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A new format is adapted internally both to store game state such as for Save States, but also used for online multiplayer games. This ensure better, type-safe handling in save and restore (or send and receive for multiplayer), and should allow for perpetually valid save states going forward. Since implementation affected large areas of the source code, some minor inconsistencies may still occur which will need to be resolved over time.
The new state format should also pave the path to disect Dispatcher Viewer from the running Simulator (ActivityRunner), to have Dispatcher Viewer a standalone application which could connect to an online game, or the locally running simulator.
The codebase is now update to run on the .NET 8 platform, the current stable .NET version from Microsoft. When you download or updated to a new version, you will get a warning message when starting Free Train Simulator and no corresponding .NET version is found.
Following the message you will be guided to download .NET 8.0. Please ensure to select the correct version ".NET Desktop Runtime", not ".Net Runtime" or "SDK" only. In most cases, you will need the x64 (64bit) version, unless your OS is limited to 32bit (x86) or you are running on ARM devices.
This new release has some changes and additions, many visible in the user interface.
Most visibly, a new logo has been chosen to make clear that parts of this software are an independent package.
The Toolbox application has been further developed. It not only shows routes, but also train paths can now be visualized and shown on the actual route!
Using the "Train Path Details" view (F8), path nodes are listed and also marked if invalid (not on track). The actual marked path node is shown in map view, and will follow selection, so by scrolling through the list, the path can be easily followed.
Another detail are search/filter capabilities available in some windows, such as for Help (both in Toolbox and the actual Game Help), or Track Node Information.
By clicking on the header, a text input will appear, and the list of help commands is filtered to the search term.
Similarly, track nodes can be search by their index. If an appropriate track piece is found, the map view will be zoomed and focused on the actual track node.
Also the in-game experience has gotten all the new window design, including updates to the HUD, with some updates to the layout and content. Also things like the integrated search/filter in the help window are available, making it more easy to find key commands.
As always, if you're new or want to start fresh, download attached Program.zip, unzip, and run. Or if you already have a version, just use the integrated Updater. While this program package does share settings with other OR installations, Updater runs on a separate schema on it's own.
Starting from versions 1.4.9 (including dev and rc builds), we have changed the codebase to run on the .NET 6 platform. This allowed also to update to the latest version of Monogame, and keep up with other changes and recent development from .NET. When you download or updated to a new version, you will get a warning message when starting ORTS-MG but no corresponding .NET version is found.
Following the message you will be guided to download .NET 6.0. Please ensure to select the correct version ".NET Desktop Runtime", not ".Net Runtime" or "SDK" only. In most cases, you will need the x64 (64bit) version, unless your OS is limited to 32bit (x86) or you are running on ARM devices.
While work continues on new TrackViewer, release v1.4.8 now includes our entirely new Dispatcher View, which is sharing code base with TrackViewer and as such having the same, consistent "look and feel":
Providing an highly performant and intuitively simple to use interface, dispatcher also allow for detailed views of train, signal and switch information, and allows to set signals or switches.
In the meanwhile, TrackViewer had been renamed into "Toolbox" to show our ambitions to turn this into an full style editor, not only for tracks/paths, but potentially also allowing to create and edit activities.
Its been a while since we introduced a new TrackViewer and a lot of progress has been made in the meanwhile.
Furthermore, the same code is now used for a new Dispatcher View while in-game as well. Still some work remaining (ie. to display active Train Paths), but we could slowly phase out the old code, focusing on the new, unified code base, making it far easier to bring changes, and have a familiar user interface across multiple views (Dispatcher, Track Viewer). Also, there is work ongoing to make the TrackViewer a multi-purpose editor and toolbox to create and update content. At the same point, relevant changes are readily available for Dispatcher as well (such as visual changes). A longer term idea also is to have Dispatcher as standalone tool running, some Proof of Concept is already showing promising results.
A long standing ask in the communities, ORTS-MG now includes a simple standalone server for multiplayer games. Available from version #1.4.4-dev.46, server can be started right out from Menu under Tools:
Alternatively, one could simply use a commandline and start .\multiplayerserver.exe (Windows), or use dotnet .\multiplayerserver.dll (Linux, MacOS, Windows as well). A single parameter can be passed to configure a TCP Port, else the standard Port 30000 will be used. When started from the Menu, the configured port number will be used (50000 in the sample above).
Running under Window you may see a Firewall Warning at first start which you should carefully read before acknowledging.
Once started, the server window will print all communication to the output window:
All players will join the game as Multiplayer Client only, and the first client to connect will be appointed Dispatcher. If the current Dispatcher leaves the game, the server will appoint another player as new Dispatcher.
As always, if any issues, drop a note in the Discussions board or the Gitter channel.
Starting in version 1.4.1-dev.* which are currently been worked on, ORTS-MG is compiled for .NET Core only. While .NET Framework is now officially dropped and no further developed, for the moment it should still be possible for anyone interested to compile the code in .NET Framework 4.8. Upcoming code changes though will no longer be checked for backwards compatibility, and using newer C# 8 or C# 9 syntax may over time break compiler compatibility.
Providing only binaries for a single .NET platform also reduces the download package size by about half (going down from ~32MB to ~15MB).
The OpenRails launcher code, which compiles as "OpenRails.exe" and was used to check prerequisites such as .NET Framework version and other dependencies, is no longer needed, and could be removed or ignored when directly using "Menu.exe" instead. To avoid confusion, we still kept the OpenRails.exe, however this is now really just a simple proxy to call the menu, with no other functionality in code.
If any issues around .NET Core in particular, or anything else, drop a note in the Discussions board or the Gitter channel.