"mesh-table" container (interior version)

The "mesh-table" container is a top-level config.txt file entry used by various Content Types. Refer to the "mesh-table" Container documentation for the standard tags - this document only describes the extensions available within the mesh table when it is used in a cab interior asset.

Most of the entries in a mesh-table for an interior will be cab controls. A cab control has a single value associated with it, which could be an input (e.g. a lever position) or an output (a dial or gauge position).

Standard Mesh Names

There are a number of standard mesh names that the trainz default cab script uses for it's controls. For a Diesel or Electric cab (either unscripted, or scripted and inheriting from the DefaultLocomotiveCabin class), the following are the default mesh names:

Needles:

• speedo_needle -- speedometer
• speedo_needle2 -- speedometer
• bplocomain_needle -- loco main reservoir pressure gauge
• bptrainbrakecylinder_needle -- locomotive brake cylinder pressure gauge
• bptrainbrakecylinder_needle2 -- locomotive brake cylinder pressure gauge
• no3pipe_needle -- brake pressure gauge (currently loco brake cylinder -- but maybe intended for something else?)
• bptrainbrakecylinder2_needle -- brake pressure gauge (source unknown)
• bptrainbrakepipe_needle -- train brake pipe pressure gauge
• bptrainbrakepipe_needle2 -- train brake pipe pressure gauge
• bploco_equaliser -- brake equaliser pressure gauge
• flow_needle -- brake flow rate gauge
• ampmeter_needle -- traction ammeter gauge
• ampmeter2_needle -- traction ammeter gauge

Levers:

• throttle_lever -- throttle lever control
• reverser_lever -- reverser lever control
• trainbrake_lever -- self-lapping train brake control
• trainbrakelap_lever -- non self-lapping train brake control
• independantbrake_lever -- locomotive independent brake control. Note the typo in the control name.
• dynamicbrake_lever -- dynamic brake control
• wheelslip_light -- wheelslip indicator
• horn -- horn control
• light_switch -- light control
• pantograph_lever -- pantograph control
• throttle_brake_lever -- combined throttle/self-lapping brake lever
• bell -- bell control

For a Steam cab (either unscripted, or scripted and inheriting from the DefaultSteamCabin class), these default mesh names are available:

Needles:

• speedo_needle -- speedometer
• bplocomain_needle -- loco main reservoir pressure gauge
• bptrainbrakecylinder_needle -- locomotive brake cylinder pressure gauge
• no3pipe_needle -- brake pressure gauge (currently loco brake cylinder -- but maybe intended for something else?)
• bptrainbrakecylinder2_needle -- brake pressure gauge (source unknown)
• bptrainbrakepipe_needle -- train brake pipe pressure gauge
• bploco_equaliser -- brake equaliser pressure gauge
• flow_needle -- brake flow rate gauge
• boiler_needle -- boiler pressure
• boiler_needle1 -- boiler pressure
• steam_chest_needle -- steam chest pressure

Levers:

• trainbrake_lever -- self-lapping train brake control
• trainbrakelap_lever -- non self-lapping train brake control
• independantbrake_lever -- locomotive independent brake control. Note the typo in the control name.
• horn -- horn control
• light_switch -- light control
• waterglass_left -- boiler water level
• waterglass_right -- boiler water level
• firebox -- the interior of the firebox (to show fire temperature) Only works pre-TANE.
• regulator -- regulator (throttle) control
• reverser -- cutoff (reverser) control
• water_injector_0 -- primary water injector control
• water_injector_1 -- secondary water injector control
• blower -- steam blower control
• fire_plates -- the firebox door
• sanding_lever -- locomotive sander control
• blowdown_lever -- blowdown control (releases water out of the boiler)
• bell -- bell control
• left_window -- Left window control
• right_window -- Right window control
• left_sliding_window-- Left sliding window control
• right_sliding_window-- Right sliding window control
• seat0 -- Seat control
• seat1 -- Seat control
• whistle_lever -- Whistle lever control. (Doesn't seem to actually control the horn, so the whistle lever should actually be called "horn" to function properly."

Supported Tags

Each mesh subcontainer supports the following tags. Each tag is shown here with its default value. Standard tags inherited from the normal mesh table are omitted for brevity.

tooltip-text ""
tooltip-token ""
tooltip-mesh ""
limits 0,1
angles 0,0
kind ""
collision-parent ""
mousemode ""
mousespeed 1
notches 
invert 0
notchheight 
onlight ""
value 0.0
font "swiss"
fontsize 12
fontcolor 1.0,1.0,1.0
fade-time 0.5

angles

Type: Decimal Pair

Desc: Specifies the minimum and maximum extents of movement for a control or needle. For control types that rotate, these values are in radians[[1]]. In the case of a speedometer, this would define the amount of angular movement of the needle - a speedometer running from horizontal left to horizontal right may use -1.57 to 1.57, for example. If the cab control needs to move the other way, put the higher number first.

collision-parent

Type: String

Desc: A mesh of kind collision-proxy must specify a collision-parent - the mesh it is a collision proxy for. This is the name of another control in the mesh-table.

fade-time

Type: Float

Desc: The time, in seconds, for a "light" control to fully switch on or off. Default is 0.5 seconds.

font

Type: String

Desc: Font name to use for the readout of a digital control.

Options are:

• swiss (Default option. Renders with arial in PC builds.)
• times_new_roman
• verdana
• century_gothic
• cordia
• courier
• helvetica
• arial
• comic_sans
• sans_serif
• impact
• console
• tohoma (renders using the Tahoma font on PC builds.)
• garamond

These roughly correspond with Windows font names. Beware - not all fonts are available on all platforms, and where a font is not available, a different font may be substituted.

fontcolor

Type: Decimal Triplet

Desc: RGB font color for the readout of a digital control. Colors are specified within the range 0.0 to 1.0, with 0.0 being black and 1.0 being full intensity. Default is 1.0,1.0,1.0 - white.

fontsize

Type: Decimal

Desc: Font size for the readout of a digital control. Default is 12.

invert

Type: Boolean

Desc: Invert mouse movement for this control. If the control moves the wrong way compared to the mouse, change this setting.

kind

Type: Selection

Desc: The type of control this mesh table element represents.

Options are:

• animated-lever

Operates like a standard lever, only uses a named animation instead of the angles tag for movement.

• animated-dial

Operates like a standard needle, only uses a named animation to represent the gauge readout instead of the angles tag.

• collision-proxy

This element type defines a volume within the cab where the mouse pointer will be considered to be over the cab control. Generally used in conjunction with an animated-lever. Name of the animated lever is defined in the tag collision-parent.

• digital-dial-spd

Digital readout for a speedometer, and using speed units.

• digital-dial-prs

Digital readout for a pressure gauge, using pressure units.

• firebox

The animated firebox in a steam locomotive.

• lever

A standard lever, often used for throttle and brake controls. Requires the user to click hold and move the mouse to move the lever between it's notches. This control will stay at any notch position when let go.

• light

A light glow / overlay - this mesh is hidden when the light is off and shown when the light is on.

• needle

An analogue gauge needle. Can be used to implement many different types of gauges.

• pulllever

Like a lever, only sprung to return to it's initial position when the user lets go of the control. Useful for horns.

• pullrope

Like a pulllever, only with linear (not rotational) movement.

• switch

This control requires only a single click to move between it's two endpoints. It is better suited than a lever to small switches and buttons.

• button

Similar to switch but requires the mouse be held down to keep the control active. I.e., press and hold the mouse button to push the control down, release the mouse and the control will return to the off position.

limits

Type: Decimal Pair

Desc: Specifies the minimum and maximum values for a cab control or needle at it's two endpoints of movement. In the case of a speedometer, this would be the range of speeds it can display - 0m/s to 50m/s, for example.

mousemode

Type: String

Desc: If set to "exact", will require the mouse to be positioned over the geometry of the control precisely to activate it. Otherwise a bounding volume is used. This is useful for large controls which would otherwise block access to smaller controls.

mousespeed

Type: Float

Desc: Controls the mouse speed and push/pull direction for controls. The higher the number, the less effort is required by the user to move the lever to another notch. Do not use zero.

Examples of use:

• mousespeed -1 - Inverts mouse direction.
• mousespeed 2 - Doubles mouse speed in default direction.
• mousespeed -0.5 - Inverts mouse direction and halves the speed.
• mousespeed 10 - Multiplies the mouse speed tenfold in default direction. Useful for smaller levers that require too much mouse movement to activate the lever.

notches

Type: Decimal List

Desc: Specifies the positions of the notches for this control. Notches are discrete positions within the movement of the control where the lever can be stopped. If a lever does not have notches, it can be positioned at any location. There are two common uses for notches. Firstly, they can be used to define a control which has a number of discrete positions which mean specific things (e.g. a brake valve). Secondly, they are used to define pre-set discrete values that a control can provide (e.g. a throttle lever). A typical US diesel 8 notch throttle would have something like "notches 0.0,0.125,0.25,0.375,0.5,0.625,0.75,0.875,1.0", specifying nine positions (for 'off' and notches 1 thru 8).

Notes: When using notches, the tag notchheight must be used otherwise the lever will not function and spring back to the original position.

notchheight

Type: Integer List

Desc: Specifies the importance of the notches for this control. This affects how the graphical overlay draws each notch. This is useful for a combined brake and throttle controller, or any other control where you want to mark a specific position relative to the others. This should have the same number of values as the 'notches' list.

Three styles are available:

• '1' configures this bar to be a standard length and width bar.
• '2' configures this bar to be shorter in length, and is often used for intermediate positions.
• '3' configures this bar to be standard length, but thicker in width. This is often used for marking a specific position.

Notes: A kind lever type will not function unless notch heights are specified.

onlight

Type: String

Desc: Specify the name of a light kind mesh which is enabled when this switch/lever is in the on position, and disabled when it is in the off position. The mesh name must be in the mesh-table. See the example below.

radius

Type: Decimal

Desc: Specifies the distance for the 2D notch overlay.

tooltip-mesh

Type: String

Desc: Specifies the name of a mesh-table entry for a mesh to show when the control is moused over. The mesh will be faded in/out over a short period.

tooltip-text

Type: String

Desc: OBSOLETE: DO NOT USE. This text will be used in the tooltip that appears when the mouse cursor hovers over a cab control.

tooltip-token

Type: String

Desc: The name of a string table entry. The contents of the named string table entry will be displayed as a tooltip that appears when the mouse cursor hovers over a cab control. If a token is used then it must appear as a tag in the "String-table" container.

value

Type: Decimal

Desc: Specifies the initial value for this control. For a lever or other input device, this will specify the initial position of the control before the user moves it.

Cab Interior Mesh-Table Example

The following is an example of a mesh-table which implements a number of cab controls

mesh-table
{
  default
  {
    mesh                                "interior.im"
    auto-create                         1
  }
  
  wheelslip_light
  {
    kind                                "light"
    mesh                                "wheelslip_light.im"
    auto-create                         0
  }
  
  bptrainbrakepipe_needle2
  {
    kind                                "digital-dial-prs"
    mesh                                "brakeneedle.im"
    att                                 "a.brakepipe2"
    limits                              0,55
    font                                "arial"
    fontsize                            0.007
    fontcolor                           80,240,120
    auto-create                         1
  }
  
  speedo_needle2
  {
    kind                                "digital-dial-spd"
    mesh                                "brakeneedle.im"
    att                                 "a.digispeedo"
    limits                              0,55
    font                                "arial"
    fontsize                            0.01
    fontcolor                           0,0,0
    auto-create                         1
  }
  
  throttle_lever
  {
    kind                                "lever"
    mesh                                "throttle.im"
    att                                 "a.throttle"
    limits                              0,8
    angles                              0,1.69
    notches                             0,0.125,0.25,0.375,0.5,0.625,0.75,0.875,1
    notchheight                         1,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,1
    radius                              0.35
    mousespeed                          -1
    auto-create                         1
  }
  
  dynamicbrake_lever
  {
    kind                                "lever"
    mesh                                "dynamic_handle.im"
    att                                 "a.dynamic"
    limits                              0,2
    angles                              0,-1.69
    notches                             0,1
    notchheight                         0.1,1
    mousespeed                          -1
    radius                              0.35
    auto-create                         1
  }
  
  trainbrakelap_lever
  {
    kind                                "lever"
    auto-create                         1
    mesh                                "trainbrake_handle.im"
    att                                 "a.trainbrake_handle"
    limits                              0,4
    angles                              0,-2
    notches                             0,0.25,0.5,0.75,1
    notchheight                         2,2,2,2,2
    mousespeed                          1
  }
  
  independantbrake_lever
  {
    kind                                "lever"
    mesh                                "indy_handle.im"
    att                                 "a.ind"
    limits                              0,32
    angles                              0.94,0
    notches                             0,0.5,1
    notchheight                         1,1,1
    radius                              0.35
    mousespeed                          1
    auto-create                         1
  }
  
  flow_needle
  {
    kind                                "needle"
    mesh                                "flowneedle.im"
    att                                 "a.bpflow"
    limits                              0,1050
    auto-create                         1
  }
  
  bplocomain_needle
  {
    kind                                "needle"
    mesh                                "brakeneedlered.im"
    att                                 "a.mainres"
    limits                              0,1240
    auto-create                         1
  }
  
  bploco_equaliser
  {
    kind                                "needle"
    mesh                                "brakeneedle.im"
    att                                 "a.eqres"
    limits                              0,1240
    auto-create                         1
  }
  
  bptrainbrakecylinder_needle
  {
    kind                                "needle"
    mesh                                "brakeneedlered.im"
    att                                 "a.brakecyl"
    limits                              -50,1390
    auto-create                         1
  }
  
  bptrainbrakepipe_needle
  {
    kind                                "needle"
    mesh                                "brakeneedle.im"
    att                                 "a.brakepipe"
    limits                              0,1240
    auto-create                         1
  }
  
  speedo_needle
  {
    kind                                "needle"
    mesh                                "speedo_pointer.im"
    att                                 "a.speedo"
    limits                              0,43
    auto-create                         1
  }
  
  ampmeter_needle
  {
    kind                                "needle"
    mesh                                "needleamps.im"
    att                                 "a.ampmeter"
    limits                              0,1700
    angles                              0,3.02058
    auto-create                         1
  }
  
  reverser_lever
  {
    kind                                "lever"
    mesh                                "reverser_handle.im"
    att                                 "a.throttle01"
    limits                              0,2
    angles                              -0.55,0.55
    notches                             0,0.5,1
    notchheight                         1,1,1
    mousespeed                          -1
    auto-create                         1
  }
  
  light_switch
  {
    kind                                "lever"
    att                                 "a.hdlt"
    mesh                                "hdltswtch.im"
    limits                              0,1
    angles                              0,2
    notches                             0,1
    notchheight                         0.1,0.1
    mousespeed                          -1
    auto-create                         1
  }
  
  horn
  {
    kind                                "pulllever"
    mesh                                "horn.im"
    att                                 "a.horn"
    auto-create                         1
    angles                              0,-0.55
    limits                              0,1
    mousespeed                          -1
    radius                              -0.02
    notches                             0,1
    notchheight                         0,0
  }

  pantograph_lever
  {
    kind                                "lever"
    mesh                                "pantograph_lever.im"
    att                                 "a.pantograph_lever"
    limits                              0,3
    angles                              1.4,0
    notches                             0,0.5,0.75,1.0
    notchheight                         0,0,1,1
    mousespeed                          -1
    onlight                             "line_power"
  }
  
  line_power
  {
    kind                                "light"
    mesh                                "line_power.im"
    att                                 "a.line_power"
  }
}