Modular Locomotive sheds [MLSS 0.5.2]

[Nickel_Plate]

Still problems with Special Masonry Modular Depots and you seem to have 4 duplicates when using
Special Metal Modular Depots PLUS 1 Metal & Masonry Depot combined, SEE picture for both.

Plus you don't have the same choice for both sets of depots.

BNSF Corporation, 6th Jan 1924.png

(104.91 KiB) Downloaded 4 times

The other MAIN Problem is when using station GUI as the thumbnails are small you don't know which
one you are selecting.

[supermop]

Thanks for posting these.

Nickel Plate: I'm sorry, I forgot about the issue with the incorrect ground-sprites, does it only happen with Maglev, or also with Monorail? As for why the selection of sets is different, the metal sheds have flat roofs, so its easier to visually blend a half tile sprite with it's neighbor. The majority of those tiles are actually redundant, you can create A LOT of arrangements using only the metal sheds that duplicate the masonry equivalents ('float tile'). I am afraid that adding masonry equivalents for all of the metal sheds could make the set even more confusing to users, but If you want them I certainly can add them. I was actually thinking of cutting back the number of metal sheds instead. As for the duplicates, I do not see them when using normal rail, so perhaps it has to do with the maglev ground-sprites being messed up (maybe a taller shed is being drawn instead of a ground-sprite). Hopefully that will get resolved when I figure out how to fix ground-sprites for other rail types.

As fr the GUI, It is definitely a problem. Because I made the set, I know what each name refers to, but for others, it's going to be a steep learning curve. I don't think there is any way to fix the thumbnail problem, other than trunk getting a re sizable preview window. The best solution would be a more intuitive naming system and/or a thorough tutorial or explanation on-line somewhere. I would be happy to have anyone's suggestions or help in this matter. I thought that the improve station GUI patch would help, but it actually severely messes up A LOT of the tles for some reason. I will have to ask in that thread to see what might be going on.


Kamnet: can you further explain your problem in the first picture? Are you trying to use a regular shed instead of the entry tile, or is the problem that the entry tile has the CC louvers whereas the standard shed doesn't? As for the clipping issue, I didn't touch the bounding boxes for roundhouse tiles when I tried fixing things earlier, as I was afraid of messing up thee way they are drawn over each other. It turns out the boxes were seriously incorrect for all roundhouse tiles, so I will have to adjust that now (see picture).

RHboundingbox.png (204.81 KiB) Viewed 2778 times

As for including the depots, as far as I can tell, the only way to do it would be to either creat my own railtype grf that you have to use with the set, or convince author or popular railtype grfs to include my depots and have them activated by parameter or checking to see if MLSS is active. I think the latter is better, as opposed to making people use my rails (also I am sure there would be even more problems with me trying to code a complete track set). I can put together a stand-alone masonry depot only grf for you later tonight if you'd like in the meantime.

Thanks to everyone who has been patient with me here - I still have no idea what I am doing when it comes to coding this stuff, and most of what I am doing is best classified as cargo cult programming - not really understanding the underlying workings of what I am trying to do. If anyone wants to help with the coding side, I would really appreciate it. Currently it seems there still isn't enough interest in the set to get more than one person working on it.

By the way, can anyone tell me how to use nforenum? The grf now has a couple thousand sprites all told, and renumbering them by hand every time I add something or make a mistake often takes up a great deal of the time I spend coding things.

Best,

[Nickel_Plate]

I have posted another picture of depot orientation.

The top 2 rows are Maglav and the bottom 2 rows are normal rail.

The depots circled in red are Maglav but are showing INCORRECT graphic.

BNSF Transportation Co., 27th Mar 1929.png

(138.73 KiB) Downloaded 1 time

[supermop]

HI Nickel,

Actually, in that picture, all of the maglev sheds are incorrect. They appear to be using a random sprite as the groundsprite, instead of the specified one. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why this is. Anyone watching this thread who might know whats going on here, please chime in, as I am at a loss. I am thinking that I might have to just remove the groundsprites from these tiles and try to mock up the effect with two grey areas on the regular sprites, leaving a gap for the track to show through.

As to Kamnet's issue, it should be ameliorated in the below version, all common sense arrangements should work, but clipping errors can still occur in some weird cases. Let me now how it looks.

Best,

[kamnet]

Kamnet: can you further explain your problem in the first picture? Are you trying to use a regular shed instead of the entry tile, or is the problem that the entry tile has the CC louvers whereas the standard shed doesn't?

The entrance on the left of that screen used the entrance tile for the roundhouse, the entrance on the right was the regular entrance tile. There is a difference in the heights of the roof peaks between the two. I've attached another image showing the two problem sprites and their alignments compared to the other sprites. All of the other roundhouse sprites line up perfectly.

modular-2.8.png (15.85 KiB) Viewed 9818 times

[supermop]

The height is actually the same, but the length is different. Because the Rotunda tile is actually bigger than a tile, the 'narrow" ends of the wedge shaped pieces do not go all of the way to the edge of the tile, so what you are seeing is a gap of a few pixels.

[zero.eight]

The ground sprite problem might be a consequence of using Action 1 sprites as ground sprites. A workaround is to use rail sprite (1012/1011) as the ground sprite and your "ground sprite" becomes the first overlay sprite. More here.

For nforenum, put NFO files in grfcodec/sprites and run "nfo renum <NFOfileName>" from the command line from the grfcodec folder.

[supermop]

People were talking about depot on irc today, so I thought I would shaare what I have been drawing the last couple of days...

These still will have a few more details added to them, and will be actual depots rather than MLSS tiles, to be added via railtype newGrf. As far as I know, train depots do not use CC so i did not use any, but if someone could correct me here, I would appreciate it.

wip.PNG (29.95 KiB) Viewed 2778 times

Best,

[Dwight_K._Schrute]

The other day I saw a Depot-GRF that fits with your sheds. But now I can't find it anymore. Can you help me with that?

[supermop]

I made a metal shed depot, that you can find on the first page of the MLSS release thread, I think it is in the second or third post.

[supermop]

Heh;

Well making some gradual steps towards 0.3.0

fencefail.PNG (207.16 KiB) Viewed 2780 times

not looking so good so far...

[supermop]

Decided to start over completely with this. The nfo file was so big I could not keep track of where to even start to fix all of the problems that had come up. Unfortunately, I am now essentially learning nfo all over again due to nml not supporting stations.

I have excised all of the 'yard' tiles, and reduced the number of special shed tiles so that I can focus on getting a grf with the basic idea that simply works, with no glaring errors. I also got rid of the red brick pavement because it just looks bad. I have switched to using separate .pcx files with a standard template, which helps a lot. Unfortunately, I do not know of any similar way to handle the nfo itself. Is there a way to code several small nfo files and then have grfcodec assemble them together?

Currently I have this grf with basic sheds, but it just shows the default station tile for each type. not sure whats wrong there as the code is lifted out of a part of my old grf that did work. I know the sprite numbers are incorrect, but I thought grfcodec could fix that now on its own?


Best,

[FooBar]

...due to nml not supporting stations.

You may want to wait with overhauling this set. Station support in NML will come eventually.

[supermop]

Can anyone tell me why this works (old grf):

Code: Select all

// Metal Sheds
   //

   // Basic Flat Roof Shed


    2 * 4   01 04                                         // Action 01 for Stations (feature 04)
            02 03                                           // 2 sets of views, 3 views per entry (background, foreground)
                                                               // Sprites for this action 01 to follow:

    3 sprites/shedstations.pcx 66  8   01 13  16  17  7        // Background sprite,         South East face (ID 42D)
    4 sprites/shedstations.pcx 98  8   01 54  64 -31  -22     // Flat-roof shed, Basic,          South East (ID 42E)
    5 sprites/shedstations.pcx 178 8   01 13  16 -31  7       // Background sprite,         South West face (ID 42F)         
    6 sprites/shedstations.pcx 210 8   01 54  64 -31 -22     // Flat-roof shed, Basic,          South West (ID 430)
    7 sprites/shedstations.pcx 724 1506 01 53  64 -31 -22  // Paved track, East, Groundsprite (ID 431)  
    8 sprites/shedstations.pcx 644 1506 01 53  64 -31 -22  // Paved track, West, Groundsprite (ID 432)
     
    9 * 62   00 04                                         // Action 00 for Stations
             02 01 01                                       // Change 2 properties for basic flatroof shed
             08 "BLSM"                                     // Place in "BLSM" Category
             09 02                                            // Define Layout for 2 tiles 
          
          32 04 00 80  00 00 00 10 08 0d  2F 04 00 00     // Assign and position background sprite, SW layout
                       00 00 00 10 10 24  30 04 00 00 80      // Assign and position foreground sprite, Sw layout
          31 04 00 80  00 00 00 08 10 0d  2D 04 00 00    // Assign and position background sprite, SE layout
                       00 00 00 10 10 24  2E 04 00 00 80      // Assign and position foreground sprite, SE layout


                                                          // 
   10 * 7    02 04                                        // Action 02 for Stations
             01                                               // setID
             00 01                                          // ?? 
             00 00                                          // set from last Action 01                

   11 * 7    03   04                                      // Action 3 Feature 04 
             01                                               // <n-id> : one ID 
             01                                               // station ID 0x
             00                                               // <num-cid> : support no cids
             01 00                                           // <def-cid> : always use set 01
 
   12 * 27   04 48 FF 01                                  // Action 04
             01                                           
             C5 "Basic Flat-roof Shed" 00                
   13 * 39   04 48 FF 01                                  
             01                                           
             C4 "Basic Modular Shed Tiles - Metal" 00

But this does not? (new grf):

Code: Select all

   // 
   // Basic Sheds
   //

   // Pre-Modern Basic Shed A


    2 * 4	 01 04                                         // Action 01 for Stations (feature 04)
            02 02                                         // 2 sets of views, 2 views per entry (background, foreground)
                                                          // Sprites for this action 01 to follow:

    3 sprites/mlss/basic/shed_1ba.pcx 118 128 01 31  64 -31   7  // Background sprite,  South East Entry (ID 42D)
    4 sprites/mlss/basic/shed_1ba.pcx 118 3   01 122 64 -31 -84  // Foreground sprite,  South East Entry (ID 42E)
    5 sprites/mlss/basic/shed_1ba.pcx  37 128 01 31  64 -31   7  // Background sprite,  South West Entry (ID 42F)         
    6 sprites/mlss/basic/shed_1ba.pcx  37 3   01 122 64 -31 -84  // Foreground sprite,  South West Entry (ID 430)


    7 * 62	 00 04                                        // Action 00 for Stations
             02 01 01                                     // Change 2 properties for basic shed
             08 "MLBS"                                    // Place in "MLBS" Category
             11 00                                        // Do not draw caternary
             14 FF
               09 02                                        // Define Layout for 2 tiles 

          F4 03 00 00  00 00 00 10 08 0d  2D 84 00 00     // Assign and position background sprite, SW layout
                       00 00 00 05 10 24  2E 84 00 00 80  // Assign and position foreground sprite, Sw layout
          F3 03 00 00  00 00 00 08 10 0d  2F 84 00 00     // Assign and position background sprite, SE layout
                       00 00 00 10 10 24  30 84 00 00 80  // Assign and position foreground sprite, SE layout
                                                          // 
   8 * 7	 02 04                                        // Action 02 for Stations
             01                                           // setID
             00 01                                        // ?? 
             00 00                                        // set from last Action 01                

   9 * 7	 03   04                                      // Action 3 Feature 04 
             01                                           // <n-id> : one ID 
             01                                           // station ID 0x
             00                                           // <num-cid> : support no cids
             01 00                                        // <def-cid> : always use set 01

   10 * 28	 04 48 FF 01                                  // Action 04
             01                                           
             C5 "Pre-Modern Basic Shed" 00                
   11 * 31	 04 48 FF 01                                  
             01                                           
             C4 "Basic Modular Shed Tiles" 00

Thanks!

[michael blunck]

In the 2nd example you´re defining 4 properties, not 2.

regards
Michael

[supermop]

Hello!

Today a new version of the grf is ready! As mentioned above, it has been rewritten from scratch, so it is not going to be compatible with previous versions. I have split off all of the 'Yard' elements, as I think they might work better in a separate grf. There are now four 'eras' of building to choose, all of which are always available. An early 19th century style called 'Pre-modern' the same as the older 'Masonry' style; a late 19th century concrete frame with brick wall style called 'Early Modern', in the same style as my large roundhouse; a mid-20th century metal sided style called 'modern', the same as my original metal sheds; and a later 20th century panel sided style with gabled or butterfly roofs called 'post-modern'.

The selection of basic station shed tiles.

Basic Sheds.png (176.71 KiB) Viewed 8710 times

The selection of special shed station tiles.

Special Sheds.png (368.62 KiB) Viewed 2778 times

You can combine various tiles together to get more variety out of your motive power shops. For example, the parapet on the modern shed is at the same height as the clerestory on the post modern shed, and the regular and butterfly roofs can be combined as seen below:

Combined Roof.png (966.06 KiB) Viewed 2778 times

Best

[supermop]

A Shop built out of the new tiles:

Visible Shop.png (550.13 KiB) Viewed 2778 times

Invisible Shop.png (539.89 KiB) Viewed 2778 times

By the way, I am open to suggestions for better tile names!

Edit, bounding boxes messed up, uploading new version.

[supermop]

Ok, The bounding boxes were all messed up so here is a new version.

Best,

[ISA]

Superb job!

[supermop]

Thanks!

Any suggestions for naming or things that need fixing?