Planned MSTS Improvements

OK, this is probably really difficult, but since you asked :])

I would like to be able to import an uncompressed .S andnbsp;file into 3DC.

Hi All,

I am about to spend some time on improvements to the 3DC MSTS export and perhaps some related functions.

The first priority I have is to come up with a way of prioritizing translucency. This is something that 3DC currently can’t do. The idea I have is to prioritize translucency based on the value of the material Palette’s Translucent value. So…

Translucent = 0 indicates a texture with transparent sections
Translucent = 1 indicates low prioirty translucency
Translucent = 2 indicates normal priority translucency
Translucent = 3 (or higher) indicates high priority translucency

Note that this will NOT resolve all current translucency issues but will allow a simple way to indicate priority so that the interior of objects are visible. Hopefully an SDK will be made available that will assist with resolving the remaining issue (scenery type objects not being visible through translucent windows)

I also might automate some functions such as txt2uni and ffeditc and perhaps the creation of the andquot;sdandquot; file.

I am also looking at writing some MSTS related scripts. I haven’t decided what exactly.

Before I get going on all of this does anyone have any particular suggestions for improvements specifically related to MSTS? I have a long list of non-MSTS improvements I’ll be looking at also.

Richard

Actually, the pivot point stuff is where i believe 3DC Pro already has a HUGE advantage over 3D Studio Max. andnbsp;I constantly see posts on MSTS where people have to unlink stuff, reset xforms, blah blah blah! andnbsp;All i have to do in 3DC is use the shift tool to adjust where the pivot point is, then move the object back where it is supposed to go.

Richard,
I have got to say right now, WELL DONE! andnbsp;Although 3DC Pro may not be as andquot;advancedandquot; as 3D Studio, there is a simplicity to it that makes it so easy for even beginners to use! andnbsp;It has a limitation or two, such as inability to support distance levels and some translucency issues (which i cannot blame entirely on 3DC – in fact, you see this phenomenon in some DEFAULT stations on the NEC!). andnbsp;Other than that, i love this tool more and more as time goes on! andnbsp;THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT YOU HAVE GIVEN US AND THE MSTS EXPORT FUNCTION! andnbsp;Richard, you have done this hobby a great service by allowing people who don’t have lots of money to still give their creativity to the MSTS world! andnbsp;I look forward to the many, many models that will be created by 3DC!

I do have one suggestions for future versions to make this even better:
I heard this mentioned before, but how about a way to drag the edges of the UVMap window to make it larger if necessary? andnbsp;It does get a bit tricky to map complex objects sometimes. andnbsp;Not that big a deal, but it would be kinda nice.

Thanks, again!
FYI – The prioritizng of translucencies may actually be the answer. andnbsp;This is why i think so:
Right now, when i am ready to texture a model, i use the Fill tool to fill the whole model with a neutral area of the texture map. andnbsp;Then i do the exterior texturing. andnbsp;The inside of the car is not a separate object in this case – it is just part of the main mesh. andnbsp;When i export to MSTS, windows from the outside can see through even the car insides, which have been textured as part of the fill. andnbsp;Now, i go back and texture the inside. andnbsp;I am using the same translucency map as the outside. andnbsp;Now, i forgot to map the floor of the inside. andnbsp;When i go back to the game, the floor is still see-through, but any area inside where i just mapped a texture is now visible! andnbsp;The windows on the inside can still see through everything, but i just tint them dark enough so you can’t actually see through both windows! andnbsp;When i go back and apply the texture to the floor, it too becomes visible in the game! andnbsp;I am planning to try something tonight to definitively prove or disprove this…

Although this is not MSTS specific, I would like to be able to alt-select a hierarchy then use the scale operator on the selection.

How about a wizard to help people andquot;assembleandquot; locomotives and rolling stock? The wizard would ask you how many wheelsets and how many bogies. After you answer the questions, the wizard would move the wheelsets and bogies into correct positions, set pivot points, and set pivot axis. Jeffrey.

If you decide to automate ffeditc, I would suggest making it optional. There are some little tweaks I often like to do to the code in the .s file regarding textures. One of these is setting the mip level to reduce texture distortion at a distance. If you’re not familiar with the problem, when you create a new object for MSTS and texture it, the textures blur and lose a considerable amount of quality in distances as short as one car length. To fix this, open your .s file in wordpad and scroll down until you see something like:
textures ( 2
texture ( 0 0 0 ff000000 )
texture ( 1 0 0 ff000000 )
)
You’ll want to change the third number in each texure entry to -3, instead of 0.
textures ( 2
texture ( 0 0 -3 ff000000 )
texture ( 1 0 -3 ff000000 )
)
Your textures may now look better in many ways, including less distortion, weird lines, etc. These are, I believe, the texture settings used with most of the MSTS default locos and rolling stock.

NOTE: depending on your video card, this may induce a slight frame rate hit, and may not be appropriate for all objects. I would only use it on the most andquot;importantandquot; objects, ie. rolling stock and locos.

If it’s not too much of a hassle, setting this number may be also be a good option to include for MSTS export at some point. I believe the possible values range from -3 to 3. I would still recommend making automation of ffeditc optional, though <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

BTW, I [i:10ig5pox]do[/i:10ig5pox] think an automatic and not optional conversion to unicode would be [i:10ig5pox]wonderful![/i:10ig5pox] Everyone has to do this no matter what, anyway <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

Any chance of some form of multiple Level of Detail support now that the folks over at Train-Sim have figured out how to make it work for Conv3ds?

That is one of the things I am looking at. I am not sure how much of a priority it is though.

Rather than creating something as complicated as that, I thought I would write a script that would export this information to a file.

Jeff:

That is probably out of the scope of what I had in mind. Is the idea that you would create a model and then run this wizard to turn it into an appropriate object for MSTS? If so, there would have to be a way of identifiying what each object is. So you would have to name the objects appropriately. I think once you have named each object appropriately you have already done half the job of preparing the object for MSTS. You have identified the number of bogies, wheels etc. Could you elaborate?

buzzben:

I’ve got resizable UVMap window on my list. It just MIGHT make it in the next point release.

Also, I found the andquot;enablerandquot; for full translucency in the andquot;Sandquot; file. Unfortunately it is causing me considerable grief. So much grief that I may not be able to get it right without the help of the SDK. Don’t get your hopes up for an immediate and full resolution. I think translucency will improve in the next release but will not be perfect. (But then again MSTS isn’t perfect at this anyhow).

MainLines:

You can alt-select and scale (by ctrl-dragging) but this doesn’t allow the precision you might like. It works pretty well though. It will be a while before the Scale operation becomes available directly for this purpose. It is on my list though.

Ian:

I’ll look at cut and paste for properties.

Ian/Troub:

You can use the Adjust tool to rotate a texture after it has been applied to the object. I have found this to work quite well. Especially on relatively low poly models. Pre-rotation will likely never be an option due to the way this information is calculated.

Richard

Would it be possible to enable some sort of 3d cursor that could be used to determine the positions of lights, exhausts, smokestacks etc, on a model and give a direct readout of the relative x,y,z position that could then be entered directly into the .eng file.

I [i:13z4zpdo]definitely[/i:13z4zpdo] second that motion. andnbsp;This has actually caused me quite a bit of grief, too andnbsp;:'(

One thing that bugs me (and there might be a better way to do it) is that I can’t cut and paste values in the Properties screen. If I want to make two objects line up, or be a certain distance apart, I go to the properties of the one object and have to write down its X, Y, Z coords and then type them in to the properties of the second object.

Also, it would be nice to be able just type in new dimensions in the properties box.

Next thing on the wish list. I can flip or mirror a cropped texture before applying it to a face (or faces) but I can’t rotate it.

Yup, pretty tough. In fact, it is REALLY tough. The andquot;sandquot; file format was not designed for this purpose. In order to write the file format I actually have to split objects up based on their materials and other attributes. They would be impossible to reassemble automatically (though one could give it a good go).

I don’t expect this will be anything that I try any time soon. It is just too difficult.

Richard

NOW i know what other suggestion i had! andnbsp;Is there any way this program can maintain its flawless crash recovery, but not leave so much out in the windows temp folder? andnbsp;Leftover junk has been adding up very fast in there. andnbsp;If not, fine, i’d much rather have the recoverability, and it’s not that big a deal to maunually clean out the temp folder from time to time, just one of those andquot;would be nice thoughandquot; things!