OR cabview issues, and flashing objects.

[qballbandit]

Good morning,
I installed 1.1.1.3487 yesterday, and figured I'd give this version shake.
I am still having issues with all of the 3rd party freeware cabs that I use in my engines. In some cabs I have all operable controls with outlines around them (showing like the "cut-out' pictures that they are"), and on others just buttons, not levers.
You can see in the SD40-2 pic, all levers/handles/switches have the outline, where in the DASH-9 cab, only the buttons on the desktop. Other cabs from other authors have a mix of the same issues.




The other issue is flashing vegetation and building objects. There is more of an issue with certain vegetation .s/ace files, and just a small handful of building objects (that I have noticed as of this time) that flash so frequently, that it completely ruins any enjoyment of running a train.
I have been modding routes for years, introducing (and sometimes editing) so many new objects into the routes, so not sure if any of the editing of these files from their original form has made them wiggy when used in OR?

Are other users encountering these issues? Are there resolutions for either?

Thanks very much. I really want to be a convert, but can't until these issues can be corrected.

[RICHARD369]

Hi Neil:

Can't help with the flashing objects. As for the cabview, been there, done that, got the T shirt, will never do it it again, and don't recommend it if you still have hair on your head. At nite, the outlines are even more exagerated!!! In a nutshell; you have to either enlarge or shrink about 2-4 pixels on each control and then adjust the alpha accordingly. Incidently you will need 2 CABVIEW folders, 1 for MSTS & 1 for ORTS since ORTS handles things differently, especially digital readout. You have to switch cabviews or have 1 engine for ORTS and 1 for MSTS.

Keep OR, I find it to be a great trouble shooter for MSTS.

Rich

[qballbandit]

Oooooohhhhhhhh barf, Richard!
I despise doing that kind of precision editing, especially when there are so many of them to do.
You are so right - the night cabs really show off the issue.
I get how to edit the main image and then the alpha to match it, but not sure what determines adding vs. subtracting pixels? (or, you state enlarge or shrink?)

Crap....I have enough T-Shirts already......

Thanks very much for your helpful reply.

[RICHARD369]

but not sure what determines adding vs. subtracting pixels? (or, you state enlarge or shrink?)


All depends if you want the visible handle to be slightly larger or slightly smaller than the original.

RICH

[Bananarama]

To get rid of the "halo" around the controls, you'll need to add a similar color around its edges. What I normally do is to produce the control on a separate layer, create its alpha channel, and then color fill another layer below the control.

As for the flashing objects, it sounds like either a z-buffer or anti-alias issue. If the former, then some of the model's polys are too close and will need to be redone. If the latter, however, you'll need to tweak your video card display properties.

[qballbandit]

Thank you both very much
I'll try your approach Marc...I think I understand how to do it.

I'm going to go with the former on the objects, Marc.
I've tweaked my cards settings 'till my fingers bled, with no better results.

[dpabrams]

What about the flashing veggies? They suck! The most aggravating quality of an otherwise fabulous program.

[qballbandit]

I am pleased to announce that my good friend Wade Hall passed along the following, which seems to have cleared the flashing up considerably:

"I worked on the flashing issue by altering various video settings--no change. What did seem to eliminate all the flickering, etc. was to uncheck the "Model Instancing" option in the Video tab or OR. According to the posts over at Elvas, that will likely lower the FPS just a little, but it should eliminate the flashing."

A big step in the right direction.

Thanks Wade!

[crstagg]

Good morning,
.............



Are other users encountering these issues? Are there resolutions for either?

Thanks very much. I really want to be a convert, but can't until these issues can be corrected.

Yes, I experienced those cabview issues first back before ORTS came out. They do the same thing in MSTS. There were even a few that were more than a couple of pixels out of position.

[qballbandit]

In my case, and in the pictures I provided, the cabs look perfect in MSTS - never had to edit any of the "moving parts". It's only in ORTS where they look like pasted cutouts.

[EricF]

Odd, I wonder if video drivers compound the issue? I seem to remember having the "boxes" show up in cabs like Charlie Sibaja's pre-1.0, but around 1.0 and later, I rarely if ever saw them. Sometimes I'd still see the "boxes" when a control was activated -- say pressing the horn or sander buttons, but the "box" only showed when the control was activated, and went away when it returned to its normal position. I'm running Nvidia graphics, although I've changed computers so I've gone from a GeForce 9400M with 256 MB of shared memory to a GTX 960 with 4GB of VRAM -- two very different GPUs! Made me curious; I started up a number of locomotives I seem to remember the "boxes" in the cabs, and can't make any of them show up now. I'm on x3504 at the moment.

What happens in my 3rd-party cabs, particularly many of Charlie Sibaja's, is animation issues, like the horn lever on EMD locomotives shows up cut off and as a double image. It's caused by an incorrect animation frame order statement; changing "NumFrames ( 2 1 2 )" in the "Type ( HORN TWO_STATE )" section to "NumFrames ( 2 2 1 )" fixes it. Various other 3rd party cabs seem to have similar animation problems due to incorrect statements, or MSTS was forgiving about incorrect statements and buggy graphic elements. Open Rails is strictly garbage in --> garbage out.

[R. Steele]

The white lines around the controls do show up in MSTS. The rendering, unlike OR, is less accurate (or precise), and the well defined white line is blurred and less noticeable, but still there.

The "box" showing up when a control is activated sounds like a density mismatch between two different animation files. One used for the control in the static position and one used for the control when activated. If that is the case, easy enough to fix in an editing program (photoshop or something else)