Locomotive fixes for 1.06

[Trefoglie AR]

If you want to replace Pop Top's texture then it must in \Data\PopTopExtraContent folder. Extra locomotives can be in UserExtraContent folder.

I've been testing skin replacements in UserExtraContent and it works fine, if you do them as loose files. The custom ones won't override the defaults if they are packed into PK4's. They have to be loose.

All of the files shown here are what I have been using for quick live testing of custom express cars, just so I can do the testing without worrying about edits to CargoTypes and EngineTypes.
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UEC_folder_106.jpg
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They would also work if I put them in PopTopExtraContent. I've done that too. I just prefer to keep PTEC for finalised stuff, and use UEC for WIP stuff. This just makes things easier for me when I'm doing a lot of testing. The PopTopExtraContent folder on the same installation looks like this:
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PEC_folder_106.jpg
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As you can see it has a stack of packed skins for default locos, and they work. It also has complete custom locos, and they work too. As far as I can tell there is no difference between these two folders in terms of how they operate. I just tested swapping the packed Connie skins over to UserExtraContent, and they work just as well there. If a skin works in one folder but not in the other folder I would suspect a coding error somewhere, or possibly a loose override file in one folder that wasn't accounted for.

i tried this one. both sides are ok, only because i left some materials not packed in .pk4 in folder. and since i add the voodoo plug-in it works good, at least first hour.

[Gumboots]

Which version of the game do you have? Do you have an original CD, or the Steam version, or the GOG version?

The Steam version will automatically revert any modifications. That's one reason why nobody here likes it or uses it. I think the GOG version is ok, and the original CD version is fine with Voodoo.

[Gumboots]

Strange things happen at sea. Also on my computer. Come to think of it, strange things happen in my head too, but don't worry about that.

Anyway, the latest strange thing to happen on my computer is a revamped version of the old 1.06 Vittorio Emanuele II.
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Note that this is not yet a completely finished product, but it's a completely working product. It has the right shapes in the right places for the prototype. It has all the moving bits doing all the right movements. It doesn't glow in the dark. It hauls stuff.

However, skinning is currently very basic. I wanted to see it running today, so running today it is. Better skinning, and some mesh tweaking, will happen later. It's usable now though, if anyone wants to use it, and IMO it's already a heap better than the monster that came with 1.06. It's actually a quite appealing locomotive now, even with the basic skin.

Zip attached. Go play trains.

[Gumboots]

Yes, there are two sorts of guns, but I was thinking of shipping Weapons and Ammunition in custom military boxcars. A lot easier that way, and weapons come in all shapes and sizes. There's no reason you can't have a boxcar full of Stingers and RPG's. It's still a load of weapons.

Yeah, I just read the post where you described that. Okey, that make sense, although I would love to see flat cars loaded with cannons and tanks.

Ok Bomber, I changed my mind. Weapons will stay on flatcars, so we'll be able to have cannons and tanks all over the place. Not that I'm going to get into making tanks right now, but it can be done later if anyone is keen to do it. For the moment I'll just mutate the existing PopTop artillery pieces to suit the new eras.

Although it did occur to me that a missile would be really easy to make and skin. It's only a tube with a cone at one end, and a couple of fins at the other end. We could easily have missiles on flatcars for the late 20th century and/or the 21st.

[Gumboots]

Threw together a quick fix for the 1.06 Class G10 0-10-0. This is not a "skin" that is selectable in the game. It's just replacement images for dropping into UserExtraContent if you want a change from the old black and red skin.

This one is the original Prussian railway livery that it would have left the shop with, or as close as I can be bothered getting tonight. It also has a fixed alpha channel so it doesn't glow in the dark (except where it's supposed to). I hatez glow in the dark.

It looks like this:

Which I like better than the 1.06 version. I'll do a similar trick for the P8 and 2-6-4 Tank, just because I can. Why not selectable-in-game "proper" skins? Because they don't work with wheels, so the wheels would be wrong, and I'm not having that on my Prussian choofers thank you very much.

I'll also get around to a better fix for some of the G10's minor glitches at some point, unless some clever sod beats me to it.

Update: Made the extra one for the Class P8. Looks like this...

I've replaced the zip with a new one, which has both skins in it (G10 and P8).

On second thought I don't think I'll do the 2-6-4 Tank, mainly because I want to have them black as a change from the G10 and P8, but if anyone does want the same look for the tank make a noise about it and I'll probably do it. Or you could do it yourself by simply renaming the P8 images to match the names of the tank's ones.

[Gumboots]

Found something interesting yesterday. The Vittorio Emanuele II model I posted back here was made from original drawings, but as I mentioned even further back in the thread the two drawings available did not agree on all details. So, I took a best guess from both of them when I had to make some decisions.

Yesterday I found this: AGM Treni R.M. 3016 A.Depretis Locomotive

A bit of head scratching and rummaging around ended up with me realising that this is the same class of locomotive - the FS Class 650.

The Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS; Italian State Railways) Class 650 (Italian: Gruppo 650), formerly SFAI 1181-1200 and Rete Mediterranea 300 Class, also known as "Vittorio Emanuele II"...

Rete Mediterranea was the north-western area of the Italian railways at the time, and 3016 would obviously be the 17th locomotive in the class (classes usually start with zero, and there were 55 in total). It has a different configuration from models of the first in the class, the actual Vittorio Emanuele II, and a different configuration from the only available web photo of the third in the class (see Wiki page). Obviously, things were changed slightly after the prototype and took a while to settle down.

Ok, you might be thinking, why does any of this matter? Well, the boiler/firebox unit from the third locomotive onwards is simpler to model, and can be done with fewer polys. It'll also be simpler to skin, and will take up slightly less space on the DDS. This is all good, so I'll do it that way before the final version is finished.

[Gumboots]

I've whipped up a revamp pack for the Class G10.

This one knocks it into shape a bit. Proportions match the prototype, the drivetrain has been fixed, and I've made the mesh a bit more detailed in a few places. The default P8 model (which is what the G10 used before) is too blocky if the smoke deflectors are removed, and the headlights are a bit much, so I tweaked things up a bit. Poly count is still very moderate, so won't cause any problems.

The skin no longer glows in the dark, and I've done this one with the original Prussian livery rather than the later (black and red) DRG livery.

You'll have to remove the original 1.06 files for the G10 before installing his version. They're listed in the readme, inside the zip.

It all works nicely, as long as you start a new scenario or sandbox. Note that it will not work with saved games.

Edit: Correction. It will not work with saved games if you have already bought a G10 before the save.

If you saved a scenario start, before buying any trains, it will still work.
If you saved at any stage before buying any G10's, then it will still work.

It's only a problem if the save is already locked to all the default 1.06 G10 file names, and that only happens once one is purchased.

[Gumboots]

Thanks a lot! Instructions were spot on. Makes it painless.

How many of those 3rd party locos and reskins did you end up sorting the alpha channel on? I'll be revamping the site's reskins page soon, so if there are better versions of some ready to go I should update them.

[RulerofRails]

TBH, at that stage I had gone through and looked at the quality of the models in-game. It was later that I went through them from a realism perspecitive. Let's just say that only a handful "made the grade" I set for my selection to use for balancing the new cargo weights. In short, I didn't end up doing as many as I thought. I will have to go and have a look on some old drives. I don't think it was more than a couple.

[Gumboots]

If they're going to be a pain to find don't worry about it. I just thought if you had a bunch of them handy they might as well go in the archives.

[Gumboots]

While I'm thinking Russian locos...

I have been playing with the model for the 1.06 Russian Class C/S (depending on whether you want to use the Cyrillic alphabet or the Roman one). It's a tricky thing to model well for RT3. Another of those units that is easy enough if you can throw unlimited mesh at it, but is going to require a lot of thought to keep to a reasonable poly count. It's currently at this stage:

Anyway, while looking up various things about it I found out some stuff. The first thing is that unlike most Prairies it has no rear truck. The trailing wheels are rigidly fixed to the frames, like the driving wheels, and the rear driving wheels were made without any flanges so they wouldn't restrict turning.

Next thing is the conical fronts on the cylinders. These used to be quite common around the turn of the 20th century (quite a lot of German and Austrian classes had them too). I always thought they were just for looks, but it turns out the main reason for them was to increase the distance between piston rod bearings. The cylinders themselves often had to fit between the wheels, and wheelbase was often restricted because of existing turntable sizes. In this period a lot of locos had piston rods that extended in front of the cylinders, as it was thought this extra bearing was beneficial for longevity, and making the front of the cylinder conical means you can sit the bearing further forward.

Then there's one of the C/S class's most prominent features: the conical smokebox door. I also thought this was just for looks, but it turns out to have a practical purpose too. When they designed his class they worked out what they wanted all the axle loads to be, but when they built the prototypes the axle loads turned out to not match the theory. The front axle was loaded too lightly, and the rear axle was loaded slightly too heavily.

They tried various things to get enough weight on the front axle, and ended up deciding that using an exceptionally big and heavy casting for the smokebox door was the best way to do it. The result was a visual feature that has been associated with the class ever since, and which just happens to tie in with the cylinder heads.

Edit: I found out yesterday that the smokebox door weighs "about 450kg" (990lbs if you still use those). Apparently it is a real nuisance to open and close and the crews used to hate it.

[sbaros]

Looks like a 1903 caboose only weighed about 2 tons: http://research.nprha.org/NP%20Cabooses ... 00-399.jpg

There is no way this thing weighs 2 tons, there must be a typo on the original, probably missed a digit.

[Gumboots]

Yeah, looks like it. About 17 tons according to this diagram: http://research.nprha.org/NP%20Cabooses ... 201850.jpg