New GRF FAQ on Wiki site

[mironos]

Hi all,

As I was finding myself w/ questions about GRF files, I thought compiling a FAQ might be a useful resource for others. I've created one here, and would appreciate feedback on:

• If the information is accurate
• If there is anything I've missed
• If there is any other info you feel should live on this page

http://wiki.openttd.org/index.php/NewGRF_FAQ

Let me know what you think.

[OzTrans]

Very good idea ...

You could mention the sprite limit; if exceeded to use the nightlies instead of v0.5.0.

[dtb1322]

How about the date and the name of the last GRF added to the wiki list?

[Mchl]

You can always review history and compare versions from the past:
http://wiki.openttd.org/index.php?title ... on=history

[dtb1322]

Didn't know that you could review the history (even though there is a tab "history" right at the top of the page, doh!), thank you.

But I think it would be nice to maybe highlight the latest addition or something or add the date next to each entry so one wouldn't have to look at a different page. But I will use that page now.

[Mchl]

It is always a matter of time people can spend on such actions.
Editing wiki is a lat of fun, and You could start by adding these dates.

[mironos]

Very good idea ...

You could mention the sprite limit; if exceeded to use the nightlies instead of v0.5.0.

Hey Oz -- since I'm still a newbie to OpenTTD (though a veteran TTD'er), could you explain to me how the sprite limit comes into play? Or in other words, what question would someone have that we would answer on the FAQ?

Would they see an error message of some sort? Would they not be able to load all the GRF files they wanted to? What would be the experience if someone reached the sprite limit?

Is the sprite limit related to (or the same thing as) the amount of different train, bus, building, etc. graphics you can have? So, for example, if the sprite limit was raised, would that mean my town wouldn't have the same 6 types of buildings repeated over and over ?

Forgive the uninformed question -- I don't have the OpenTTD Forum terminology down yet.

[Mchl]

'Sprite limit' doesn't allow you to load several large grfs at once. I first encountered it when trying to add Articulated RVs after adding DBsetXL, Aviators' Set and NewStations.
As far as I remember, when such situation happens game shows message of type 'Can't load game. Sprite limit exceeded'. This is probably not the exact wording.

[mironos]

Can anyone provide the exact wording of the error message (or better yet, a screenshot of it) to put in the FAQ?

Also, if there is a fuller description of the problem and/or solution, that would be great too.

Or if someone just wants to go ahead and edit the FAQ themselves, that would work too.

[mart3p]

Is the sprite limit related to (or the same thing as) the amount of different train, bus, building, etc. graphics you can have? So, for example, if the sprite limit was raised, would that mean my town wouldn't have the same 6 types of buildings repeated over and over ?

Each vehicle uses a number of sprites. This is often 8 but many vehicles use additional spites to show loading stages, liveries, animation etc. A NewGRF vehicle can use a large number of sprites (hundreds sometimes).

The sprite limit does not affect the number of types of vehicle/buildings that you can have in the game. It is the total number of graphic images you can have.

Here’s a screenshot of the error message...

[OzTrans]

Well, I thought you were an old hand at Openttd, never mind. Me too, I have yet to play a game in OpenTTD.

To that sprite limit. Yes, the player gets an error message, when trying to start a game and having too many .grfs in the list and the game exits to the desktop.

Code: Select all

 Error : Tried to load too many sprites (16'383 max) 

Now, this error will happen with v0.5.0 and earlier versions. In the nightlies (don't know from which release onwards) this is no longer a problem as the limit has been increased to an astronomical number. Currently if players are very selective about the .grfs they wish to play with, then there is no problem. This, however, will change when we release the Canadian Stations Set (v0.3) and the Canadian Train Set (v0.3); these sets are so large that you would not be able to play them together in v0.5.0. Using them alone, is currently ok, but forget about adding any other ones.

The good news is, that this has been fixed with the nightlies. You could mention, if above error occurs, to either be more selective what grfs are being loaded or using one of the recent nightlies.

What counts towards the sprite limit ? Every single real sprite in a grf is counted once (never mind how often they are being used). On top of that about 4'000+ base sprites are also included in the count. In TTDPatch you can check how many sprites are being used for a particular grf. Open up the 'New graphics status' window and without any grf selected it will show the active sprite count. Dis/enabling a set will change these numbers and the difference will indicate what the sprite count for that set is.

I hope, this helps

EDIT: I have been beaten by mart3p

[mironos]

Ah, thanks guys. Very informative! I'm understanding more and more.

I've added this question to the FAQ; if you guys have time, it would be great if you could review what I've written, and let me know if I made any mistakes (or of course feel free to correct them on the Wiki if you would like).

To the rest of the GRF community: if you have any questions you're sick of answering, let me know...I'll add them to the list.