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Messages - mendel

#46
Next Version Ideas / Music
October 20, 2001, 03:31:47 PM
Yeah, eat your bridges, that'll make them sturdy (actually, if you could eat every bar that you remove while reconstructing, this would solve a lot of the world's hunger problems...)

And falkon, nice try, but I know you *thought* to answer something else and would have if I hadn't dared you :-)

#47
Next Version Ideas / Music
October 19, 2001, 10:16:49 PM
Usually a quiet environment helps produce creative ideas, creative solutions to problems. More to the point, building a bridge accurately wil not be harmed by music because your left brain half builds the bridge and your right brain half listens to music, but doing a creative re-design (and "seeing" one) needs both of your brain's halves.

Perhaps some quiet new-age instrumental stuff (sounds of the earth etc.) would help, but I think it is highly personal which music (if any) makes you creative.

You might as well ask which food makes you build better bridges (and I know what falkon will reply to that ;-).

#48
Next Version Ideas / Music
October 19, 2001, 01:07:51 PM
Just grab a few CDs of your supermarket bargain table - low-quality pop suitable for background right there. CDs with cover shots that have softener applied to them serve best. When you're done playing Pontifex, you can always reuse them as ninja disks...
#49
Next Version Ideas / Music
October 21, 2001, 09:21:58 AM
Chris de Burgh: "Spanish train"
"For it is said that the souls of the dead
fill that train, ten thousand deep"
"That train is dead on time, many souls are on the line"

Not exactly my favourite music, but the text is to the point...

#50
Next Version Ideas / Colisions/Cables/Quick Test/Textures
November 10, 2001, 07:25:17 AM
Good idea! That could be used for a two-tiered CD: 1) do CD on beams, 2) only those that collide in step 1 are then checked for link collisions.
#51
Next Version Ideas / Train features
November 06, 2001, 11:23:15 AM
> I'm exactly talking about bridges with the anchors far away.

So up to exactly which Z would you want to go? Surely not 256?

> And if the anchors aren't symmetrical, it's very likely you'll need the centering force.

Yes, then the deck might sag differently on each side and tilt slightly.

> Also, having the centering force be an option would allow you to turn it off for maps without a large change in Z.

I thought you could always make a bigger Z you're not using, but that costs game speed.


Another idea: centering force only on deck pieces and rail texture! That would be harder to implement, though.

#52
Next Version Ideas / Train features
November 05, 2001, 09:59:40 PM
If you have a level with a large Z where the centering force comes in handy, I'd  like to see it (honestly, I would - must look interesting!). I can see easily that large X does not affect the usefulness, but no train is ever even going to reach the forward/backward edge of a 32x32 flat level without doing some of that stuff I've been advocating, and THAT will be much easier and replaced by much more possibilies if centering force is abolished.

Unless you're thinking about a bridge where the anchors are far, far away to the side.... and even then the train should  run straight most of the time even without centering?

Changing the map format to allow for centering off might break existing maps, unless some high bit on a low number is used (e.g. use a negative Zsize if centering is off).

#53
Next Version Ideas / Train features
November 07, 2001, 07:57:11 AM
Chillum, your idea is notwhat I had in mind. It's a good alternative. It would exclude my "train winds around cliff face" idea, although it would work if the cliff was concave, not convex.... (bend inward, not outward - if the cliff is to the left of the train, the train is slowly turning right)
#54
Next Version Ideas / Train features
November 05, 2001, 08:37:39 PM
1) Train centering force only in levels where Zsize=8, possibly up to 16.
This should not break existing levels, but make real 3D levels easier to do. The way this would work is that I'd make a 20x20 or greater for the depth I'd need, and Pontifex would "turn off" the centering force.

2) I got bitten by nonintuitive and possibly non-documented engine start placement. I raised the ground and put the left  width line to the edge of the grid, and Pfx started the train at the usual height. Since that was below ground, I was not thrilled. Moving the green line inwards solved it.
Why can't the train just start above the yellow "rails" line? (That's what I intuitively assumed, but that's not the case now.)
Again, this should not break most levels, and if it did, it would be easy to fix.

#55
Next Version Ideas / Pre-tensioning Cables
October 31, 2001, 10:08:02 AM
Lowering gravity will not eliminate "overshoot" or bouncing, because if damping was to eat all potential energy, the bridge would be "stuck" by friction and suddenly give when the train passed. If the bridge moves at all when sttling, it will overshoot and bounce back. Doing so at lesser gravity just makes the forces smaller, so the static load and the dynamic "bounce" force don't differ as much as they do now.
#56
Next Version Ideas / Pre-tensioning Cables
November 04, 2001, 09:47:16 PM
There are 2 ways to go:
1) Use less elastic cables.
2) make your bridge more elastic.

The latter is practicable right now. I solved one of my problems with my lame contest bridge design that way.
I used to have it so the cable tower was built on the lower anchor and had the first deck joint integrated in its steel structure. This resulted in the second deck piece taking a lot of strain, because one joint was fixed in the heavy-steel-supported tower, the other was cabled and connected to sagging rest of the bridge. The stress was noticeably reduced when I built the tower past the first deck joint (removing the angle in the tower, too!) and suspended the first deck joint from that same or an auxiliary tower, I don't remember which. What I do remember is that this setup made the first joint sag a little, too, and that allowed it to distribute some of that stress farther to the outside, resulting in a more even stress distribution and a better bridge.
(Actually, this is a "current version" idea, so I'm a little bit off-topic here :-).

What you could do would be to build the deck at an angle, so it's allowed to sag a little, thus stressing the cables. The problem with this is that the deck gets stressed, too - and that should not be happening with a sus bridge...
If the members were still pin-jointed as they were in BB, the sag would not induce much extra stress, so instead of demanding prestressed cables, we could instead demand a no-diagonals beam (demanded elsewhere on this forum as well, if I recall). I dub this "swinging bar".

Swinging bars could be easily implemented as a new material type without changing the current file format, and it could even use the same colors now used for light and heavy steel.

#57
Next Version Ideas / Bridges for more than one train!
November 01, 2001, 05:51:12 PM
Since you guys are probably sitting in the same room, could you please discuss first and do a single post afterwards? Makes for much easier reading...
#58
Next Version Ideas / Broken link finder
October 26, 2001, 08:52:52 PM
Hmmm.. in edit, have [<] and [>] to cycle through the beams and joints/linkboxes that were broken on the last run - only available as long as no edit is done - should be a simple upgrade, but very helpful. Spotting which link of the beam or linkbox took it would be a matter of rerunning the test, but knowing where to look can be a big plus. Also, knowing exactly what broke first...

I had a case today of a single beam breaking; a short time after that, a second one. I couldn't find the place! It was on the back of a beam on the other side of the bridge deck - a really mean place to hide.

#59
Next Version Ideas / Improving v10.12.01
October 31, 2001, 08:52:10 AM
I usually run Pontifex windowed. If I need to minimize it, I Alt-Space the system menu open and choose "minimize".
#60
Next Version Ideas / Improving v10.12.01
October 29, 2001, 07:40:11 PM
The "delete file" function is better placed on the description screen; on the load level/bridge screen it's just a delete by filename, which I can do better with explorer since I see a file date. But to look at the description, see the rotating bridge and decide you don't need to see that crappy thing again calls for a "delete file" button right there. It would delete the file and then "Back" you to the load menu you came from.

(Edited by mendel at 12:43 pm on Oct. 29, 2001)