

ShapeFix:

Freeware MSTS utility by "decapod" (Paul Gausden)
Current version available Shape Fixer 1.0 [19 Jul 2007]

Bazza's opinion:

Quote

"The one utility that has most dramatically pro-longed the life of MSTS."

What it does:

Quote

"If you have any models that crash or do strange things in MSTS then try putting them through this mincer.
It fixes several known problems with S files - more could be added in future versions.

For new models, this will also get you over the 11,000 poly limit in MSTS. This will allow models of any size to be built."

Paul Gausden

How to use SF:

Text coming.........

This post has been edited by captain_bazza: 16 September 2009 - 06:07 PM

[captain_bazza]

More notes to self:

Each animated object in the heirarachy can only have one pivot point applied to it.

Each animated object can only have rotation or linear animation, per frame, applied to it.

No animated object can have scale* animation applied to it. (* The object changes size or shape between frames.)

The basic animation sequence is 0 to 16 frames, with frame 0 being the neutral frame or key frame.
Example: driver wheels1 rotates through 360 degrees.
Frame 0 = 0 degrees,
frame 1 = +22.5 degrees,
frame 2 = +22.5 degrees, (total 45 degrees)
frame 3 = +22.5 degrees,
frame 4 = +22.5 degrees, (total 90 degrees)
frame 5 = +22.5 degrees,
frame 6 = +22.5 degrees, (total 135 degrees)
frame 7 = +22.5 degrees,
frame 8 = +22.5 degrees, (total 180 degrees)
frame 9 = +22.5 degrees,
frame 10 = +22.5 degrees,
frame 11 = +22.5 degrees,
frame 12 = +22.5 degrees, (total 270 degrees)
frame 13 = +22.5 degrees,
frame 14 = +22.5 degrees,
frame 15 = +22.5 degrees,
frame 16 = +22.5 degrees, (360 degrees)

Bogies and bogie wheelsets are not manually animated, they are automatically animated by the sim code.

Any animated object and any static object, can only be directly linked to one other object in the heirarachy.
Example: in a simple heirarachy for a simple wagon, with two bogies and their wheelsets.

The heirarachy of the wagon is like this:

---------MAIN (PARENT)
------------\-------------------------------------\
----------BOGIE1 ---------------------------- BOGIE2 (CHILD of PARENT MAIN etc.)
WHEELS11 / - \ WHEELS12 ---------WHEELS21/ - \ WHEELS22 (CHILD of their PARENT BOGIE.)

Explanation of the heirarachy.

BOGIE1 and BOGIE2 are CHILD (each) of PARENT MAIN.
WHEELS11 and WHEELS12 are CHILD of PARENT BOGIE1
WHEELS21 and WHEELS22 are CHILD of PARENT BOGIE2

The sim only auto animates two bogies. Those two BOGIES may have three wheelsets each.

WHEELS11 to 13 and WHEELS21 to 23, inclusive, respectively.


Cheers Bazza

This post has been edited by captain_bazza: 23 September 2009 - 12:55 AM
Reason for edit:: Expanded.

[longiron]

captain_bazza, on Sep 23 2009, 04:29 AM, said:

Bogies and bogie wheelsets are not manually animated, they are automatically animated by the sim code.

Any animated object and any static object, can only be directly linked to one other object in the heirarachy.
Example: in a simple heirarachy for a simple wagon, with two bogies and their wheelsets.

The heirarachy of the wagon is like this:

---------MAIN (PARENT)
------------\-------------------------------------\
----------BOGIE1 ---------------------------- BOGIE2 (CHILD of PARENT MAIN etc.)
WHEELS11 / - \ WHEELS12 ---------WHEELS21/ - \ WHEELS22 (CHILD of their PARENT BOGIE.)

Explanation of the heirarachy.

BOGIE1 and BOGIE2 are CHILD (each) of PARENT MAIN.
WHEELS11 and WHEELS12 are CHILD of PARENT BOGIE1
WHEELS21 and WHEELS22 are CHILD of PARENT BOGIE2

The sim only auto animates two bogies. Those two BOGIES may have three wheelsets each.

WHEELS11 to 13 and WHEELS21 to 23, inclusive, respectively.


Cheers Bazza

Bazza,

Points to note -
1. If TSM is your modelling tool you must label Wheels part numbers in ALL CAPS for the game to consistently animate them. Using UPPER and Lower Case yields inconsistent animation results - or requires manual animation like Drivers.

2. TSM significantly collapses parts on export making it impossible to select individual parts for LOD. To maintain individual parts when creating an s file export, add a (0,0,0) rotation or (0,0,0) animation key to each part. Once the model is exported, "unneeded" animations can be removed by manually editing the uncompressed s file or via PolyMaster.

3. Can have only one FreightAnim part per model.

chrisvw

[captain_bazza]

Thanks Chris, noted for inclusion.

Re FA, I'll expand on this soon, although I rarely use it the rules are fairly simple and basic:

1) Only one FreightAnimation per model. (Not required for static scenery models.)
2) FA can only have a single object in its heirarachy and must have it's own texture.
3) The original intention was to use FA for loading and unloading freight objects from a wagon, however, that has never worked in the sim as intended and it has been adapted for adding further detailing to a model. The polycount for such FA can be quite high, such as 10,000+ polys*, have been used and work okay. *Some German locomotives use this successfully.
4) FA is separate to the model it is used with. Example, freight on a wagon, coal load in a tender. It usually resides in the same folder as the other model.
5) FA cannot be animated, except where it is used to represent a coal load and if setup correctly, the load (coal) can drop down in the tender, an automatic process in a tender object.

Further information regarding the setting up of FA on a model is forthcoming.

Note to self: FA must have a fine measure of movement added........expand on this!
Note to self: Disadvantage - at some POV when viewing FA on a model, such as detailing on a locomotive, the FA will disappear very, very, briefly and return. It could be down to a bug, etc.

[CrisGer]

If the Freight Anim line is already occupied for an engine, say for oil lamps or other details you can still add more detail, say an engine crew from the Common.crew folder, by using a anim added to the tender via an invisible car. Useful to know about, i dont know all the details yet but wanted to mention it here.

Also re Utilities to know about /use: Route Riter, Con Builder, Convoi, Kosmos and Sky Conductor come to mind.