openBVE 1.4.5 + new openBVE mirror site

I've set up a new site to mirror and host openBVE downloads, tools, source code, and documentation, and along with it, the release of openBVE 1.4.5.

openbve.joeyfoo.com

Background
openBVE 1.4.5 is an official update by odakyufan, but it was never uploaded as his site has went down. I contacted him recently for a copy of the latest file, and he replied with this latest release of openBVE, as well as a comprehensive set of documentation and other materials.

What's changed
Bugfixes:
    The AI could crash the game with an "Index outside the bounds of the array" error if it encountered a station without a stop point defined for it.
    The Track.Pattern command for temporary ATS-P speed limits did not work whatsoever.
    Some signals did not load under Mac/Linux because of path-related platform differences. Untested: This may or may not fix it.

You can see the changelog here.

Why yet another download site?
I wanted to provide a no frills, reliable location for downloads and documentation. There will not be any ads or other intrusive mechanisms on this site.

How you can help
The site is open source and can be found on GitHub.
You can help with the upkeep and maintenance of the site by submitting any comments, suggestions, and issues to me, either in this thread or via the issue tracker on GitHub.

That's interesting
I was in contact with Odakyufan last year (I wanted the documentation on ATC for building into BVEC_ATS), so please let me know if you want a copy of the latest OdakyufanATS source code and docs, as I've definitely got those floating around.

I've now dug through the source code, and merged both of these fixes into my build ( https://bveworldwide.forumotion.com/t1229-new-openbve-build-testers-please ), and will post a newer version at some stage later in the week. This build is probably still better for general usage though, simply because the joystick handling is considerably more stable on non-windows platforms.
The signal path fix is essentially identical to mine, and will work just fine.

There are also a few changes in OpenBVEApi, which are related to the removal of managed content.
Don't expect any speed increases or magical pixes from this build sadly

Cheers

Chris Lees

http://www.bvecornwall.co.uk

Hi Chris,

I'll add a link to the site for your updates to openBVE, but I intend to only host "official" openBVE releases on this site (i.e. from michelle, odakyufan, and Anthony B., or anyone they appoint to the team).

I know it's annoying, but there are simply too many openBVE forks out there, a number of which purport to be "official", and I really want to remain neutral. It seems the only way this could happen is by sticking to official releases.

Great news, nice website.

Joey, on the Credits page please change the first web link next to my name to http://phontanka.wordpress.com

Thanks a lot.

joeyfjj wrote:I'll add a link to the site for your updates to openBVE, but I intend to only host "official" openBVE releases on this site (i.e. from michelle, odakyufan, and Anthony B., or anyone they appoint to the team).

So, is any of them still active then?

phontanka: I've made the change.

Dexter: Not to my knowledge. If any of them appoints someone else to take over the project, I'll fully support that.

Thanks Joey, I've added the link to your site on the Celtictrainsim site links page.

joeyfjj wrote:Hi Chris,

I'll add a link to the site for your updates to openBVE, but I intend to only host "official" openBVE releases on this site (i.e. from michelle, odakyufan, and Anthony B., or anyone they appoint to the team).

I know it's annoying, but there are simply too many openBVE forks out there, a number of which purport to be "official", and I really want to remain neutral. It seems the only way this could happen is by sticking to official releases.

Don't worry about links
It was more a technical observation on the changes than anything else.

For those interested, the interesting changes are here:
https://github.com/leezer3/OpenBVE/commit/2b80d0ef6535a39fc50a6419ab97a8f3b063b1a8

Wandering off track a little-
I don't think we're likely to get any 'official' word from Anthony or Michelle. As far as I'm aware, she's been missing for ~5 years, and Anthony has made one post a couple of years back, as well as a couple of thread comments.
Odakyufan is IMHO still 'interested', but not really in the development sense.

My build is the only one which has had any significant development done in the last 4 years, so I'd like to think that I'm as official as you get
I basically decided that I couldn't keep on hoping for them to turn up and make the changes I was looking for, so I went away and did it myself!

Seriously though, having said that, as I've repeatedly pointed out, what I've done is not 100% stable.
I've made a lot of small/ medium changes, but nothing really large, and everything is building on the work already started.


This sim will only go places if the community want it to.
I'm doing what I can, and I've had contributions from several other interested parties on Github, but I suppose the true test will come if anyone builds content using the 'updated' features.

Cheers

Chris Lees

http://www.bvecornwall.co.uk

Glad to see that openBVE is still developing! I have one idea for it: customizable train formation, so developer of train can manually choose which cars are powered and which aren't instead of random arrangement set by openbve. I.e. it searches for some particular file in train folder (for example, formation.cfg) and picks data from it:

0 = T
1 = M
2 = T
3 = T

(M stands for motored car, T is trailer)
and if this file is present, it ignores MotorCarCount, TrailerCarCount and FirstCarIsAMotorCar values from train.dat file. That feature would be very handy, since making something like Class 312 or 455 with correct formation is currently impossible.

Being thought of
https://github.com/leezer3/OpenBVE/issues/50

TLDR:
I've implemented properly moving bogies in place of the current assortment of hacks, although they're not quite right!
Moving couplers and variable car configurations are very much on the list, although I haven't got quite that far yet.
I've spent most of the last two days chasing joystick problems on Linux/ Mac, and I will try and get to that sort of thing later in the week.

Please use the main thread for this sort of thing though:
https://bveworldwide.forumotion.com/t1229-new-openbve-build-testers-please

Cheers

Chris Lees

http://www.bvecornwall.co.uk

Leezer3 thanks!

Also I spoted one bug: when I jumped from Shoreditch to Whitechapel on the old East London line BVE crashed. (I can provide route/train if needed since it may not be availiable already)