Am I missing something, or do y'all have great eyes in Surveyor mode?

[cressjl]

Okay, I am trying to produce a basic route in Surveyor mode, but heaven help me, I can't see those tiny little icons...

And the asset rotating around in that tiny little window is there simply to taunt me, right? No one is expecting me to actually be able to see it, are they? That huge loco fits in about 3/4" of display real estate. What's up with that?

Do I need to resign myself to purchasing a honkin' 50" monitor just to use Surveyor mode, or is there something I am missing here, like an expanded view, where I can click on the asset and have it zoom in somehow?

Thanks!

 

[clam1952]

Scroll wheel to zoom in or out on the asset Window. Won't make the Window any bigger but can give a better idea of what you are looking at.

 

[cressjl]

Yeah, thanks Malc. I have indeed used the scroll wheel, but then there is that ornery, tiny little viewport...

I can respect the fact that compressing tools to prioritize display real estate to the work area is a good thing, but it would be nice to have the ability to expand the tools in some way. It's not like we are trying to use Blender here, with a zillion options, settings, and icons competing for space all at the same time.

Perhaps this is my suggestion for the next SP update of T:ANE, then. Until such time, I guess I'll have to use the Windows Magnifier tool!

 

[wilts747]

I think after fiddling with Surveyor for a couple of weeks and getting your creation running you will know what assets you are looking for and where to find them and hardly give that window a second glance. Peter

 

[cascaderailroad]

Dollar Store reading glass's ... They only cost ... $1
https://www.google.com/search?q=des...UICCgC&biw=1185&bih=631#imgrc=nQnXMxMooef59M:

 

[SailorDan]

Okay, I am trying to produce a basic route in Surveyor mode, but heaven help me, I can't see those tiny little icons...

Don't bother with the preview window in the flyout. Keep Content Manager open, and use the preview facilities it provides. You need it for proper searching anyway.

 

[itareus]

Don't bother with the preview window in the flyout. Keep Content Manager open, and use the preview facilities it provides. You need it for proper searching anyway.

Good advice in the above, also:

IF your graphics card will support 2 monitors (most do).

AND IF you should have a spare monitor available or can get one without breaking the bank.

AND IF you have the space for it.

THEN consider running TANE with two screen as an extended desktop and park Content Manager on one of them and use TANE on the other (normally running maximised).

Chris M

 

[BuilderBob]

Don't bother with the preview window in the flyout. Keep Content Manager open, and use the preview facilities it provides. You need it for proper searching anyway.

The preview window only shows you what is already installed. For proper route building that is inadequate: you also need to be searching the DLS.

If you keep CM open while building the route then you can find assets as you need them, download them, and if they are suitable, incorporate them into the route. You need to be able to check things like build number, and it also helps to be able to sort by author to find matching sets of assets. Eventually, keywords will also be usable.

Use the flyout for picking by name, but don't bother trying to use the preview.

 

[cressjl]

I certainly appreciate all of the responses here, even though I don't necessarily agree. Content Manager (CM) certainly assists in providing search capabilities for assets both installed and available on DLS. So far I have spent more time poking around CM than driving trains anyway! Having it open during route construction may be required, but I don't think that it should be.

First, I don't think that CM is essential for building routes and sessions--having the Surveyor palette available is. One certainly could be downloading content through DLS while building a route, but I would prefer to plan my route and prepare the content in CM first, and then build the route from the assets that I prepared second. I would expect the palette in Surveyor to be sufficiently useful to permit this. But even the asset IDs in the Surveyor palettes are almost unreadable.

Second, comparable software such as house-design software have to present similar palettes for selecting furniture, textures, and so forth. I never remember encountering such an issue on other applications like these. So why must we be so encumbered in T:ANE? I am proposing that, barring something I missed (which I hadn't), then this mild complaint should be understood as a proposed improvement to a current software limitation.

One workaround available now is to reduce the display resolution of the T:ANE work area to something much smaller than maximum; this drives the palette size up somewhat. However, this also limits the Surveyor terrain work area as well, so it is only robs from one to give to another--not a solution.

Perhaps a Setting could be added in the future that provides a percentage scale factor for the palette; i.e., the user could change "100%" to "200%" and effectively double the size of the palette, icons, text, and preview window when opened.

 

[martinvk]

I disagree with the sentiment that CM should be a second class citizen in T:ANE. Whereas in previous versions, the Surveyor tools had more options, in T:ANE, some of the work has been off-loaded to CM. The filtering available in CM is far more robust compared to what can be done in Surveyor. It can "see" what is on the DLS and not local, its preview is much bigger, etc., all in all, much easier to find just the right object. All we need is a way to tag those choices so they are easier to find in Surveyor.

An a side note, I see you "​Joel, User ID: 554548" claim both T:ANE and several previous versions in your signature: TS12, TS2010, TS2009 but they are not showing in the track beside your name. You might want to raise a ticket with the helpdesk to correct that oversight.

 

[cressjl]

I disagree with the sentiment that CM should be a second class citizen in T:ANE...

No, I would never feel that way either! I certainly don't want to deprecate CM in any way.

I just don't see why there would be so much resistance to the suggestion of a simple fix (not even changing the current look-and-feel or functionality for those who like it the way it is). Regardless of how helpful CM is, the Surveyor palette remains the means by which assets are inserted. I suppose that no one in the entire Trainz world has any issues with how the T:ANE palette is implemented...

 

[JCitron]

I run T:ANE at 1024 x 768 and windowed on my 27-inch 1980 x 1080 monitor. This gives me the ability to get to other things besides makes the text and icons big enough for my tired eyes to see. If I run the program at native resolution, I can't see the ant-sized text or the thumbnail images.

I also have a second monitor too which I'll bring up Google Earth and even Content Manager if needed.

John

 

[PerRock]

I run T:ANE at 1024 x 768 and windowed on my 27-inch 1980 x 1080 monitor. This gives me the ability to get to other things besides makes the text and icons big enough for my tired eyes to see. If I run the program at native resolution, I can't see the ant-sized text or the thumbnail images.

I also have a second monitor too which I'll bring up Google Earth and even Content Manager if needed.

John

To me it just sounds like you need to adjust your in-game resolution. I presume you can read the icons on your desktop just fine. I would open your Windows Display Preferences and note the screen resolution (it'll be something like 1400x1200) then from the Trainz Launcher, in the options, display, make sure the resolution is the same. If it is the same try decreasing it. Depending on your graphics card it might take a little fiddling to find on that is suitable for your eyes. The larger the numbers the smaller the items on the screen will be.

peter

 

[BuilderBob]

I just don't see why there would be so much resistance to the suggestion of a simple fix

The original question related to a specific problem with using the software to create routes. Whether or not things could be rewritten to improve this wasn't part of the discussion. I detect no particular resistance to a 'fix' (though I doubt that it is simple), it's just that suggestions for improving what we currently have was not part of the discussion.

 

[cressjl]

The original question related to a specific problem with using the software to create routes. Whether or not things could be rewritten to improve this wasn't part of the discussion. I detect no particular resistance to a 'fix' (though I doubt that it is simple), it's just that suggestions for improving what we currently have was not part of the discussion.

Yes, I agree in that the post started as a question, not as a suggestion. I was concerned that perhaps I was missing something, and didn't want to suggest a fix to functionality that already exists but I hadn't yet discovered.

It is possible to use an application for thousands of hours without realizing that a function exists that one hasn't been using that could have made life simpler. That is clearly not the way it is with the Surveyor palette; it is what it is. And considering that I have no such issue with TS12 or TS2009/2010, I find this baffling. It is not just those building routes that have to deal with this; it is also drivers trying to create their own consists in a Quickdrive session.

"Dollar store reading glasses," an extra monitor, and other modes might be workarounds, but I remain amazed that not one person has agreed that an improvement in this area would be useful...

 

[SailorDan]

"Dollar store reading glasses," an extra monitor, and other modes might be workarounds, but I remain amazed that not one person has agreed that an improvement in this area would be useful...

Because those other modes are not workarounds - they are a better solution than adjusting the flyout size, because you get full access to the surveyor real estate, while accessing your assets with better search functions, much more asset detail and a much bigger asset store. The name of the operating system is 'Windows' - so why not take full advantage of what the OS can do: move stuff off the playing surface if it doesn't have to be there, and make the function bigger and better. That's exactly what running CM simultaneously does for you. Huge monitors are nice, but are not required for getting that benefit.

 

[itareus]

...Huge monitors are nice, but are not required for getting that benefit...

Correct , running only TANE and TANE CM (on a single monitor) then using Alt >Tab is another way of swapping windows.

I just wonder how many people have got a spare (flat screen) monitor in storage somewhere which might be a better solution, other constraints considered. A second monitor is easy to set up in Windows.

As far as changing the existing in game display is concerned I would say get rid of the preview frame in Surveyor altogether since it it is obsoleted by the new facilities in TANE.

Chris M

 

[PerRock]

The preview frame in surveyor I find very helpful. I have thousands of items installed into Trainz and there is no way I'm going to remember a) what each things is called and b) what it looks like. For example I have the objects called "Bench" then followed by a 1, 2, or 3; how do I know which is the blue one?

peter

 

[itareus]

The preview frame in surveyor I find very helpful. I have thousands of items installed into Trainz and there is no way I'm going to remember a) what each things is called and b) what it looks like. For example I have the objects called "Bench" then followed by a 1, 2, or 3; how do I know which is the blue one?

peter

A good point Peter, so just leave it as is ? No real reason to do otherwise.

Chris M

 

[cascaderailroad]

I go through my assets, and when I use one on every route, I write it down on paper ... then I go into the config file and rename the username line, with the prefix "A": "A Bench Zinc Blue", then it shows up in the A's at the top of my picklist

Then I get out my hand held magnifying glass