TSRE Changes / Wish List

[eric]

I'd posted this last year, but thought I'd start over as a few were already knocked out:

Changes Implemented:

• StaticDetailLevel is a valid property for shapefile used by signals, mileposts, and speedposts, but it's not visible when selecting the shapefile. Expose this in the object properties pane for all items with a .W file entry.
  • being tested
• Adjust height of yellow TDB line to match the wire height to make it easier to position catenary or tram/trolley supports
  • being tested
• Between editing sessions, save values that get set for terrain brush/enbankment editing
  • being added to Settings.txt this week

Wish List:

1. Provide a menu function to reload all shapes cached in memory, and not just a single selected file, so that the active W file the cursor is on can be refreshed without having to exit.
2. Expand hacks to build a vector by following track or road sections not in the TDB from current node to the next end node or junction
3. Between editing sessions, save terrain textures that have been loaded and any selected options for map source and resolution (OSM, V17, V18) as tokens in Settings.Txt which would allow users to define the startup/default settings for these values
4. Add a checkbox in the Nav window or a keystroke (similar to . and /) that would let the camera follow the nearest TDB line when using the up/down arrows, and allow movement when using the left/right arrows
5. Add a consistency/error check that can detect when the endpoint of TrVectorSection X and start point of TrVectorSection X+1 aren't at the same physical point (e.g. broken vector). I can't quite figure out how to calculate the ending coordinates of a drawn vector to do the comparison. 3D Math is not my strength by any means.

GokuMK if you can offer some guidance on where some of this would be best done, as you did with fixing the TDB 16 bit limit, it would be appreciated.

[Jonk7]

A ‘Smooth terrain tool’ like the original one in MS Route editor, I really love tsre but have always missed the smooth terrain tool.

[jdgremsjr]

My only wish for TSRE is that you could create paths in the activity editor. I dislike having to create paths in MSTS AE or in Open Rails then go to the TSRE AE.

[rdayt]

It would be nice to be able to drag the tools windows to another monitor and save the configuration so it opens that way the next time you open TSRE.
Also fix the recent items window to show only items that are actually placed instead of all of the stuff you just click on to see what it is.

And.
And.

I can see this blowing up.

Randy

[qballbandit]

Hope this will make sense - the ability to save groups of objects after selected and used for placement. I commonly enhance routes with a select group of objects, and instead of having to pick them from the .ref groups, it would be nice to be able to save and then in the future select "GroupA" so all associated objects populate in the active objects window. I understand the route needs to have the shapes/textures/and appropriate .ref entries ahead of time.

[niknak]

Hope this will make sense - the ability to save groups of objects after selected and used for placement. I commonly enhance routes with a select group of objects, and instead of having to pick them from the .ref groups, it would be nice to be able to save and then in the future select "GroupA" so all associated objects populate in the active objects window. I understand the route needs to have the shapes/textures/and appropriate .ref entries ahead of time.

I carry out a similar enhancing procedure with (mostly) old routes so yes, this would be a great help.

[PerryPlatypus]

I have quite a laundry list of things I could (and eventually will) suggest as enhancements to TSRE, but I'll mention just one for now.

If you place a terrain patch that is something higher-res than 512x512, like a 1024x1024 for example, and then rotate or mirror that patch, and then attempt to use the TSRE terrain painting tools on the patch, TSRE for some reason immediately reduces the resolution of the custom-painted patch to 512x512 - which also causes anomalies related to the scaling of the texture being used to "paint" with.

[eric]

the ability to save groups of objects after selected and used for placement

I'm looking into that. Sort of a Favorites for shapes?

[scfe_fan]

I’ve got a few on my items on my wishlist and I tried reading through so that I don’t inadvertently repeat something someone already posted. I’d like to see an option for an auto save feature. We can’t always predict when our system decides it wants a break and I know that I for one can get really into building and forget to click save periodically.

Id also like to see TSRE be more “mouse-click” operated. I’m terrible at trying to remember keyboard commands for programs and I think being able to point and click to what you need would make it a lot easier

id also like to see an option to toggle electrification on a specific track and not a “all or nothing” setting. Eric I’m sure you know that even on the Metra Electric District, the adjacent CN tracks do NOT have the wires over them and not all turnouts have wires on both the main and the turnout.

Something I’m not sure is a TSRE issue or an OR issue, but I’d love to be able to put in dynamic precipitation effects.. water puddles that only show up in rain, or snow drifts that only appear in snow.

Multiple car spawners for different road types. E.g. traffic that includes 18 wheelers on highways, but have one that is ONLY cars on residential streets.

Changing water heights. Something I miss about the MSTS editor that I haven’t figured out how to do in TSRE, is make water higher at one end of the tile and lower on the other to simulate flowing rivers. In TSRE it seems to be one size fits all for water high per tile.

Custom shadows or “dark/dimly lit areas.” It bugs the life out of me working on my Chicago area routes and running a train into the barely lit underground of Union Station and have it lit as brightly as running on the main on a sunny day.

Finally, I’d like to be able to switch the season im editing in so I can do different things for different seasons instead of only being able to edit a route in the default (Spring? Summer?). I’d love to be able to modify terrain textures for winter or fall and maybe add objects to a route that ONLY appear during those seasons such as snow piles and snow removal equipment as an example.

[eric]

I’ve got a few on my items on my wishlist

Some of those are things that the editor can't fix... All or nothing on electrification is within ORTS, as are the spawners and dynamic precipitation.

Water level does have variables. Click on the "Advanced" button below the average input box:

capture_500343.jpg

Id also like to see TSRE be more “mouse-click” operated. I’m terrible at trying to remember keyboard commands for programs and I think being able to point and click to what you need would make it a lot easier

Would adding things to the right-click context menu make that easier? Send me some examples in a PM.

on the Metra Electric District, the adjacent CN tracks do NOT have the wires over them and not all turnouts have wires on both the main and the turnout

And that's why I wrote WorldFileHacker, and why CatMaster was written 20 years ago... the RMD and IRM are the same way.

We can chat offline, but adding overhead wire outside of TSRE and ORTS is not conceptually difficult -- the new script for generating track pieces can be used to generate the overhead wire shapes, and WFH can be used to place the wire where it's needed. You can use WFH for support placement as well.

All you'd need to do in TSRE is set the Static Detail / Custom Detail level according to a schema you come up with i.e. 0 gets no wire, 1 gets a wire on all paths, 2 gets a wire on the main path of a turnout only, 3 gets a wire on the non-main path of a turnout, etc... now that both TSRE and ORTS support SDL's up to either 50 or 100, there's no real limit there to worry about.

[motormaster532]

I would like to go back to the linear track diagram{MSTS} for placing static or loose consists in the Activity Editor. The current setup{for me,anyway!}is far too cumbersome and slow. Brian

[GokuMK]

I If you place a terrain patch that is something higher-res than 512x512, like a 1024x1024 for example, and then rotate or mirror that patch, and then attempt to use the TSRE terrain painting tools on the patch, TSRE for some reason immediately reduces the resolution of the custom-painted patch to 512x512 - which also causes anomalies related to the scaling of the texture being used to "paint" with.

MSTS / Open Rails users usually don't have RTX GPUs with 16 GB of VRAM. Painted terrain takes a lot of memory. 512 pixel size limit is made on purpose.

[GokuMK]

Multiple car spawners for different road types. E.g. traffic that includes 18 wheelers on highways, but have one that is ONLY cars on residential streets.

This feature is available for years. Just choose different set from the properties when placing car spawner.

[scottb613]

Hi Folks,

My TWO biggies - neither of which can be implemented in a vacuum:

Splines - Splines - Splines (Procedural Shapes - Lofts)

• Grass and vegetation mats that can be dragged to any size and that - - - - Conforms to Terrain.
• Telephone Poles with Wire pre-hung that can be stretched for miles.
• Fence Lines that follow the undulating terrain along a ROW.
• Roads, streets, sidewalks, parking lots - the list is endless - Trainz does this for markings on the roads such as the yellow line down the middle.

Both Trainz and RailWorks have these - it would VASTLY speed up route building.

Forest Regions

If not handled by the above - Forest Regions - that can be irregularly shaped - simply drop points to form a polygon - and - that can support multiple predefined mixes of vegetation set in specific proportions.

Regards,
Scott

[eric]

Forest Regions - that can be irregularly shaped - simply drop points to form a polygon

I've asked for this in ORTS for ten years, with the ability to provide an array of shapes to be dropped at random as an alternative to the cruciform/textures.