Ram - Initial thoughts and Draft ideas

[dragonshardz]

Not to sound rude, but has there been any development in this other than requests and theoretical stuff?

~~Dragonshardz~~

[RebaLynnTS]

Nothing yet ... I'm thinking I am the onlyone trying to get anything done. But I have hit a dead end, as I have no idea how to make a starter piece.

[CasperVg]

Perhaps I could try to create some one-track railway textures. Not promising anything

[Jonathan]

RebaLynnTS: I thought you had the tutorial form Tarkus?

EDIT: If you take a look in the NAM Controller and look at the SAM pieces it may help,

If you like I can make the RULs for a starter piece, and then you can take a look at the RULs and work backwards from it/reverse-engineer you own?

[RebaLynnTS]

That would be great. Once I have something to look at I can generally go from there.

[Jonathan]

Sorry RebaLynnTS, I have been quite busy with HSR and RL (but mostly HSR ) lately, I will get onto this when I have a bit more time. Sorry.

[RebaLynnTS]

No rush. It's not like anyone else is doing much on this project. But I would like to try and get it started eventually.

[north country dude]

There are some single track textures in my Rail Yard and Spur mega pack,...will those help?

[Toichus Maximus]

I've been working with those on my own, North Country Dude, and they're great. But I'm running into some trouble because they're not centered, so the diagonals and curves have become a hassle to lot. I've been using them as eye candy lots with transparent base, so I can work around it usually. I don't know anything about texture making, though, so I can't move the textures so they're centered.

[HandsOn]

Of course, I have to butt in at every interesting discussion.. 

But this is definitely the best one yet: yes NAM is great, and am sure SAM will be too, one day. But RAM? That's the best reason for to stick with the game. Kudos to you guys. If I understood ten percent of the discussion I might actually be able to help, but I doubt very much - stike that - I know that all I can do is applaud -  -. And if every you need another guinea pig for this stuff - I did, after all grow up next to German railyard - just holler, I got oodles of time..

[north country dude]

For Toichus Maximus :

Single track centered rail. 128x128 pixels, color.

Single track Alpha image. 128x128 pixels, gray scale.


Centering and aligning rails from one tile to another can be tricky if you don't pay attention to the 2 pixel wide rail used by Maxis on the left track.

Pixel measurement from left to right for a four track tile:

0....7....23....39/40....55/56....72....88....104....120....127

(where 40= a dark shadow and 55 is a brighter gray than 56, but a shade darker than the other rails)
For the single track tile:

0................55....70/71................127

The standard distance between rails appears to be 15 pixels, except for that left hand track, which can be 15 to 16 pixels wide.

Now is everyone adequately confused yet?   

[JoeST]

LOL.... thats quite interesting.... I dont see why someone doesnt embark on a mission to standardize all the transit textures making them all even and symmetrical...

it looks like thats just such a huge project...

Joe

[north country dude]

So,...should I continue with the single track-centered textures? Can they be used as starter pieces? Also, would it be best to just post the .jpg with alpha .jpg's for easy incorporation and leave the IID assignment for the actual mod work?

[Andreas]

I'd say you should save the textures as PNGs, which ensures the highest quality. From what I see, an ID scheme for the RAM has to be laid out first, but once that is set in stone, and the RULs are written, several texture sets can be created without too much hassle, as long as the textures are there.

[dedgren]

As long as I'm doing the fractional angle roads for 3RR, I may as well get these out and finish them up, too.



Ncd, do you have an alpha map you could post for the "vanilla" two track tile?  Thanks in advance.


David

[Andreas]

You mean this one?



EDIT: Andreas- I know you pointed me once at the SFBT textures- I don't remember how to get on the Exchange or (probably most significant) my password- if I ever had one.  If you could PM me, that would be great.  Thanks so much for the texture- I'll put it to good use right away. -DE

[Jonathan]

I'd be willing to make a base set of RULs, that can be Copy, Pasted, Find, and replace, to use for different sets, though I would need textures and an IID scheme.

[dragonshardz]

HandsOn: The default height for elevated networks is 15 meters, including rail viaducts and puzzle pieces

[Tarkus]

And because it would then add a massive extra loading time onto the game.

Well, this really wouldn't be much different than the Euro Texture Replacement Mod (ERTM) or thianz' texture set.  Granted, it would probably still be a large file, though, since you'd have other networks than just Roads in there.  And textures are pretty darn large in terms of file size, of course.  However, it could be broken up into several packages, though, since it would not be affecting the RULs or any sort of functionality--it'd just be a cosmetic mod.

dragonshardz, actually, the Elevated Puzzle Pieces in the NAM for the various road networks are 15m, but the Elevated Light Rail, Elevated Highway, etc. are actually at 15.5m if I'm not mistaken.

-Alex (Tarkus)

[HandsOn]

HandsOn: The default height for elevated networks is 15 meters, including rail viaducts and puzzle pieces

Thanks..