For general info:  “infoTSGenie@sympatico.ca”

 

News Release 2005-10-20

 

Summary of “MSTS Genie 1.0” Functionality

 

We have been swamped with inquiries about TSGenie’s functionality. This summary is being posted in response to those inquiries.

 

TSGenie was conceived as a “Swiss Army Knife” utility that would cover the whole spectrum of Train Simulator activities. In order to get the TSGenie quickly out into the hands of simmers the version 1.0 will only have a subset of all targeted TS activities.

 

To facilitate an easy extensibility, TSGenie was designed as a plug-in container and manager and it requires the latest version of the Microsoft’s free downloadable .NET Framework.

 

TSGenie is designed from the ground up using the latest UML modeling tools and techniques. The fully functional model is the alpha and omega of all related activities. TSGenie had been already through numerous round-trip engineering iterations (model-code-model). Microsoft Visual Studio 2003 is the development platform of choice (and we have the TSGenie running in the latest beta of Visual Studio 2005 as well).

 

The TSGenie 1.0 comes with the TSGenie Engine, Genie Basic Plug-In and the Genie Pro Pack 1 Plug-In.

 

The TSGenie Engine is what supplies the under-the-hood magic for all of the Plug-In Packs. As it is totally transparent to the user, there is no need to talk about it.

 

The final content of the Genie Pro Pack 1 Plug-In hasn’t been decided upon yet – we are still testing some features and a lot will depend on the effectiveness of the Restricted Beta Testing Team – so it would be premature to talk about it at this time.

 

This summary lists the components of the Genie Basic Plug-In:

 

Installation Genie

 

• MSTS Default Installation Verification.
• MSTS Default Installation Maintenance.
• AddOn Manager – Installation and Maintenance.

 

Environment Genie

 

• ENVeditor (Environment) – complete environment management.
• SMSeditor (Sound) – complete sound management.

 

Route Genie

 

• Route Verification.
• Route Troubleshooting.
• Route Management.

 

Traffic Genie

 

• ACTeditor (Activity) – complete activity management.
• PATeditor (Path) – complete path management.
• SRVeditor (Service) – complete service management.
• TRFeditor (Traffic) – complete AI traffic management.

 

Rolling Stock Genie

 

• CONeditor (Consist) – complete consist management.
• ENGeditor (Engine) – complete engine management.
• WAGeditor (Wagon) – complete wagon management.

 

Developer Genie

 

• Completely manage (as required) the following MSTS files - *.act, *.con, *.cvf, *.dat, *.eng, *.env, *.haz, *.iom, *.mkr, *.pat, *.raw, *.rdb, *.ref, *.rit, *.s, *.sd, *.sms, *.srv, *.t, *.td, *.tdb, *.tit, *.trf, *.trk, *.tut, *.txt (as in GLOBAL directory), *.w, *.wag, and *.ws.
• Compress, De-Compress, Tokenize and otherwise massage the relevant files.
• Debug and Test the Route.
• Package the Route for distribution

 

 

The following are “one-liners” describing the content of additional Genie Pro Pack Plug-Ins that are already in different stages of development.

 

• TSGenie Engine API (Application Programming Interface for interested developers).
• TSGenie HUD – complete replacement for all MSTS “widgets” plus many additional functions – such as the synchronized and scalable route map tracking display.
• TSGenie ShapeMagic – think of it as Paul Gausden’s Shape Viewer on steroids that hooks into Alias Maya, AutoDesk 3DSMax, Avid SoftImage, NewTek Lightwave 3D, and SideFX Houdini Master, for the time being. And yes, there will be a DSAP (Digital Signing Author Protection) in place.
• TSGenie TerrainMagic – use it to generate an accurate terrain from many free and commercial digital data sources.
• TSGenie MSTS Launcher & Controller – just what the name implies – launch MSTS from TSGenie and control it in real-time.
• TSGenie MSTS Editor – complete replacement for the built-in MSTS Editor.

 

We hope that this answers some of your questions…

 

As we are entering the count-down to Restricted Beta Test release we want to reach out to the MSTS community. The best way seems to be the form of a newsletter. In the beginning there will be no fixed frequency (monthly, etc.) – a newsletter will go out to the subscribers only when we have something to say. There will be a single format of the newsletter in the beginning – HTML. To manage your subscription, send an email with either SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line to this address: “newsBrockSim@sympatico.ca”.

 

 

TTFN and happy “simming”…

 

 

Gaius

DocSim of BrockSim