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RealRailway (RRW) - Development and Support

Started by Swordmaster, June 14, 2013, 08:42:19 AM

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eggman121

Thanks for all the feedback.

I guess more Ohh's and aaahhh's on the catenaries front.

Just trying to get the easier stuff out of the way before I get to more of the complicated stuff. The script I wrote for gmax is working a treat now so making wires is not so labor intensive  ()stsfd() .



DTR to STR Long Transition



DTR crossover

In terms of the bridges I will need to re-texture and change some geometry so they are more stable. If anyone has any suggestions to improve the bridges that I have shown I'm all ears!

Also I have changed the poles on the STR Y split so train drivers need not worry about hitting poles.

-eggman121

art128

beautiful!
A shame there isn't X crossover like in real life. :)
I'll take a quiet life... A handshake of carbon monoxide.

Props & Texture Catalog

vortext

Yep, that's pretty sweet all right!   &apls

As for the bridges, besides the obvious texturing needs, imho the wooden trestle STR bridge (third from bottom up) could be improved in terms of construction, i.e. more diagonal beams. I'm no engineer but it just looks a bit shaky. Maybe it's also because it appears not to be attached to land?!  &Thk/(

Also, I think it'd be neat to have the stone arch bridge for STR as well. Looking forward to see how they'll turn out!  :thumbsup:
time flies like a bird
fruit flies like a banana

eggman121

Speaking of the stone arch bridge I have gone to the trouble of re-texturing it. I think someone a while ago asked if they could see my bridges with Vester's North American Trains on them.

Have not forgotten about that so here they are...







I have made the stone arch to be a little more rustic compared to the other Stone Arch bridge which was a bit plain.

Wondering on other peoples thoughts.

-eggman121

Shadow Assassin

Still looks too pristine though it is an improvement.

I think you've got it about right for the texture... but it needs a bit more weathering.
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eggman121

Quote from: Shadow Assassin on July 01, 2014, 04:54:31 AM
Still looks too pristine though it is an improvement.

I think you've got it about right for the texture... but it needs a bit more weathering.

Thanks SA. I have taken upon your advice and weathered the texture a little. I'm quite pleased with the results. Looks more like the bluestone look that I have been hoping for.







I open to comments but I think I'm nearly there.

-eggman121

Gugu3


art128

Bridge's nice but we can see the texture is very repetitive. :/
I'll take a quiet life... A handshake of carbon monoxide.

Props & Texture Catalog

vortext

Agreed. The weathering is nice, the repetition not so much.
time flies like a bird
fruit flies like a banana

vester

Great update to the textures and nice bridge for that matter.

Is the texture made up of just one map or several maps ?


What I do to break up repetition, is use several maps, with different aphlas and different U and V repetition.
Set up the size of the UVW mapping box.

Let me see if I can find some jpgs I did to show it.

vester

Found some old graphics.

As stated in the post above, I start of by add UVW-map the object.
For most parts in would be just a wall for each object.
This UVW-map box will cover all of the wall.

Instead of just using a bitmap under diffuse colors you pick composite:


Here is an example of a concrete material:


A brick material:

The second brick texture (layer 2) is darken in the output, as shown in the top right corner. With the gradient in the alpha you get a nice gradient to the material.
Layer 3 add some green (moss or grass) to the bottom of the walls.
Layer 4 add dirt, to break up the repetition.
For both layer 3+4, the tiling of diffuse colormap should be different from the tiling of the brick textures. The tiling of alpha can be what ever you like it to be. Play around with the setting until you get a good result.

Lets say you get a good result with having the brick texture (layer 1+2) cover 4x4 meters. The UVW-map is 20x20x20, then the tiling for the brick will be 5x5. I then use gradient in the alpha to align/rotate the textures right. At times I add the gradient to a extra layer as diffuse. This layer can be turned on and off.

Hope this make sense. Just ask if you have any questions.

eggman121

Hello Vester

Did you use gmax or 3DsMax for the texturing? I don't have the composite option in my installation of gmax and can't get access to 3dsMax

I can only use multi-material.

Thanks for the infomation though.

-eggman121

vester

It is 3ds Max I use for modelling and texturing.

eggman121

Thanks for your speedy response Vester.

Well I only have gmax and blender to play with so I may try texturing the model in blender and reimporting it into the reader. I have other options such as multi material but I don't know if that will work.

I will do some experimenting today.

-eggman121

isii94

#734
I just had an idea today...

And this is what I came up with:



Unfortunately I don't know much (=nothing) about RULing, so I couldn't just try to implement it myself :/

EDIT:
I've started making some more textures for this (I hate it only suggesting stuff I'd like to have in the game without contributing anything  %wrd)






(I know they have to be split up into single tiles)

I think more will follow soon because I can reuse STR switches for that.
MD coming soon...

eggman121

Very nice textures isii94  :thumbsup:

Although the textures should be more symmetrical since I don't think dual tile rail networks are going to be introduced in the scope of the RRW project. If you want to get involved you could always try making Triple Track Rail (TTR) and Quad Track Rail (QTR) textures since they are planned for future iterations of the RRW.

I applaud you for taking the initiative to make the textures since my philosophy is that you should always have a go at making content for the game before asking for it from other members. Keep up the good work  :thumbsup:




@Vester

Ok, so since I'm a university student I have managed to get a student copy of 3DsMax 2015 and have been able to successfully import my gmax models by a) converting them to MD3 format, 2) Open them in blender, 3) save them as FBX and 4) import them into 3DsMax.

Now the problem I am having is that I can't figure out how to texture the various model parts with the composite method that you described to me. I'm just wondering if you could elaborate on the method to texture the models since the texturing is a different kettle of fish to the type I am used to on gmax. I may have further questions on LODing and rendering but at this stage I am only interested on the texturing. Any help would be appreciated  ;D .

-eggman121

Indiana Joe

#736
Quote from: isii94 on July 04, 2014, 02:00:00 AM
I just had an idea today...

Definitely good to get hands on.  Takes lots of initiative to go from an onlooker to a contributor.   :thumbsup:

First question, before you go any further, is where are you going with your project?  Gotta have a plan.  So far I don't see any practical applications for your combinations of dual and single track rail.  And as Stephen (Eggman) pointed out, network textures should be symmetrical, as you must be able to rotate and mirror them.

Now, if you want to make lot textures,  that's a whole different story.

fefenc

#737
Hey eggman, all this work on Railroad System will be released in NAM 33? I've figured out how to make a functional Railroad System, I was looking to your screenshots and I'm amazed :>

&apls Well done everyone! &apls &apls Well done!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC7om6n8kDU&feature=player_detailpage

Geometry123

I have an idea.

Could we make the RRW as flexible as the MIS? In that way, we could construct flying junctions and some crazy rail interchanges... [img]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y24/nakayome/icons/ahihihi.gif/[img]
You will never know when will the next NAM be released. Only time teasing will tell. :P

"We're making SimCity, not some dopey casual game"
                                                 -Ocean Quigley

isii94

#739
Well, I'll explain my idea:

I thought of realistic 4 track mainlines (such as East Coast Main Line in the UK) which actually wouldn't fit on one tile. So I imagined two adjacent stretches of DTR could snap together (similar to the old RHW when you had to draw two adjacent stretches of ANT which would then convert to RHW 4) to create a QTR (not one one tile but on two as the ones on one tile look a bit crammed and not very realistic for mainlines).
This would have be a layout like Up slow - Up fast on the left tile and Down fast - Down slow on the right tile (mirrored for RHD). To create junctions I had the idea to do this the way it is done since RHW 4 (if I remember that correctly) where you can split a MIS off the road by simply dragging it out: This would mean you could split a STR off by dragging it out. The integration if switches would be fairly easy as the slow track is in the centre of the tile as it is on STR.

To get from the fast track to such a switch you'd have to build this switch I showed in my previous post, just like it is done in reality.

For stations the slow track should make a shift to the outer edge of the tile to have platforms between the tracks in the centre of the tile. If you want a small station for the slow tracks only you can just put that texture on your lot and place small platforms next to them.

This would also make special two tile catenaries easier to create because these are separate textures and therefore different transit lots.

So maybe I'm just going to learn a bit about RULing and try implementing at least some if that myself.

And maybe at some point an auto-generated flyover could cross over the main tracks from a switch on the slow tracks to allow turning right (left for RHD).
MD coming soon...