A plea to content creators..

I need to get this off my chest...

Content creators, I really do appreciate the excellent and demanding work that you do, but please help us non-creators by telling us in the description box more about the model and less about how you made it.

Here's an example of one description..

Another model created in Google SketchUp and exported to Trainz with RubyTMIX. The effective system load of this asset is 1214 polygons (14 from geometry, 1200 from textures).

Means nothing to me because it's Geek Speak! (I thought a polygon was a dead parrot)

There was nothing about the subject! I would like to know a bit about your model please

Please also, in your titles ...if you must have a code please explain what the code means in the description.

Here's an example that has no meaning to me

<kuid2:452956:90623:3> UTM-33T-363-5425

It has an image that is words only and means nothing to me, plus nothing in the description box.


If you want to see more downloads of your excellent work, then help us by telling us about it in a way that non-geeks can understand.

<rant over>

Dear Euromodeller,

Welcome to the club of "Old Complainers". Our membership has been a bit quiet lately but your post was a timely reminder that we are still "around and kicking".

The example you quoted that described how the asset was made did contain some important information that, IMHO, should be passed on to potential downloaders. The included word "sketchup" is a warning bell that all should take note of as it usually means "bloated, high polygon count and no LOD" and something that should be avoided at all costs. Polygons may be dead parrots but their smell can really stink out your graphics performance.

I agree with you about the asset names that consist entirely of random numbers and letters. I appreciate that there is limited space available for the all important asset title that forces verbose descriptions to be truncated to almost nothing, but this trend towards codes that even the NSA would find hard to crack is far worse.

Keep up the good work.

Peter

PS: Another favourite "hate" topic of our Club is thumbnails that tell you nothing, especially those that are a graphic showing the words "This is not a thumbnail" or similar. Really? If someone is going to go to the trouble of making that then why not make the real thing instead?

Assets that are part of a series, such as road traffic signs, where the thumbnail contains ALL the signs and you have to figure out which one represents this particular asset is another "peeve".

You're quite right! Trainz has become so introverted that so much so only the geeks will understand it!

Rob.

pware said:

The example you quoted that described how the asset was made did contain some important information that, IMHO, should be passed on to potential downloaders. The included word "sketchup" is a warning bell that all should take note of as it usually means "bloated, high polygon count and no LOD" and something that should be avoided at all costs. Polygons may be dead parrots but their smell can really stink out your graphics performance.

Click to expand...

Ive just learned something new, thank you
I'll now go on a hunt for any ketchup models that might slow down my routes.
I'll stick to brown sauce instead

euromodeller said:

I need to get this off my chest...

Here's an example that has no meaning to me

<kuid2:452956:90623:3> UTM-33T-363-5425

Click to expand...

UTM tile for TransDEM with coordinates. The words on the picture say... "UTM Tiles voor Hengelo" or in English "UTM Tiles for Hengelo" which means this is a UTM tile for the town of Hengelo, which is a town in the Netherlands. Seems descriptive enough

<kuid2:452956:90623:3> UTM-33T-363-5425, is a Transdem Maptile which is used in route creation and should not really be on the DLS as it's no use unless you have the route it is supposed to be used with. Probably an uncompleted route on the DLS somewhere that they belong to.

Christopher824 said:

Seems descriptive enough

Click to expand...

I have a suspicion that your favourite pastime is solving cryptic crosswords.

Christopher824 said:

UTM tile for TransDEM with coordinates. The words on the picture say... "UTM Tiles voor Hengelo" or in English "UTM Tiles for Hengelo" which means this is a UTM tile for the town of Hengelo, which is a town in the Netherlands. Seems descriptive enough

Click to expand...

It isn't descriptive, it's Geek Speak!
Not everybody knows about TransDem maps or indeed if UTM is a map/tile with co-ordinates for it, a little note in the description would have helped.
It's in the Buildings category too, which doesn't help.

euromodeller said:

It isn't descriptive, it's Geek Speak!
Not everybody knows about TransDem maps or indeed if UTM is a map/tile with co-ordinates for it, a little note in the description would have helped.
It's in the Buildings category too, which doesn't help.

Click to expand...

They are not really supposed to be put on the DLS, could be hundreds of them for a route, normally the thumbnail is auto created with an image of the map on that tile with Transdem in red emblazoned on it.

Euromodeller

I totally, totally support your plea.

To cement my position in the Old Complainers Club, can I add two more?

- Make the 'username' title short enough to fit into the Surveyor window without needing a mouse-over to see it all. It's showing respect and empathy for the users. If a creator is clever enough to make an asset, they should be clever enough to think of a short title for it.

- The 'username' tag is a compulsory requirement but is meant for titles in English only. Non-English titles are catered for by tags like username-de, username-fr etc. N3V should start enforcing this by rejecting uploads with non-English titles in the username tag. Make the creators do the translation, not the poor users.

euromodeller said:

I need to get this off my chest...

Content creators, I really do appreciate the excellent and demanding work that you do, but please help us non-creators by telling us in the description box more about the model and less about how you made it.

Here's an example of one description..

Another model created in Google SketchUp and exported to Trainz with RubyTMIX. The effective system load of this asset is 1214 polygons (14 from geometry, 1200 from textures).

Means nothing to me because it's Geek Speak! (I thought a polygon was a dead parrot)

There was nothing about the subject! I would like to know a bit about your model please

Please also, in your titles ...if you must have a code please explain what the code means in the description.

Here's an example that has no meaning to me

<kuid2:452956:90623:3> UTM-33T-363-5425

It has an image that is words only and means nothing to me, plus nothing in the description box.


If you want to see more downloads of your excellent work, then help us by telling us about it in a way that non-geeks can understand.

<rant over>

Click to expand...

I created a website for background on my route and models in it. Over the years I have received little feedback on interest in the route and, in particular, the background information I have provided for it. So, I mainly model for myself now having little incentive to provide further background for the route.

Cayden

pware said:

I have a suspicion that your favourite pastime is solving cryptic crosswords.

Click to expand...

That and mining for bitcoins...

The only thing that I can say, as a route creator is that i could not agree more with the author of the thread. It's annoying to me that some content is, if not in a local language (or in non-alphanumeric characters -Cyrilic, chinese, Arab,...) without the proper translation to English, in keycodes, impossible to decrypt to identify the objects and use them.

Just putting my 2 cents worth in here, in the description it might a list of dependencies that might not be on the DLS or that may have been purchased as payware or bundle.

Dave

CanTrains said:

Just putting my 2 cents worth in here, in the description it might a list of dependencies that might not be on the DLS or that may have been purchased as payware or bundle.

Click to expand...

Dave, your application to join the "Old Complainers Club" has been approved and your certificate of membership is "in the mail".

Welcome aboard!.

wish I was a content creator........never figured it out. Thanks guys

Dinorius_Redundicus said:

- Make the 'username' title short enough to fit into the Surveyor window without needing a mouse-over to see it all. It's showing respect and empathy for the users. If a creator is clever enough to make an asset, they should be clever enough to think of a short title for it.

Click to expand...

I agree with Dinorius, it's better when names are short enough to fit the window but easy to understand at the same time.
As a reskinner, I created my own nomenlature to make sure the user will find the content he search.

For exemple :
JAT SRCT-TRE Z47800 means : Jimmy Armstrong Trainz - Société Régionale des Chemins de fer Triomois - Triom Regio Express - Electric Multiple Unit serie 47800 ; it would be a little bit long, right ? :hehe:

eurostar3000 said:

I agree with Dinorius, it's better when names are short enough to fit the window but easy to understand at the same time.

JAT SRCT-TRE Z47800 means : Jimmy Armstrong Trainz - Société Régionale des Chemins de fer Triomois - Triom Regio Express - Electric Multiple Unit serie 47800 ; it would be a little bit long, right ? :hehe:

Click to expand...

While I agree that your "abbreviated" asset name fits in the space provided, both it and your "translation" are largely meaningless to me. Surely something like "Electric commuter series 47800 Regional Society of Triomois Railways (France)" would have been better. Some users might think, correctly, that an EMU is a large flightless bird found in Australia and not everyone can read French. Plus, as pointed out by Dinorius_Redundicus, foreign languages should be handled by the relevant filename-xx tags.

Perhaps what is needed is some sort of database that can contain the DLS name and alternative names together with a bit of history etc.

Cheerio John

pware said:

Plus, as pointed out by Dinorius_Redundicus, foreign languages should be handled by the relevant filename-xx tags.

Click to expand...

To a person from France, French is not a foreign language.