Posts by Florian

Hi,

depending on the program you use, the simple way is to save your jpg or png file as a bitma. Then reimport the texture into the program, the UV Mapping should remain the same. I guess, that would be a task of 2 minutes.

Greets

Maybe the translator works within boring lessons at university.

The article is finished now.

Thanks for the screenshots.

Quote from Bzmot332

100 polygons

Soooo, should I remodel the ties again, and regenerate the whole map because of that?

Yes, please. The ties of my rail package has 45 polygons and I guess that is the maximum for a tie. Unfortunately you can't see the details of a tie that good, even if the train is standing. You can see let's say the 10th tie in front of the train clearly, the other ties cost lot of performance and space on the hard drive with absolutely no visual effect.

Quote

I have 1600MHz DDR3 RAM, one piece of 8GB board. Unfortunately I cannot install higher frequency units since that's the maximum my motherboard can use.

Basically 8 GB of RAM are enough. But only if you are using the map editor and a browser at the same time, it is critical. In this case 16 GB should be a good idea.

To change the ties, you don't have to import them again, simply open the tie in the content tool, delete the meshes from the mesh list on the right, go to the first category on the left and use the import button to import the main mesh again. If you didn't change the materials you can simply save and pack the ties. The map editor recognizes the change on its own, but somehow it's recommended to click on one track, open the properties and click ok.

Please create a backup of your container before changing the tie. If a part of railtrack is missing or screwed, all tracks using this part are getting deleted completely.

Greets

Hi,

we are sorry to hear, that the map editor isn't working for you as intended. At the moment there is indeed a performance issue ruining the experience in the map editor since the latest update. We are currently collecting data when users having a performance problem, so please post a screenshot from the performance window. You reach this window by clicking on the clock icon up in the middle.

Concerning the questions you have:

Your PC should be fine to run LOTUS and the map editor. Since I recently got a new PC, I can tell, that the speed of the RAM is more important than the amount of GB you've got. So buying more RAM won't solve the problem, I guess.

The amount of time the map editor needs to save and pack is ridiculous. Is this also happening since the latest patch?

The size of the map is not unusual and basically the space on the hard drive is not a problem at all these times. A key factor when building a map is, that the terrain, even if nothing is build on it, also needs to be saved (obviously ). So when you complete the scenery on your map, the file size should not increase that much as when you build towards new terrain tiles.

Sincerely,

Florian

Quote from sprintex

The texture in DXTBMP:

Hi,

I also use DXTBMP and I couldn't get it work using mip maps in DXTBMP. So I generate the mip maps in Gimp afterwards. Within the last few days I tried to create the DDS files only in Gimp, which didn't work either.

Greets

Hi Jerry,

the solution for this problem should be to untick the checkbox "High resolution center tile" in the options of the map editor.

Greets

Hi,

what is the working directory path in the options of the Map Editor and what does contain this folder?

Greets

Hey,

the values from Kira are correct. I'm a bit astonished, that you got the values from measuring with a reference line.

Greets

Hi,

the pictures helped a lot, so I'll try to answer the other questions too.

Quote from karadamir

1) Will electric buses and trolleybuses be realized with a large autonomous course? Anything will be known, how will it look about?

As far as I'm concerned the trolleybuses will be provided by us, but there won't be an official map for trolleybuses. I think, you can script the possibility to drive with fuel, when there is no contact wire.

Quote from karadamir

2) I wanted to know if it is possible to support the terrible state of the contact network, that is, sagging?

This is already possible. The V6E from Hamburg has the function, that the power collector will derail in several occasions.

Quote from karadamir

3) How to make an arrow under 1520 mm in the map editor? Just the arrow itself does not appear, and only the wits remain. Or do you need to do the arrow in the tools?

If you only want to change the gauge to 1520 mm, you have to create a new preset in the map editor and there is no need to create a new track with Blender and the Content Tool. I'm experiencing some troubles when changing the presets afterwards, so maybe you should delete the railtrack on your map and build them with the new preset once again.

Quote from karadamir

5) In which category to import the contact network supports and the contact network wire itself? How to make the clips join the contact network?

The wire itself should be imported as a "Catenary" and supports are simple Splines where you can chose the fitting category on your own.

Quote from karadamir

6) And somewhere about content is described about all categories?

There is no strict rule for every category. You chose the best fitting category for your content. But keep in mind other people should be able to find your content too.

Quote from karadamir

7) Will there be support for such an extraordinary situation as a hall (broken) current collector (pantograph)?

You can create this by a script.

Greets

Hi,

I've seen your post before, but right now, I can barely understand, what you are trying to say. So apologizes in advance, but can you post pictures what you mean by:

- "autonomous course"

- "contact network"

- "arrow under 1520 mm"?

This looks like Google Translate and this vocabulary isn't related in any kind to our simulation.

Anyways: I can at least answer question number 4. I recently wrote an article about the import of your own rails into LOTUS in German. I will translate this article as soon as possible.

Greets

Quote from aliprando

The thing I don't understand is why, one time I've removed the subgrades and the reference lines the splines and the polygons follow the correct slope of the ground?

In theory it should be all flat or maybe I'm still not able to use these functions correctly and I do not understand their usefulness.

The height of the splines and polygons is relative to the terrain. The terrain is defined by the ground itself and the subgrades. If you remove the subgrade, the map editor will calculate the height of the polygons relative to the (mostly wrong) ground.

The data we use to create the ground isn't that exact. At the moment it is very useful to display mountains and so on, but if you create a street or a railtrack on the map, you need a flat surface, where the street is located.

Last but not least the ground is mostly a little bit to high, so the subgrade is normally placed "underneath the terrain". After calculating the terrain again the subgrade is obviously part of the terrain.

The conclusion of this is to get the height out of Google Earth or other tools (maybe your goverment provides a website with good height data). Then you use this data for the subgrades, so you place all your rails, streets, trees, houses and so on on subgrades. When building tram routes you set the rail first and then the subgrades.

Greets

Quote from aliprando

I tried to remove the subgrades and the ground came back normal. Is it possible to build the map anyway without subgrades and reference lines?

Why would you remove the subgrade? I didn't write that.

It is necessary to use subgrades, if you want to build a real world map. Reference lines are a good tool to create your map, so use them as often as you can.

Greets

Hi,

it seems, that you're using subgrades to shape the terrain underneath the road. This is the correct way to do it. Within the settings of the subgrade you can change the width of the subgrade to shape the terrain further. If the settings aren't translated yet, the setting you're looking for is named "Breite" in German.

Greets

Quote from jq371

checking back after taking 3 or 4 months away to find out where things are up to. as i say, not everyone lives and breathe LOTUS. it seems hard for those users who are on here daily to understand, but i guess unless you are only checking here every 3 months you'd never be able to understand, so dont worry. There are a few users on here getting pretty defensive about what lotus is, but looking back over the threads there are tonnes of people asking questions about it, not quite understanding what you get, what it is, what it will be.... so i know its not just me... the project is going over a lot of peoples heads....

either way, you dont need to convince me it isnt messy, thats just how it feels to me... if it doesnt feel that way to others then thats great.

I guess Marvin also wanted to know some input we can do better in the future. Of course we thought about appearance online on Steam, Facebook and this webpage to keep you informed and we are confidend about the way we are doing it right now. So what do you think we can do better?

Greets

Hey ho,

as Marvin said, you have to wait a little bit till the vegetation gets a revamp. In my personal opinion it isn't necessary to create your own vegetation now, because there might be an easier way to create vegetation in the future. LOTUS will provide possibilities to have 3D-vegetation without slowing down the performance that much.

And basically for all the map creators out there: Please don't put the trees into the terrain at the moment.

Greets

Quote from jq371

Then add to that the current limitations versus future expectations, looking for a timeline on what to expect and when. I get that the early access is to get content creators on their way, but it would be nice if there were some plain and simple information for people who just want to play a driving simulator game. but its all mixed up in threads within threads.

Hey ho,

on https://www.lotus-simulator.de/index.php?progress-en/ you can see the current state of development. There won't be a specified date for new updates or key features, since we don't want to pressure ourselves leading to create quick'n'dirty implementations.

Of course this EA is about the tools, so the content creators can test and use the tools. People who only want to drive may wait till there are more features inside the simulation.

At several occasions the state of development is written, so please make your own mind about joining the early access or not, since everybody has their own requirements on a good simulation.

Greets

---------------> Topic for all the official LOTUS Tutorials <---------------

Map Editor

The LOTUS Map Editor has tons of features, which will be explained in this episode and in upcomming episodes. The main part of this episode contains the explanation of the help lines.

There is a new concept within the LOTUS map editor, which allows you to create a unique scenery without the useage of 3ds Max or Blender. It is the cutting feature.

In this episode I gonna show you the possibilities to create a simple scenery in a short amount of time.

In the LOTUS Map editor you can create the street crossings on your own. This episode shows you how to do so.

Terrain Materials are used to fill areas with a unique size for each area called polygons. In this episode I'll show you the settings for the Terrain Materials und how to create a Terrain Material.

In LOTUS there are some very important menus, which have some important settings. So it is recommended to watch this video before start using the map editor.

Splines are a basic part of the map creation. So in this episode we create, import and set up a simple spline. Furthermore I gonna talk about the types of splines.

Within the LOTUS Simulator the railtracks are a special type of Splines. In this episode we talk about the settings of the railtracks and about switches and their calculation.

To build a real world map you may need some data provided by other programs. Also there is a helpful function called "parallel function", which I explain in this video.

Content Tool

Within the LOTUS Content Tool you can convert your 3D models to LOTUS and provide the special functionality of LOTUS.

There are some steps needed to get your building into the LOTUS simulator. These steps are shown in this video tutorial.

Building a house

In this video I explain to you the basics, which are important to build performance friendly 3d-models.

In this video I explain to you the basics, to create a texture for your 3d house.

In this episode I explain how to create the 3d mesh. To do so, I use 3d Studio Max and Google Earth.

In this episode I apply a texture on the mesh we created in the last episode.

3ds Max Tutorial

Download, licensing and so on regarding 3ds Max. (ENG subs)

Create and modify a mesh in 3ds Max. (ENG subs)

Using modifier to change the look of the object. (ENG subs)

Apply a texture on the house.