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RealRailway (RRW) - Development and Support

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

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jdenm8

An Alpha version is included in the NAM 32 Pre-Release.


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

north country dude

Greetings and salutations from the ghosts of modders past!

I just wanted to send congrats and commendations to the excellent work you have done with this. I understand that much more is in the works and that it will vastly improve the way rail transportation networks are handled in SC4. Keep it up and don't lose focus.

I have read all 27 pages of this topic and noticed some discord back in June over the color palette used for this project. As a former texture artist for SC4 mods, I can certainly understand the frustration of finding the right colors to represent railroad tracks as seen from above in bright sunlight.

I will be honest in saying that the "rusty" look struck my eye at first as being "too rusty" for mainlines, but perfect for freight lines. I have no advice on how to balance that look as crushed rock ballast is different all over the world. This is just a visual opinion, and, I would say that you should leave it for the purists to come up with their own textures (which they will more than likely do in order to simulate regional preferences). Using the darkened steel for the rails was spot on, and having the shiny, well used rail show up only on close zoom level is a brilliant idea.

For myself, when designing the railyards, I had the frustration of first matching the texture palettes to Maxis zany track textures and then later to the texture palette chosen by the RAM team. My designs tended to favor the "grungy" industrial look and the black-grey-white Maxis palette never looked quite right. Which leads me to another point.

I heard or saw that these rails are model based? If so, then this is excellent news. I read in this topic that this newer concept allows you to place flora and other objects closer to the track-line? Awesome! No more "blocky" wasted tiles! With the current high definition mayor mode flora that is available, making grungy industrial lines could never be easier!

And the hard work in the design of those electric catenary! stunning! they are beautiful.

I also read that this design uses a narrower gauge? Will that cause problems for the custom content lots that matched up to the Maxis gauge? Is there a transition tile available? Just curious.

In summary, I will say that you and your team have done an amazing job on this project. Keep doing what you're doing and bask in the high praise you will get for this addition to the NAM.
"Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain, and most fools do. But it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving." -Dale Carnegie

Gugu3

Nort country dude!!!is nice to see you back :thumbsup:

droric

WB Northcountrydude.  I use many of your rail items you created.

I had a question for Willy or Eggman.  I am about ready to release the models/lots for the signals i created but was wondering if there was a way to prevent the wealthing from occurring on the RRW tiles.  The tiles get a dirt base texture when I place my lot next to it using high wealth.  I also tried no wealth same result.

PC Specs: i2700k @ 4.9 Ghz, 16 GB @ 1600-8-9-8-16, 2X GTX 580 SLI, Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3R, 120 GB Vertex 3 SDD, 3 TB RAID1, 1200W SilentGold, Antec P180B case, Win 8 x64 Pro

eggman121

Quote from: droric on January 15, 2014, 05:24:55 PM
WB Northcountrydude.  I use many of your rail items you created.

I had a question for Willy or Eggman.  I am about ready to release the models/lots for the signals i created but was wondering if there was a way to prevent the wealthing from occurring on the RRW tiles.  The tiles get a dirt base texture when I place my lot next to it using high wealth.  I also tried no wealth same result.

Hello Droric. The Railway Upgrade Mod created by Rivit has an option to remove wealth from the RRW tiles. I have just tested it and it works. Not specific to the RRW and only the wealthication options in the Installer needs to be checked but this may suffice until a specific mod to remove the wealth from the RRW is presented.

You can get it from simtropolis here: http://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/25809-railway-upgrade-mod/

-eggman121

APSMS

I did not know that that file still worked for the RRW! Works like a charm (the RRW base texture has some awful orientation problems that need sorting). I could put up with the missing road textures and other quirks, but that one issue almost had me back in the arms of Maxis and Rivit!

Thanks Stephen!
Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

My Mayor Diary San Diego: A Reinterpretation

droric

Quote from: eggman121 on January 15, 2014, 06:58:14 PM
Hello Droric. The Railway Upgrade Mod created by Rivit has an option to remove wealth from the RRW tiles. I have just tested it and it works. Not specific to the RRW and only the wealthication options in the Installer needs to be checked but this may suffice until a specific mod to remove the wealth from the RRW is presented.

You can get it from simtropolis here: http://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/25809-railway-upgrade-mod/

-eggman121

Eggman thanks for the prompt response.  I have uploaded my signals to the STEX and have included a link for anyone who has been following.  Thanks for the support.

http://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/29204-rail-signal-lotsmodels/

PC Specs: i2700k @ 4.9 Ghz, 16 GB @ 1600-8-9-8-16, 2X GTX 580 SLI, Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3R, 120 GB Vertex 3 SDD, 3 TB RAID1, 1200W SilentGold, Antec P180B case, Win 8 x64 Pro

elmer26

Thank you all for the amazing work!  :thumbsup:

Just one question: Is the draggable FARR available somewhere as a separate download?

APSMS

E'er since NAM 31, all NAM components come in one large package. Anything separate is outdated, and will never be offered outside of development circles (for good reason).

This mythical thing you describe, it is addressed in the readme for the RRW; it is awaiting proper implementation, and will be released when ready, sometime in the future NAM cycles (hopefully sooner than later). This is of course dependent on how easy it is to implement and execute, and may take some thinking through to find a reasonable working model. All such functionality you may have seen in videos was part of the NAM Team alpha builds, and for stability and usability reasons have not yet been released. For now, we all have to stick with the puzzle pieces; at least overhangs should greatly increase their functionality and usability!
Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

My Mayor Diary San Diego: A Reinterpretation

Wiimeiser

Just to clarify, RRW has LHD paths, right?
Pink horse, pink horse, she rides across the nation...

Swordmaster

Sorry folks, I've had no time since Christmas to do anything at all, and it'll be a while before I do. As far as I can recall only a few minor bugs were fixed for the full release; that excludes the crossings.


Quote from: north country dude on January 14, 2014, 12:49:57 PM
I heard or saw that these rails are model based? If so, then this is excellent news. I read in this topic that this newer concept allows you to place flora and other objects closer to the track-line? Awesome! No more "blocky" wasted tiles! With the current high definition mayor mode flora that is available, making grungy industrial lines could never be easier!

Good to hear from you NCD!

I'm not sure where you read that, but that's not actually possible. The models are 16x16m. I assume one would have to convert them to something like 10x16m to achieve that. The problem is I'm not a modeler, and have no modeling software available to achieve this type of thing. The fact that the tiles are model-based is relatively inconsequential on the user-end of things; they're certainly no 3D models but just flat planes.

Quote from: north country dude on January 14, 2014, 12:49:57 PMI also read that this design uses a narrower gauge? Will that cause problems for the custom content lots that matched up to the Maxis gauge? Is there a transition tile available? Just curious.

The narrowing is rather minor and shouldn't cause major problems. Perfectionists may have to do some prop relotting, though.


Quote from: Wiimeiser on January 17, 2014, 04:09:47 AM
Just to clarify, RRW has LHD paths, right?

I have no idea. You would be able to tell better than me.


Quote from: APSMS on January 16, 2014, 12:41:28 AM
(the RRW base texture has some awful orientation problems that need sorting)

What would those problems be?


Cheers
Willy

Glavespian

Hi, I've been following this thread from close to its beginning but this is my first time posting, on the forum as well.  ;D

I love the new textures and paths, it's all so much more realistic, but it seems rather laggy, about a second or two's pause, when I try to draw new or redraw old rail, I thought this might just be my set-up but Haljackey seems to get it a little in his latest video. Also, are there fixed versions of Marrast's stations, as in some screenshots they seem to be compatible with RRW? I find them near essential as they're the best diagonal stations I've found.

Thanks for RRW and the NAM as a whole.  :)

Wiimeiser

The RRW doesn't appear to support LHD paths yet. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some code that will make the process of adding LHD support that much harder.
Pink horse, pink horse, she rides across the nation...

Tarkus

Quote from: Wiimeiser on January 18, 2014, 05:34:17 PM
I wouldn't be surprised if there was some code that will make the process of adding LHD support that much harder.

Actually, the fact that the paths aren't showing up indicates that there is already at least something in place in the Network INI to support LHD path remapping.  If there wasn't, the RRW would have RHD paths in LHD (and would technically function).

-Alex

memo

Quote from: Wiimeiser on January 18, 2014, 05:34:17 PM
The RRW doesn't appear to support LHD paths yet. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some code that will make the process of adding LHD support that much harder.

Does your folder "z_Left Hand Plugin" contain a file "RealRailway_LHD.dat"?

Wiimeiser

No, it does not. I have a RailwayAddonMod_STR_LEFT_HAND_VERSIONS_ONLY_Required_Additional_Plugin.dat but that's probably needed anyway.
Pink horse, pink horse, she rides across the nation...

memo

It doesn't seem to have ended up in the installer then. I hope Willy doesn't mind, if I attach the file here. Put it into the "z_Left Hand Plugin" folder.

Wiimeiser

Thanks, that worked. There's still an odd pause for some odd reason, but at least it's pathed.
Pink horse, pink horse, she rides across the nation...

Swordmaster

Strange, I keep hearing this from people. I'd like it if folks who have installed this mod could report whether or not they experience any lag or pause laying down rails, either RHD or LHD.


Cheers
Willy

PS: Thanks Markus for taking care of that.

Glavespian

After adding the file from memo the lag disappears for me. Although I redrew my tacks again after adding it, so that could be why some people still get lag.

For upgrading stations, is it just a case of using the lot editor to replace the texture with RRW's?