ContentManager Feature Requests

This page is where the Trainz community can post Content Manager-specific feature requests. Request any additions or changes that you think will enhance the game.

Requests

Requests are placed in this section by the community, for discussion and possible inclusion. Requests here may or may not make it into TS2009.

• A setting that stops CMP adding extensive white space between a tag and it's value. A simple space is sufficient for tag and value identification. By having it as a setting in CMP, Auran's in house standard can be followed by those who wish to do so. Phil_C

• Ability for CMP to retain the config coding format that was specified prior to loading the asset into CMP. I suggest the following formats be supported

• K&R style
• Allman style
• BSD KNF style
• Aurans standard (Which appears to be a cross between two different styles possibly favouring the Allman style.

This is to allow better readability of the config especially when a certain style has been utilized in the script as well. Looking back at all assets prior to TS2009 the configs used the K&R style and the scripts used Allman style. I agree that standardization is a good idea but I also think that the preferences of the content creator should also be taken into consideration. Phil_C

Do you want it to preserve the coding format, or to allow control over the output format? Your request here is a mishmash of both options. The first isn't possible, but the second would be. ~chris

• I have built a few routes using surveyor and I have difficulty finding appropriate buildings etc. Would it be possible to include a feature in CMP to create some sort of catalogue of content. This procedure could be applied after filtering to make a printable booklet with content name, a preview image, description.. for what ever items were found in the search. Obviously a full catalogue of 1000's of items is overkill, but it would be most helpful for scenery items in particular. regards,PEV

Somewhat similar to the CMP thumbnail view, but printable? ~chris

Yes, but that will only work if the thumbnail is present...PEV

Any well-formed asset will have a thumbnail present. ~chris

• Multiple asset config editing mode - was a fantastic feature in Tafweb's program, where you could add config lines to multiple assets in one hit. - Natvander

Could you please clarify what you expect to achieve with a feature like this? I'm not completely against the idea, but at the same time, I don't see a lot of places where this would be useful. Any reply which involves "fixing" someone else's content in bulk will probably earn negative points, because (1) we want to actively discourage an environment where such a thing is necessary, and (2) "fixing" is generally not the same thing as fixing, not referring to yourself here but in general. ~chris

When working on/editing multiple assets at once, especially when new features are added, it is very handy to be able to add the same lines to multiple configs at the same time rather than opening each config individually and cutting/pasting the line. As an example, I have approx. 30 road types that all require the 'grounded' figure edited. Modifying all in one hit is obviously much more economical that editing 30 configs individually.

I'll also add that this could be very useful for adding keywords to the configs. - weevil

• Some tags in config file are redundant now we have CMP. They are also a source of errors. Recommend delete: author; organisation; contact-email; contact-website. The last two are particularly volatile and soon outmoded. Information would be better placed in Profiles pane on Auran website which is accessible from CMP Asset Details panel. Creators should be required to update when new assets are uploaded. -ianwoodmore

• Limit size of description field. Apart from the infamous double quotes often causes errors in CMP. Should not be used for Tech specs or historical novels which should be provided in separate text files if required. -ianwoodmore

• Limit size of license field. Causes many errors in CMP which become difficult to correct if multiple languages involved. We are not lawyers. Trainzers want to know is it: Freeware; Payware; Restricted; Forbidden except for personal use. -ianwoodmore

• Search Date Installed requires a 'Greater than or equal to date chosen' choice. This enables a Trainzer to instal all content from a certain date when they have been away for a while. -ianwoodmore

Complete

• Add trainzbuild field to Asset Details panel, and as a filter in Search panel. -ianwoodmore

Something similar to this has been done. ~chris

• One of the most arduous tasks in CMP is discovering what is missing as a dependency. Recommend add Search filter to show consolidated list of missing dependencies as per the red shield. -ianwoodmore

Right click on the asset in question, choose "show dependencies". ~chris

I was referring to a consolidated list of all missing dependencies of ALL assets in CMP, not just one as is now available. -ianwoodmore

Select All now works as expected. ~chris

• Ability to error check an asset without committing the asset and without starting Trainz. Something like a "Commit and reopen asset" setting. Phil_C

Try 'Show Errors and Warnings'. ~chris

• Add 'not equal to' function on keywords filter in Search panel. -ianwoodmore

We have general boolean login in CM now. ~chris

• Possibility to backup and restore keywords as per CMP in TRS2006 SP1 -weevil

This should be present in CM now. ~chris

• A feature that allows skipping of corrupt assets (i.e. copytemp... folders) when importing/opening content for edit, to avoid TADDaemon errors. -shaneturner12

Not entirely sure what this is intended to achieve, but any folder which doesn't have a config file should be harmless and ignored during import. ~chris

• CMP will not D/L an item that has been obsoleted. Only the latest version can be downloaded. The problem that arises is twofold. Firstly the obsoleted item will persist in the Search Download Station filter. It probably shows in the Out of Date filter which appears to be a subset of Download Station in which case a dual filter approach to search removes Out of Date from Current Search. However,the workings of the Out of Date filter are mysterious as it includes all new downloadable assets as well until action is taken to D/L them. This is confusing. Secondly and more serious in my view is that creators are using the same kuid with a later extension to update an asset to work in a later version. The problem that occurs is that a person using say TRS2006 CMP get the latest version suitable for say TRS2009 whereas he required the earlier version suitable for TRS2006 functionality. While the use of a trainzbuild filter will help, the practice of many creators is to mark their assets in an earlier trainzbuild (eg TRS2004) in order to allow for a wider audience. Initially, I recommend that situation would be eased by the inclusion of a Trainbuild filter as mentioned before, in combination with sorting out the purpose of the Out of Date filter. -ianwoodmore

This was resolved quite a while back. ~chris

Rejected

If there's a request that we're clearly not going to entertain at the current time, we'll move it to here. This includes both flat rejections and also requests which sound good but won't be done for the next version of Trainz.

• The progress bar window in CMP (committing/deleting/importing etc.) freezes when you switch to another application and back. It will be nice to switch back and see the progress again :) ~Abadur

This is not a feature request. ~chris

• Names on the tabs in CMP are getting blank sometimes. I like this feature, but you can remove it from 2009 version. ~Abadur

Uncertain what this refers to, but sounds like a bug rather than a feature request. ~chris

• The CMP is not able to import CDP packages where are files (mostly textures) with central european characters. Those files are not extracted. In the worst case only config.txt is extracted. No warning, no error is shown during import. Such asset shows error in CMP - missing texture. Is CMP supporting codepages? Namely ISO-8859-2 and WIN-1250. ~Abadur

Trainz supports only lowercase ascii filenames, for portability. Display text within Trainz may be localised as desired, but filenames must be lowercase ascii. This is not a bug. ~chris

So add a warning during import that not all files were extracted! ~Abadur

I search CCGTC.pdf for any reference. There is NO such info. Trainz and TRS2004 do not have such limitation. Only CMP is not supporting localized file names. ~Abadur

Original Trainz did not support localization at all. CCGTC was never very good with technical details, and has been obsolete for two years at this point. Please see the Filename character restrictions for details. ~chris

• Current CMP behaviour is to hide all or nearly all faulty assets indications giving a false impression that all is well. Similarly on a rebuild after assets.tdx and assets.bku are deleted, previous faulty indications revert to no show. It is only when Open for Edit and a subsequent Commit are performed that a true fault condition will show if fault would have at least one red warning. I have 123,000 assets in CMP so you can guess that this is a major frustration when hunting for faulty assets to fix. Similarly, it is natural to repair red warnings before yellow. Only trouble is that the yellow warnings disappear as soon as you commit after clearing red faults. This results in faults associated with some mesh faults,and many others including category tags to not be fixed unless you are aware of the anomaly. Strongly recommend that CMP be allowed to tell it like it really is so we can eliminate non-compliance with CCG. -ianwoodmore

This is certainly not deliberate behavior. I haven't seen this problem personally, but if you are seeing this then it's a bug. ~chris

• Can TC3 CCP pleeeease be fixed so it no longer removes the 'kind' tag in an effects container. - Natvander

This is a known bug. ~chris

• Archiving in CMP is fine for small amounts of data or specifically targetted requirements such as a particular layout. But it is a nightmare when a large amount of data needs to be archived. In my case I have 123,000 assets including builtins (237GB and 2 million files) in my local folder. This would require a lot of DVD disks to totally archive. So I backup to a 750GB external USB2 harddrive for safety sake (9 and a half hours) but then CMP can't see them. There is also the issue that builtins and locked files cannot be archived even if they are part of the dependencies of the assets. There are a significant number of faulty builtins for which edits have to be made and these need to be archived. Another problem related to archiving is the upgrading to a later version of Trainz and the need to copy your existing local folder to the new local folder location. If you are running more than one version of Trainz and many Trainzers do then you are duplicating significant amounts of data on your computer in local folders that are not synchronised. I recommend that the local folder should be a common repository for all versions of Trainz installed on your computer. CMP would still manage this central Trainz Asset Bank but only upload appropriate data compliant with a particular version of Trainz to that version. Archiving would probably need to be more sophisticated to ensure that assets required can be located. The ability to nominate a backup location as opposed to archiving would be a useful adjunct. -ianwoodmore

This is the overall goal of the Trainz Asset Database but we're a very long way off this being a reality. ~chris

• Provide a 'credits' tag in config file and add field to CMP asset Details panel. This information is common courtesy but there is no consistency as to how it is added to config file'. Sometimes in description, sometimes in license. Other times in illegal tag 'credits:' or just dumped into body of config file where it causes garbage errors. -ianwoodmore

This information should be placed into the 'license' field. ~chris

• In surveyor we can see on the right bottom if an object is from the DLS (white), builtin (yellow) or installed from external ressources (red). In CMP we sadly cannot see this until now. For several reasons it would be a great feature if e.g. the local-icon (the computer) could have two states: 1. The computer = installed and NOT available from the DLS. 2. The computer e.g. with the letter "dls" on it = installed and available from the DLS. -Partyman79

While we no longer use icons, and the textual status does not indicate this directly either, it is trivial to determine this status using filters. ~chris