Desirable features for future Railmaster Software updates

[St1ngr4y]

Yes I did see their replies. However, although there is a mechanical pause at each road, RM also switches off the motor for a second or two at each road, if you use the turntable icon on the screen or the commands available in a program for a turntable. But if you have the turntable configured as a loco, the decision when to switch on and off the motor is yours, either by use of the throttle or in a program.

Ray

[Chris Surrey]

Without going through all 60 screens on this post I am not sure whther this has been suggested but here goes. I use voice control a lot (especially via tablet and Team Viewer which effectively turns the tablet into a bluetooth like headset). One item missing is the ability to control programs. Could this be included in the desirable features list, even if it meant amending program titles to a standard formt such as program 1, program 2 etc.

[RDS]

... I am not sure whether this has been suggested ...

 

Chris, that seems a very reasonable suggestion.  I am not aware that it has been asked before but I was quite surprised to read your request so I checked the RailMaster instructions to find that Programs cannot be run from Voice Control.  I keep meaning to try to put together a summary table on this thread but I always seem to get so far and then get hampered by all the non-relevant posts.

[Chris Surrey]

Thanks. I don't underestimate the task of drawing up a consolidated list of suggestions!

[RDS]

In order to maintain the usefulness of this thread and to make the task of compiling the summary of suggestions so far, a lot easier, it has been decided to remove posts from the thread that are not related to a potential new feature.  

 

This exercise will not remove posts that concern a feature that cannot or will not be implemented but will be limited to the removal of posts that completely off the intended topic.  Posts which comment on a suggestion are fine, as are those that support (or even oppose) a suggestion.

 

It is requested that future posts to this thread are limited to 'Suggestions for future Features'.

 

Just for interest, in the first 40 pages of this thread, there are 123 suggestions, out of the 400 posts.

[RDS]

First of all, thank you to all Forum members who have contributed to this thread so far (keep those suggestions coming).  Thank you also to RogerB for his help in tidying up the thread.

This table is my first attempt at summarising all inputs so far.  The table only contains details of posts that actually suggest a new feature.  If there was any discussion about that potential feature, it is still contained in the thread on the relevant pages.  I think that far more of the suggestions have actually resulted in changes, than I have been able to confirm and I would be grateful for information that enables me to fill those in on the table.  Also, if there are any errors, please post on this thread and I will make the changes.

 

/media/tinymce_upload/afea9bdebf19c22c808d708b6c6d04a6.jpg

[St1ngr4y]

Reading through this list again, I have remembered something I've been meaning to ask for, for a while now...

When a user reports a problem through the RM program itself, could the automatic reply email sent to the user contain a copy of the text submitted by the user. I would find this most useful in "chasing up" reports I have made in the past.

Ray

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

We maintain a list of things we want to add/enhance in RailMaster and have many of these items noted however quite a few of them are pretty vague, e.g. "Change to operation of turntable motor", "Log file to be updated ... regardless of how it was run".

 

As you will know we need precise information in order to do something so if you can create the list again but with a detailed description beneath each heading so that there is no doubt about what needs to be done then we can compare it against our list.  Think about exactly how the new function would work and put it into words.  More information is alwayd better then too little.  Remember also that whatever we build into RailMaster needs to be done in such a way as not to confused users, especially new users and this takes a degree of skill to achieve.  RailMaster has alway been the easiest to use system of its kind and we need it to stay this way.

 

Also, items such as "RailMaster to indicate when communications has been lost" and "Saving double headers" are already there, the latter being part of the Pro-Pack option.  The former can be set on or off within the RailMaster.ini file and this is all in the PDF guide.

 

If you can revise the list with more detail then we can omit the items already present and check against what we are working on for the next major update.  Bear in mind that some of these items will be put into a future upgrade as so few people would use them and we need to prioritise based on time and scheduled updates.

 

Also note that some entries in your list are technically impossible to do such as "Better error feedback incl .... where short circuit has actually occurred".  There is no way to detect where on a layout a short has occurred and the software already notifies you of a short circuit.

 

Other items are virtually impossible to implement accurately, for example the ability to pause a program and resume it.  We have looked into this before and the problem is that when you pause a program the locos invariably decelerate to a stop which means when you start it again (with acceleration also) it will not continue as it would have normally and the end results will be different.

 

[Chris Surrey]

@hornby RailMaster Support

You may well be unable to respond to this for commercial reasons but is it possible to give a road map of when updates are likely to be released and what they are likely to contain?

[96RAF]

Just thought of another couple...

1. The ability to sort Function buttons on the large throttle would be nice to have, such that the more commonly used ones could be brought to the top, e.g. F25 on diesels which controls Aux usually used for say cab lights.

 

2. Also is anything being done to allow use of all 28 functions in RM given the controllers are so capable, even use of F0-F25 inclusive (i.e. 26 functions) which would fully cover TTS.

Rob

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

"Including full details in the list would be a mamoth task."

 

This is why we would like a defined description for each entry in the list.  Unfortunately we cannot go on vague descriptions and read through pages of postings where we still do not have the answers.

 

We cannot provide dates for updates or features to be included on those dates.

 

Looking through the history of RailMaster you will see that there have been 43 major version updates (1.xx) and numerous minor updates (1.xx.y) so the answer is that there are regular updates and will continue to be.

 

[RDS]

@HRMS

Thank you very much for your replies.  

I am looking at how best to supply the information you have requested.

[PJ_model_trains]

Excellent work RDS

 

I will go through my entries  as we have discussed and confirm which items are corrected and which remain outstanding. Hopefully it will help HRMS and members if the completed tasks are in a separate list to the still outstanding ones. 

 

Thanks again for all the time you have spent on this list. 

[St1ngr4y]

Would it be possible to invoke a pre-defined route, as set up through the layout designer, in a program command? In the program editing window, there would be a new icon in the Resource column for Route, and in the Resource Name column, a dropdown list would contain the names of all routes defined in the layout plan file.

Ray

 

Summary

 

Allow a pre-defined route, as set up through the layout designer, to be invoked by a command in a program.

[RDS]

Note to all Desirable Feature posters.

As requested by Hornby RailMaster Support (HRMS), the Table I posted a few days ago is being worked on to provide a more useful 'Summary' Column.

 

In the meantime, could I ask that anyone who has posted a suggestion in the past, looks at the Summary words I used in the table, with a view to posting a new Summary, if the existing one does not adequately cover the suggestion.  I will pick up these new words and add them to the table, in place of the existing words.  Please use the reference post number quoted in the 2nd column of the table, so that I can ensure the new words are placed against the relevant line item.  If you feel that the feature has now been included within the releases of RailMaster we have had since your suggestion, please post with that confirmation.

 

In order to make the future task as efficient as possible, it is essential that all new suggestions are in a similar format to the post from Ray (St1ngr4y) immediately above this post (19:09 on 20th Feb 2017).

 

Hopefully, this will enable us to satisfy the request from HRMS.

 

My intention is to keep the table as current as possible, so only one table will be available in future as old Tables will be removed when a new version is posted.

 

[GWR Greg]

RDS

Re posts 278 & 299. These can be marked "Not technically possible" as a result of HMRS comments above.

Re post 324 Here in more detail. On a small tablet when in portrait mode be able to choose whether throttle only or plan only.

[RDS]

GWR Greg

Thank you.

[96RAF]

@RDS

Rather than clutter the forum with my expanded suggestions, I will PM you with the full listing details.

Rob

[St1ngr4y]

Would it be possible to record log file entry times accurate to hundredths of a second i.e. hh:mm:ss.cc?

Ray

 

Summary

 

More accurate times in log file

[PJ_model_trains]

Excellent suggestion Ray

 

It can be frustrating comparing programmed commands with log file data when the log file rounds seconds to the nearest full number.

 

Another suggestion if I may, although the above one is the most important, is to have the columns that are missing from the program file included in the log file, particularly the Notes column which I found helpful with so many commands and so many port numbers listed.

[PJ_model_trains]

Another suggestion is regarding the ROUTE box top right of the schematic layout screen.

 

The box is large, the text in it large, surely it doesn't need to be so big.

 

The more routes included in the list the worse it gets as the box toggles down over the layout plan.

[RDS]

Hi PJ

Thank you for your recent suggestions.  

Please don't forget to include a 'Summary' that can be included in the table, when it is republished, hopefully towards the end of next week, as per the examples from St1nr4y above.

[PJ_model_trains]

Another suggestion is regarding the ROUTE box top right of the schematic layout screen.

 

The box is large, the text in it large, surely it doesn't need to be so big.

 

The more routes included in the list the worse it gets as the box toggles down over the layout plan.

 

Summary: make ROUTES box and text smaller in top corner of Layout screen

 

[PJ_model_trains]

Would it be possible to record log file entry times accurate to hundredths of a second i.e. hh:mm:ss.cc?

Ray

 

Summary

 

More accurate times in log file

 

Excellent suggestion Ray

 

It can be frustrating comparing programmed commands with log file data when the log file rounds seconds to the nearest full number.

 

Another suggestion if I may, although the above one is the most important, is to have the columns that are missing from the program file included in the log file, particularly the Notes column which I found helpful with so many commands and so many port numbers listed.

 

Summary: add missing columns from program file to LOG file, Notes is very useful

 

[St1ngr4y]

Another suggestion is regarding the ROUTE box top right of the schematic layout screen.

 

The box is large, the text in it large, surely it doesn't need to be so big.

 

The more routes included in the list the worse it gets as the box toggles down over the layout plan.

 

Summary: make ROUTES box and text smaller in top corner of Layout screen

 

Perhaps if it was converted into a dropdown Combo listbox, rather than an ordinary listbox. That way it would be only one line high when not being accessed.

Ray