Building the latest from passenger-generation branch in git, and copying into same directory as I can successfully run the latest 'master' branch, I get:
Reading low level config data ...
Simutrans version 112.5 Experimental Development build 12.9000 from Oct 16 2013 r129000
FATAL ERROR: loadsave_t::rdwr_str() - expected "<bool>", got "<i16>8"
Aborting program execution ...
For help with this error or to file a bug report please see the Simutrans forum:
http://forum.simutrans.com
FATAL ERROR: loadsave_t::rdwr_str() - expected "<bool>", got "<i16>8"
Aborting program execution ...
For help with this error or to file a bug report please see the Simutrans forum:
http://forum.simutrans.com
(core dumped) ./sim-psg -objects pak128.Britain-Ex-link/ -debug 5
It would be really nice to know in which file the error occurred instead of just "something went wrong somewhere."
Any clue what "low-level" file(s) change between master and passenger-generation? I hope to keep running the latest version.
Most likely settings.xml (or similar experimental-related cousins).
You will need to delete settings-experimental.xml if you are upgrading from one self-compiled build on the passenger-generation branch to another. This problem will not occur when upgrading from one release version to another, as the version numbers will be different.
OK that did it. The file is in ~/simutrans on Linux. ...But, good grief -- an XML file should have key-value pairs -- not just a bunch of values. The whole point of using a text file is to be extensible and obvious, but here's the XML file we get:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Simutrans version="0.112.6" pak="settings only">
<umgebung_t>
<i16>1</i16>
<bool>false</bool>
<i8>0</i8>
<i32>0</i32>
...
Eggggh. Each of those i8 and such, should be the name of the parameter! Otherwise what's the point of using XML? =faceplant=
Latest is very stable and the passenger/mail volumes seem much better now. Cities still grow all over the map following intercity roads, but that's slated for change, isn't it.
Kudos!
Thank you for testing! Yes, the XML format is insane and, sadly, not proper XML - this is an inheritance from Standard, and a rather old one at that.
The cities are indeed slated for change, but that will be quite a bit of work, and will be in the next major version. Glad that things are working so far!
XML does not have to be human readable at all. It is just a way to save data. And for simutrans there is really no other way to make XML without a very huge effort.
Yes, I suppose that XML parsers are difficult. There are probably some pre-existing LGPL XML parsers out there, though? The confusion is that this file format is in a sort of quasi-XML, but has an XML extension.