New OpenBVE Build- Testers Please

That was it alright!  I did think about it but for some reason I thought your version of OpenBVE did not require it.

Thanks,
Michael

I have an issue with the joystick controller assignments. The A1 joystick axis only goes half way up the scale in the positive direction and this is not enough to activate it as a selection for braking on full axis. It does not travel the full range in the negative access but it is enough to allow selection as the brake but in game it means you cannot completely turn off the brake.

The a2 joystick axis travels the full distance up and down in configuration but only uses half the travel in the game. I think this second issue was also in the original program by Michelle.

I have a two axis controller which has been calculated in windows joystick properties and shows full travel for both axes.

I realise the joystick integration is still in development and this information is just supplied as feedback.

Hmm, not sure.

Both of the joysticks I have (Generic thing, identifies itself as Megaworld USB Game Controllers & Official MS Xbox360 Wired Pad) work correctly, with all axis detected, and working correctly.

Can I have a model for the joystick please (If nothing else, I can have a prod in the Windows drivers), and what A1 and A2 actually are?
I'd like to presume that they're the X and Y axis of the main stick, but presumption is never a good thing.....

Cheers

Chris Lees

http://www.bvecornwall.co.uk

I tried the newest build on Mac, works very nicely and fixes some issues with crashing. I will be able to test joystick functionality in a few days. I have noticed an FPS boost, which is very welcome. Looking forward to XP functionality, if possible.
Hundreds of people have been playing openBVE on your newest build here at the NY Transit Museum.



On a separate note:

From the layman's point of view, the most difficult aspect of using openBVE is program and add-on installation. Navigating the folder structure (especially on a Mac) to install add-ons is very difficult for non-experts.

In the distant future, something that I could see working well would be some sort of openBVE add-on content packaging system. 
A simple app could be created that compresses openBVE routes and trains in to some sort of a ".openbveaddon" file with LZMA2 compression.

Instead of as .zip and .7z files that require manual installation, the .openbveaddon file could just be opened in the openBVE application to install it.

This makes it easy to install and distribute content, without having to maintain a server to host content, which was the downfall of the managed content system of years past.

Likewise, auto-installers for Mac, Windows, and Linux would make it significantly easier for newcomers to openBVE to get things working.




Lastly, leezer3, thank you so much for all your hard work in updating openBVE. There are thousands of people in the NYC area alone who are more than grateful for your efforts.  

See the discussion further above on that topic - also LukasH posted a link to LokSim3D's package management system source, which might be some starter help.

Other than that, I can't really add anything to your thanks for Chris: It's a whole scene's dream coming true, to see OpenBVE development on the run again!

Quork wrote:See the discussion further above on that topic - also LukasH posted a link to LokSim3D's package management system source, which might be some starter help.

Other than that, I can't really add anything to your thanks for Chris: It's a whole scene's dream coming true, to see OpenBVE development on the run again!

Yeah I was reading through that earlier. Something like that should be implemented, preferably with LZMA2 compression from 7z instead of DEFLATE from .zip.

My pleasure people
I've been in this community since the start, and I don't want to see it die.

Jakub Vanek is contributing to this too, so we're hopefully going somewhere!

I'm doing this because there are things that I've been trying to do with differing amounts of success for years.
The real catalyst for this was the plugin that I wrote to replace OS_ATS- I decided that a lot of the stuff I was doing would be far, far easier if I just had access to the data from the sim, rather than trying to think up beacon codes that would only apply to one route.
There were also plenty of oddities and bugs left behind, which hopefully I'm slowly getting to the bottom of......

On that subject, a slightly newer build again:
http://www.bvecornwall.co.uk/downloads/beta/OpenBVE_1.4.25.1536.7z

Changes:

• Translation strings added for all the new menu options (See list in code box below)
  
• Use consistent openBVE casing.
  
• Reset to defaults button added to the controls configuration page.
  
• Another tweak to the route information window for some cases under Mono.
  

The current list of new translation strings:

Code:

[Commands]
ROUTE_INFORMATION = Shows or hides the route information window

[Options]
misc_controls_ebaxis = Allow EB on brake axis
advanced = Advanced Options
advanced_load_advance = Load in advance
advanced_disable_displaylists = Disable OpenGL display lists
advanced_timefactor = Accelerated Time Factor

[Controls]
reset = Reset to defaults

These have been added in English to all existing translation files.

I've also just realised that we probably also need a train briefing adding to the information window-
The (prototypical!) startup procedure for the Western which I've got in production runs for over a paragraph.
On Panel2.cfg based trains, this can be added to an off-screen area on the panel, but on 3D cabs, there's nowhere for this to be put.

Cheers

Chris Lees

http://www.bvecornwall.co.uk

German:

Code:

[Commands]
ROUTE_INFORMATION = Zeigt/versteckt das Infofenster

[Options]
misc_controls_ebaxis = SB auf Bremsachse zulassen
advanced = Weitere Optionen
advanced_load_advance = Lade im Voraus
advanced_disable_displaylists = OpenGL display lists deaktivieren
advanced_timefactor = Zeitrafferfaktor

[Controls]
reset = Werkseinstellungen

Polish:

Code:

[Commands]
ROUTE_INFORMATION = Pokazuje/ukrywa okienko z informacjami

[Options]
misc_controls_ebaxis = Zezwól na hamowanie nagłe osią hamulcową
advanced = Opcje zaawansowane
advanced_load_advance = Ładuj z góry
advanced_disable_displaylists = Wyłącz OpenGL display lists
advanced_timefactor = Współczynnik przyspieszenia czasu

[Controls]
reset = Ustawienia fabryczne

Chris, Jakub, a small comment on ObjectViewer and RouteViewer: now they open in a fairly large window by default and the close, minimize, maximize buttons are out of view on my 1280x1024 monitor. How about having them open in 960x600 px windows like the old build by default? Such a size would be much easier to manage, resize, maximize.

Let me also add that the additional functionality already added to these two programmes is of great help, so thank you for them.

Hungarian translation (the translation of advanced_timefactor doesn't seem to apply in the current build):

Code:

[Commands]
ROUTE_INFORMATION = Megjeleníti vagy elrejti a pályainformációs ablakot

[Options]
misc_controls_ebaxis = Vészfék engedélyezése a fék tengelyen
advanced = Haladó beállítások
advanced_load_advance = Előre betöltés
advanced_disable_displaylists = OpenGL display lists kikapcsolása
advanced_timefactor = Idő gyorsítása

[Controls]
reset = Visszaállítás

Fixed that, and updated the translations.

http://www.bvecornwall.co.uk/downloads/beta/OpenBVE_1.4.26.25.7z

One other change as follows:

• Under Windows, a check is made for the existance of OpenAL, and the OpenAL installer is automatically triggered with the correct UAC prompt if required.
  

Hopefully should stop any more people falling foul of this one

Cheers

Chris Lees

http://www.bvecornwall.co.uk

Chris,
My controller is a homemade console based on this –
http://www.leobodnar.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=180
There are no drivers – it is just seen as a USB device.
It configures correctly in control panel joystick properties. It utilises the full axis in the controller configuration in the original OpenBVE but does not use the full travel of the axis on A2 as previously mentioned.
 
Michael

Now that's an odd enough device that anything could be causing it
I get the nasty suspicion that it's probably an OpenTK bug, but where I have no idea.....

I'll have a dig and see what I can come up with, but I suspect that it'll come under unsupported.

Cheers

Chris Lees

http://www.bvecornwall.co.uk

That's no odd device at all - it is a standard joystick chip and should work just like any other. Many people build entire stands using this; be it locomotive cabs (I've seen some for LokSim3D and Zusi), be it airplane cockpits, be it even Star Trek panels. On the software level, this isn't any different than any joystick bought complete; those have such chips of this kind inside them just as well.

Hello Chris,

I have translated the new strings to Spanish (es_ES):

Code:

[errors]
critical_file = Error crítico al procesar el archivo [file]
filesystem_invalid = La configuración del sistema de archivos es inaccesible o no válida por la siguiente razón:
warning = Advertencia:
controls_missing = No se encontraron archivos de configuración de controles.
controls_oldversion = Se ha encontrado un archivo antiguo de configuración de controles.
controls_reset = Se ha reiniciado la configuración de controles actual a los valores por defecto.
controls_default_oldversion = El archivo de configuración de controles por defecto se encuentra en una versión antigua o está dañado.
controls_default_missing = El archivo de configuración de controles por defecto no existe.
sound_openal_version = Se necesita OpenAL 1.1. Parece que la versión actual es 1.0.
sound_openal_context = No se pudo crear el contexto OpenAL.
sound_openal_device = No se pudo abrir el dispositivo de sonido OpenAL.
fullscreen_switch1 = Error al cambiar al modo de pantalla completa.
fullscreen_switch2 = Compruebe la configuración de resolución de pantalla completa.

[Commands]
ROUTE_INFORMATION = Muestra o oculta la ventana de información de la ruta

[Options]
misc_controls_ebaxis = Activa el freno de emergencia en el eje de freno
advanced = Opciones avanzadas
advanced_load_advance = Precargar
advanced_disable_displaylists = Desactivar las listas de pantalla de OpenGL
advanced_timefactor = Factor de tiempo acelerado

[Controls]
reset = Configuración por defecto

I have also translated the strings to Catalan, but there were many translation errors in the old strings and I have corrected them. I have uploaded the new file here to make it easier for you (just replace the file in the source code with this new one): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3WMnAomgk2INHpDQXJ0eEN2d0U/view?usp=sharing

Keep it up, you are doing a great job.

Regards,

Marc

EDIT: Updated with the newly added strings.

Hi Chris,

Thank you so much for all your work on the sim. I am encountering some trouble with one route in particular. When I run the new Central Line route, I can get out of Ealing Broadway but before I can reach West Acton, mono crashes unexpectedly. I am running OS X El Capitan on my MacBook Pro. This is my error log from Terminal, would you happen to know what is causing the problem?

Code:

Unhandled Exception:
OutOfMemoryException
[ERROR] FATAL UNHANDLED EXCEPTION: System.OutOfMemoryException: Out of memory
  at (wrapper managed-to-native) System.Object:__icall_wrapper_mono_gc_alloc_vector (intptr,intptr,intptr)
  at (wrapper alloc) System.Object:AllocVector (intptr,intptr)
  at OpenBve.Textures.LoadTexture (OpenBve.Texture handle, OpenGlTextureWrapMode wrap) <0xf49b790 + 0x0049b> in <filename unknown>:0 
  at OpenBve.Renderer.ShowObject (Int32 ObjectIndex, ObjectType Type) <0xf9e67e8 + 0x004b3> in <filename unknown>:0 
  at OpenBve.ObjectManager.UpdateVisibility (Double TrackPosition) <0xbbe38288 + 0x002ff> in <filename unknown>:0 
  at OpenBve.OpenBVEGame.OnRenderFrame (OpenTK.FrameEventArgs e) <0xd01f04a8 + 0x001eb> in <filename unknown>:0 
  at OpenTK.GameWindow.OnRenderFrameInternal (OpenTK.FrameEventArgs e) <0xd01f0460 + 0x00037> in <filename unknown>:0 
  at OpenTK.GameWindow.RaiseRenderFrame (Double elapsed, System.Double& timestamp) <0xd01f03a8 + 0x0003b> in <filename unknown>:0 
  at OpenTK.GameWindow.DispatchUpdateAndRenderFrame (System.Object sender, System.EventArgs e) <0xbbe3e960 + 0x001e3> in <filename unknown>:0 
  at OpenTK.GameWindow.Run (Double updates_per_second, Double frames_per_second) <0xab820c0 + 0x0027f> in <filename unknown>:0 
  at OpenTK.GameWindow.Run () <0xab82080 + 0x0001f> in <filename unknown>:0 
  at OpenBve.MainLoop.StartLoopEx (MainDialogResult result) <0x95acaf0 + 0x0054b> in <filename unknown>:0 
  at OpenBve.Program.Main (System.String[] args) <0x73de20 + 0x00ec7> in <filename unknown>:0


Many thanks,
Vishnu

That's something pretty fundamental in Mono falling over.

It's trying to load a texture, and coredumping because of a memory allocation error- The text suggests that it's running out of memory, but this can be misleading.

The Central Line has a *lot* of textures that are considerably larger than I'd like, and I can't be certain without getting it into a debugger as to whether it's running out of VRAM, a texture that the underlying OSX libraries don't like.

Couple of tests-
Can you use the in-game menu to jump to West Acton?
Does dropping the viewing distance down help at all? (This means it'll load less textures, and if it's running out of VRAM it may help)

Another test that may be interesting is to try the fixed 1.4.3.0 version I posted a few pages back.
This doesn't have any of my changes, but the underlying libraries/ memory management will be largely the same, and if it's a specific texture file it doesn't like, I'd expect it to crash in the same way


I'm starting to think that we need some sort of error logging function that spits out the route, track location etc. when the sim crashes

For others:
New strings in the next build (This allows translation of various error messages; The list isn't complete though, hence why I hadn't posted it)

Code:

[errors]
critical_file = A critical error occured whilst parsing the [file] file
filesystem_invalid = The file system configuration could not be accessed or is invalid due to the following reason:
warning = Warning:
controls_missing = No control configuration files found.
controls_oldversion = An older key-configuration file was found.
controls_reset = The current key-configuration has been reset to defaults.
controls_default_oldversion = The default key assingment file is an older version or corrupt.
controls_default_missing = The default key assignment file does not exist.
sound_openal_version = OpenAL 1.1 is required. You seem to have version 1.0.
sound_openal_context = The OpenAL context could not be created.
sound_openal_device = The OpenAL sound device could not be opened.
fullscreen_switch1 = An error occured whilst attempting to switch to fullscreen mode.
fullscreen_switch2 = Please check your fullscreen resolution settings.

Both Spanish files pushed to the source, thanks

Cheers

Chris Lees

http://www.bvecornwall.co.uk

Today's build is 1.4.27.1348
http://www.bvecornwall.co.uk/downloads/beta/OpenBVE_1.4.27.1348.7z
http://vps.bvecornwall.co.uk//OpenBVE/OpenBVE_1.4.27.1348.7z

Changes:

• es-ES and ca-ES language files updated.
  
• If the sim crashes, a much nicer message will be displayed, and a crash log will (hopefully!) be produced in your userdata folder- This will be named something like OpenBVE Crash- 2016.01.03[21.27].log
  

Notes:
This will hopefully catch anything that I've done. If the crash is in a system library (The libgdiplus bug for example), then it may not produce a log.

The log file contains the following data:
Route file (Complete on-disk path)
Train folder (Complete on-disk path)
Train plugin
Number of missing files
Number of errors/ warnings generated
Track position
Viewing distance
Exception details

It needs the computer specs adding (OS version, .Net version and graphics card I think), but I haven't got as far as this, mostly because Linux & OSX will require a different approach to Windows.

If this proves helpful, I'll see about adding a debug logger that prints the current route, track position framerates etc. to a file at user specified intervals.

Quork (And I suppose Ecreek...) :
Anything that's not a reasonably well-known commercially produced product is always going to be somewhat of an edge-case in terms of support, simply because library writers make assumptions.
Even some commercial products are an absolute nightmare driver support wise (The Xbox controller for Windows for example).
I would suspect that OpenTK is making an assumption somewhere based upon a facet of the device data, but I haven't really had time to have a proper dig. It's on my list though

You *may* have better luck by adding in an x86 copy of SDL2.dll to the application folder, as this will force OpenTK to use it's SDL2 backend, rather than the Windows one.
The one drawback to this, is that the main menu joystick controls configuration is broken for SDL2, and you need to use the in-game menu instead.

Cheers

Chris Lees

http://www.bvecornwall.co.uk

Sorry- 
Final note on the Central Line bug posted above
I'm showing nearly 1GB of memory usage on Windows for this. (It's basically double the next biggest memory user I know which is NWM, ouch....)
I've no idea what Mono will do if it runs out of available system memory on OSX, but it'd be interesting to know the specs of your Mac, as with that amount of memory usage, it's very possible you've chewed through all your available system memory.

Cheers

Chris Lees

http://www.bvecornwall.co.uk

I have driven a few routes recently and your build is reasonably stable. I do get a occasional crash when I switch windows and also the issue of only blue boxes in the F10 information window. The briefing window works much better though as I have mentioned get displayed behind the program window if I reopen it. And also if I click on a route that use the briefing file in the recently used list and then click on a route that does not use the briefing it displays the briefing tab. But I don't get any crashes like I did before.

Thanks for your work on the program, it's great to see.

"You *may* have better luck by adding in an x86 copy of SDL2.dll to the application folder, as this will force OpenTK to use it's SDL2 backend, rather than the Windows one."

This seems to have made a difference. I can configure the A1 axis in the main menu to the reverse direction of what I want. Then I go into the configure controls in-game menu and then change it to the direction I want. The A2 axis works but still only utilises half of the lever's travel but this has never worked properly.

Thanks for all your work Chris!

ecreek wrote:"You *may* have better luck by adding in an x86 copy of SDL2.dll to the application folder, as this will force OpenTK to use it's SDL2 backend, rather than the Windows one."

This seems to have made a difference. I can configure the A1 axis in the main menu to the reverse direction of what I want. Then I go into the configure controls in-game menu and then change it to the direction I want. The A2 axis works but still only utilises half of the lever's travel but this has never worked properly.

Thanks for all your work Chris!

Scratches head

I've never been able to make the main menu work with the SDL2 backend. The joystick is detected, but nothing else, hence why the in-game menu was added
(Some technical discussion in here: https://github.com/leezer3/OpenBVE/issues/16 )

I'll take a look at the differences between the two sets of code and get back to you as to why the two are reversed, as that shouldn't be happening.....

I think this needs SDL2.dll distributing with the build and an option adding to use SDL2 or not- Have added that to my list.

Matt-
If you can make the current build crash a time or two and provide a crash log, this will give me a much better chance of figuring out what's actually happening.
If it doesn't produce a crash log, that's also interesting as it gives me a direction to go digging in.

Cheers

Chris Lees

http://www.bvecornwall.co.uk

Thanks Chris for a very prompt response! Yes indeed the Central Line uses an incredibly large amount of memory. My Mac has 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM and a 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 processor. I can indeed jump to West Acton, but then I switched to external view and tried to look around, and then openBVE crashed. I currently have the interpolation mode set to Nearest Neighbor, I wonder if changing that might help?

I tinkered a bit with the viewing distance, but it didn't seem to help, and didn't even affect the framerate. I wonder if the very high-detail 1992TS (v2) could be causing some of the problem too. Will tinker around some more and post an error log if I can't get it to work! Haven't yet tried running it on openBVE 1.4.3.0, still using your latest version.

Interpolation mode won't do anything- It's failing to allocate memory for a texture, and interpolation only affects how they are displayed on screen
You're also *unlikely* to be running out of system memory with 8gb of RAM, but anything is possible, as I don't know what you've got running in the background, or really very much about how OSX handles memory management.

The 1992TS will definitely be adding to the problem, but whether it'd work without it I don't know.

I will add memory usage/ free stats to the crash log for the next build which will give us a better idea of what the system thinks is going on, but I do wonder if it's running up against a hard Mono memory limit for x86 executables. (I've seen references to 2gb maximum heap size, but I can't find a definitive answer to that one)
Will also post an x64 build, which if this is an x86 heap size issue may help, but I don't think the default build architecture is likely to change.

I think it should possible to add a resize textures down on load option, which would probably mask the bug, but will have to play with that.
I *could* also add a try/catch block, and simply add an on-screen error message, but that'd mean that you'd probably have a blank texture somewhere

Cheers

Chris Lees

http://www.bvecornwall.co.uk

Currently trying the newest build on an XP box at the museum..

opening the application brings up a dialog box saying:
Unhandled exception:
xinput was not found on this platform

clicking the "ok" button on that dialog box then brings up another dialog box, which says:
A fatal exception occurred inside the UnhandledExceptionHandler:
Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Clicking the "ok" button on this dialog box just closes it, and nothing happens afterwards. Program does not launch.

This is what the crash log contains, almost no info whatsoever..

01/05/2016 12:33:09 PM
OpenBVE 1.4.27.1348 Crash Log
Program is running on the Windows backend
Current routefile is: 
Current train is: 


Explicitly trying to open the application as an administrator brings up this dialog:
Unable to find a version of the runtime to run this application.