Cargo weight revamping

[Gumboots]

Got 'em done, or at least to the point where they're ready for exporting. E and G era skins have been tweaked up for individual road numbers, and LOD's are sorted. Just needs a whole lot of donkey work now to get them running, but it's the same process as all the other cargo cars so I don't expect much trouble.

While I was at it I also detailed the skin for the F era "rail whale" some more, as I had left that a bit raw in places. It looks pretty good now, if I do say so myself.

[Gumboots]

B and C era tankers are now running live in the game.

Should be able to get the remaining three eras (D, E and G) sorted tomorrow sometime.

(I must say I really am liking the new Andrews trucks)

[Gumboots]

Ok, they is done, they is. The new D, E, F and G era grotty beasts look like this:

A zip of the complete pack (all seven eras, A to G inclusive) is attached below.

If you installed my old tank car pack (the one shown in the shots back here) make sure you either remove or overwrite all the old files in CargoTypes, EngineTypes and PopTopExtraContent.

Naturally, you have to copy the new files into those folders too, if you are choosing to delete the old ones rather than overwriting them.

If you didn't install the old pack, just copy all the new files into the right folders. Easy.

[Gumboots]

Stock cars are next on the list. I've already got them pretty much sorted, with the right trucks and wheels on them. These are simple enough, so should happen fairly quickly.

Since stock cars went out of use in the 1980's there is no extra model for the post-2000 era. I did think of trying to invent one (think aluminium stock road trailer done as a modern stock car) but decided I couldn't be bothered getting that inventive.

[Gumboots]

Got the A's and B's running. The rest are ready for export, so with a bit of luck I'll knock them off tonight.

Edit: C's and D's are running live too.

[Gumboots]

Got 'em all sorted. E's, F's and G's shown below. H era uses the same model and skin as G era at the moment.

Stock cars weren't built after the 1980's anyway, so the 85 foot double decker is the last model used, but the H era is heavier than the G era to keep the same weight progression to match the other custom cars.

Zip is attached. Installation is the usual process.

[RulerofRails]

Was hauling some early oil. Just a question, is this how the icons are supposed to be?

[Gumboots]

No. How on earth did that happen? The A era tanker doesn't even have a cargo icon file. I have no idea how you would even get that result without custom coding the icons. I've never seen it in testing.

Did you change anything, or is that just running the A era straight from the tanker pack?

[RulerofRails]

Fixed it. I had overwritten the old files as I had the previous version installed. I found xTanker_RC1.PK4 in PopTopExtraContent. Once I did that, no more extra icons.

[Gumboots]

Ah yes. I though it might have been something like that. Cool.

[Gumboots]

I've been thinking about the express cars. I want to get on with the Latvia map, and the current express car set defaults to PopTop models and skins in 1925. This is no good, and bugs me when playing Latvia, so I gotta fix them.

I had been planning on nicking an old B&O livery for the E era just because I like it, but after thinking about it some more I've realised it doesn't fit with most locomotive colour schemes. It's a cool livery, but it really needs a matching loco to look right.

So, I reckon the best option is to use a variation of the classic "Tuscan red with gold lining" colour scheme that was used for pax coaches by umpteen companies. PRR and N&W were examples from the US, NSWGR used it in Australia, and some UK companies had similar schemes. I'm sure there were examples from other countries too. It's a practical livery that will survive railway crud and still look ok, and it was easy to do with durable old pigments back in the day. It also has the advantage of looking pretty good no matter which locomotive you throw in front of it, and it will make a good progression from the similar colour scheme of the B to D era coaches.

[Akarin]

You can never go wrong with PRR livery.

[Gumboots]

Ok, I think I've changed my mind again.

I was messing around in Photoshop and Blender, and came up with an express car colour scheme that I really like. This kinda fits the 1925-1950 period pretty well, since greyish express cars were used by quite a few companies in that period. The dining car looks like this when running in the game.

It seems to go pretty well with most locomotives in the game, and looks good as a full consist in Blender, so I'll get the pax and mail cars running next. I'll eventually get around to doing something else for the late 20th and the 21st century cars (G and H eras), but I think this scheme will do for getting the last four express eras running with proper models.

[Gumboots]

Got them detailed up a bit more, with doors and some end framing, etc.

Shots show the F era (1950-1974) Passengers and Mail cars, along with an alternative blue livery for the dining car. The blue livery is very close to the post-WW2 Baltimore & Ohio livery. I kinda like it, so the current plan is to use the grey for the E era and the blue for the F era. They're easy to change anyway. I have three PSD's set up for mail, pax and dining cars, and these can do either the F or E eras, and changing the livery is just a matter of switching a few layers on or off.

Not sure what I'll do for the G era. Possibly corrugated stainless steel. It's not one of my favourite looks, but it's not hard to do and would fit the late 20th century pretty well.

Edit: OK, not corrugated stainless. Tried a few things, and I can't get it to look good in DDS format. Will use something else.

[Gumboots]

Ok, back to making trucks again. Same deal as with the Andrews and Bettendorf ones. No point grumbling about the lack of trucks I want. Might as well make them and save on grumbling. These are N&W T56 units, a basic pre-WW2 8 foot wheelbase express truck. Pretty similar to lots of others, and I found a drawing of these, so they'll do for a generic set. Still need more detailing or course, but are shaping up well with not a lot of work.

Edit: Made some more progress. Should be ready for use soon.

[Gumboots]

Hmm. Chucked them on the model in Blender and they look pretty good. Only real catch is the brakes. They really need an extra layer to bring them in next to the wheels. Not a big deal to sort that, so I'll take a look at it.

[Gumboots]

Got 'em done. The brakes and other bits now look right from just about any angle.

I have decided that making trucks is kinda fun. I've got my Photoshop skills sorted to the point where I can whip up skinning for just about any truck without much trouble.

[Gumboots]

Got the ones for the F era (and later) sorted. These are longer wheelbase (9 feet instead of 8 feet) with various nifty doohickeys. Some of this style are still in service for various things (rebuilt Budd cars, etc) so they'll do for the remaining eras for the moment. They look kinda cool too.

I didn't go full-on Photoshoppery with these. I was lucky enough to find a really good high-res profile shot, which once rendered out of the background and scaled down is good enough to use. So I'll use it.

[Gumboots]

A bit more progress.

The dining car is actually the same length as the pax cars, but looks shorter in the shot due to the tail end curving away from the viewpoint. The mesh is the same for both eras, except that the F era mesh is 12 units longer (10 feet at full scale). Scale body lengths are 72 feet for E era and 82 feet for F era, which is about right.

The models set up so that the same PSD can be used for both eras. The majority of the pax and dining car layers are the same (different at the rear end, obviously). This should make for easy changes of livery or style.

Oh yeah and the mail cars now have the proper mail bag hooks on the doors. I always wondered what they were, but hadn't checked before.

[RulerofRails]

Nice work, looking good.