Chrissaf Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Is it possible to edit Big Bear recorded programs, as you can with RM?Ray.The short answer is 'no' not at present. This was a question I asked the Big Bear developer (Peter Thurston) some time ago. Below is an extract from a mail I received from Peter T in response to my various BB product queries:.email extract follows.....With regard CV programming, I decided up front not to support that feature on the basis that there are decent freeware CV programmers available by other third parties. As Big Bear is just me I had limit what would be put into the product..The next major feature will be interlocking. This is a concern of club layouts. Further to that we have feedback and automatic control. The underlying framework to support feedback exists but need to get my own layout in a position where I can test it..You raise a good point re recording. In fact you can do it but I agree it's a bit low level. Everything that BB does can be expressed as a sequence of text commands and these can be stored as named sequences. To start up train you might use 0012LS3/F-#2-0012LS7/F which will accelerate loco with long address 12 from speed 3 to speed 7 with a 2 second gap..Note the comment in Bold about the developer being a 'one man band'. I found him to be open and honest in answering my questions. He even highlighted the application weaknesses in comments to questions that I hadn't actually asked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 From what he says there Chris you can record, albeit a bit basic, but you can also write a program using his shorthand code, presumably in notebook or other text editor, and saved as whatever his program files are suffixed (.xyz )then called up somehow in the app... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Yes, correct Rob. But there is no built in easy use editor and to do it in something like notepad you would need to be skilled enough to know and use the correct command syntax. Probably more hassle than it is worth..Ray's question was could you edit programs as in RM? thus the correct answer to that specific question was no i.e. there is no inbuilt program editor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinE Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Hi Ray, as Chris has already said you cannot edit recorded programs on Big Bear. I find the best answer is to plan the keystrokes and write them down especially if using sound and that way I found there was less chance of forgetting something I wanted to include. There is the sequence system which is programmable and includes points, loco speed and function buttons for sounds etc but I've only used it for route setting at the moment so cannot tell you how easy it is to use. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St1ngr4y Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 It would be an interesting exercise to devise a high level user-friendly language which could then generate BB instructions like 0012LS3/F-#2-0012LS7/F. Of course this would need access to the definitions of these lower level commands..... Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Reasonably easy to decipher Ray even without the benefit of Chris's email excerpt.0012L is a long loco address L either means long which the four figures would also indicate or it means loco so maybe P for pointS3/F is set speed step 3 forward-#2- is -from previous statement at interval in seconds to- next statementS7/F is set speed step 7 forward other examples could be generated in this manner with a bit of a read of the BB book then compiled for running upon selection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St1ngr4y Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 How about an Excel spreadsheet which would convert RM programs into BB programs? 😮 Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hosh Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 This is a copy/paste (with cleanup) from Nightraker's post here https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/post/view/topic_id/428/?p=2. He states the info is a year old meaning it's from mid 2010 - So far, Rail-Master will allow you to control locomotives and automate your layout by using the sequential programming system built in. Once you have mastered all of these things, you can go to the next level, whichis locomotive detection. Rail-Master incorporates one of the most powerful detection systems in the world, allowing not only block or occupancy detection, but also telling which locomotive has passed a given sensor, which direction it was travelling in, the scale speed and even whether it was accelerating or decelerating. The locomotive detection system relies on certain additional hardware and locomotive tags being installed on your layout. Locomotive Tags - Each locomotive can have applied to it a unique tag strip which allows up to 56 locomotivesrunning on a single layout to be individually identifiable. These strips are self adhesive andsome with spacer pads to allow the retro-fitting of almost every Hornby locomotive ever made, andmany other manufacturers’ too. You can have multiple sets of the same tag ID as long as the two locomotives with the same ID are not running on the layout at the same time. Track Sensors - You can place up to 96 sensors on your layout, at key points, in order to detect a locomotivepassing through. Using the programming system you can tell Rail-Master to make a decision aboutpoint and signal switching based on the loco or train which is passing through. When a loco with an ID tag passes over the sensor, a digital ID is sent to Rail-Master which enables the program to show you which loco has passed the sensor. USB Receiver - All track sensors feed into the USB receiver module, which lets Rail-Master know which loco has passed over which sensor on the layout. The master receiver has 24 ports, which allow up to 24 track sensors to be read. Up to three additional modules can be attached giving a total of 96 ports to read up to 96 sensors. When a locomotive passes over a sensor, a window pops up on the Rail-Master control screen showing the name of the loco (and shows a picture of it), its speed, direction of travel and whether it is accelerating or decelerating. Adding a Track Sensor at Design Time - Within the Track Planning screen you can insert loco detection sensorsanywhere onto your layout. To do this, click on the point control button and then on the sensor button. You can then position the sensor over any track element on the plan. Right clicking on the track sensor will allow you to specify which receiver module number it is connected to and the port number on that module. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJ_model_trains Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 I am sure a few things will have changed since that statement... Including Coming, Coming soon, Imminent if I remember correctly was stated at one point. But I am sure they will have changed the way some things worked from there thinking in 2010. Hopefully this is one of them..When a locomotive passes over a sensor, a window pops up on the Rail-Master control screen showing the name of the loco (and shows a picture of it), its speed, direction of travel and whether it is accelerating or decelerating. I am not sure how, where or how big a pop up will 'pop-up' but with a screen already crammed with items in use I would hate it to pop-up over signals. points, etc., especially with numerous trains/locos running at once. I do accept however the pop up could be in the borders so it ends up another... wait and see. But no worries guys LD is coming soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hosh Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Funny thing is, the first thread about RM on these boards indicates that RM itself was still not released in May of 2011, yet the Wiki page states it was released in late 2010. There are posts about people purchasing RM in June 2011 later in this thread - https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/post/view/topic_id/20/?p=5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkingthedog Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Wiki is alway riddled with inaccuracies. Don't forget that the info in Wiki is supplied by the likes of you and me, not experts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDS Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 ... not experts. and we all know the definition of an 'expert' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howbi Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 and we all know the definition of an 'expert'Well I don't.......... but I'm an expert at not knowing things...........! HB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Wiki's are written by the likes of you and me.... (I should know as I wrote one in the early days for using the Elite with Rocrail - still extant In a ref out from the Rocrail manual) ... and there is no legal requirement to prove that the content of a Wiki is not total and utter cr@p. These pages are routinely patrolled by auditors who suggest improvements, in particular where some stated fact is unsubstanstiated and requires ref-outs to somewhere that corroborates the statement, so there is a measure of control. My advice is read a Wiki and believe what you see if you want to, but you should always check via another source, preferably hard copy in a good book that what is writ is real....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDS Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 and we all know the definition of an 'expert'Well I don't.......... but I'm an expert at not knowing things...........! HB How about: An ex is a has been and a spurt is a drip under pressure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hosh Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 Anyone still supporting the "they're waiting for the patents to go through" rumour? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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