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Desirable features for future Railmaster Software updates


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When a selecting a program to run from the dropdown on the main RailMaster screen, the title of the program becomes White text on a Blue background.  

 

Is this really necessary?  My view is that Black text on a White (or very light coloured) background is far easier to read.

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A useful feature within RailMaster would be a row of thumbnails on screen, making it easier to see the locos you have, which could be selected to open the full throttle control box. As many of us use small laptops for convenience with model railways, it can be very difficult to scroll from the small window on the right.

Er, don't we have something like that already? If you double click near the RM logo bottom left you can bring up a small + symbol which enables you to program a repositionable row of buttons which can include, amongst other items your locos, or at least a subset. When clicked, these buttons open up to 2 large loco control windows. Is that what you are after?

 

AM

 

 

 

 

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Being a user who gets lots of fun creating programs to run the trains, I would like to see the ability to use sub-folders to store the programs. The dropdown list of my programs is getting very long and it takes some time to find the program I want to run, even though the names of the programs reflect what each program does, I would like to have, for example, a sub-folder for each loco, plus maybe one for miscellaneous. I have created quite a lot of programs which are not usually run individually, but as one of several chained together into a longer program. I would like to keep these in yet another sub-folder of each loco, so that they aren't included in the dropdown list for a particular loco.

Ray

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... I would like to see the ability to use sub-folders to store the programs ...

Totally agree, in fact see page 9 of this thread (Sun 14/7/2013 at 16:28)

 

 

Oops - sorry Dave, I missed that one. As an added enhancement, maybe a .INI file entry:-

 

User Program Folder=

 

If entry not present, default to the current Railmaster folder.

Ray

 

 

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... I would like to see the ability to use sub-folders to store the programs ...

Totally agree, in fact see page 9 of this thread (Sun 14/7/2013 at 16:28)

 

 

Oops - sorry Dave, I missed that one. As an added enhancement, maybe a .INI file entry:-

 

User Program Folder=

 

If entry not present, default to the current Railmaster folder.

Ray

 

 

Certainly no need for the apology Ray.  I think the more the merrier that put forward the same suggestion.

 

Incidentally, my list of programs is getting far longer now that I have introduced automated points, so I would now like this enhancement more than ever before!

 

 

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When running a programme and  short circuit occurs the trains all stop, however the programme continues running. What would be better is that the programme pauses and then when you press all start, then select green tick the programme starts where it paused. If you hit red cross then the programme stops completely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I'd like the throttle to change colour when open to make it easier to see which locos are running and which are stationary. In the same vein I'd like to see the forward and reverse only show as green or red when the throttle is open

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When running a programme and  short circuit occurs the trains all stop, however the programme continues running. What would be better is that the programme pauses and then when you press all start, then select green tick the programme starts where it paused. If you hit red cross then the programme stops completely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does Railmaster know there has been a short circuit?

Ray

 

 

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When running a programme and  short circuit occurs the trains all stop, however the programme continues running. What would be better is that the programme pauses and then when you press all start, then select green tick the programme starts where it paused. If you hit red cross then the programme stops completely. 

I like this idea (but as Ray says, I do not know if RailMaster knows that there has been a short).  

 

On the same theme, I would like to be able to pause a program and for it to cause a complete stop of all Loco's, before being able to re-start the program and all the Loco's again.  This could be achieved by ensuring that if a program is paused, that all power is removed from the track, only to be reinstated when the program is 'un-paused'.

 

 

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I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before (this topic has become too unwieldy), but I would like to be able to read and write to CVs beyond 255. I know and use work-arounds, but they are different for each manufacturer and a bit clumsy. It would be nice to be able to do it directly. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

A thought occurred to me while reading the "Train Announcements" thread. Those of us who have Voice Control as part of the ProPack, will know that the pc is capable of speaking written text. Would it not be possible to generate station announcements from written text e.g. as a command in a program, or as a programmable button?

Ray

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I have just recently started the programming side to automatically run trains, i would like ot see the table of events made similar to that of an excel spreadsheet, e.g. entering timed events in out of sequence, it will automatically sort into ascending order similar to that in excel rather than ahving to move the lines up or down.

 

I also wondered if there was the possibility of including extra sounds e.g. diesel horn, diesel start up, etc

Colin

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You can already list as many sound events as you want in a programme Smithy.

All you have to make sure is you allow time for them to play out before scheduling the next timed event. Some sounds take longer than others to run through.

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You can already list as many sound events as you want in a programme Smithy.

All you have to make sure is you allow time for them to play out before scheduling the next timed event. Some sounds take longer than others to run through.

yes fair point but i would have thougth there would have been more choice, e.g. there is no diesel horn, it is too focused on oo gauge for hormby trains e.g. the names of the train set packs, the doors slamming is a good one and stay clear of the platform edge.   

 

 

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I have, at long last (!), got around to writing a few short programs.  I have reported a few bugs to HRMS an also some suggestions which I will mention here for completeness.

 

1.  When making a bug report it would be nice if my email address was automatically inserted when the dialog box appears.  And if auto inserted then there is no need for the email repeat box (unless the address in the first box is altered).

 

2.  The is a button "Mark all program steps for testing".  There should also be a button to unmark all marked steps.  I know you can exit/re-edit the program to clear the marks but that is not the point.

 

UPDATE:  HRMS have just confirmed that both of the above will be included in a soon to be released update.

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In addition to the above, I was unable to report problems to HRMS yesterday - the facility responding with different messages.  Because I am using a new (old) PC and had experienced problems previously, although I did eventually get a report to complete, I suspected my PC.  This led me to various checks and general time wasting. The report completed first time this morning.

 

Therefore, an RM (bug reporting and activation) status web page would be really useful.

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an RM (bug reporting and activation) status web page would be really useful.

 

Only of general interest to forum members as HRMS reporting system collects data about your system and the fault which a forum thread would not. Unless what you mean is a list of reported bugs and their state of play for being fixed.

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an RM (bug reporting and activation) status web page would be really useful.

 

Only of general interest to forum members as HRMS reporting system collects data about your system and the fault which a forum thread would not. Unless what you mean is a list of reported bugs and their state of play for being fixed.

I was thinking of something more immediate - ie a web page that says, for example, "Our bug reporting system is not operating at present" or "The problem reporting system will be undergoing maintenance on Sunday" or even " Everything is OK with the world ...." !

 

 

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Good luck with making any progress with your very reasonable request MMUK.

 

;-)

 

@RAF96.  I think your misunderstanding of my suggestion is also an important point.  If you look at it logically, when you commence a problem report, HRMS ask if you have read the manual and troubleshooting guide.  This would save you and HRMS from wasting each other's time.  However, think of the time you might spend re-checking possible solutions and constructing an in-depth report even though HRMS are fully aware of the bug.  Providing a known bug list may not save HRMS any time but it could save you and me a lot of time, but are HRMS worried about that (perhaps 'should HRMS be worried' is more appropriate) ?  

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