Clutter Questions

[Paul_Bert]

Their were some changes made in the Clutter layer in the setup window in TRS 2022 which are not explained as far as I can see. My questions are two:

There is an option called "High Density" with two options - False or true. What does this setting do?

There is "Density LOD Level" with a slider adjustment. What does this do. I tried sliding the indicator more to the right and see no difference in the clutter.

I hope these settings are documented somewhere and I just missed them.

 

[pware]

The official documentation Wiki page on the Clutter Effect layer has not been updated since February 2020.

The changes you refer to are found in the Edit Effect Layer option from the Edit Surveyor main menu. You have to have a clutter effect layer loaded for editing, one selected from the Presets will do, to use (or more likely experiment with) these changes. As to what they do, I am as much in the dark as you.

 

[MasterTracklayer]

The official documentation Wiki page on the Clutter Effect layer has not been updated since February 2020.

If you know any of the missing information, update it yourself. I found a page with a capitalization error in a page-link to a page about a particular keyword. The link was red, indicating that the target page does not exist. I fixed the capitalization to match the official capitalization of the keyword, but the link stayed red. At least now if anyone clicks on that link, the wiki will offer to create the correct page.

 

[pware]

If you know any of the missing information, update it yourself.

Minor corrections such as typos and spelling errors are easy to fix and, as you noted, anyone can do that (but obviously with care!). But when the technical information on a new feature is not available anywhere then where do you start?

Normally I wait for the N3V devs and insiders to post about a feature before I begin the tasks of translating (from "Techno-speak") and experimenting with the new tools/features before I start writing a wiki page. In the case of the features identified in this thread there is no existing information anywhere that I could find and my own experiments, like those of the OP, did not reveal anything that I could observe.

So, in this situation, it is upto N3V to start the ball rolling.

It is possible that the features identified are experimental and/or not yet implemented so there could be nothing to write about yet. That has been the pattern with new features appearing in Trainz over the years. I have found that it is often better to wait until the program code has been "bedded down" onto a more stable base before creating user guides. Surveyor 2.0, for example, has seen a number of significant changes to its UI and operations since it first appeared in beta form.

My thoughts and experiences anyway.

 

[MasterTracklayer]

But when the technical information on a new feature is not available anywhere then where do you start?

With a stub that says that the feature exists and what little is known about it. When and as people learn more, it can be edited to add the new information. Just grow the section from a mustard seed into a mighty tree whenever you learn something. Likewise, when pages have not been updated in eons, add anything you know that isn`t there yet.

Then put that in the wiki for someone else to edit. If the information isn`t big enough to warrant its own page yet, insert it into the page where the link should be.

Judging by how overwhelmed they seem to be, that could take two or three consecutive forevers. If it needs doing, do it yourself to the best of your ability; someone else will eventually come by and improve it.

Those features can be tagged with the build number(s) that the description applies to.

Likewise.

 

[ZecMurphy]

Hi All
I have asked the team to look at adding information to the wiki for these changes. Our team have been very busy, and with the last update being released so close to Christmas we haven't had time to update the wiki for this yet.

Regards

 

[pware]

I have added a new page to the wiki, Color Effect Layer, based on my limited experimentation and Zec's post at hd-terrain-and-transdem-textures

 

[MasterTracklayer]

@ZecMurphy and @pware, good job, both of you.