Christophs Blog

The „Do-it-yourself virtual multiplayer model railroad“, version 0.01.

This Page’s Meaning

This page tries to summarize all information that was*) necessary for the performance of the SrrTrains v0.01 project.

*) SrrTrains is not active, currently. It is stuck in a what-I-call „Hibernation Phase“. This means the project is not actively driven, yet it may do some small progress, every now and then.

The Project’s Results

First: we are now convinced the X3D standard being a useful standard, please refer to the

• Conclusions of the Project (.pdf)

Second: the download of the software can be reached via the official project pages on sourceforge.net

• The Simulated Railroad Framework Project
• The Simple Multiuser Online Scenes Project

Third: the Concepts‘ Descriptions

http://simulrr.sourceforge.net/concepts/000_Synopsis.pdf

Fourth: the „New Concept Paper in German Language“ was under construction. It has been frozen on 2017-04-01 and it will be replaced by „Hibernation Report 007“ in English language (see below for Hibernation Reports):

New Concept Paper (German Language, .pdf) – FROZEN on 2017-04-01

Fifth: some future concepts and ideas are described:

• Mature Network Sensor,
• SMUOS/C3P and
• DIGITS.

Hibernation Reports

1. The hibernation of the SrrTrains project has been finished. This change happened by Friday, December 15th, 2017, and the project was ACTIVE until Friday, March 16th, 2018. Then the project was CLOSED.
2. Since 2020-01-01 the project has been HIBERNATING again.

The hibernation reports might still change, however they have been granted to the S&P-ARK*) project: https://github.com/christoph-v/spark

*) Note (2022-06-18): the S&P-ARK project was actually started on 2022-03-24. It has then been renamed to „DIGITS/S&P-ARK/ALPES“ and is sometimes called just „ALPES“ project.

The vision of the SPARK project can be depicted as follows:

This means, the S&P-ARK project is intended to support the ignition of some happenings in the 3D Community, which might eventually lead to an „ISO Game Engine“. That IGE could then be used as basis for SrrTrains 1.0 (i.e. for the „next generation“ of SrrTrains).

All this will only happen, if there are use cases „X“ (UCx) that will earn the money for the ISO Game Engine!!!

Please refer to the Blog Area #A (Conclusions of SrrTrains v0.01).

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Is it a game, can I play with SrrTrains?
No.

Can I create games with SrrTrains?
Not yet, but maybe this could be possible in some unknown future.
The project is in CLOSED state and it is HIBERNATING. It might be RE-OPENED by someone else later on.

If it is not yet finished, then what is it NOW?
Now it is a concept and you are invited to contribute.

Which software is available?

URL	License	Available Software
www.mediafire.com	closed source/shw	SRR Tools
simulrr.sourceforge.net	open source/LGPL	Concepts‘ Descriptions Demo Layout SRR/SMUOS Framework
http://www.web3d.org	ISO standard	X3D + Network Sensor

Which tools do I need?
To create SrrTrains layouts, you need authoring tools, you need a copy of the SRR/SMUOS Framework and you may use the SRR Tools (these are optional).

To play with SrrTrains layouts, you need a Web3D Browser (currently the software supports the BS Contact browser) and you need access to a Collaboration Server (currently the software supports the BS Collaborate server)

What could be the USP of SrrTrains?
SrrTrains could be based completely on ISO and IETF standards, some time beyond 2035.

Why is the project stuck in hibernation mode?
We would like to replace the „BIMPF approach“ by the „SMUOS/C3P approach“ (please refer to the Concepts‘ Descriptions for an explanation of these terms).
Unfortunately, we are dependent on external input, when doing so.
The current results of the project are our input for external parties to be able to do their part. However, we cannot force anybody to do anything.

Why is the project split in three sub-projects
That’s not due to the size of the project – the project is tiny – but it’s due to a logical separation of software layers. The highest layer is the application software (the SRR Tools), which is rather spezialized.
The lower layers are the Frameworks and the Base Software, which is rather general. Separating the layers basically means separating users from providers.

Where can I find information about SrrTrains?
The information about SrrTrains is a little bit distributed around the Internet.

However, I’m trying to give all relevant links in the following.

1. Software to download: see above
2. Project Info:
   1. The Simulated Railroad Framework Project (sourceforge.net)
3. SMUOS Project (a „child“ of SrrTrains):
   1. Sourceforge Project (smuos.sourceforge.net)
4. SrrTrains External Documentation
   1. SrrTrains was being exposed during March/April 2012, at Mixed3D:
      1. Headline and Forum:
         http://closed.forumactif.com/t2210p171-bs-collaborate
      2. Contents:
         http://mixed3d.free.fr/spip/?cat=61
   2. Multiuser Worlds Forum
      1. Topic „BS Collaborate“:
         http://vrmlserver.soforums.com/t489-BS-Collaborate.htm
      2. Topic „SrrT News 2012“:
         http://vrmlserver.soforums.com/t511-SrrT-News-2012.htm
   3. Eisenbahnforum – Österreich
      1. Eintrag über SrrTrains:
         http://www.bahnforum.info/smf/index.php?topic=114043.0

The Project’s History

The project SrrTrains v0.01 was started in spring 2008 (actually we started with an X3D „Rollercoaster“ project).
The first part of the project, we call it SrrT (Simulated Railroad Trains), was stopped on 11-11-11 and it had it’s last release on 2012-03-17.
The second part of the project, we call it ArrT (Advanced Railroad Trains), was never really started. It had it’s last release on 2014-06-18.
After that the „Hibernation Mode“ followed, which lasted until December 2017. During the Hibernation we had two „Inofficial Releases“, the „Consummatum est“ and the „Pieta“, which can be accessed by http://members.chello.at/christoph.valentin/DownloadArea.htm.
All official and past .zip files can be found at: https://www.mediafire.com/folder/edhwj4cacq0m5/SrrTrains-v0.01

NOW THE PROJECT IS HIBERNATING AGAIN (2020-01-01).

ArrT (Advanced Railroad Trains) – Timeline

Step	Known Bugs
0033.09 – Vehicles   released 2014-06-18 latest bugfix 2014-06-18	Vehicles not finished yet
0033.08 – Rebase to SMUOS   released 2013-12-22 latest bugfix 2013-12-26	Re-Design is not finished yet
0033.07 – Web Spaces   released 2012-12-30 latest bugfix 2013-10-12	Re-Design is not finished yet

SrrT (Simulated Railroad Trains) – Timeline

Step	Known Bugs
0033.06 – Redesign of Train Manager Module   released 2011-12-10 latest bugfix 2012-03-17	Re-Design is not finished yet
0033.04 – Redesign Base Module   released 2011-07-26 latest bugfix 2011-08-13	Re-Design is not finished yet
0032 – Testframe/1st LAN Party   released 2010-03-13 latest bugfix 2012-03-12 (branched out!!)	No change
0031 – some major error corrections   released 2010-01-31	No change
0030 – locomotives   released 2009-12-28	No change
0023 – enhancements of the demo layout   released 2009-12-25	No change
0022 – to doze a wagon   released 2009-12-05	No change
0021c – experimental wagon with v=const   released 2009-11-01	No change
0021b – some additions to 0021   released 2009-10-11	No change
0021a – Bugfix for 0021   released 2009-09-19	No change
0021 – Tracer Improvements   released 2009-08-23	example layout: carousel cannot be unlocked
0020a- first steps towards 0021   released 2009-07-26	No change
0020 – tracks and turnouts   released 2009-07-04	Octaga Player crashes when initializing multiplayer mode
0012 – manual addition of tracks   released 2009-06-20	No Remote Octaga Collaboration Server: unclear, whether it is a bug in the scene or in the Octaga software – to be analysed Normals in TriangleStripSet (Tracks and Turnouts) wrong initialized/not initialized: unclear, whether it is a bug in the scene or in the Octaga software – to be analysed
0011 – multi-browser   released 2009-06-01	no change
0010 – basics	need to split landscape into convex partitions, otherwise browser gets into troubles with correct visibility
0003 – bugfix1	none
0003 – houses and keys	„Bouncing Avatars“ problem: when two or more avatars are bound to the „riding on carousel“ viewpoint, they bounce relative to each other, because the position and orientation are transmitted relative to the global coordinate system
0002 – the carousel	none
0001 – bugfix2+	none
0001 – bugfix+	conceptional problem: one scene instance can only select one module at a time
0001 – the control HUD	using F2 to toggle HUD on/off interferes with Web3D Browser’s user interface uses wrong English terminology

Closing Remarks

a.m.D.g.