Better Looking Open Rails

[longiron]

This was posted over at Elvas. I thought it worthwhile to share over here

This Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jID9ELROp0

shows what Open Rails could look like if the community had an option which allows to adjust the graphics contrast, gamma and saturation. Impressive.

[ftldave]

It would look like TS2016!

Isn't that just a nice TS2016 video of ICE trains???

I'd much prefer Open Rails to get better MSTS compatibility than new graphics adjustments.

[hminky]

Neat!

Harold

[OTTODAD]

Isn't that just a nice TS2016 video of ICE trains??? I'd much prefer Open Rails to get better MSTS compatibility than new graphics adjustments.

The tracks shown in that German YouTube video are sadly departed Norbert Rieger's DB-Tracks, available only in MSTS and with it ORTS, used in many of the routes I have running in MSTS and ORTS, shown in their forums here !

Most quality graphics cards allow these settings !



Using the above default settings of my nVidia GT640 graphics card showing on my DELL 24" monitor:

[conductorchris]

One thing that could further improve Otto's scene, in my opinion, is one of the new skies that are available.
Christopher

[ftldave]

No surprise, I was watching the trains while track-master Otto was checking the railbed. I stand corrected.

[smiljacc18]

It would look like TS2016!

Isn't that just a nice TS2016 video of ICE trains???

I'd much prefer Open Rails to get better MSTS compatibility than new graphics adjustments.

I'd rather see OR with modern graphics,until OR leaves the ancient MSTS behind it is going nowhere.

[lateagain]

shows what Open Rails could look like if the community had an option which allows to adjust the graphics contrast, gamma and saturation. Impressive.

Sorry but to me, as someone who spent a good few years teaching people to colour print back in the days of "wet photography" much (NOT ALL) of this just looks like badly exposed footage shot on film stock without much exposure latitude. The highlights are burnt out and the shadows have no detail. Film and even a lot of video does not have the adaptability of the human eye to the range of colour temperature and contrast that the daylight casts on our scenery. If you want your OR video's or gameplay to look like they were shot on a cheap camera on poor film stock this has captured it exactly?

A shame because in other respects this video is a good demonstration of much that is possible and customisable in MSTS that works well in OR. Also good to see the German content because the German involvement with MSTS was certainly in the top 5 of contributions.

Whilst, like many, I have been disappointed at the early OR environments I was staggered to see how good the newest weather change adjustments in OR actually are. Apart from the range they achieve their huge advantage is that you can change weather during play. Something BTW that Flight Sims have been able to do for years and in far more convincing a manner than any Train Sim.

The biggest drawback with OR right now is that finding out what is possible could be made easier as many of the keyboard controls for various functions take some finding ......and for all the OR only brigade that's from the perspective of anyone who hasn't followed every development. The OR site has under the "Learn" menu a guide to German Keyboards for version 0.9 (OR now at v1.1) and I Googled for this http://openrails.org/files/QuickStartGuide_062_03.pdf. Surely that should be the first thing under Learn. The Manual is 244(?)pages long which is hardly a Quick Start guide?

[lateagain]

I think these two posts highlight the biggest problems?

I'd much prefer Open Rails to get better MSTS compatibility than new graphics adjustments.

To turn that around a bit I think that effort to make older MSTS models run within OR's better physics capabilities is more important than new graphics adjustment?

.....and

I'd rather see OR with modern graphics,until OR leaves the ancient MSTS behind it is going nowhere.

Sorry but IMO to the contrary, until this idea is dead and buried OR is going nowhere.

Like it or not, for all it's faults MSTS had, and has been proved to have had by subsequent developments, a lot of solid foundation that has been adapted and built upon since it's earliest release. If it hadn't had concepts built in, but not exploited or perfected on release, it would not have been able to be fixed and tweaked and patched by numerous contributors. Those sort of contributors are helping enable OR with similar utilities and editors as I waffle on.

HOWEVER to ignore the accumulation of fifteen years worth of creative input in the form of routes, stock, activities, sound, signalling etc. etc. etc. is nothing short of stupid. Oh and BTW that's INTERNATIONAL creative input.

I often wonder if the posters on here who constantly crave "THE NEW" and want everything beyond their attention span discounted ever actually play with (any of) the Sims? and more to the point ever actually created anything for them?

Simulators are vastly complicated bits of software and developing content for them take a LOT of time. This requires a stable base and one that evolves looking at backward compatibility as well as future development. There's a whole games industry out there providing state of the art excitement and eye candy but they knock out a title and move on to something different. You only have to look at the history of and subsequent grumbles about developments in other Train Sim titles to see why a solid platform is the only way that any Sim becomes a hobby rather than just a computer game.

Like me I'm sure many MSTS users look forward to all the advantages that OR can bring but whilst there's this ridiculous dismissal of MSTS and it's contributors achievement it will hinder rather than promote that development.

[baldwin]

Well said Geoff. I sometimes get the feeling that people who knock OR for its ability to use MSTS content have not really looked under the hood to see exactly what OR is capable of now. The only way to leave MSTS behind as some wish requires the development of new standards that require new tools. All of which takes time to develop.

So right now, ignoring the "old crappy graphics" style of MSTS content, what do we have.
1. Change between cabs of different trains
2. Load and unload of cars with weight change as well.
3. Ability to change weather "on the fly" within the game.
4. Better physics
5. Better sound
6. No more adding in zero nodes in routes and the ability to use real world coupler strengths without having them break.

There is more, but I think you might get the picture. Some of these improvements do require you to make changes to your end and wag files, or add a folder to each of your trainset and route folders to hold the new parameters. Of course, you do not have to do that, but then you do not get the full OR experience.

[longiron]

Film and even a lot of video does not have the adaptability of the human eye to the range of colour temperature and contrast that the daylight casts on our scenery. If you want your OR video's or gameplay to look like they were shot on a cheap camera on poor film stock this has captured it exactly?

My point was ADJUSTABILITY. One man's like may be another's dislike. In my lifetime, video games will never approach the lighting in the real world. But to have the ability to tweak the environment to your personal taste is an interesting concept.

[lateagain]

My point was ADJUSTABILITY. One man's like may be another's dislike. In my lifetime, video games will never approach the lighting in the real world. But to have the ability to tweak the environment to your personal taste is an interesting concept.

Chris I appreciate the point but have you tried the Increase and Decrease fog and change weather built in to OR? I was staggered at it's range the other day. I'll try and post some screenshots when I get the chance.

As for one man's taste? ....well as a technician I've suffered in silence whilst folk watch their TV's with the picture set up so that everyone looks like they had a bad spray tan! ....and listened as folk "Equalise" to "their taste" brilliantly recorded music that some of the best sound engineers in the world spent hours honing and tweaking.... BUT HEY ....as long as I don't have to listen

One point I would agree on is that the vast majority of models, stock and scenery, would look a LOT better for a degree of colour desaturation.

[longiron]

Chris I appreciate the point but have you tried the Increase and Decrease fog and change weather built in to OR? I was staggered at it's range the other day. I'll try and post some screenshots when I get the chance.

Unfortunately, I don't get to 'run' OR for fun much these days . As I'm full out into route building, most of my game time is focused on finding and improving the route - for both MSTS and OR. Love to see your screen shots, BTW.

[seagoon]

Simulators are vastly complicated bits of software and developing content for them take a LOT of time.

Simulators are complicated bits of hardware.
Simulations are complicated bits of software.

Just being pedantic, is all.

[cjakeman]

The biggest drawback with OR right now is that finding out what is possible could be made easier as many of the keyboard controls for various functions take some finding ......and for all the OR only brigade that's from the perspective of anyone who hasn't followed every development. The OR site has under the "Learn" menu a guide to German Keyboards for version 0.9 (OR now at v1.1) and I Googled for this http://openrails.org/files/QuickStartGuide_062_03.pdf. Surely that should be the first thing under Learn. The Manual is 244(?)pages long which is hardly a Quick Start guide?

Thanks for highlighting this.

I'll see what I can do to fix it.