[Route] Aln Valley

Right,

Thought I'd start this just to share my experience.

I downloaded BVE 5 and was stunned at how quickly and simply it loaded. Not being a fan of Japanese routes, I decided to download the 'convertor' program.

I also bookmarked the BVE Cheat Sheet, which seems to contain an explanation of the command syntax.

As Aln Valley is relatively short (two stations, three miles) I thought I'd have a go at 'converting' that.

There seems to be a hiccup in that the first station was ignored. There were lots of errors reported. A quick peek at the 'map.txt' file and I worked out how to add the missing first station, also pasting it into the stations.csv file. Nice and simple.

So...

Do I have to convert all the objects to .x files? Did that with the track, which then appeared. A bit of a faff, but shouldn't take too long...

All hints and tips gratefully received.

I shall report back on my progress before too long.


Cheers

eezypeazy

That looks a great cheat sheet of which I for one wasn't aware - I think we will need to place all of these guides and utilities into one place at the top of the forums for easy future reference, so thanks for that, eezypeazy.

I'm sorry to say that I am not in a position to give the definitive answer to your question since I am lagging behind just a tad mainly due to domestic issues, but I believe that what you say is true, that all objects need to be converted to x-files. I guess that this is what makes BVE5 speedier than Openbve, which shows no prospect of emerging from the text-file format. At least BVE5 is taking a step forward in "compiling" the objects into something approaching machine code.

This leads me to a question of my own: The only way I'm aware of converting b3d / csv files to x-files is to drop them in the BVE4 viewer and use the option there to convert them. Or is there another way?

And closely related to this subject, I expect that the x-file format will finally lay to rest the waste-of-space csv format for objects. Why anybody wants to type nearly three times as many characters than they would writing a simpler b3d file with just as much functionality is totally beyond me, and csv files must be less efficient when being rendered by the program as a result. Long live x-files!

basically from what ive learned writting up the tutorials, all route files that are converted have certain values withdrawn and other's added. for instance the .dyke and .wall are now no longer used in BVE5.

Alan. please contact me when possible! lost your number because my phones been blocked :/

A progress report:

A little time is opening up over the Easter weekend, so I've returned to converting Aln Valley. I've got two instances of Structure Viewer open on my desktop; I drop a .b3d building into one, export it as an .x file, and view the results in the other. Most errors seems to be textures not in the right place (I had a habit of placing 'common' textures in a 'textures' folder and referring to them in the .b3d file - .x format requires all the textures to be in the same folder as the file itself); incorrect transparency color (like most people, I used pure blue in most objects, but .x considers pure black to always be transparent. Resolved by editing color palette of textures in Analyzer).

I'll do a little more over the weekend.

Other issues:
- The Class 142_088 doesn't want to start, unless I restart the scenario. Problem with BVE 5 and the UK specific files? usually overcome if I restart the scenario.
- In 'Old' BVE, you could go into track veiw mode and whizz along the route; using the 'v' key removes the train cab and allows you to look around, but not move forward...???

This week's progress report:

I did some work converting objects to .x format (without encountering any 'rotation' problems with the placement of objects), but then realised that all I was ending up with was a BVE 5 route that looked exactly the same as its BVE2/4 predecessor that's getting on for five years old! 'Surely my modelling skill has moved on', I thought to myself. So I decided that, before I convert the route to BVE 5, I'd rebuild many of the objects to a higher standard, starting with platform furniture. So Alnmouth and Alnwick platforms now feature lamp posts and signs in a BR (NE) colour scheme:



I've also rebuilt some 'close to' fences into 3D rather than using two dimensional RouteBuilder fences and following a request I made on another group I've added reasonably realistic gradients (Aln Valley was previously flat, whereas it now has correct 1 in 77 and 1 in 176 gradients). Once I'm happy with the route objects, I'll restart converting it into BVE 5.

Hopefully I'll do a little more this week.

Cheers

eezypeazy

Power to your keyboard, eezypeazy!

One of these days I will be active again, obviously starting with converting existing material, but then progressing into writing directly for BVE5.

I like those signs - excellent colours!

Thanks!

TBH, this is proving an excellent way of 'easing my self back in' to objects and route coding. It'll iron out lots of little niggles in the Aln Valley route, too, and make it openBVE compatible (not currently due to transparency issues). Then I'll address the issue of making it play properly on BVE 5...

eezypeazy wrote:Thanks!

TBH, this is proving an excellent way of 'easing my self back in' to objects and route coding. It'll iron out lots of little niggles in the Aln Valley route, too, and make it openBVE compatible (not currently due to transparency issues). Then I'll address the issue of making it play properly on BVE 5...

And also that train that drive through yours, if your not quick enough getting moving, when you get the signal.

From what you've posted this is certainly looking great mate! Keep it up! I look forward to going for a thrash up that big hill!

pedned wrote:And also that train that drive through yours, if your not quick enough getting moving, when you get the signal.

I presume you mean the error in the 'pretrain' command? That's because this route has never been rebuilt for openBVE ...

pedned wrote:From what you've posted this is certainly looking great mate! Keep it up! I look forward to going for a thrash up that big hill!

Bit hard to 'thrash' on a 25mph speed limit, but also quite difficult to keep it moving without either breaking the speed limit or running late...

eezypeazy wrote:

pedned wrote:From what you've posted this is certainly looking great mate! Keep it up! I look forward to going for a thrash up that big hill!

Bit hard to 'thrash' on a 25mph speed limit, but also quite difficult to keep it moving without either breaking the speed limit or running late...

Well not sure how you interpret the word thrash. But to a Haulage basher, it's all about the noise!
And after being all over preserved railways, I guess the 'crawling up to the hill at walking pace and then giving it hell' is a special technique which maybe only preserved line drivers/enthusiasts will think about!

A progress report:

I've set myself some challenging targets. The route file for Aln Valley is already reasonably small, but I want to improve the coding so that it gets smaller - I've set myself a target of 10 per cent smaller. At the same time, I want to rebuild quite a bit of the scenery, to take advantage of whatever improvement happened in my modelling skills (!) in the intervening years, to make the whole thing more efficient and more visually appealing. At the moment I'm taken with the idea of following the colour scheme shown on the lamp post and signs above and modelling the whole thing in an approximation of the BR(E) colour scheme. I noticed that my Cliburn Signal Box is a close approximation:

So my task for tonight is to start modifying it - adding in the 'shelf' under the windows, making the stairs look better (which I know Alan would like!)...

How far I succeed, well, time will tell...!!!

Sounding and looking great so far mate!
I look forward to it very much!

... Now if only we had more 1980's routes for BVE...

Another progress report:

I've tweaked the blue to be more prototypical and toned down the cream to be more akin to ivory. Stairs now look better. Chimney pot added. I've started adding the 'shelf' - one bracket done - putting in the remainder is just copying and translating. Oh, and I've modded the textures to make them work inside an .x file object.



It'll need a name plate as well

eezypeazy wrote:It'll need a name plate as well

And someone to 'swap the token' a passing loop would be nice. Maybe meet a train, and sit for a minute or so 'awaiting the peg.'

The signal cabin is looking good! Maybe I need to change my own as yet unreleased vintage Basingstoke signalbox into an x-file.

Certainly objects for openBVE are much more forgiving on the framerates when it comes to adding many faces, compared to the economies forced upon us by the constraints of BVE4. The impression I have gained is that BVE5 with its .x files is even more forgiving still, so maybe our models are to become ever more realistic...

And it's finished:


I've tweaked the roofline to make it look better and decided to add 'ball and finials'.

Roughly placed at the entrance to Alnwick Station.

That's probably it for developing for this month - otherwise engaged Saturday and Sunday, busy evenings next week and busy next Saturday, too.

Cheers for now

eezypeazy

Stunning!

I must say that looks very impressive, so I thought I'd "retaliate" with one of my own, please see a separate thread... ("Old Basingstoke Cabin")

Oh my word! Fantastic!

This could begin to get very competitive...!!!

An Aln Valley progress report:

All the gradients are correct and adjacent scenery has been corrected for any 'gaps' that opened up. I've converted all the track to .x files. RouteBuilder uses freeobjects for adjacent tracks rather than other rails, which is inefficient, so all adjacent tracks are now rails. The upshot of this is that my BVE 4 route file is now 18K instead of 20K, so that's 5 per cent smaller - half way to my self-imposed target of a ten per cent reduction in size.

Because RB used objects for track, there's also a lot of objects that can be removed from the whole package, further helping to reduce the overall size.

So my next task is to work systematically through the remaining objects, converting them to .x files.

Cheers

eezypeazy

And the best of luck!

I've not yet done any serious looking at BVE5 routes because of certain domestic constraints, but have been looking into the .x format for objects. I suppose that object building has always been my forté rather than route building, so perhaps I will continue to develop a full understanding in that field, then progress to writing a guide or two.

Presently Ben is away working, but on his return will continue his own work, and maybe I will try to persuade a couple of other developers that the future really is in BVE5...

More progress:

I've started converting all objects to .x files. I had some tree arrays I'd made in easyTREE - this was good at making nice tree arrays, but horrendously inefficient - too may faces, too many textures! So I now have acceptable woodland with fewer faces, and textures converted to use pure black as the transparent color.

Oh, and the route file size has come down to 17k - largely because RouteBuilder placed objects into the route to four decimal places on each axis - strip that lot out and it's amazing how much smaller it gets!

Should be more progress later this week...

EDIT: Did seven object conversions this evening. Only 52 more to go!

EDIT 1 May 12: Got bogged down this evening rebuilding a bridge that is obviously wrong. After two hours, it still isn't right. So still 52 objects to go!

EDIT 2 May 12: Finally finished the bridge I was stuck on tonight. Then converted a further four objects to .x format. So only 47 to go! And Newcastle showed Chelsea how football should be played, too!

Sounding good Eezy! Keep it up! Im looking forward to this!

eezypeazy wrote:... And Newcastle showed Chelsea how football should be played, too!

I hope they can find it in themselves to show Man City how it should be played this Sunday too! (Sorry Jamie, it ain't over until the handsome Wayne Rooney scores the winner in the 97th minute of the game at Blunderland! )

guillyman wrote:

eezypeazy wrote:... And Newcastle showed Chelsea how football should be played, too!

I hope they can find it in themselves to show Man City how it should be played this Sunday too! (Sorry Jamie, it ain't over until the handsome Wayne Rooney scores the winner in the 97th minute of the game at Blunderland! )

We'll just match you on points, just to rub in that we can beat you easily on goals alone!

Progress report: I now have only two dozen objects to convert to .x format... sadly, they're mainly very old objects or complex objects, so it may take some time to finish them The good news, though, is that on my very old pc the frame rate I'm getting in BVE 4 has improved dramatically as a result of the work I've done so far.

At this rate, it looks as though I'll complete the .x format conversion this week; then I'll 'press the button' to convert the route to BVE 5 format. While I'm confident that it will be playable, it's at this point that we're going to start to run into interesting problems. I asked elsewhere on this forum for some guidance on 'default' folders (not being a fan of 'My Documents' - long story that I'll not bore you with, suffice to say that I did some consultancy for an accountancy practice who had ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING stored in 'My Documents', with each file given a number, and therefore needed a parallel card index to find anything... and there were THOUSANDS of client files...!!!).

Goodnight

eezypeazy