Units of measure

[geepster775]

I use US tons for the MASS value in all my rolling stock files. Is there a way to get the consist editor to display train stats in feet and US tons? The TSRE log shows a conversion happening back to metric tons and train stats still display in metric (total train weight is metric tons and train lengths are in Meters) which is not what I want. I want total US tons and feet.

V ,8004 and default settings file has "Use Imperial = on". Isn't it normally true or false? Changing on to true has no effect on resuts

[eric]

Right now, that setting only appears in the Navi box for terrain altitude, to align with track charts.

It is possible to apply that to the consist editor. I'll also be able to convert max speed to MPH, but I'm not touching forces...



Testing this also uncovered a bug --- some creators were using a comment delimiter (#) inside the mass field to add empty/full as well as alternate weights in lbs instead of tons, That was causing TSRE to ignore the mass for some wagons and engines. I've set that to only read everything before the # character in the mass field.

I'll post a new testing version over in the 8.005 testing thread in the Route Editor (even though most of the changes so far are admittedly to the Consist Editor):

https://www.trainsim.com/forums/forum/open-rails/tsre-route-editor/2309451-testing-v8-005#post2309451

[eric]

geepster775 Have you had a chance to give the testing version a try?

[geepster775]

Yes I did, last night. Consist stats look good from here.

The only thing I noticed is the individual car stats still revert to metric. NAVS boxcars had their dimensions in inches, not meters,

Wagon ( MNS_51043_LD
Type ( Freight )
WagonShape ( MNS_51043.s )
Size ( 120in 176in 668in )
Mass ( 81.65t-us )
WheelRadius ( 16.5in )

but TSRE is converting and displaying meters for the individual car stats. Would be better converting to feet under the imperial setting.

[eric]

Thanks, I didn't take inches into consideration earlier in the process where dimensions and mass are normalized to metric units.... which is needed to get the consist math correct.

If I can fix that, it should then allow the conversion to feet.

[eric]

Yeah, that was fun. Four hours of head banging & cursing, but I think I got it...



This was a pain to break, because Goku had a lot of streamlined code to assume every number in the Size() field was in meters.

Now, it should convert any measurements entered into the Size() field that are in cm, in, and ft.

In the log for the CE, any conversions are listed out for good measure just in case there are errors:

[I] Size Converted to Metric:  "E9A_UP" :  "3.28m"  ->  3.28   "4.7m"  ->  4.7   "21.67m"  ->  21.67​
[I] Size Converted to Metric:  "E9A_CNW" :  "311cm"  ->  3.11   "188in"  ->  4.7752   "70.86ft"  ->  21.5981
​[I] Compound size not handled  "15ft+10in"
[I] Truncated to   "15ft"
[I] Compound size not handled  "65ft+1m"
[I] Truncated to   "65ft"
[I] Size Converted to Metric:  "SD40" :  "10ft"  ->  3.048   "15ft"  ->  4.572   "65ft"  ->  19.812

As shown in the "E9A_CNW" line, this can accommodate mixed units of measure within the width/height/length, which shouldn't happen but you never know.

The last couple lines highlight a quirk by which MSTS allowed for a compound entry of feet + inches. Since only one piece in my collection had it, this is probably an edge case that's more trouble to fix than it's worth. Instead, those values will be truncated to the nearest foot.


Look for this in the next testing version, probably out Wednesday or Thursday.

[pwillard]

Maybe we should just accept the Metric system into our lives... like every other country has. ;-P

[R. Steele]

Maybe we should just accept the Metric system into our lives

I got accustomed to using it ( work related ) and now it's normalized....don't even think about it. I don't know why this little corner of the world is so resistant. [ "little corner of the world" could refer to USA or hobby --- reader's choice ]

[geepster775]

Thanks Eric.

[rdayt]

This is Merica! Merican rails are 4' 81/2" apart, not 1,435 mm.
Just kidding. I'm good with either, but, an inch/foot ruler would be helpful.

Randy

[R. Steele]

I dunno about 'Merican UoM but in Spockian UoM it is 1435.1mm 🤪

[opskeeper]

In early 90's we were going to put this nonsense of SAE vs Metric to bed. I was sent to a 1 week course to learn how work with it. The popular slogan of the times was: "Act Locally - Think Globally". I do know one thing ever since, I have had to have both Metric & SAE wrenches in my tool box, to work on GM's, Fords, and MOPAR's.... Whatever Happened...

[eric]

Any feedback on if the conversion change works?...

[frliss]

I like the new conversions. It makes the rolling stock more "familiar." It's always best to see units that you are used to using every day.

Fred

[pwillard]

Yeah, I spent 8 years in Europe growing up... so Metric is not so unusual to me... In fact, I've never done 3D modeling in anything but Metric. It doesn't bother me a bit. Fractional Measurements... yea, those actually bug me.