Convert objects to misc buildings

[LeftofZen]

A couple of object types, eg stations, track extensions, airports, docks, etc, have really useful buildings. However the fact they aren't buildings can sometimes be limiting as it may require editing trackst.dat. By adding in a conversion function in the editor to turn these objects into (misc) buildings, this will let the user/player place these in game like any other building.

[LeftofZen]

The question is how to do this generically. The image table for buildings can be:

• 1x4 images - just the 4 rotations of the building
• 2x4 images - 1 set of 4 for the base, 1 set of 4 for the building
• n*4 images - 1 set of 4 for the base, n-1 sets for 'floors' of the building. the last set is the roof (by convention of it being the last, ie the 'top', not by some special flag)
• n*4 images - 1 set of 4 for the base, n-1 sets of 'variations' for the building
• i believe a combination of variation and floor is possible as well
• buildings can also have animations, adding another dimension to complexity

There is also considerable complexity in the objects we'd want to convert from:

• Airport
• Industry
• TrainStation
• RoadStation
• Dock
• TrainSignal (this is because many people have done the opposite - they've put building graphics into the signal to simulate buildings next to tracks)

Given the large variation in input objects, the user will need to define the conversion, ie they will need to select which images are copied from the source object to the Building object. I would probably start off with the simplest case of 4 images and release that.

On top of this, current image table editing is quite basic and there is no context about which 'part' of the image table you are editing, ie which part/animation/variation are you editing? I think a good pre-work feature is to implement a better Building object image table editor view, so the user can more easily change animations, parts, heights, bases, roofs, and so on.