What would you like to see in Version 1.0 ?

[dcarleton]

Regarding editors - The OR team has made it obvious that they are not going there at the present time. But wouldn't it be nice if as an interim measure the OR team could introduce a lightweight editor just for tweaking object locations? Even simple object placements are so tedious in MSTS! With an intuitive object placement editor we could so improve the appearance of so many routes.

[MSTS lifer]

Several things.

1. Route editor that's one heck of a lot better!!!

2. Consist Editor with a photo pic of your car/engine and a simple search engine so one can just type in either the folder the rolling stock is in, or the wag file name of the car/engine to call up the car.

3. A BETTER ACTIVITY EDITOR!!! Also the option of train starting and ending speed.

4. If at all possible, improved frame rates rates for ANY computer or graphics card used. Not all of us have funds to get a high end computer, or a high end graphics card.

5. More camera view options. I would like the helicopter/Google Earth view like I have with my current MSTS Cam Dat.

[EricF]

Route and activity editors are currently outside the scope of development for 1.0 according to the OR website. They could be a consideration for future development, though. The MSTS editors will likely do until OR's MSTS compatibility is declared complete. Then, as more new OR-specific features are realized, new tools will become more of a focus.

Yard Master is heading toward the sort of consist editor you mention already. There's also Skyline's payware Activity Master. Both offer ways to index your equipment.

Overall, OR offers very good frame rates for a wide range of hardware. It's much better at using modern GPUs, so you may need to fiddle with your video driver settings more than you would in MSTS to get results you like. It's kind of a trade-off. There does seem to be some continued development on OR that affects the frame rates, but at some point it will be solidified for a 1.0 version.

As for cameras, I'm getting the impression that there's no way to satisfy everyone. Outside of tweaking overall camera control and performance, maybe the best solution woul be to expose a range of camera configurations whose settings can be modified in a structured configuration file, like MSTS. Camera settings could use default values unless an input file is present. That would save the hassle of writing complex camera config settings menus, and save users the headaches of figuring them out. A settings file template might be easier to work with for all if camera customization becomes a major feature.

[cjakeman]

Route and activity editors are currently outside the scope of development for 1.0 according to the OR website. They could be a consideration for future development, though. The MSTS editors will likely do until OR's MSTS compatibility is declared complete. Then, as more new OR-specific features are realized, new tools will become more of a focus.

Quite right, Eric.

The Development Team are very much looking forward to developing first the Activity Editor and then the Route Editor and intend to do a much better job than MSTS achieved (though they were pioneers). But we must finish a capable and well-structured product to start from.

There's more detail about our plans at https://launchpad.net/or/trunk

Chris
OR Dev

[mikephfl]

Several things.

2. Consist Editor with a photo pic of your car/engine and a simple search engine so one can just type in either the folder the rolling stock is in, or the wag file name of the car/engine to call up the car.

YardMaster utility in the library does this. Filters for all kinds of data about equipment and display pictures of each (You have to use RR or other program to create the jpg). You can search by folder, railroad, car type, load/empty, commodity, etc.... but you do have to do some leg work first to teach YardMaster about your equipment. Some basic features work out of the box but it also lets you edit the data about each car/engine so it will be found in later searches.

[CBF]

Hi All! In addition to what has already been said I have two issues that I think should be corrected. I run V09.0.1695 so my OR is up to date. Firstly, with Maple Leaf Tracks engines, I cannot get the standard NA horn sequence of 2 longs, one short then one long. I just get very long blasts. This might be because the sound files are proprietary, but hope they can be adjusted. Secondly, I feel that the Alerter time of 30 seconds is just too short for NA standards.

Thanks for all the great effort being put into this sim! Cheers; Chuck F.

PS:- I understand typical alerter delay is 90 seconds in NA.

[bprice]

Hi All! In addition to what has already been said I have two issues that I think should be corrected. I run V09.0.1695 so my OR is up to date. Firstly, with Maple Leaf Tracks engines, I cannot get the standard NA horn sequence of 2 longs, one short then one long. I just get very long blasts.

That applies to a number of SLI locomotives too. However, this seems to be only in the cab view. The horns in the external view seem to work OK.

Basil

[mikephfl]

That applies to a number of SLI locomotives too. However, this seems to be only in the cab view. The horns in the external view seem to work OK.

Basil

My SLI loco horns work just fine in and out of the cab. Short and long blasts work fine.

[captain82]

An editor would have to be implememted very soon as most people are leaving XP for other windows upgrades. As we all know MSTS will not work outside of XP without some type of tweeking which means the majority of us who have switched over to Vista, 7, & 8 are basically SOL.

[baldwin]

MSTS does work with Vista, win 7 and win 8. The Steam4me site has the guide for installing which if followed correctly results in a basic problem free installation. I have been using MSTS in Vista and Win 7 for several years now with no problems, other than those caused by me and my brain/finger interface.

[seagoon]

.....As we all know MSTS will not work outside of XP without some type of tweeking which means the majority of us who have switched over to Vista, 7, & 8 are basically SOL.

Not correct, actually.
I currently have MSTS/OR running on three different PC's - one with Windows XP, this one with Windows 7 and one with Windows 8.
In no case was any tweaking necessary.

All that one needs to do is follow the simple, easily-understood, step-by-step install instructions - which should really be chiselled in stone and placed on a mountain-side - provided on Yuri Sos' "Steam4Me" site (as mentioned by another member herein).

Bruce

[muskokaandtahoe]

A reminder: Chris (cjakeman) posted this link https://launchpad.net/or/trunk that includes some of the to-do plans.

Please consider that editors are a major task and with a volunteer team will take quite a while to develop. We know they're needed so there is really no need to remind us of their need and pls don't ask "Are we there yet?".

As for some of the issues mentioned above, we've kicked around a few ideas that might work, such as subtracting some percentage of the brightness from the current time of day from the brightness of the locomotive headlight.

There are some ideas about enhancing the camera feature by creating camera sets... an engineer set, a brakeman set, a railfan set sort of grouping where each set could have 1-10 cameras. IF implemented you might see something along the lines of one set with 4 tracking cameras at the front end and another 4 tracking cameras at the rear end (MSTS only had two, cameras 2 and 3), a different set of 8-10 cameras that work like the f4 camera does, giving you a many user selectable start locations for watching the train go by, and so on.

Another idea we're kicking around is the feasibly / utility of having any portion of the game's information windows appear on a tablet or smart phone... simple things like the help screen. All as an option and not implemented as the only way.

Now none, some, or all of those things could happen but it's way too soon to assert any conclusions. I'm just mentioning them to let you know that the team is not just working on matching MSTS features but is also looking at how to make the total experience better than what MSTS did or could do -- we like to play the game too!

[motormaster532]

Thank you for your reply.Yours',and the others work on this daunting project is so greatly appreciated by the community that we wish to put our "two cents" worth in concerning a "wish list" for future development.This thread was not,nor is it now intended to be a criticism of this project.Indeed,since I have installed V.09,I have practically "abandoned" MSTS as a players activity.I now run my Activitys primarily in OP,as it is so much superior.I hope that I have not offended anybody on the Development Team by this Thread.It was started by me to find out from others what they would also like to see incorporated in the future.Once again I wish to thank you and everybody else who have worked hard to bring us this great Platform. Brian

[EricF]

I like the idea of camera sets -- you can't please all the people all the time, but that certainly is a great idea for grouping options.

The idea of using secondary screens for simple displays instead of onscreen overlays is intriguing, but I can only imagine that there's a lot of complexity to making it work across a wide variety of devices... But I love the concept of putting the track monitor and/or simple HUD, or a switch list on my iPhone or iPad nearby. Very cool, if it becomes possible.

[muskokaandtahoe]

I hope that I have not offended anybody on the Development Team by this Thread.

Oh, not at all. Having ideas tossed around for discussion is a very important part of making Open Rails a better simulator.