Dutch stations set

[Quast65]

True, however the current limitation of 255 forces me to not include the original Dutch Station Set now (as I still have more idea's and some graphics are waiting to get the final approvement of their artist to be included). I will put it on Bananas though, so when someone searches for "dutch" they will see both GRF's and they will be able to notice that one is an addition to the other. I think it is best for now.

[Purno]

True, however the current limitation of 255 forces me to not include the original Dutch Station Set now (as I still have more idea's and some graphics are waiting to get the final approvement of their artist to be included).

Which is why I had a backup question;

"Or, is it possible to code a GRF in a way it'll automatically download and activate another GRF?"

I will put it on Bananas though, so when someone searches for "dutch" they will see both GRF's and they will be able to notice that one is an addition to the other. I think it is best for now.

I aim to get the best result possible. If this is the best we can do, then so be it

[Eddi]

yes, BaNaNaS supports "dependencies" so if you download one, you automatically download the other.

[Pyoro]

But should this really be actually depended on the station set? You might only want to use the bike sheds or something and none of the other Dutch specific stuff, so you wouldn't really need the station set. For example

Either way just played around with the GRF a bit and looks nice like always =) I'm a bit surprised at the level crossings though, isn't it possible to reference the road sprites from road GRFs? So you wouldn't need multiple ones?

[Purno]

yes, BaNaNaS supports "dependencies" so if you download one, you automatically download the other.

Cool.

But should this really be actually depended on the station set? You might only want to use the bike sheds or something and none of the other Dutch specific stuff, so you wouldn't really need the station set. For example

Well, there isn't a limit on how many sets can be loaded, so why not? It makes it easier for people wanting the complete Dutch station set (IMO the add-on is just another part of the same set).

[Quast65]

Either way just played around with the GRF a bit and looks nice like always =) I'm a bit surprised at the level crossings though, isn't it possible to reference the road sprites from road GRFs? So you wouldn't need multiple ones?

Probably, but I don't know how to code that

Well, there isn't a limit on how many sets can be loaded, so why not? It makes it easier for people wanting the complete Dutch station set (IMO the add-on is just another part of the same set).

Well, it is indeed an addition. And downloading the original set with it should be no problem.
The only thing I don't know is if this affects the activation of the GRF itself. So let's say someone downloaded the addition set. The original set is downloaded with it.
But in his GRF settings he only selects and adds the addition set to his active GRF's, will it then work without the original set also?
If it does that, then I don't see a problem with making it dependant on the original set.

[Eddi]

downloading and activating are completely separate things, one does not influence the other in any way

[Transportman]

Well, there isn't a limit on how many sets can be loaded, so why not? It makes it easier for people wanting the complete Dutch station set (IMO the add-on is just another part of the same set).

Actually, there is always the maximum number of NewGRFs that can be loaded, so there is a limit.

If you want that the original set is always loaded when the add-on is loaded (or otherwise it doesn't work), you could check for the GRFID of the original set and deliver a fatal error when it is not loaded. Not fool proof, not ideal, and doesn't check before starting the game, but it's something.

[Eddi]

If you want that the original set is always loaded when the add-on is loaded (or otherwise it doesn't work), you could check for the GRFID of the original set and deliver a fatal error when it is not loaded. Not fool proof, not ideal, and doesn't check before starting the game, but it's something.

that's exactly what Quast65 doe not want. (and honestly, it would be totally stupid to do that)

[Quast65]

downloading and activating are completely separate things, one does not influence the other in any way

Good, then I see no problem with doing that. It is also a nice gesture to the creators of the original set.

Actually, there is always the maximum number of NewGRFs that can be loaded, so there is a limit.

I think (correct me if I am wrong), that Purno meant that there is no limit to the number of downloaded GRF's (as in inactive ones on your harddisk).

If you want that the original set is always loaded when the add-on is loaded (or otherwise it doesn't work), you could check for the GRFID of the original set and deliver a fatal error when it is not loaded. Not fool proof, not ideal, and doesn't check before starting the game, but it's something.

I will not do that. I want people to be able to choose for themselves if they want to use the original set also in their games and not force it upon them.

[FooBar]

I had a looksee and was amazed by the amount of different tiles to choose from. With this one can nearly build anything one can imagine. Personally I'm very pleased with the single-sided and island platforms. Regardless if other's like the big gap between tracks, it's really something I've been looking forward to.

If you want to save some IDs though: two opposite single-sided platforms should theoretically make an island platform, so you can free a bunch there. Also there's really no point in having the level crossings for all different road sets available. You can autodetect road sets or use a parameter to only have one available. Not knowing how to do that is not an excuse. You've managed to learn to code stations in the first place, which is one of the most complicated features of NFO. And you've managed to learn something along the way about changing state depending on PBS reservation. I'm absolutely sure you can manage to learn some more

Either way well done so far. And even if it's an add-on or not, for me it's a very welcome set!

[Quast65]

I had a looksee and was amazed by the amount of different tiles to choose from. With this one can nearly build anything one can imagine. Personally I'm very pleased with the single-sided and island platforms. Regardless if other's like the big gap between tracks, it's really something I've been looking forward to.

Thnx!

If you want to save some IDs though: two opposite single-sided platforms should theoretically make an island platform, so you can free a bunch there.

That was what I wanted to do first, but...... The original set has different platform graphics for middle parts. They are darker. So I needed to make seperate tiles that match the original set

You can autodetect road sets or use a parameter to only have one available. Not knowing how to do that is not an excuse. You've managed to learn to code stations in the first place, which is one of the most complicated features of NFO. And you've managed to learn something along the way about changing state depending on PBS reservation. I'm absolutely sure you can manage to learn some more

I should be able to do that via parameter. Is a good suggestion for an update.
I don't like the idea of autodetection. Because there are more roadsets available than the three I included. This way it is still possible for people to find a crossing that matches their roads best.

[FooBar]

That was what I wanted to do first, but...... The original set has different platform graphics for middle parts. They are darker.

I didn't know that. I'd consider that a bug in the original set, but then probably that's not going to be fixed any time soon. So this is indeed the best solution from your part.

I don't like the idea of autodetection. Because there are more roadsets available than the three I included. This way it is still possible for people to find a crossing that matches their roads best.

What I usually do is combine both. Autodetect by default, but also provide the parameter setting so that people can manually override the autodetection. Unfortunately I don't have an example of that in NFO, only in NML.

[Quast65]

As mentioned in the previous post, there is a bug in the original set with the middle platforms being darker than the outer platforms.
That would be a lot of work to fix (also I incorporated that bug in the addition set), so maybe it is easier to treat it as a feature
However, only the totally empty tiles are not dark in the middle.

DSAset52.png (39.16 KiB) Viewed 3151 times

Should be easy to fix to make it consistent, so would any of the original developers be willing to fix that?

[XeryusTC]

Should be easy to fix to make it consistent, so would any of the original developers be willing to fix that?

I've tried getting the graphics artists to do that when I was still coding and even back then they were too lazy to go hunting for all the inconsistencies. I wish you good luck with convincing them now that there are many more graphics

[Quast65]

I think you misunderstood me
I didn't mean changing the dark platforms into lighter ones, but only changing the empty platform into a darker one. So that means only changing two sprites. That should be easy to do

[ZxBiohazardZx]

maybe add some stationtiles like this (aka just like the newstats from MB has, some station-buildings)

in this case nijverdal



also maybe add a station like DH CS (and ask/steal the CanSet idea where trains are below and a carpark (here bus/tramfake) is on top (maybe if you are good enough with short-stations && tunnels you can actually create it where tram/busses can park on top with 2-tiles on either side of a 5-tile tunnelsection or so....

[Purno]

...platform color...

Oh boy, I may have used an incorrect platform sprite as base in my worksheet.

Yep, I'll shamelessy admit I'm too lazy to fix it, since we all know it's a lot of incredibly dull work

[Quast65]

Again, I don't really mind that the middle pieces are darker.
Only thing that needs to change to have a consistancy are the two sprites for the middle piece of the completely empty tiles.
That should not be too much work

[Purno]

I'm still too lazy