Changeset - r23924:4d6b1b24e250
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Andy - 4 years ago 2019-10-18 20:44:18
andy@teamrubber.com
Doc: revised README to be more helpful to casual GitHub visitors
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CREDITS.md
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new file 100644
 
### The OpenTTD team (in alphabetical order):
 

	
 
- Grzegorz Duczyński (adf88) - General coding (since 1.7.2)
 
- Albert Hofkamp (Alberth) - GUI expert (since 0.7)
 
- Matthijs Kooijman (blathijs) - Pathfinder-guru, Debian port (since 0.3)
 
- Ulf Hermann (fonsinchen) - Cargo Distribution (since 1.3)
 
- Christoph Elsenhans (frosch) - General coding (since 0.6)
 
- Loïc Guilloux (glx) - Windows Expert (since 0.4.5)
 
- Charles Pigott (LordAro) - General / Correctness police (since 1.9)
 
- Michael Lutz (michi_cc) - Path based signals (since 0.7)
 
- Niels Martin Hansen (nielsm) - Music system, general coding (since 1.9)
 
- Owen Rudge (orudge) - Forum host, OS/2 port (since 0.1)
 
- Peter Nelson (peter1138) - Spiritual descendant from newGRF gods (since 0.4.5)
 
- Ingo von Borstel (planetmaker) - General coding, Support (since 1.1)
 
- Remko Bijker (Rubidium) - Lead coder and way more (since 0.4.5)
 
- José Soler (Terkhen) - General coding (since 1.0)
 
- Leif Linse (Zuu) - AI/Game Script (since 1.2)
 

	
 
### Inactive Developers:
 

	
 
- Jean-François Claeys (Belugas) - GUI, newindustries and more (0.4.5 - 1.0)
 
- Bjarni Corfitzen (Bjarni) - macOS port, coder and vehicles (0.3 - 0.7)
 
- Victor Fischer (Celestar) - Programming everywhere you need him to (0.3 - 0.6)
 
- Jaroslav Mazanec (KUDr) - YAPG (Yet Another Pathfinder God) ;) (0.4.5 - 0.6)
 
- Jonathan Coome (Maedhros) - High priest of the NewGRF Temple (0.5 - 0.6)
 
- Attila Bán (MiHaMiX) - WebTranslator 1 and 2 (0.3 - 0.5)
 
- Zdeněk Sojka (SmatZ) - Bug finder and fixer (0.6 - 1.3)
 
- Christoph Mallon (Tron) - Programmer, code correctness police (0.3 - 0.5)
 
- Patric Stout (TrueBrain) - NoProgrammer (0.3 - 1.2), sys op (active)
 
- Thijs Marinussen (Yexo) - AI Framework, General (0.6 - 1.3)
 

	
 
### Retired Developers:
 

	
 
- Tamás Faragó (Darkvater) - Ex-Lead coder (0.3 - 0.5)
 
- Dominik Scherer (dominik81) - Lead programmer, GUI expert (0.3 - 0.3)
 
- Emil Djupfeld (egladil) - macOS port (0.4 - 0.6)
 
- Simon Sasburg (HackyKid) - Bug fixer (0.4 - 0.4.5)
 
- Ludvig Strigeus (ludde) - Original author of OpenTTD, main coder (0.1 - 0.3)
 
- Cian Duffy (MYOB) - BeOS port / manual writing (0.1 - 0.3)
 
- Petr Baudiš (pasky) - Many patches, newgrf support, etc. (0.3 - 0.3)
 
- Benedikt Brüggemeier (skidd13) - Bug fixer and code reworker (0.6 - 0.7)
 
- Serge Paquet (vurlix) - 2nd contributor after ludde (0.1 - 0.3)
 

	
 
### Thanks to:
 

	
 
- Josef Drexler - For his great work on TTDPatch.
 
- Marcin Grzegorczyk - For his TTDPatch work and documentation of Transport Tycoon Deluxe internals and track foundations
 
- Stefan Meißner (sign_de) - For his work on the console
 
- Mike Ragsdale - OpenTTD installer
 
- Christian Rosentreter (tokai) - MorphOS / AmigaOS port
 
- Richard Kempton (RichK67) - Additional airports, initial TGP implementation
 
- Alberto Demichelis - Squirrel scripting language
 
- L. Peter Deutsch - MD5 implementation
 
- Michael Blunck - For revolutionizing TTD with awesome graphics
 
- George - Canal graphics
 
- Andrew Parkhouse (andythenorth) - River graphics
 
- David Dallaston (Pikka) - Tram tracks
 
- All Translators - For their support to make OpenTTD a truly international game
 
- Bug Reporters - Thanks for all bug reports
 
- Chris Sawyer - For an amazing game!
README.md
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@@ -3,215 +3,78 @@
 
## Table of contents
 

	
 
- 1.0) [About](#10-about)
 
    - 1.1) [Compiling OpenTTD](#11-compiling-openttd)
 
    - 1.2) [Contributing to OpenTTD](#12-contributing-to-openttd)
 
- 2.0) [Contacting](#20-contacting)
 
    - 2.1) [Reporting bugs](#21-reporting-bugs)
 
    - 2.2) [Reporting desyncs](#22-reporting-desyncs)
 
- 3.0) [Supported platforms](#30-supported-platforms)
 
- 4.0) [Installing and running OpenTTD](#40-installing-and-running-openttd)
 
    - 4.1) [(Required) 3rd party files](#41-required-3rd-party-files)
 
    - 4.2) [OpenTTD directories](#42-openttd-directories)
 
    - 4.3) [Portable installations (portable media)](#43-portable-installations-portable-media)
 
    - 4.4) [Files in tar (archives)](#44-files-in-tar-archives)
 
- 5.0) [OpenTTD features](#50-openttd-features)
 
    - 5.1) [Logging of potentially dangerous actions](#51-logging-of-potentially-dangerous-actions)
 
    - 5.2) [Frame rate and performance metrics](#52-frame-rate-and-performance-metrics)
 
- 6.0) [Configuration file](#60-configuration-file)
 
- 7.0) [Translating](#70-translating)
 
    - 7.1) [Translation](#71-translation)
 
    - 7.2) [Previewing](#72-previewing)
 
- 8.0) [Troubleshooting](#80-troubleshooting)
 
- 9.0) [Licensing](#90-licensing)
 
- X.X) [Credits](#xx-credits)
 
    - 1.1) [Downloading OpenTTD](#11-downloading-openttd)
 
    - 1.2) [OpenTTD gameplay manual](#12-openttd-gameplay-manual)
 
    - 1.3) [Supported platforms](#13-supported-platforms)
 
    - 1.4) [Installing and running OpenTTD](#14-installing-and-running-openttd)
 
    - 1.5) [Add-on content / mods](#15-add-on-content--mods)
 
    - 1.6) [OpenTTD directories](#16-openttd-directories)
 
    - 1.7) [Compiling OpenTTD](#17-compiling-openttd)
 
- 2.0) [Contact and community](#20-contact-and-community)
 
    - 2.1) [Contributing to OpenTTD](#21-contributing-to-openttd)
 
    - 2.2) [Reporting bugs](#22-reporting-bugs)
 
    - 2.3) [Translating](#23-translating)
 
- 3.0) [Licensing](#30-licensing)
 
- 4.0) [Credits](#40-credits)
 

	
 
## 1.0) About
 

	
 
OpenTTD is a transport simulation game based upon the popular game Transport
 
Tycoon Deluxe, written by Chris Sawyer. It attempts to mimic the original
 
game as closely as possible while extending it with new features.
 

	
 
OpenTTD is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2.0,
 
but includes some 3rd party software under different licenses. See the
 
section "Licensing" below for details.
 

	
 
## 1.1) Compiling OpenTTD
 

	
 
Instructions for compiling OpenTTD can be found in [./COMPILING.md](COMPILING.md)
 
OpenTTD is a transport simulation game based upon the popular game Transport Tycoon Deluxe, written by Chris Sawyer.
 
It attempts to mimic the original game as closely as possible while extending it with new features.
 

	
 
## 1.2) Contributing to OpenTTD
 

	
 
We welcome contributors to OpenTTD.  More information for contributors can be found in [./CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md)
 

	
 
## 2.0) Contacting
 

	
 
The easiest way to contact the OpenTTD team is by submitting bug reports or
 
posting comments in our forums. You can also chat with us on IRC (#openttd
 
on irc.oftc.net).
 

	
 
The OpenTTD homepage is https://www.openttd.org.
 

	
 
You can also find the OpenTTD forums at
 
[https://www.tt-forums.net](https://www.tt-forums.net/viewforum.php?f=55).
 
OpenTTD is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2.0, but includes some 3rd party software under different licenses.
 
See the section ["Licensing"](#30-licensing) below for details.
 

	
 
### 2.1) Reporting bugs
 

	
 
First of all, check whether the bug is not already known. Do this by looking
 
through the file called 'known-bugs.txt' which is distributed with OpenTTD
 
like this readme.
 

	
 
For tracking our bugs we are using GitHub's issue tracker. You can find
 
the tracker at https://github.com/OpenTTD/OpenTTD/issues. Before actually
 
reporting take a look through the already reported bugs there to see if
 
the bug is already known. The 'known-bugs.txt' file might be a bit outdated
 
at the moment you are reading it as only bugs known before the release
 
are documented there. Also look through the recently closed bugs.
 

	
 
When you are sure it is not already reported you should:
 
## 1.1) Downloading OpenTTD
 

	
 
- Make sure you are running a recent version, i.e. run the latest stable or
 
   nightly based on where you found the bug.
 
- Make sure you are not running a non-official binary, like a patch pack.
 
   When you are playing with a patch pack you should report any bugs to the
 
   forum thread related to that patch pack.
 
- Make it reproducible for the developers. In other words, create a savegame
 
   in which you can reproduce the issue once loaded. It is very useful to give
 
   us the crash.dmp, crash.sav, crash.log and crash screenshot which are
 
   created on crashes.
 
- Check whether the bug is already reported on our bug tracker. This includes
 
   searching for recently closed bug reports as the bug might already be fixed.
 
OpenTTD can be downloaded from the [official OpenTTD website](https://www.openttd.org/).
 

	
 
After you have done all that you can report the bug. Please include the
 
following information in your bug report:
 
Both 'stable' and 'nightly' versions are available for download:
 

	
 
- OpenTTD version (PLEASE test the latest Git revision/nightly build)
 
- Bug details, including instructions how to reproduce it
 
- Platform (Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, …) and compiler (including version) if
 
   you compiled OpenTTD yourself.
 
- The processor architecture of your OS (32-bit Windows, 64-bit Windows,
 
   Linux on an ARM, Mac OS X on a PowerPC, etc.)
 
- Attach a saved game **and** a screenshot if possible
 
- If this bug only occurred recently please note the last version without
 
   the bug and the first version including the bug. That way we can fix it
 
   quicker by looking at the changes made.
 
- Attach crash.dmp, crash.log and crash.sav. These files are usually created
 
   next to your openttd.cfg. The crash handler will tell you the location.
 

	
 
### 2.2) Reporting desyncs
 
- most people should choose the 'stable' version, as this has been more extensively tested
 
- the 'nightly' version includes the latest changes and features, but may sometimes be less reliable
 

	
 
As desyncs are hard to make reproducible OpenTTD has the ability to log all
 
actions done by clients so we can replay the whole game in an effort to make
 
desyncs better reproducible. You need to turn this ability on. When turned
 
on an automatic savegame will be made once the map has been constructed in
 
the 'save/autosave' directory, see OpenTTD directories to know where to find
 
this directory. Furthermore the log file 'commands-out.log' will be created
 
and all actions will be written to there.
 
On some platforms OpenTTD will also be available via your OS package manager or a similar service.
 

	
 
To enable the desync debugging you need to set the debug level for 'desync'
 
to at least 1. You do this by starting OpenTTD with '`-d desync=<level>`' as
 
parameter or by typing '`debug_level desync=<level>`' in OpenTTD's internal
 
console.
 
The desync debug levels are:
 

	
 
- 0: nothing.
 
- 1: dumping of commands to 'commands-out.log'.
 
- 2: same as 1 plus checking vehicle caches and dumping that too.
 
- 3: same as 2 plus monthly saves in autosave.
 
- 4 and higher: same as 3
 
## 1.2) OpenTTD gameplay manual
 

	
 
Restarting OpenTTD will overwrite 'commands-out.log'. OpenTTD will not remove
 
the savegames (dmp_cmds_*.sav) made by the desync debugging system, so you
 
have to occasionally remove them yourself!
 
OpenTTD has a [community-maintained wiki](https://wiki.openttd.org/), including a gameplay manual and tips.
 

	
 
The naming format of the desync savegames is as follows:
 
dmp_cmds_XXXXXXXX_YYYYYYYY.sav. The XXXXXXXX is the hexadecimal representation
 
of the generation seed of the game and YYYYYYYY is the hexadecimal
 
representation of the date of the game. This sorts the savegames by game and
 
then by date making it easier to find the right savegames.
 

	
 
When a desync has occurred with the desync debugging turned on you should file
 
a bug report with the following files attached:
 

	
 
- commands-out.log as it contains all the commands that were done
 
- the last saved savegame (search for the last line beginning with
 
   'save: dmp_cmds_' in commands-out.log). We use this savegame to check
 
   whether we can quickly reproduce the desync. Otherwise we will need …
 
- the first saved savegame (search for the first line beginning with 'save'
 
   where the first part, up to the last underscore '_', is the same). We need
 
   this savegame to be able to reproduce the bug when the last savegame is not
 
   old enough. If you loaded a scenario or savegame you need to attach that.
 
- optionally you can attach the savegames from around 50%, 75%, 85%, 90% and
 
   95% of the game's progression. We can use these savegames to speed up the
 
   reproduction of the desync, but we should be able to reproduce these
 
   savegames based on the first savegame and commands-out.log.
 
- in case you use any NewGRFs you should attach the ones you used unless
 
   we can easily find them ourselves via bananas or when they are in the
 
   #openttdcoop pack.
 
## 1.3) Supported platforms
 

	
 
Do NOT remove the dmp_cmds savegames of a desync you have reported until the
 
desync has been fixed; if you, by accident, send us the wrong savegames we
 
will not be able to reproduce the desync and thus will be unable to fix it.
 
OpenTTD has been ported to several platforms and operating systems.
 

	
 
## 3.0) Supported platforms
 

	
 
OpenTTD has been ported to several platforms and operating systems. It should
 
not be very difficult to port it to a new platform. The currently working
 
platforms are:
 
The currently working platforms are:
 

	
 
- FreeBSD (SDL)
 
- Haiku (SDL)
 
- Linux (SDL or Allegro)
 
- Linux (SDL)
 
- macOS (universal) (Cocoa video and sound drivers)
 
- OpenBSD (SDL)
 
- OS/2 (SDL)
 
- Windows (Win32 GDI (faster) or SDL or Allegro)
 

	
 
## 4.0) Installing and running OpenTTD
 

	
 
Installing OpenTTD is fairly straightforward. Either you have downloaded an
 
archive which you have to extract to a directory where you want OpenTTD to
 
be installed, or you have downloaded an installer, which will automatically
 
extract OpenTTD in the given directory.
 
- Windows (Win32 GDI (faster) or SDL)
 

	
 
OpenTTD looks in multiple locations to find the required data files (described
 
in section 4.2). Installing any 3rd party files into a 'shared' location has
 
the advantage that you only need to do this step once, rather than copying the
 
data files into all OpenTTD versions you have.
 
### 1.3.1) Legacy support
 
Platforms, languages and compilers change.
 
We'll keep support going on old platforms as long as someone is interested in supporting them, except where it means the project can't move forward to keep up with language and compiler features.
 

	
 
Savegames, screenshots, etc are saved relative to the config file (openttd.cfg)
 
currently being used. This means that if you use a config file in one of the
 
shared directories, savegames will reside in the save/ directory next to the
 
openttd.cfg file there.
 
We guarantee that every revision of OpenTTD will be able to load savegames from every older revision (excepting where the savegame is corrupt).
 
Please report a bug if you find a save that doesn't load.
 

	
 
If you want savegames and screenshots in the directory where the OpenTTD binary
 
resides, simply have your config file in that location. But if you remove this
 
config file, savegames will still be in this directory (see notes in
 
section 4.2 'OpenTTD directories')
 
## 1.4) Installing and running OpenTTD
 

	
 
OpenTTD comes without AIs, so if you want to play with AIs you have to download
 
them. The easiest way is via the 'Check Online Content' button in the main menu.
 
You can select some AIs that you think are compatible with your playing style.
 
Another way is manually downloading the AIs from the forum although then you
 
need to make sure that you install all the required AI libraries too; they get
 
automatically selected (and downloaded) if you get the AIs via the 'Check
 
Online Content'. If you do not have an AI but have configured OpenTTD to start
 
an AI a message will be shown that the 'dummy' AI has been started.
 
OpenTTD is usually straightforward to install, but for more help the wiki [includes an installation guide](https://wiki.openttd.org/Installation).
 

	
 
### 4.1) (Required) 3rd party files
 
OpenTTD needs some additional graphics and sound files to run.
 

	
 
Before you run OpenTTD, you need to put the game's data files into a baseset/
 
directory which can be located in various places addressed in the following
 
section.
 
For some platforms these will be downloaded during the installation process if required.
 

	
 
For OpenTTD you need to acquire some third party data files. For this you have
 
the choice of using the original Transport Tycoon Deluxe data files or a set
 
of free data files.
 
For some platforms, you will need to refer to [the installation guide](https://wiki.openttd.org/Installation).
 

	
 
Do NOT copy files included with OpenTTD into 'shared' directories (explained in
 
the following sections) as sooner or later you will run into graphical glitches
 
when using other versions of the game.
 

	
 
#### 4.1.1) Free graphics and sound files
 
### 1.4.1) Free graphics and sound files
 

	
 
The free data files, split into OpenGFX for graphics, OpenSFX for sounds and
 
OpenMSX for music can be found at:
 
@@ -223,12 +86,13 @@ OpenMSX for music can be found at:
 
Please follow the readme of these packages about the installation procedure.
 
The Windows installer can optionally download and install these packages.
 

	
 
#### 4.1.2) Original Transport Tycoon Deluxe graphics and sound files
 

	
 
### 1.4.2) Original Transport Tycoon Deluxe graphics and sound files
 

	
 
If you want to play with the original Transport Tycoon Deluxe data files you
 
have to copy the data files from the CD-ROM into the baseset/ directory. It
 
does not matter whether you copy them from the DOS or Windows version of
 
Transport Tycoon Deluxe. The Windows install can optionally copy these files.
 
If you want to play with the original Transport Tycoon Deluxe data files you have to copy the data files from the CD-ROM into the baseset/ directory.
 
It does not matter whether you copy them from the DOS or Windows version of Transport Tycoon Deluxe.
 
The Windows install can optionally copy these files.
 

	
 
You need to copy the following files:
 
- sample.cat
 
- trg1r.grf or TRG1.GRF
 
@@ -237,469 +101,113 @@ You need to copy the following files:
 
- trgir.grf or TRGI.GRF
 
- trgtr.grf or TRGT.GRF
 

	
 
#### 4.1.3) Original Transport Tycoon Deluxe music
 

	
 
If you want the Transport Tycoon Deluxe music, copy the appropriate files from
 
the original game into the baseset folder.
 
### 1.4.3) Original Transport Tycoon Deluxe music
 

	
 
If you want the Transport Tycoon Deluxe music, copy the appropriate files from the original game into the baseset folder.
 
- TTD for Windows: All files in the gm/ folder (gm_tt00.gm up to gm_tt21.gm)
 
- TTD for DOS: The GM.CAT file
 
- Transport Tycoon Original: The GM.CAT file, but rename it to GM-TTO.CAT
 

	
 
#### 4.1.4) AIs
 

	
 
If you want AIs use the in-game content downloader. If for some reason that is
 
not possible or you want to use an AI that has not been uploaded to the content
 
download system download the tar file and place it in the ai/ directory. If the
 
AI needs libraries you will have to download those too and put them in the
 
ai/library/ directory. All AIs and AI Libraries that have been uploaded to
 
the content download system can be found at https://noai.openttd.org/downloads.
 
The AIs and libraries can be found their in the form of .tar.gz packages.
 
OpenTTD can read inside tar files but it does not extract .tar.gz files by itself.
 
## 1.5) Add-on content / mods
 

	
 
To figure out which libraries you need for an AI you have to start the AI and
 
wait for an error message to pop up. The error message will tell you
 
'could not find library "lib-name"'. Download that library and try again.
 

	
 
#### 4.1.5) Game scripts
 
OpenTTD features multiple types of add-on content, which modify gameplay in different ways.
 

	
 
If you want an extra challenge in OpenTTD you can download so-called game
 
scripts via the in-game content downloader. These game scripts have varying
 
functionality, though they can generally influence town growth, subsidies, add
 
goals to reach or provide a different ranking system.
 

	
 
If you download a game script manually you have to follow the same rules as for
 
AIs, except that game scripts are placed in the game/ directory instead of the
 
ai/ directory.
 

	
 
### 4.2) OpenTTD directories
 
Most types of add-on content can be downloaded within OpenTTD via the 'Check Online Content' button in the main menu.
 

	
 
OpenTTD uses its own directory to store its required 3rd party base set files
 
(see section 4.1 'Required 3rd party files') and non-compulsory extension and
 
configuration files. See below for their proper place within this OpenTTD main
 
data directory.
 
Add-on content can also be installed manually, but that's more complicated; the [OpenTTD wiki](https://wiki.openttd.org/OpenTTD) may offer help with that, or the [OpenTTD directory structure guide](./docs/directory_structure.md).
 

	
 
The main OpenTTD directories can be found in various locations, depending on
 
your operating system:
 

	
 
1. The current working directory (from where you started OpenTTD)
 

	
 
    For non-Windows operating systems OpenTTD will not scan for files in this
 
    directory if it is your personal directory, i.e. '~/', or when it is the
 
    root directory, i.e. '/'.
 
### 1.5.1) AI opponents
 

	
 
2. Your personal directory
 
    - Windows:
 
        - `C:\My Documents\OpenTTD` (95, 98, ME)
 
        - `C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\OpenTTD` (2000, XP)
 
        - `C:\Users\<username>\Documents\OpenTTD` (Vista, 7, 8.1, 10)
 
    - macOS: `~/Documents/OpenTTD`
 
    - Linux: `$XDG_DATA_HOME/openttd` which is usually `~/.local/share/openttd`
 
       when built with XDG base directory support, otherwise `~/.openttd`
 
3. The shared directory
 
    - Windows:
 
        - `C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\OpenTTD` (2000, XP)
 
        - `C:\Users\Public\Documents\OpenTTD` (Vista, 7, 8.1, 10)
 
    - macOS: `/Library/Application Support/OpenTTD`
 
    - Linux: not available
 
4. The binary directory (where the OpenTTD executable is)
 
    - Windows: `C:\Program Files\OpenTTD`
 
    - Linux: `/usr/games`
 
5. The installation directory (Linux only)
 
    - Linux: `/usr/share/games/openttd`
 
6. The application bundle (macOS only)
 
OpenTTD comes without AI opponents, so if you want to play with AIs you have to download them.
 

	
 
    It includes the OpenTTD files (grf+lng) and it will work as long as they
 
    are not touched
 
The easiest way is via the 'Check Online Content' button in the main menu.
 

	
 
Different types of data or extensions go into different subdirectories of the
 
chosen main OpenTTD directory:
 
You can select some AIs that you think are compatible with your playing style.
 

	
 
| data type           | directory         | additional info             |
 
| ------------------- | ----------------- | --------------------------- |
 
| Config File         | (no subdirectory) |                             |
 
| Screenshots         | screenshot        |                             |
 
| Base Graphics       | baseset           | (or a subdirectory thereof) |
 
| Sound Sets          | baseset           | (or a subdirectory thereof) |
 
| NewGRFs             | newgrf            | (or a subdirectory thereof) |
 
| 32bpp Sets          | newgrf            | (or a subdirectory thereof) |
 
| Music Sets          | baseset           | (or a subdirectory thereof) |
 
| AIs                 | ai                | (or a subdirectory thereof) |
 
| AI Libraries        | ai/library        | (or a subdirectory thereof) |
 
| Game Scripts (GS)   | game              | (or a subdirectory thereof) |
 
| GS Libraries        | game/library      | (or a subdirectory thereof) |
 
| Savegames           | save              |                             |
 
| Automatic Savegames | save/autosave     |                             |
 
| Scenarios           | scenario          |                             |
 
AI help and discussions may also be found in the [AI section of the forum](https://www.tt-forums.net/viewforum.php?f=65).
 

	
 
The (automatically created) directory content_download is for OpenTTD's internal
 
use and no files should be added to it or its subdirectories manually.
 
### 1.5.2) Scenarios and height maps
 

	
 
#### Notes:
 
Scenarios and heightmaps can be added via the 'Check Online Content' button in the main menu.
 

	
 
- Linux in the previous list means .deb, but most paths should be similar for
 
   others.
 
- The previous search order is also used for NewGRFs and openttd.cfg.
 
- If openttd.cfg is not found, then it will be created using the 2, 4, 1, 3,
 
   5 order. When built with XDG base directory support, openttd.cfg will be
 
   created in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/openttd which is usually ~/.config/openttd.
 
- Savegames will be relative to the config file only if there is no save/
 
   directory in paths with higher priority than the config file path, but
 
   autosaves and screenshots will always be relative to the config file.
 
   Unless the configuration file is in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/openttd, then all
 
   other files will be saved under $XDG_DATA_HOME/openttd.
 

	
 
#### The preferred setup:
 

	
 
Place 3rd party files in shared directory (or in personal directory if you do
 
not have write access on shared directory) and have your openttd.cfg config
 
file in personal directory (where the game will then also place savegames and
 
screenshots).
 

	
 
### 4.3) Portable installations (portable media)
 
### 1.5.3) NewGRFs
 

	
 
You can install OpenTTD on external media so you can take it with you, i.e.
 
using a USB key, or a USB HDD, etc.
 
Create a directory where you shall store the game in (i.e. OpenTTD/).
 
Copy the binary (OpenTTD.exe, OpenTTD.app, openttd, etc), baseset/ and your
 
openttd.cfg to this directory.
 
You can copy binaries for any operating system into this directory, which will
 
allow you to play the game on nearly any computer you can attach the external
 
media to.
 
As always - additional grf files are stored in the newgrf/ dir (for details,
 
again, see section 4.1).
 

	
 
### 4.4) Files in tar (archives)
 
A wide range of add-content is available as NewGRFs, including vehicles, industries, stations, landscape objects, town names and more.
 

	
 
OpenTTD can read files that are in an uncompressed tar (archive), which
 
makes it easy to bundle files belonging to the same script, NewGRF or base
 
set. Music sets are the only exception as they cannot be stored in a tar
 
file due to being played by external applications.
 
NewGRFs can be added via the 'Check Online Content' button in the main menu.
 

	
 
OpenTTD sees each tar archive as the 'root' of its search path. This means that
 
having a file with the same path in two different tar files means that one
 
cannot be opened, after all only one file will be found first. As such it is
 
advisable to put an uniquely named folder in the root of the tar and put all the
 
content in that folder. For example, all downloaded content has a path that
 
concatenates the name of the content and the version, which makes the path
 
unique. For custom tar files it is advised to do this as well.
 
See also the wiki [guide to NewGRFs](https://wiki.openttd.org/NewGRF) and [the forum graphics development section](https://www.tt-forums.net/viewforum.php?f=66).
 

	
 
The normal files are also referred to by their relative path from the search
 
directory, this means that also normal files could hide files in a tar as
 
long as the relative path from the search path of the normal file is the
 
same as the path in the tar file. Again it is advised to have an unique path
 
to the normal file so they do not collide with the files from other tar
 
files.
 

	
 
## 5.0) OpenTTD features
 
### 1.5.4) Game scripts
 

	
 
OpenTTD has a lot of features going beyond the original Transport Tycoon Deluxe
 
emulation. Unfortunately, there is currently no comprehensive list of features,
 
but there is a basic features list on the web, and some optional features can be
 
controlled through the Advanced Settings dialog. We also implement some
 
features known from [TTDPatch](https://www.ttdpatch.net).
 

	
 
Several important non-standard controls:
 
Game scripts can provide additional challenges or changes to the standard OpenTTD gameplay, for example setting transport goals, or changing town growth behaviour.
 

	
 
- Ctrl modifies many commands and makes them more powerful. For example Ctrl
 
   clicking on signals with the build signal tool changes their behaviour,
 
   holding Ctrl while the track build tool is activated changes it to the track
 
   removal tool, and so on. See https://wiki.openttd.org/Hidden_features
 
   for a non-comprehensive list or look at the tooltips.
 
- Ingame console. More information at https://wiki.openttd.org/Console
 
- Hovering over a GUI element shows tooltips. This can be changed to right click
 
   via the advanced settings.
 

	
 
### 5.1) Logging of potentially dangerous actions
 
Game scripts can be added via the 'Check Online Content' button in the main menu.
 

	
 
OpenTTD is a complex program, and together with NewGRF, it may show a buggy
 
behaviour. But not only bugs in code can cause problems. There are several
 
ways to affect game state possibly resulting in program crash or multiplayer
 
desyncs.
 

	
 
Easier way would be to forbid all these unsafe actions, but that would affect
 
game usability for many players. We certainly do not want that.
 
However, we receive bug reports because of this. To reduce time spent with
 
solving these problems, these potentially unsafe actions are logged in
 
the savegame (including crash.sav). Log is stored in crash logs, too.
 

	
 
Information logged:
 
See also the wiki [guide to game scripts](https://wiki.openttd.org/Game_script) and [the forum graphics game script section](https://www.tt-forums.net/viewforum.php?f=65).
 

	
 
- Adding / removing / changing order of NewGRFs
 
- Changing NewGRF parameters, loading compatible NewGRF
 
- Changing game mode (scenario editor <-> normal game)
 
- Loading game saved in a different OpenTTD / TTDPatch / Transport Tycoon Deluxe /
 
   original Transport Tycoon version
 
- Running a modified OpenTTD build
 
- Changing settings affecting NewGRF behaviour (non-network-safe settings)
 
- Triggering NewGRF bugs
 
### 1.6) OpenTTD directories
 

	
 
No personal information is stored.
 

	
 
You can show the game log by typing 'gamelog' in the console or by running
 
OpenTTD in debug mode.
 

	
 
### 5.2) Frame rate and performance metrics
 
OpenTTD uses its own directory structure to store game data, add-on content etc.
 

	
 
The Help menu in-game has a function to open the Frame rate window. This
 
window shows various real-time performance statistics, measuring what parts
 
of the game require the most processing power currently.
 

	
 
A summary of the statistics can also be retrieved from the console with the
 
`fps` command. This is especially useful on dedicated servers, where the
 
administrator might want to determine what's limiting performance in a slow
 
game.
 

	
 
The frame rate is given as two figures, the simulation rate and the graphics
 
frame rate. Usually these are identical, as the screen is rendered exactly
 
once per simulated tick, but in the future there might be support for graphics
 
and simulation running at different rates. When the game is paused, the
 
simulation rate drops to zero.
 
For more information, see the [directory structure guide](./docs/directory_structure.md).
 

	
 
In addition to the simulation rate, a game speed factor is also calculated.
 
This is based on the target simulation speed, which is 30 milliseconds per
 
game tick. At that speed, the expected frame rate is 33.33 frames/second, and
 
the game speed factor is how close to that target the actual rate is. When
 
the game is in fast forward mode, the game speed factor shows how much
 
speed up is achieved.
 
### 1.7) Compiling OpenTTD
 

	
 
The lower part of the window shows timing statistics for individual parts of
 
the game. The times shown are short-term and long-term averages of how long
 
it takes to process one tick of game time, all figures are in milliseconds.
 
If you want to compile OpenTTD from source, instructions can be found in [COMPILING.md](./COMPILING.md).
 

	
 
Clicking a line in the lower part of the window opens a graph window, giving
 
detailed readings on each tick simulated by the game.
 

	
 
The following is an explanation of the different statistics:
 

	
 
- *Game loop* - Total processing time used per simulated "tick" in the game.
 
  This includes all pathfinding, world updates, and economy handling.
 
- *Cargo handling* - Time spent loading/unloading cargo at stations, and
 
  industries and towns sending/retrieving cargo from stations.
 
- *Train ticks*, *Road vehicle ticks*, *Ship ticks*, *Aircraft ticks* -
 
  Time spent on pathfinding and other processing for each player vehicle type.
 
- *World ticks* - Time spent on other world/landscape processing. This
 
  includes towns growing, building animations, updates of farmland and trees,
 
  and station rating updates.
 
- *GS/AI total*, *Game script*, and *AI players* - Time spent running logic
 
  for game scripts and AI players. The total may show as less than the current
 
  sum of the individual scripts, this is because AI players at lower
 
  difficulty settings do not run every game tick, and hence contribute less
 
  to the average across all ticks. Keep in mind that the "Current" figure is
 
  also an average, just only over short term.
 
- *Link graph delay* - Time overruns of the cargo distribution link graph
 
  update thread. Usually the link graph is updated in a background thread,
 
  but these updates need to synchronise with the main game loop occasionally,
 
  if the time spent on link graph updates is longer than the time taken to
 
  otherwise simulate the game while it was updating, these delays are counted
 
  in this figure.
 
- *Graphics rendering* - Total time spent rendering all graphics, including
 
  both GUI and world viewports. This typically spikes when panning the view
 
  around, and when more things are happening on screen at once.
 
- *World viewport rendering* - Isolated time spent rendering just world
 
  viewports. If this figure is significantly lower than the total graphics
 
  rendering time, most time is spent rendering GUI than rendering world.
 
- *Video output* - Speed of copying the rendered graphics to the display
 
  adapter. Usually this should be very fast (in the range of 0-3 ms), large
 
  values for this can indicate a graphics driver problem.
 
- *Sound mixing* - Speed of mixing active audio samples together. Usually
 
  this should be very fast (in the range of 0-3 ms), if it is slow, consider
 
  switching to the NoSound set.
 
## 2.0) Contact and Community
 

	
 
'Official' channels
 

	
 
If the frame rate window is shaded, the title bar will instead show just the
 
current simulation rate and the game speed factor.
 

	
 
## 6.0) Configuration file
 
- [OpenTTD website](https://www.openttd.org)
 
- IRC chat using #openttd on irc.oftc.net [more info about our irc channel](https://wiki.openttd.org/Irc)
 
- [OpenTTD on Github](https://github.com/openTTD/) for code repositories and for reporting issues
 
- [forum.openttd.org](https://forum.openttd.org/) - the primary community forum site for discussing OpenTTD and related games
 
- [OpenTTD wiki](https://wiki.openttd.org/) community-maintained wiki, including topics like gameplay guide, detailed explanation of some game mechanics, how to use add-on content (mods) and much more
 

	
 
The configuration file for OpenTTD (openttd.cfg) is in a simple Windows-like
 
.INI format. It is mostly undocumented. Almost all settings can be changed
 
ingame by using the 'Advanced Settings' window.
 
When you cannot find openttd.cfg you should look in the directories as
 
described in section 4.2. If you do not have an openttd.cfg OpenTTD will
 
create one after closing.
 

	
 
## 7.0) Translating
 

	
 
See https://www.openttd.org/development for up-to-date information.
 

	
 
The use of the online Translator service, located at
 
https://translator.openttd.org, is highly encouraged. For getting an account
 
simply follow the guidelines in the FAQ of the translator website.
 

	
 
If for some reason the website is down for a longer period of time, the
 
information below might be of help.
 
'Unofficial' channels
 

	
 
Please contact the translations manager (https://www.openttd.org/contact)
 
before beginning the translation process! This avoids double work, as
 
someone else may have already started translating to the same language.
 

	
 
### 7.1) Translation
 

	
 
So, now that you have notified the development team about your intention to
 
translate (You did, right? Of course you did.) you can pick up english.txt
 
(found in the Git repository under /src/lang) and translate.
 

	
 
You must change the first two lines of the file appropriately:
 
- the OpenTTD wiki has a [page listing OpenTTD communities](https://wiki.openttd.org/Community) including some in languages other than English
 

	
 
    ##name English-Name-Of-Language
 
    ##ownname Native-Name-Of-Language
 

	
 
Note: Do not alter the following parts of the file:
 

	
 
- String identifiers (the first word on each line)
 
- Parts of the strings which are in curly braces (such as {STRING})
 
- Lines beginning with ## (such as ##id), other than the first two lines
 
   of the file
 

	
 
### 7.2) Previewing
 
### 2.1) Contributing to OpenTTD
 

	
 
In order to view the translation in the game, you need to compile your language
 
file with the strgen utility. As this utility is tailored to a specific OpenTTD
 
version, you need to compile it yourself. Just take the normal OpenTTD sources
 
and build that. During the build process the strgen utility will be made.
 

	
 
strgen is a command-line utility. It takes the language filename as parameter.
 
We welcome contributors to OpenTTD.  More information for contributors can be found in [CONTRIBUTING.md](./CONTRIBUTING.md)
 

	
 
Example:
 

	
 
    strgen lang/german.txt
 

	
 
This results in compiling german.txt and produces another file named german.lng.
 
Any missing strings are replaced with the English strings. Note that it looks
 
for english.txt in the lang subdirectory, which is where your language file
 
should also be.
 

	
 
That is all! You should now be able to select the language in the game options.
 

	
 
## 8.0) Troubleshooting
 

	
 
To see all startup options available to you, start OpenTTD with the
 
'`./openttd -h`' option. This might help you tweak some of the settings.
 
### 2.2) Reporting bugs
 

	
 
If the game is acting strange and you feel adventurous you can try the
 
'`-d [[<name>=]<level>]`' flag, where the higher levels will give you more
 
debugging output. The 'name' variable can help you to display only some type of
 
debugging messages. This is mostly undocumented so best is to look in the
 
source code file debug.c for the various debugging types. For more information
 
look at https://wiki.openttd.org/Command_line.
 

	
 
The most frequent problem is missing data files. Please install OpenGFX and
 
possibly OpenSFX and OpenMSX. See section 4.1.1 for more information.
 
Good bug reports are very helpful.  We have a [guide to reporting bugs](./CONTRIBUTING.md#bug-reports) to help with this.
 

	
 
Under certain circumstance, especially on Ubuntu OpenTTD can be extremely slow
 
and/or freeze. See known-bugs.txt for more information and how to solve this
 
problem on your computer.
 

	
 
Under Windows 98 and lower it is impossible to use a dedicated server; it will
 
fail to start. Perhaps this is for the better because those OSes are not known
 
for their stability.
 
Desyncs in multiplayer are complex to debug and report (some software development skils are required).
 
Instructions can be found in [debugging and reporting desyncs](./docs/debugging_desyncs.md).
 

	
 
With the added support for font-based text selecting a non-latin language can
 
result in lots of question marks ('?') being shown on screen. Please open your
 
configuration file (openttd.cfg - see Section 4.2 for where to find it)
 
and add a suitable font for the small, medium and / or large font, e.g.:
 

	
 
    small_font = "Tahoma"
 
    medium_font = "Tahoma"
 
    large_font = "Tahoma"
 

	
 
You should use a font name like 'Tahoma' or a path to the desired font.
 

	
 
Any NewGRF file used in a game is stored inside the savegame and will refuse to
 
load if you do not have that NewGRF file available. A list of missing files can
 
be viewed in the NewGRF window accessible from the file load dialogue window.
 

	
 
You can try to obtain the missing files from that NewGRF dialogue or – if they
 
are not available online – you can search manually through our
 
[forum's graphics development section](https://www.tt-forums.net/viewforum.php?f=66)
 
or [GRFCrawler](https://grfcrawler.tt-forums.net). Put the NewGRF files in
 
OpenTTD's newgrf folder (see section 4.2 'OpenTTD directories') and rescan the
 
list of available NewGRFs. Once you have all missing files, you are set to go.
 

	
 
## 9.0) Licensing
 

	
 
OpenTTD is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2.0. For
 
the complete license text, see the file 'COPYING.md'. This license applies
 
to all files in this distribution, except as noted below.
 

	
 
The squirrel implementation in src/3rdparty/squirrel is licensed under
 
the Zlib license. See src/3rdparty/squirrel/COPYRIGHT for the complete
 
license text.
 
### 2.3) Translating
 

	
 
The md5 implementation in src/3rdparty/md5 is licensed under the Zlib
 
license. See the comments in the source files in src/3rdparty/md5 for
 
the complete license text.
 
OpenTTD is translated into many languages.  Translations are added and updated via the [online translation tool](https://translator.openttd.org).
 

	
 
The implementations of Posix getaddrinfo and getnameinfo for OS/2 in
 
src/3rdparty/os2 are distributed partly under the GNU Lesser General Public
 
License 2.1, and partly under the (3-clause) BSD license. The exact licensing
 
terms can be found in src/3rdparty/os2/getaddrinfo.c resp.
 
src/3rdparty/os2/getnameinfo.c.
 

	
 
CONTRIBUTING.md is adapted from
 
[Bootstrap](https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md)
 
under the [Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
 
License](https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/blob/master/docs/LICENSE)
 
terms for Bootstrap documentation.
 

	
 
## X.X) Credits
 
## 3.0) Licensing
 

	
 
### The OpenTTD team (in alphabetical order):
 
OpenTTD is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2.0.
 
For the complete license text, see the file '[COPYING.md](./COPYING.md)'.
 
This license applies to all files in this distribution, except as noted below.
 

	
 
- Grzegorz Duczyński (adf88) - General coding (since 1.7.2)
 
- Albert Hofkamp (Alberth) - GUI expert (since 0.7)
 
- Matthijs Kooijman (blathijs) - Pathfinder-guru, Debian port (since 0.3)
 
- Ulf Hermann (fonsinchen) - Cargo Distribution (since 1.3)
 
- Christoph Elsenhans (frosch) - General coding (since 0.6)
 
- Loïc Guilloux (glx) - Windows Expert (since 0.4.5)
 
- Charles Pigott (LordAro) - General / Correctness police (since 1.9)
 
- Michael Lutz (michi_cc) - Path based signals (since 0.7)
 
- Niels Martin Hansen (nielsm) - Music system, general coding (since 1.9)
 
- Owen Rudge (orudge) - Forum host, OS/2 port (since 0.1)
 
- Peter Nelson (peter1138) - Spiritual descendant from newGRF gods (since 0.4.5)
 
- Ingo von Borstel (planetmaker) - General coding, Support (since 1.1)
 
- Remko Bijker (Rubidium) - Lead coder and way more (since 0.4.5)
 
- José Soler (Terkhen) - General coding (since 1.0)
 
- Leif Linse (Zuu) - AI/Game Script (since 1.2)
 

	
 
### Inactive Developers:
 
The squirrel implementation in `src/3rdparty/squirrel` is licensed under the Zlib license.
 
See `src/3rdparty/squirrel/COPYRIGHT` for the complete license text.
 

	
 
- Jean-François Claeys (Belugas) - GUI, newindustries and more (0.4.5 - 1.0)
 
- Bjarni Corfitzen (Bjarni) - macOS port, coder and vehicles (0.3 - 0.7)
 
- Victor Fischer (Celestar) - Programming everywhere you need him to (0.3 - 0.6)
 
- Jaroslav Mazanec (KUDr) - YAPG (Yet Another Pathfinder God) ;) (0.4.5 - 0.6)
 
- Jonathan Coome (Maedhros) - High priest of the NewGRF Temple (0.5 - 0.6)
 
- Attila Bán (MiHaMiX) - WebTranslator 1 and 2 (0.3 - 0.5)
 
- Zdeněk Sojka (SmatZ) - Bug finder and fixer (0.6 - 1.3)
 
- Christoph Mallon (Tron) - Programmer, code correctness police (0.3 - 0.5)
 
- Patric Stout (TrueBrain) - NoProgrammer (0.3 - 1.2), sys op (active)
 
- Thijs Marinussen (Yexo) - AI Framework, General (0.6 - 1.3)
 

	
 
### Retired Developers:
 
The md5 implementation in `src/3rdparty/md5` is licensed under the Zlib license.
 
See the comments in the source files in `src/3rdparty/md5` for the complete license text.
 

	
 
- Tamás Faragó (Darkvater) - Ex-Lead coder (0.3 - 0.5)
 
- Dominik Scherer (dominik81) - Lead programmer, GUI expert (0.3 - 0.3)
 
- Emil Djupfeld (egladil) - macOS port (0.4 - 0.6)
 
- Simon Sasburg (HackyKid) - Bug fixer (0.4 - 0.4.5)
 
- Ludvig Strigeus (ludde) - Original author of OpenTTD, main coder (0.1 - 0.3)
 
- Cian Duffy (MYOB) - BeOS port / manual writing (0.1 - 0.3)
 
- Petr Baudiš (pasky) - Many patches, newgrf support, etc. (0.3 - 0.3)
 
- Benedikt Brüggemeier (skidd13) - Bug fixer and code reworker (0.6 - 0.7)
 
- Serge Paquet (vurlix) - 2nd contributor after ludde (0.1 - 0.3)
 
The implementations of Posix `getaddrinfo` and `getnameinfo` for OS/2 in `src/3rdparty/os2` are distributed partly under the GNU Lesser General Public License 2.1, and partly under the (3-clause) BSD license.
 
The exact licensing terms can be found in `src/3rdparty/os2/getaddrinfo.c` resp. `src/3rdparty/os2/getnameinfo.c`.
 

	
 
### Thanks to:
 

	
 
- Josef Drexler - For his great work on TTDPatch.
 
- Marcin Grzegorczyk - For his TTDPatch work and documentation of Transport Tycoon Deluxe internals and track foundations
 
- Stefan Meißner (sign_de) - For his work on the console
 
- Mike Ragsdale - OpenTTD installer
 
- Christian Rosentreter (tokai) - MorphOS / AmigaOS port
 
- Richard Kempton (RichK67) - Additional airports, initial TGP implementation
 
- Alberto Demichelis - Squirrel scripting language
 
- L. Peter Deutsch - MD5 implementation
 
- Michael Blunck - For revolutionizing TTD with awesome graphics
 
- George - Canal graphics
 
- Andrew Parkhouse (andythenorth) - River graphics
 
- David Dallaston (Pikka) - Tram tracks
 
- All Translators - For their support to make OpenTTD a truly international game
 
- Bug Reporters - Thanks for all bug reports
 
- Chris Sawyer - For an amazing game!
 
## 4.0 Credits
 

	
 
See [CREDITS.md](./CREDITS.md)
docs/debugging_desyncs.md
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# Debugging / reporting desyncs
 

	
 
As desyncs are hard to make reproducible OpenTTD has the ability to log all
 
actions done by clients so we can replay the whole game in an effort to make
 
desyncs better reproducible. You need to turn this ability on. When turned
 
on an automatic savegame will be made once the map has been constructed in
 
the 'save/autosave' directory, see OpenTTD directories to know where to find
 
this directory. Furthermore the log file 'commands-out.log' will be created
 
and all actions will be written to there.
 

	
 
To enable the desync debugging you need to set the debug level for 'desync'
 
to at least 1. You do this by starting OpenTTD with '`-d desync=<level>`' as
 
parameter or by typing '`debug_level desync=<level>`' in OpenTTD's internal
 
console.
 
The desync debug levels are:
 

	
 
- 0: nothing.
 
- 1: dumping of commands to 'commands-out.log'.
 
- 2: same as 1 plus checking vehicle caches and dumping that too.
 
- 3: same as 2 plus monthly saves in autosave.
 
- 4 and higher: same as 3
 

	
 
Restarting OpenTTD will overwrite 'commands-out.log'. OpenTTD will not remove
 
the savegames (dmp_cmds_*.sav) made by the desync debugging system, so you
 
have to occasionally remove them yourself!
 

	
 
The naming format of the desync savegames is as follows:
 
dmp_cmds_XXXXXXXX_YYYYYYYY.sav. The XXXXXXXX is the hexadecimal representation
 
of the generation seed of the game and YYYYYYYY is the hexadecimal
 
representation of the date of the game. This sorts the savegames by game and
 
then by date making it easier to find the right savegames.
 

	
 
When a desync has occurred with the desync debugging turned on you should file
 
a bug report with the following files attached:
 

	
 
- commands-out.log as it contains all the commands that were done
 
- the last saved savegame (search for the last line beginning with
 
   'save: dmp_cmds_' in commands-out.log). We use this savegame to check
 
   whether we can quickly reproduce the desync. Otherwise we will need …
 
- the first saved savegame (search for the first line beginning with 'save'
 
   where the first part, up to the last underscore '_', is the same). We need
 
   this savegame to be able to reproduce the bug when the last savegame is not
 
   old enough. If you loaded a scenario or savegame you need to attach that.
 
- optionally you can attach the savegames from around 50%, 75%, 85%, 90% and
 
   95% of the game's progression. We can use these savegames to speed up the
 
   reproduction of the desync, but we should be able to reproduce these
 
   savegames based on the first savegame and commands-out.log.
 
- in case you use any NewGRFs you should attach the ones you used unless
 
   we can easily find them ourselves via bananas or when they are in the
 
   #openttdcoop pack.
 

	
 
Do NOT remove the dmp_cmds savegames of a desync you have reported until the
 
desync has been fixed; if you, by accident, send us the wrong savegames we
 
will not be able to reproduce the desync and thus will be unable to fix it.
 

	
 

	
docs/directory_structure.md
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# OpenTTD directory structure
 

	
 
OpenTTD uses its own directory to store its required 3rd party base set files
 
(see section 4.1 'Required 3rd party files') and non-compulsory extension and
 
configuration files.
 

	
 
See below for their proper place within this OpenTTD main data directory.
 

	
 
The main OpenTTD directories can be found in various locations, depending on
 
your operating system:
 

	
 
1. The current working directory (from where you started OpenTTD)
 

	
 
    For non-Windows operating systems OpenTTD will not scan for files in this
 
    directory if it is your personal directory, i.e. '~/', or when it is the
 
    root directory, i.e. '/'.
 

	
 
2. Your personal directory
 
    - Windows:
 
        - `C:\My Documents\OpenTTD` (95, 98, ME)
 
        - `C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\OpenTTD` (2000, XP)
 
        - `C:\Users\<username>\Documents\OpenTTD` (Vista, 7, 8.1, 10)
 
    - macOS: `~/Documents/OpenTTD`
 
    - Linux: `$XDG_DATA_HOME/openttd` which is usually `~/.local/share/openttd`
 
       when built with XDG base directory support, otherwise `~/.openttd`
 
3. The shared directory
 
    - Windows:
 
        - `C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\OpenTTD` (2000, XP)
 
        - `C:\Users\Public\Documents\OpenTTD` (Vista, 7, 8.1, 10)
 
    - macOS: `/Library/Application Support/OpenTTD`
 
    - Linux: not available
 
4. The binary directory (where the OpenTTD executable is)
 
    - Windows: `C:\Program Files\OpenTTD`
 
    - Linux: `/usr/games`
 
5. The installation directory (Linux only)
 
    - Linux: `/usr/share/games/openttd`
 
6. The application bundle (macOS only)
 

	
 
    It includes the OpenTTD files (grf+lng) and it will work as long as they
 
    are not touched
 

	
 
Different types of data or extensions go into different subdirectories of the
 
chosen main OpenTTD directory:
 

	
 
| data type           | directory         | additional info             |
 
| ------------------- | ----------------- | --------------------------- |
 
| Config File         | (no subdirectory) |                             |
 
| Screenshots         | screenshot        |                             |
 
| Base Graphics       | baseset           | (or a subdirectory thereof) |
 
| Sound Sets          | baseset           | (or a subdirectory thereof) |
 
| NewGRFs             | newgrf            | (or a subdirectory thereof) |
 
| 32bpp Sets          | newgrf            | (or a subdirectory thereof) |
 
| Music Sets          | baseset           | (or a subdirectory thereof) |
 
| AIs                 | ai                | (or a subdirectory thereof) |
 
| AI Libraries        | ai/library        | (or a subdirectory thereof) |
 
| Game Scripts (GS)   | game              | (or a subdirectory thereof) |
 
| GS Libraries        | game/library      | (or a subdirectory thereof) |
 
| Savegames           | save              |                             |
 
| Automatic Savegames | save/autosave     |                             |
 
| Scenarios           | scenario          |                             |
 

	
 
The (automatically created) directory content_download is for OpenTTD's internal
 
use and no files should be added to it or its subdirectories manually.
 

	
 
## Notes:
 

	
 
- Linux in the previous list means .deb, but most paths should be similar for
 
   others.
 
- The previous search order is also used for NewGRFs and openttd.cfg.
 
- If openttd.cfg is not found, then it will be created using the 2, 4, 1, 3,
 
   5 order. When built with XDG base directory support, openttd.cfg will be
 
   created in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/openttd which is usually ~/.config/openttd.
 
- Savegames will be relative to the config file only if there is no save/
 
   directory in paths with higher priority than the config file path, but
 
   autosaves and screenshots will always be relative to the config file.
 
   Unless the configuration file is in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/openttd, then all
 
   other files will be saved under $XDG_DATA_HOME/openttd.
 

	
 
## The preferred setup:
 

	
 
Place 3rd party files in shared directory (or in personal directory if you do
 
not have write access on shared directory) and have your openttd.cfg config
 
file in personal directory (where the game will then also place savegames and
 
screenshots).
 

	
 
## Portable installations (portable media)
 

	
 
You can install OpenTTD on external media so you can take it with you, i.e.
 
using a USB key, or a USB HDD, etc.
 
Create a directory where you shall store the game in (i.e. OpenTTD/).
 
Copy the binary (OpenTTD.exe, OpenTTD.app, openttd, etc), baseset/ and your
 
openttd.cfg to this directory.
 
You can copy binaries for any operating system into this directory, which will
 
allow you to play the game on nearly any computer you can attach the external
 
media to.
 
As always - additional grf files are stored in the newgrf/ dir (for details,
 
again, see section 4.1).
 

	
 
## Files in tar (archives)
 

	
 
OpenTTD can read files that are in an uncompressed tar (archive), which
 
makes it easy to bundle files belonging to the same script, NewGRF or base
 
set. Music sets are the only exception as they cannot be stored in a tar
 
file due to being played by external applications.
 

	
 
OpenTTD sees each tar archive as the 'root' of its search path. This means that
 
having a file with the same path in two different tar files means that one
 
cannot be opened, after all only one file will be found first. As such it is
 
advisable to put an uniquely named folder in the root of the tar and put all the
 
content in that folder. For example, all downloaded content has a path that
 
concatenates the name of the content and the version, which makes the path
 
unique. For custom tar files it is advised to do this as well.
 

	
 
The normal files are also referred to by their relative path from the search
 
directory, this means that also normal files could hide files in a tar as
 
long as the relative path from the search path of the normal file is the
 
same as the path in the tar file. Again it is advised to have an unique path
 
to the normal file so they do not collide with the files from other tar
 
files.
 

	
 
## Configuration file
 

	
 
The configuration file for OpenTTD (openttd.cfg) is in a simple Windows-like
 
.INI format. It is mostly undocumented. Almost all settings can be changed
 
ingame by using the 'Advanced Settings' window.
 

	
 
When you cannot find openttd.cfg you should look in the directories as
 
described in this document. If you do not have an openttd.cfg OpenTTD will
 
create one after closing.
 

	
docs/logging_and_performance_metrics.md
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new file 100644
 
# Logging, frame rate and performance metrics
 

	
 
## 1.0) Logging of potentially dangerous actions
 

	
 
OpenTTD is a complex program, and together with NewGRF, it may show a buggy
 
behaviour. But not only bugs in code can cause problems. There are several
 
ways to affect game state possibly resulting in program crash or multiplayer
 
desyncs.
 

	
 
Easier way would be to forbid all these unsafe actions, but that would affect
 
game usability for many players. We certainly do not want that.
 
However, we receive bug reports because of this. To reduce time spent with
 
solving these problems, these potentially unsafe actions are logged in
 
the savegame (including crash.sav). Log is stored in crash logs, too.
 

	
 
Information logged:
 

	
 
- Adding / removing / changing order of NewGRFs
 
- Changing NewGRF parameters, loading compatible NewGRF
 
- Changing game mode (scenario editor <-> normal game)
 
- Loading game saved in a different OpenTTD / TTDPatch / Transport Tycoon Deluxe /
 
   original Transport Tycoon version
 
- Running a modified OpenTTD build
 
- Changing settings affecting NewGRF behaviour (non-network-safe settings)
 
- Triggering NewGRF bugs
 

	
 
No personal information is stored.
 

	
 
You can show the game log by typing 'gamelog' in the console or by running
 
OpenTTD in debug mode.
 

	
 
## 2.0) Frame rate and performance metrics
 

	
 
The Help menu in-game has a function to open the Frame rate window. This
 
window shows various real-time performance statistics, measuring what parts
 
of the game require the most processing power currently.
 

	
 
A summary of the statistics can also be retrieved from the console with the
 
`fps` command. This is especially useful on dedicated servers, where the
 
administrator might want to determine what's limiting performance in a slow
 
game.
 

	
 
The frame rate is given as two figures, the simulation rate and the graphics
 
frame rate. Usually these are identical, as the screen is rendered exactly
 
once per simulated tick, but in the future there might be support for graphics
 
and simulation running at different rates. When the game is paused, the
 
simulation rate drops to zero.
 

	
 
In addition to the simulation rate, a game speed factor is also calculated.
 
This is based on the target simulation speed, which is 30 milliseconds per
 
game tick. At that speed, the expected frame rate is 33.33 frames/second, and
 
the game speed factor is how close to that target the actual rate is. When
 
the game is in fast forward mode, the game speed factor shows how much
 
speed up is achieved.
 

	
 
The lower part of the window shows timing statistics for individual parts of
 
the game. The times shown are short-term and long-term averages of how long
 
it takes to process one tick of game time, all figures are in milliseconds.
 

	
 
Clicking a line in the lower part of the window opens a graph window, giving
 
detailed readings on each tick simulated by the game.
 

	
 
The following is an explanation of the different statistics:
 

	
 
- *Game loop* - Total processing time used per simulated "tick" in the game.
 
  This includes all pathfinding, world updates, and economy handling.
 
- *Cargo handling* - Time spent loading/unloading cargo at stations, and
 
  industries and towns sending/retrieving cargo from stations.
 
- *Train ticks*, *Road vehicle ticks*, *Ship ticks*, *Aircraft ticks* -
 
  Time spent on pathfinding and other processing for each player vehicle type.
 
- *World ticks* - Time spent on other world/landscape processing. This
 
  includes towns growing, building animations, updates of farmland and trees,
 
  and station rating updates.
 
- *GS/AI total*, *Game script*, and *AI players* - Time spent running logic
 
  for game scripts and AI players. The total may show as less than the current
 
  sum of the individual scripts, this is because AI players at lower
 
  difficulty settings do not run every game tick, and hence contribute less
 
  to the average across all ticks. Keep in mind that the "Current" figure is
 
  also an average, just only over short term.
 
- *Link graph delay* - Time overruns of the cargo distribution link graph
 
  update thread. Usually the link graph is updated in a background thread,
 
  but these updates need to synchronise with the main game loop occasionally,
 
  if the time spent on link graph updates is longer than the time taken to
 
  otherwise simulate the game while it was updating, these delays are counted
 
  in this figure.
 
- *Graphics rendering* - Total time spent rendering all graphics, including
 
  both GUI and world viewports. This typically spikes when panning the view
 
  around, and when more things are happening on screen at once.
 
- *World viewport rendering* - Isolated time spent rendering just world
 
  viewports. If this figure is significantly lower than the total graphics
 
  rendering time, most time is spent rendering GUI than rendering world.
 
- *Video output* - Speed of copying the rendered graphics to the display
 
  adapter. Usually this should be very fast (in the range of 0-3 ms), large
 
  values for this can indicate a graphics driver problem.
 
- *Sound mixing* - Speed of mixing active audio samples together. Usually
 
  this should be very fast (in the range of 0-3 ms), if it is slow, consider
 
  switching to the NoSound set.
 

	
 
If the frame rate window is shaded, the title bar will instead show just the
 
current simulation rate and the game speed factor.
 

	
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