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Re: British Trains for Pak 64

Started by Isaac Eiland-Hall, April 17, 2017, 03:10:15 PM

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Isaac Eiland-Hall

Quote from: fam621 on April 16, 2017, 03:29:28 PM
Trains wont run at full speed.

Okay, look. Every time you complain about something, people have to pull teeth to get any sort of information from you.

I am issuing you a public warning, because you are wasting the time of people. I remind you that this is not a paid game, but rather the effort of volunteers, and you are stealing valuable time and resources of people trying to help you.

From here on, if I see you  making a vague complaint without giving FULL DETAILS - enough to REPRODUCE the problem - enough details so that people don't have to reply multiple times to get any sort of information out of you, I will end up banning you from the forum.

Let's not let it come to that, shall we?

From here on out, when you report a problem, you will give enough information so that a stranger would be able to reproduce it and understand what you mean. That means more than a three word reply. That means fully describing the problem, what version of Simutrans you're using, screenshots if needed to help show what you mean, and actually writing out the problem.

I'm very very tired of seeing people have to reply to you to ask for basic information to understand what you might possibly mean.

If you end up writing too much information, well, tough. That's the price you will pay. And it's not about the length of the post, it's about providing enough information to understand what you mean.

So here's the plan:

1. If I see a post with insufficient information again, I will make it so I have to approve all of your posts.
2. If I have to approve all of your posts, I will simply not approve ones with insufficient information.
3. If you do not learn by the time I tire of having to do that, then I will give you a temporary forum ban.
4. If you continue not to learn, I will permanently ban you from the forum.

All of THAT being said, I hope you improve so you can continue to be a member of the forum and community. You are welcome here, as long as we can fix this problem.

Isaac Eiland-Hall

Do not forget my warning. No reply is necessary to this post, just do not forget it.

fam621

You see, I have autism and sometimes so I wont be able (sometimes) to understand certain things.

Isaac Eiland-Hall

I have friends with autism, so I can understand how that can make things difficult. I myself have severe ADHD, and while it's nothing like autism, it and Aspergers are on the autism spectrum, so I do have a tiny insight directly - but only tiny.

I don't think that excuses not giving any information about problems, though.

Either way, though, please just try to give more information when you report a problem.

fam621

Okay. (Ik that its not an excuse)

fam621

Quote from: Isaac.Eiland-Hall on April 18, 2017, 01:31:10 AM
I have friends with autism, so I can understand how that can make things difficult. I myself have severe ADHD, and while it's nothing like autism, it and Aspergers are on the autism spectrum, so I do have a tiny insight directly - but only tiny.

I don't think that excuses not giving any information about problems, though.

Either way, though, please just try to give more information when you report a problem.

Just to say though, what is the minimum sentences that is needed to solve a problem? 2 or 3?

Ters

There is no fixed number for that. Generally, we'd like any information concerning the running of the game that you can give. The sticky post at the top of the bug report board has some guidelines.

Carl

As a rule of thumb - try to be as specific as you can about what exactly the problem is and when it occurs.

Isaac Eiland-Hall

As long as it's clear that you're trying, we can be a lot more patient with you. As was said - there's not a minimum per se, but trying to include details that might be relevant. It's hard to know - I tend to write too much rather than too little, but I've certainly had misunderstandings.

I remember when I proposed the "stop moving" tool. I didn't manage to express the concept clearly enough, so in the confusion, most read it as a "tool to cease all movement" which made no sense. Further conversation was needed to clear up the concept.

I've reported bugs and problems before with similar results - it's not that we expect anyone to never have to give more information, it's just that saying something like "X isn't working" doesn't give sufficient details for anyone trying to help to actually help. Well, except in rare cases.

For example, "I can't buy electric trains" usually means the player didn't electrify the track at the depot.

But "Trains aren't picking up cargo" is definitely not enough information. Maybe just-in-time means that the destination factory is full and so there's no cargo to transport? Or maybe.... who knows? We need to know more about what you're *doing*.

The last thing that helps is not to say things like "When is X going to be done/released?" - usually people saying that *mean* to express encouragement to the person doing the work, but what it comes across as "Moooooommmmmm, are we there yet? Are we there yet *now*? When are we gonna get there????". It's much better just to say things like "Wow, this is great! I love this! The work you're putting in is awesome! I can't wait to try it out!"  but even *better* is to say *what* you like about something.

Ultimately, again, as long as it looks like you're trying, we'll have much more patience with you. :)

jamespetts

What counts is not the number of sentences, but the amount of information.

To fix a bug, for example, a programmer needs to be able to reproduce the bug in the game reliably lots and lots of times to test lots and lots of different things until it is fixed.

So, you need to give all the information necessary for somebody who knows nothing about the bug (but knows the basics of Simutrans) to be able to make the exact situation that gives rise to the bug reliably occur many times over until the bug is fixed. This usually means uploading a saved game in which it can be reproduced reliably, as well as a detailed description of (1) precisely what happens that is wrong; and (2) precisely how that differs from what you think should happen.

To give the example that Isaac used, "Trains aren't picking up cargo" is far too vague, as there are lots and lots of situations in which trains might pick up cargo, and lots of other situations in which trains need not pick up cargo, but you might incorrectly think that they ought to do so. Here is a fictional example of a good bug report relating to trains not picking up cargo:

Quote from: ImaginaryBugReporter
I have noticed a problem: when trains stop at Colborough Sidings in this saved game [link to a saved game], they do not collect any coal. This does not seem to be right because Colborough Sidings is the only stop serving the adjoining coal mine, and the only trains that stop there are trains with bulk wagons bound for Arnford Power Station Sidings, which serves a coal fired power station linked to the coal mine at Colborough.

That report (1) links to a saved game in which the problem can be reproduced easily; and (2) explains why the person reporting the bug believes that it really is a bug, explaining all the things that suggest to her/him that that particular train should be picking up that particular cargo at that particular stop.
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