Rail usage overlay

[ondras]

Hi,
I have a suggestion to OpenTTD. I remember I was once playing an old PC game called 'Pharaoh' (classic empire-building strategy); there was an option to show a colorful overlay (atop roads), showing how frequently are individual road segments used. So, when in this mode, all roads were displayed in various shades of red: the more frequently used, the darker was the color.

In my opinion, this would be a valuable add-on to OpenTTD, allowing thorough analysis of your tracks & route optimalization. This - of course - increases memory requirements, as train passes for each track must be measured. However, this can be compensated by gathering these stats only in 'gathering' mode (people with fast PCs will always turn this on, people with older machines might disable and revert to original performance).

What do you think? Is this a completely idiotic suggestion? Or does it have some good points? I would love to help with implementation, but I have zero knowledge of OTTD's code and I am no c++ guru :/

[Samme]

Sounds like a good idea to me, but i can't help you with it

[DeletedUser21]

It's a good suggestion, something like this has been suggested before but then in combination with eye candy. The suggestion was that railtracks that weren't used or not frequently used, gets dirty and covered with moss etc. I wonder what has happend with that plan.

[saint]

It's waiting for someone kind to put all the graphics into one sprite sheet.

http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?p=569220#569220

[ZxBiohazardZx]

Hi,
I have a suggestion to OpenTTD. I remember I was once playing an old PC game called 'Pharaoh' (classic empire-building strategy); there was an option to show a colorful overlay (atop roads), showing how frequently are individual road segments used. So, when in this mode, all roads were displayed in various shades of red: the more frequently used, the darker was the color.

In my opinion, this would be a valuable add-on to OpenTTD, allowing thorough analysis of your tracks & route optimalization. This - of course - increases memory requirements, as train passes for each track must be measured. However, this can be compensated by gathering these stats only in 'gathering' mode (people with fast PCs will always turn this on, people with older machines might disable and revert to original performance).

What do you think? Is this a completely idiotic suggestion? Or does it have some good points? I would love to help with implementation, but I have zero knowledge of OTTD's code and I am no c++ guru :/

didn't someone make the waypoints count trains?.... im quite sure ive seen a patch where the waypoints measure the ammount of trains/time.....

[Marqhuinos]

In my opinion, this would be a valuable add-on to OpenTTD, allowing thorough analysis of your tracks & route optimalization. This - of course - increases memory requirements, as train passes for each track must be measured. However, this can be compensated by gathering these stats only in 'gathering' mode (people with fast PCs will always turn this on, people with older machines might disable and revert to original performance).

I Like this a lot!

Maybe in combination with the deteriating rails, but not necciserally

didn't someone make the waypoints count trains?.... im quite sure ive seen a patch where the waypoints measure the ammount of trains/time.....

I think ondras his idea would word way better than counting waypoints. This way you could annalise your network in a much more efficient way and optimize accordingly.
I'd like to see this idea put to good use.

[saint]

Either way, I have been slowly working on degradation of rails (and have a mostly working temperate climate, however I am having awful problems putting all the png's in to one pcx file with the correct palette and aligning all the sprites correctly. I can work on the alignment if needed however would greatly appreciate someone creating the pcx.

For a coloured overlay, it would be as simple as replacing the aging rail with different coloured rail.

[Wolf01]

good, this is a great news about rusty tracks
i hope you will get a fully working grf soon

[DaleStan]

Not possible, unfortunately. NFO does not yet provide for variable track graphics, except for the different land types. (bare/grass/snow/desert)

[l_Blue_l]

I was just trying to think of the best way to limit the amount of recourses used with a system like this and i believe the best option would be to implement a new signaling system where each rail intersection it would monitor where each train came from and goes to. From this it would be able to create the overlay for each section of track.

[saint]

DaleStan is right in that NFO doesn't provide for changing track graphics, so instead it is just another "compulsory" grf that OTTD loads at startup.

As for memory usage, I believe I'm currently consuming an extra 3 bytes per tile (4 bits per direction per tile which shouldn't be too much of a problem for modern PC's), however this will allow for up to 16 different stages of usage (be it colour or rust).

[Wolf01]

i didn't mean newgrf, he has problems to make an aligned pcx file with the graphics which will be coded into a grf, so i wish he can do this soon

@saint: should be possible to have different overlay for branches in a junction? (i mean in the same tile)

[saint]

Yes - that's how I've planned it. I've reviewed the source changes and its actually using 4 bytes extra per tile.

Someone else has contacted me so-far who might be able to put all the graphics into a single pcx file. After I get this and tidy up the source a little, I might release a diff.

[Griff]

So then, with the normal tracks and the rusty tracks.
If i had rusty tracks somewhere, and i sent a train down them. Would they suddenly turn back to normal tracks?

[DeletedUser21]

So then, with the normal tracks and the rusty tracks.
If i had rusty tracks somewhere, and i sent a train down them. Would they suddenly turn back to normal tracks?

I guess not at an instant, you have to drive trains over them in regular use IMO, that would seem more realistic.

[Griff]

So you'd need tracks in various stages of rust then..

[Marqhuinos]

So then, with the normal tracks and the rusty tracks.
If i had rusty tracks somewhere, and i sent a train down them. Would they suddenly turn back to normal tracks?

I guess not at an instant, you have to drive trains over them in regular use IMO, that would seem more realistic.

Like in real life rails would ALWAYS corrode, unless you have a whole lot of trains running over them.. But if you want them to "un-corrode" (or "de-rust") it would take like a half year of full usage before the rust would grind off.

(Maybe it would be a nice idea to have special service trains. (Just my mind rumbling))

[Ben_K]

If I remember right from Saints thread, that is what he would like - multiple stages that change with usage. I guess the problem lies in making it in the game.
Personally, Id be happy with just the 2 stage to start with and aim for the multi stage later as I tend to leave old track around when its disused to keep it a bit more realistic..

[Marqhuinos]

If I remember right from Saints thread, that is what he would like - multiple stages that change with usage. I guess the problem lies in making it in the game.
Personally, Id be happy with just the 2 stage to start with and aim for the multi stage later as I tend to leave old track around when its disused to keep it a bit more realistic..

2 stages would seem a good idea to start with. If it works (properly) there might be a possibility to create multiple stages..

[saint]

I have room for up to 16 stages per rail direction per tile with the space I've allocated in memory. The amount of usage a track needs to shine up probably still needs adjusting but I'll work on that once I have a single pcx or grf containing all the graphics for each climate.