Erato's Side Projects

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Erato
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Re: Erato's Side Projects

Post by Erato »

Quast65 wrote:Thnx, works now, interesting to see how you did all those curved lines, well done! :bow:
I know you mentioned you were not going to work much more on this, so I wont mention that buildings was misspelled buidlings ;-)
What are you talking about? I don't see it in the version I just uploaded :P
Quast65 wrote:One little tip though for the future, the watersequence is the wrong way around I think, the waves are moving inwards rather than outwards to the "beach".
Doing the animated water color sequence the other way around would be better for future things if you are going to use them. ;-)
Yeah I noticed. I'll take it into account for the next project where I'll be working with water.
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Re: Erato's Side Projects

Post by kamnet »

Snail wrote:
Erato wrote:Because m4nfo is trash this set will not be expanded upon.
Funny. I used m4nfo to develop my entire set :lol:
Now I'm curious, what makes m4nfo not work well for developing a station set?
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Re: Erato's Side Projects

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kamnet wrote:
Snail wrote:
Erato wrote:Because m4nfo is trash this set will not be expanded upon.
Funny. I used m4nfo to develop my entire set :lol:
Now I'm curious, what makes m4nfo not work well for developing a station set?
I mean, when compared to NFO, I would still prefer m4nfo because I have to keep track of like half of what I would otherwise have to keep track of, but it makes coding such a pain because it doesn't do consistency. Let me explain.
For starters we have the IDs, a newgrf can only have 256 stations, so it stands to reason that 255 is the last allowed ID, and it is. Thing is, it's in octal, so the maximum ID being 255 corresponds to a maximum of 174 stations. Which makes no sense at all.
Then the reason I chose to make the DPRK Stations Addon, as opposed to continuing DPRK Stations, which wasn't anywhere near 174 stations. At a certain point m4nfo just decided that the code to describe the first layout, which describes which sprite goes where, just kept changing what it ended in, instead of just ending in "02". This thing should never be anything other than 02. I said F it, I'm not dealing with this and just finished the project as far as I could be bothered to constantly keep track of what it changed into.

The specific problem I've had with m4nfo when making the newgrf for the screenshot competition was as follows: it failed to properly number the amount of sprites I had. After about 20 sprites, which is ridiculously few, it failed to update a certain value in nfo. I've had to install a thing that autoreplaces this value with what it should be right before compiling. Originally it gave "02 0a" instead of "01 24" The reason Quast saw that error was because I removed the "1.0" from the title, to prevent people from thinking that I'm going to deal with this problem and expand this set further. For no apparent reason - and such things happen all the time when programming in m4nfo - it changed this "02 0a" into "01 14", which was still wrong, but I didn't update my compile.bat, so it didn't work, and I didn't check it because I thought it wouldn't be a problem.

And don't get me started on how I had to do all this with the extremely low-quality tutorial and lacklustre documentation and had to basically figure everything out by myself because the maker of m4nfo is absent and no station project in m4nfo - except for mine - has been open-source.

I'm glad Snail likes it. But to me it's garbage, but when it doesn't do stupid stuff like this, it's alright.
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Re: Erato's Side Projects

Post by Gwyd »

kamnet wrote:
Snail wrote:
Erato wrote:Because m4nfo is trash this set will not be expanded upon.
Funny. I used m4nfo to develop my entire set :lol:
Now I'm curious, what makes m4nfo not work well for developing a station set?
An excellent question. And the answer comes in several strands.

The idea of m4nfo as a NewGRF coding language is excellent; I must commend it on it's compact style and the speed at which it compiles. Sometimes. See, what m4nfo does it translate in to nfo which it doesn't do all that well, for stations at least.

When I use a coding language/compiler I expect it to give reliable results and to give errors that are down to my coding, rather than its inability to cobble together the relevant bytes and such. This is not the case with m4nfo. I've had experience of a couple of examples where it just writes the wrong byte, not set of bytes or anything, just a single byte incorrectly, causing none of the NewGRF to function correctly. An example for the curious:

(Skip this bit if you're not interested in the code)
I started coding with the program. I had some working results, so I started coding lots of stations. Then apparently randomly, the compile started giving two errors in the grfcodec stage.

Code: Select all

...
Linter failure on sprite 235.
Error on sprite 287.
...
I had read some nfo documentation before using m4nfo, so took a look at the .nfo file. The first error seems to originate on line 503 to 514 on the .nfx, even though the syntax etc is identical to line 516 to line 527 (which doesn't give an error). The 7th byte on sprite 235 (line 634 in the .nfo) is "03". On every other action 0 in that area, the 7th byte is "02". What has caused this?
Similarly, the error with sprite 287 is with the 6th byte, it seems, which is "0a", as apposed to the "01" seen in every other similar example (line 1109 in the .nfx, line 1197 in the .nfo)
I changed these bytes manually, then ran grfcodec and the grf compiled without errors.
(You can start reading again)
This isn't me miss-typing the code. The compiler thinks everything is fine, but leaves it to the NFO compiler to tell me it's wrong.

Additionally, the documentation is rather poor at explaining the compiler process, the correct process eventually being explained to me by Erato and was completely different from the documentation. Other things missing from the documentation are the fact that station IDs have to be valid octal numbers, while the limit still being the hex standard of "FF" (256) station IDs. What is the logic behind this? I don't know.

I have also been completely unable to get 32bpp sprites to be recognised by the m4 compiler, despite following the documentation. Something that has also been unhelpful in this process is the lack of contact I've been able to have with the original author of m4nfo (michael blunck) and his unwillingness to share large sections of code. This seems to be a trait of m4nfo coders.

I chose m4nfo as a simpler, quicker and more accessible alternative to NFO. I now almost know enough NFO to code a station set from going through the NFO output from the m4 compiler and it's poor error handling to try to work out what's wrong, commonly resulting in me needing to make a manual change. I know Snail has been able to get a fully functional (and a seemingly excellent) trainset out of it but I really can't realistically see myself using it for a large scale station set. If you're interesting in seeing my code/want to say I've been coding it wrong feel free to take a look at this repo

I know a lot of this repeats Erato's post, but I've been experiencing basically the same issues and want to express the same frustrations.
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Re: Erato's Side Projects

Post by michael blunck »

kamnet wrote:
Snail wrote:
Erato wrote:Because m4nfo is trash this set will not be expanded upon.
Funny. I used m4nfo to develop my entire set :lol:
Now I'm curious, what makes m4nfo not work well for developing a station set?
I don't know since it works perfect for compiling a very large station set like NewStations.

I can only guess it's because of that weird talking about "octal numbers" since m4nfo has no concept of octal numbers but exclusively uses hex and/or decimal numbers for integers.

And hence there's nowhere mentioning of "octal numbers", neither in the docs nor in the tutorials.

You might safely forget about those talkings.

regards
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Re: Erato's Side Projects

Post by Erato »

michael blunck wrote:I can only guess it's because of that weird talking about "octal numbers" since m4nfo has no concept of octal numbers but exclusively uses hex and/or decimal numbers for integers.

And hence there's nowhere mentioning of "octal numbers", neither in the docs nor in the tutorials.

You might safely forget about those talkings.

regards
Michael
Well that's the thing. The only place where it's mentioned is in nforenum every single time, without fail, I try to use the digits 8 or 9 in an ID, and it isn't used anywhere else.
Image But to be honest, that bug, glitch or figment of my imagination, whichever you prefer really doesn't matter. Because if you actually read what is written in the previous two posts you might understand that you really never reach 150 IDs, before encountering a bug so big you're kinda forced to start a new project.
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Re: Erato's Side Projects

Post by michael blunck »

Erato wrote: [...] I try to use the digits 8 or 9 in an ID
Well, something like "009" isn't a valid octal number and the underlying GNU M4 processor can't handle it. Why don't you use simple decimal numbers for your IDs?

Code: Select all

define(STAT_1, 1)
?

[edit]
And BTW, you should change your GPLed DPRK source in that other thread, since otherwise people would run into those self-inflicted problems with using octal numbers with no reason.
[/edit]

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Re: Erato's Side Projects

Post by Erato »

JR-East's E001 - Train Suite Shiki-Shima 1.2
Decided to make the train function more like a sleeper train. It fits a lot less passengers, but they're content for significantly longer.
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E001 - 1.2.grf
(16.6 KiB) Downloaded 169 times
Changelog
Changed: Lowered passenger capacity
Changed: Increased passenger aging time
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E001_source_1.2.rar
(10.72 KiB) Downloaded 170 times
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Re: Erato's Side Projects

Post by Erato »

Okinawa Trainset 1.3.1
The purchase window sprites were way off.
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Okinawa_Trainset_1.3.1.grf
(39.52 KiB) Downloaded 168 times
Changelog
Fixed: Offset in purchase window sprites
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Source_Okinawa_1.3.1.rar
(2.31 MiB) Downloaded 169 times
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Re: Erato's Side Projects

Post by Erato »

Behold my latest project:
The Trackless Track Set
This little newgrf adds some fake tracks that can be used to fill in the grass when you use urban tracks, or to smoothen the transition to ISR or Auz freight station tiles.
For the full effect you might need JGRpp. Based on the Industrial Station Set, the North Korean Track set and the JapanSet Tracks. The North Korean urban ground looks pretty good when used with the JapanSet tracks.
trackless.grf
(44.09 KiB) Downloaded 215 times
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I wasn't able to add Ufiby's urban ground because of licensing issues.
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Source_Trackless.rar
(24.33 KiB) Downloaded 190 times
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Re: Erato's Side Projects

Post by Quast65 »

Very handy to fill in those ugly unrealistic looking gaps! :bow:
Projects: http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=57266
Screenshots: http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=56959
Scenario of The Netherlands: viewtopic.php?f=60&t=87604

Winner of the following screenshot competitions:
sep 2012, jan 2013, apr 2013, aug 2013, mar 2014, mar 2016, oct 2020
All my work is released under GPL-license (either V2 or V3), if not clearly stated otherwise.
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Re: Erato's Side Projects

Post by Erato »

Here's a newGRF I made in mid July 2019 but never ended up releasing.
Maglev Station Set
maglevstationset.grf
(55.72 KiB) Downloaded 268 times
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This NewGRF adds some maglev stations from China and a station from the Braunschweig M-Bahn test track.
This is licenced under GPLv2
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Maglev Station Source.rar
(35.12 KiB) Downloaded 226 times
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Re: Erato's Side Projects

Post by fridaemon »

ooooh, these things I like so much :twisted: :bow:
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Beach Objects * Shopping Centres * Skyscrapers * Garage Entrances
Modular Warehouses * Trucks & Buses Parking Lots * Bus Depots * Bus Terminals
Road Waypoints * Road Stops * Eyecandy Objects * Building Set

Winner of the Screenshot of 09/20, 11/20, 02/21, 06/21, 07/21, 05/22 and 06/22.:twisted:
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Re: Erato's Side Projects

Post by Erato »

Quick fix:
The Trackless Track Set 1.1
trackless - 1.1.grf
(44.1 KiB) Downloaded 201 times
Changelog:
Fixed: Tracks on slopes not lining up properly.
Attachments
Source_Trackless_1.1.rar
(24.33 KiB) Downloaded 169 times
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Re: Erato's Side Projects

Post by Erato »

A NewGRF I made a while back with Gwyd for the NewGRF% speedrunning category.
Small Man
smallman.grf
(2.95 KiB) Downloaded 195 times
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Credits:
Base code: Gwyd
Sprites: Erato

This NewGRF is useful for servers that don't care much for money. This little newgrf adds an object that can be placed for free, and when deleted gives the player an obscene amount of money. This makes it so admins don't need to bother with cheating and transferring.
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Source SmallMan.rar
(9.19 KiB) Downloaded 165 times
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Re: Erato's Side Projects

Post by Quast65 »

Erato wrote: 11 Feb 2021 13:16 This NewGRF is useful for servers that don't care much for money. This little newgrf adds an object that can be placed for free, and when deleted gives the player an obscene amount of money. This makes it so admins don't need to bother with cheating and transferring.
Great idea!! :bow:
Projects: http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=57266
Screenshots: http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=56959
Scenario of The Netherlands: viewtopic.php?f=60&t=87604

Winner of the following screenshot competitions:
sep 2012, jan 2013, apr 2013, aug 2013, mar 2014, mar 2016, oct 2020
All my work is released under GPL-license (either V2 or V3), if not clearly stated otherwise.
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Re: Erato's Side Projects

Post by Erato »

Quite some time ago, javelinnl made velo, a tramset for bicycles, but it's not visually compatible with DROP. It can't even be loaded with DROP. I changed both those things. Velo now works seemlessly with DROP's roads to create real authentic Dutch roads. You can get DROP here
Velo - DROP Fork
veloDrop.grf
(19.42 KiB) Downloaded 170 times
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Credits:
Practically everything: Javelinnl
Edited by: Erato

Licensed under GPL v3
Source: https://github.com/EratoNysiad/velo
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Re: Erato's Side Projects

Post by Erato »

This world needs more eyecandy. Matching normal trackset coming soon™
The Trackless Track Set 1.2
Image
trackless - 1.2.grf
(137.76 KiB) Downloaded 236 times
Changelog:
Added: CHIPS tracks
Added: GUI sprites
Changed: Urban tracks snow aware, visually compatible with OpenGFX+ Landscape
Changed: Introduction year reduced to 1800
Attachments
Source_Trackless_1.2.rar
(73.2 KiB) Downloaded 202 times
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Re: Erato's Side Projects

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Matching normal trackset coming soon™ now! It wasn't as much work as I thought it would be. Make sure to check the parameters though. Up to 24 tracktypes can be added. Made to be visually compatible with both the Japanese Trackset, and the North Korean trackset.
I was watching this beautiful video by Tinny, and this was the biggest missing link. If they had this NewGRF, it would be so much better. But to my surprise, it didn't exist. Now it does.
The Industrial Track Set 1.0
Image
indtrak - 1.0.grf
(703.25 KiB) Downloaded 212 times
Also on BaNaNaS!
Attachments
Source Indtrak 1.0.rar
(447.31 KiB) Downloaded 234 times
Last edited by Erato on 05 Mar 2021 07:49, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Erato's Side Projects

Post by Gadg8eer »

Erato wrote: 05 Mar 2021 00:39 Matching normal trackset coming soon™ now! It wasn't as much work as I thought it would be. Make sure to check the parameters though. Up to 24 tracktypes can be added. Made to be visually compatible with both the Japanese Trackset, and the North Korean trackset.
I was watching this [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoGcAr5PyZI]beautiful video by Tinny,[url] and this was the biggest missing link. If they had this NewGRF, it would be so much better. But to my surprise, it didn't exist. Now it does.
The Industrial Track Set 1.0
Image
indtrak - 1.0.grf
Also on BaNaNaS!
Nice work! Would it be possible to add a "Dual gauge only" option to the parameters, to reduce the number of tracktypes required for compatibility?
I have Asperger's, please be easy on me about stuff. My apologies if I've been a problem for you in the past.
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