Cargo Distribution

[Morgsie]

I have downloaded the common files zip and the 32 binary zip, now what do i do

[id10terror]

Awww man........ given that you dont know what to do at this point, i'm not sure you will sufficient background knowledge to complete these steps sucessfully but here goes.

1st backup your current ottd folder so you dont break it.
2nd extract the contents of the zips to the folder you just backed up making sure you overwrite all the files, use somthing like 7zip to do the extraction
3rd run the openttd.exe file

1st edit, yes the 2nd step is kind of ambigious but provided you keep one folder original you have a backup. and so long as the context of 'which folder' is preserved between steps 2 and 3 the outcome will be as expected.
2nd edit, i probably should also point out that if you are sucessful in getting it to run you NEED to adhere to the non stop order rule explained in the first post of this thread, if you do not your experience with cargodist will not be what you are expecting. not that i know what you are expecting but i expect i know what you would expect not to happen if that makes sense.
3rd edit, was bored, extended logic on first edit.
4th edit, whitespace variation.
5th edit, responce to pm.

generating step by step instructions is difficult due to operating system and OS configuration variances between my machine (win7 ult) with all the explorer protections turned off.

i am unsure if my more detailed instructions will be of any help to you.

the first step should be completed by copying the folder to a new location, nothing fancy, thats all you have to do. right click copy, right click paste.

the 2nd step is a bit more difficult, the zips you downloaded contain both files and folders and you gain access to these contained items with a file archiver(7zip).
the process commonly being refered to as extraction.
make sure you extract all the items to the correct destinations.

the 3rd step should make sense but make sure you do it in the correct folder.

this posted to the original thread so anyone else having similar difficulties may glean insight.
if this is to difficult get someone more exprierenced to help you, you need the guidance to do this without fear of damaging an already working version of ottd.

6th edit, pm as follows
The OS I have is Windows Vista.

I have copied both those files onto the desktop from downloads, now what do i do?

6th edit, reply as follows

i cannot help you any further.....tonight..... my wireless keeps dropping out(3g) and its quite late here in australia. you have not completed step one yet, the working version of ottd on your computer must be backed up, not the files you downloaded.

The folder is usually installed to c:\openttd in my case but this may not be the case for you, you can find out where your version of ottd is installed by right clicking on the ottd shortcut and selecting properties.

7th edit, ok we try for one more message b4 i drop off again. get 7zip(google 7zip should be first link). after you have put that on your computer you will be able to open the files you downloaded and complete the extract step(file menu of 7zip under 'copy to)

8th edit, ok now copy the files you extracted to one of the ottd folders either the one on your desktop or otherplace etc it will come up and say files aready exist do you want to overwrite, and you say hell yes i want to overwrite them! and you should be set for step 3 wich should be done in the aformentioned folder.

9th edit, there were more msgs i'm not sure if i have resolved it for him, i think hes off looking for a infrastructure sharing+cargodist binary atm.

[WWW]

Here's a 32 bit binary. Built from git g2351cbceM

In .7z format because it gives the best compression around.

Built with msys on Windows 7.

[ostlandr]

Thank you!

Here's a 32 bit binary. Built from git g2351cbceM

In .7z format because it gives the best compression around.

Built with msys on Windows 7.

[Dwight_K._Schrute]

I really love it and can't wait to have it in the trunk!!!!

[Arie-]

...
I think it's feature complete, but the devs don't like some of the features. Also it's not completely coding styled and documented. I've been a bit slow with that lately.
...

So fonsy, are these issues code wise or gameplay concept wise, if it's the latter maybe we can help thinking about solutions.

[fonso]

I see 4 main problems for cargodist to be included in trunk:

1. Iit's still not fully documented and coding-styled. I'm working on that.

2. The devs don't like my usage of threads. Threads are actually optional. You can switch the threading off with a trivial code change. However, then the game will lag while the link graph is calculated. I could implement a step-by-step calculation of the link graph where you only get a smaller (probably not noticable) lag, but several times. First I will finish the documentation and styling, though.

3. They also don't like the smallmap link graph display, mainly because you need zoom-in for that and the zoomed in smallmap is just as detailed as the main view. So they say it should have been done as an overlay over the main view. This, of course wouldn't work for long links, so in fact we'd need both. That's ugly, too. Technically the smallmap link graph display is not really necessary. You can just leave out the smallmap-stats branch, then you won't see it. I know that it's probably hard to play without it, but I guess it won't be accepted into trunk.

4. It's a huge pile of code and no one wants to review it. Maybe I'll find some dev to review it when 1. and 2. are fixed, we'll see.

[Gremnon]

Seeing as CargoDist is made up of several smaller patches, is it more worth tackling each of those lesser patches one by one until they're acceptable (if they're one of the acceptable ones, unlike the linkgraph, or need the disliked threading, etc)?
It would seem that done that way, at least some of the smaller ones have a chance of being merged if they're useful by themselves, which would reduce the overall size of the the main CargoDist patch itself.

[fonso]

Seeing as CargoDist is made up of several smaller patches, is it more worth tackling each of those lesser patches one by one until they're acceptable (if they're one of the acceptable ones, unlike the linkgraph, or need the disliked threading, etc)?
It would seem that done that way, at least some of the smaller ones have a chance of being merged if they're useful by themselves, which would reduce the overall size of the the main CargoDist patch itself.

I don't think so as none of those patches provides a value of its own. For example I had a discussion with Rubidium about smallmap-zoom-in where he asked me if it's good for anything but cargodist. It isn't, so he said there's no use including it in trunk. And as a matter of fact I'm code-styling and documenting the branches one by one. For example smallmap-zoom-in, components, demands and mcf are pretty much finished (pending final review ...), currently I'm working on reservation, cargomap and ext-rating. The GUI patches (smallmap-stats and station-gui) still look pretty wild.

[Zephyris]

I would say small map zoom in is definately of interest, expecially with the inexorable climb of screen pixel density and size... Did the devs really have no interest in it?

[fonso]

I would say small map zoom in is definately of interest, expecially with the inexorable climb of screen pixel density and size... Did the devs really have no interest in it?

Well, obviously someone had a look at the patch before asking me what it's good for. I didn't think of that argument, though.

[Wasila]

Very interesting post! Quick question though.

3. They also don't like the smallmap link graph display, mainly because you need zoom-in for that and the zoomed in smallmap is just as detailed as the main view. So they say it should have been done as an overlay over the main view. This, of course wouldn't work for long links, so in fact we'd need both. That's ugly, too. Technically the smallmap link graph display is not really necessary. You can just leave out the smallmap-stats branch, then you won't see it. I know that it's probably hard to play without it, but I guess it won't be accepted into trunk.

Why does it matter that the smallmap is as detailed as the main overview? Cargodist is half-broken if you can't see the statistics...

[fonso]

Why does it matter that the smallmap is as detailed as the main overview? Cargodist is half-broken if you can't see the statistics...

That's a design problem. The smallmap is designed as a less detailed overview of the map. If you have to zoom in that far on the smallmap to properly see the statistics then obviously you're trying to cram more detail into it than it's designed for.

[Wasila]

That's a design problem. The smallmap is designed as a less detailed overview of the map. If you have to zoom in that far on the smallmap to properly see the statistics then obviously you're trying to cram more detail into it than it's designed for.

But, at least in my experience, you don't need the maximum setting of zoom. A couple of levels in and it's enough to see inner-city bus routes, at least for me.

[Eddi]

it's hard to reduce the detail level for the connectivity/capacity graphs. you'd have to combine some routes. [e.g. show only capacity for the whole city network, not each single edge.]

what could also work: instead of having bar graphs or numbers [which i found extremely difficult to read/interpret], you could colour the edges in the relation of capacity/usage instead of cargo colour. so you'd have green for capacity>>usage, yellow for capacity>usage, orange for capacity<usage and red for capacity<<usage.

[Zephyris]

I would suggest adding a minimap mode which looks like the contour mode except colour the squares for each station according to Eddi's suggestion; ie. red for capacity<<usage, green for capacity>>usage etc.

I still think you would be able to push for one or two zoom in levels for trunk which would make this clearer, and probably allow the full network in addition to the colour coded stations clearly enough.

[jungle]

For example I had a discussion with Rubidium about smallmap-zoom-in where he asked me if it's good for anything but cargodist. It isn't, so he said there's no use including it in trunk.

For what it's worth, the smallmap zoom is immensely useful for a load of things - I regularly use it for non-cargodist related stuff. The first couple of zoom in levels are good when planning a route through hilly built-up areas, and the extra zoom *out* is good for an overview of the terrain on a large map...

On the issue of alternative ways of displaying the connections - you could possibly do it in the station info windows (i.e. where it gives the number of passengers waiting for a specific link). I still think the zoomable map's better, but if the devs don't like it, it's an option.

[Eddi]

the zoom out is already included in trunk.

[Lordmwa]

I believe a large number of players see cargo destinations as the next big step for OTTD to take.

It has got so close here. I personally would love to see this in an official branch of code avaliable to download to all but clearly shown as not done. With lots of people playing it there would be far more testing.

[Mackensen]

I've updated to the latest version and I'm getting an error at the end of the compile, when it goes to link the binary:

Code: Select all

[SRC] Linking openttd
linkgraph/mcf.o: In function `MultiCommodityFlow::CleanupPaths(unsigned int, std::vector<Path*, std::allocator<Path*> >&)':
mcf.cpp:(.text+0x659): undefined reference to `Path::UnFork()'
mcf.cpp:(.text+0x6a5): undefined reference to `Path::UnFork()'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make[1]: *** [openttd] Error 1

System is Ubuntu with a 2.6.32-24-generic kernel.