Beta Testing
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johnwhelan
Well-known member
Howdy,
I hope i posted this in the right section,Could sumone explain whats involved with Beta Testing please?,Say you were invited to Beta Test a new route whats the process.
Cheers Mick.
When I create I want to know will it run in different versions of Trainz, TRS2004, TRS2006, TC3, TRS2009. I want to know if the performance will be reasonable on different machines. Is it historically accurate. Have I misspelt a name somewhere, if I've used a number on a wagon or carriage is it in the correct range.
It helps if you are a perfectionist and have an eye for detail but you must also accept that not everything will be corrected. It also helps if you have specialist knowledge of the companies involved and time period.
I don't expect the beta testers to find all the errors, but different points of view are likely to catch more errors, the basic idea is to catch the glaring ones and get a better quality final product.
Even once its been released to the world if you spot something that got missed send me an email and usually it will get corrected, depending on the amount of effort involved. Other content creators are different and may not appreciate errors being drawn to their attention but most do.
Cheerio John
johnwhelan
Well-known member
Are you volunteering? Finding a good beta tester is actually quite difficult, but it adds to the final quality of the work.
Cheerio John
Especially if one has volunteered before , it is a time consuming , thankless job , and one you must commit to with reverence .
I have a deep respect for the Trainz Dev crew of testers who are working to improve TS2009 and the members who have volunteered to be a beta tester for others .
My thoughts --- ,DLR
I have a deep respect for the Trainz Dev crew of testers who are working to improve TS2009 and the members who have volunteered to be a beta tester for others .
My thoughts --- ,DLR
I would have no drama volunteering John but i would probably end up asking the creator more stupid questions on how i should be Beta Testing his creation properly then actually Beta Testing,I would like to learn how to Test routes as i think that would greatly help my own Route building ability's.
Cheers Mick.
Cheers Mick.
johnwhelan
Well-known member
And I totally agree with you, especially TRS2009 bug and also route testing. I've done a tiny bit of TRS2009 beta testing to check if a couple of things work but to be honest I don't have time for it. I do have a lot of respect for the people who do it though.
If you have an interest in UK GWR rolling stock then beta testing GWR rolling stock isn't too bad, but if its not of immediate interest it is less interesting.
Cheerio John
Wessex_Electric_Nutter
New member
A bit more involved than that. Beta testers should really have a good idea how the software/object development process works. The reason why beta testing exists, is that humans program computers, therefore, can make some very strange mistakes. (And strange is not really the word. I've made some real stupid errors while programming!)
The idea of testing, is any errors you have tried to fix and can't see any more, you send to someone else to look for. That person maybe asked to perform a fixed set of tasks like:
"Open the program to see if it opens without any errors or warnings"
(Naturally, what you would expect from a well written program.)
And then report to see if the program does as it is suppose to.
On the other hand, the tester maybe asked to do some tests to deliberately break a program, for example, a horrendously large number, in a 32-bit program, like 68,719,476,736. (Should be a number that a 32-bit program cannot recongise, becuase integers or whole numbers do have a ceiling, for 8 bits, the limit is the number 255 or 11111111.)
The testers may have to try to repeat this test, report what number they used and then explained what happened.
Other testers maybe given a "free for all task", where they try and do the best they can to break the program in any way possible.
As for qualities of a Beta Tester, you need firstly:
A sense of humor (programs do wierd things - even an object like one I created recently, the camera was shifted from inside a train, to outside the train, thus made it look like you were running away from the train, facing towards it!)
Clear, precise and accurate use of english - no txt spk it mks it hrd 2 undrstnd.
Attention to detail.
Understand how to write bug reports properly. Some maybe very involved and thus, need a certain algorithm (standard) to follow.
Hope this helps. Please note, that testing doesn't only apply to programs, it applies to objects as well.
Thanks Wessex,
You certainly make it sound harder then i thought it would be maybe I'll just try and take the simple approach if I'm asked to Test sum-thing by some one I'll just try to break it I'm very accomplished at breaking things:'(
Cheers Mick.
That is exactly one of the things they will be looking for , wanting you to do , however you must document what you did to cause the program to ' break ' , and report it !
--- ,DLR
johnwhelan
Well-known member
Thanks Wessex,
You certainly make it sound harder then i thought it would be maybe I'll just try and take the simple approach if I'm asked to Test sum-thing by some one I'll just try to break it I'm very accomplished at breaking things:'(
Cheers Mick.
It depends what the requirement is. Normally for content, I'm happy if you check it doesn't float in the air, buffer to buffer distance is correct and it shows up.
It's nice if you can check the region code, and class but anything noticeable is fine, you don't need a PhD in programming or content creation.
Cheerio John
Thanks Dlr and John,
Whats involved in writing a report though i imagine you would need to know a fair bit about your own PC for starters I've seen people leave their PC specs when they are after the position of Beta Testers,And John if sum one was Testing a piece of GWR Rolling stock for you then they would need experience in that era of rolling stock so as to be more of a helping hand then a hindrance.Or when you send a piece of rolling stock to be tested do you give them all the specs of it or is research of that piece part of Beta Testing as well.Sorry for the silly questions but i am learning from it.
Cheers Mick.
Whats involved in writing a report though i imagine you would need to know a fair bit about your own PC for starters I've seen people leave their PC specs when they are after the position of Beta Testers,And John if sum one was Testing a piece of GWR Rolling stock for you then they would need experience in that era of rolling stock so as to be more of a helping hand then a hindrance.Or when you send a piece of rolling stock to be tested do you give them all the specs of it or is research of that piece part of Beta Testing as well.Sorry for the silly questions but i am learning from it.
Cheers Mick.
johnwhelan
Well-known member
Thanks Dlr and John,
Whats involved in writing a report though i imagine you would need to know a fair bit about your own PC for starters I've seen people leave their PC specs when they are after the position of Beta Testers,And John if sum one was Testing a piece of GWR Rolling stock for you then they would need experience in that era of rolling stock so as to be more of a helping hand then a hindrance.Or when you send a piece of rolling stock to be tested do you give them all the specs of it or is research of that piece part of Beta Testing as well.Sorry for the silly questions but i am learning from it.
Cheers Mick.
There are different levels, sometimes you make idiot mistakes such as forgetting about a particular kuid that needs to be provided or the item won't show. It could be the 240 by 180 is of a totally different wagon. Sometimes its using the wrong class so what should be a coal wagon comes up as a coach.
If you have detailed knowledge then spotting that that type of wagon would not have a number in that particular range, or the font used is incorrect.
Some knowledge of bogeys is helpful, like which ones are early and which ones are later.
On my latest wagon I had the bogey attachment point set to .5 meters instead of .47 meters so the wagon was floating an inch above the track, that one was caught by a beta tester.
Does that give you a better feel?
Cheerio John
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