Stokers' Corner

[Stoker]

Amazing how fast the saves stack up when trying to work out a new map. I start naming map projects @ 100 and work my way down with each new save, so that the newest version will be on top of the list. I now have the terrain/resources- etc. all worked out on this map and have begun creating the events. This scenario is a bit different than most in that you will have the option to play as one of 8 historical Railroad companies that were fighting for the Colorado market, and several other historical non-railroad companies as well(Coors, Colorado Fuel & Iron, and a couple of mining companies). Each company will have its own medal tasks, starting with building the historical Mainline for that company and for the non-railroad companies there are distinct goals for each, some requiring the acquisition of a railroad and others purely staying in the Industrial market.

[Stoker]

Well, I must say that working on this map is making me homesick for old CO. I have over 70 cities on here now, all pretty accurately placed and I think that's about all I am going to include in this scenario. Looking over the namelist I could only think of 3 that I haven't been to. The rivers are done and don't have too many height errors-etc anymore (I think). I would like to include a lot more but they make too many areas unbuildable, I might experiment with shading in some blue ground texture to continue "rivers" in some places. The whole map is pretty washed out colorwise right now, I am going to give it a fresh paintjob before release. I have done some experimenting and have been able to float in the "red band" of sandstone everywhere pretty darned good using the "fill up" and "fill down" in the editor.
The Player list is going to be fixed @ 10 with 9 being pre-made companies/chairmen and the 10th option being the standard 100k Player Cash with no company start. Each pre-made company (and the player-started company as well) will have unique medal goals and tasks and a semi-historical starting position. I knew some things about some of these companies, and have learned quite a bit more since starting this map, but I would like to hear any suggestions from the community that make sense for a historical based goal . The Players associated with each pre-made company are mostly going to be random, as most of the real chairmen are not included with RT3, but Jay Gould and a maybe a couple others will be fixed.

The companies are going to be :
1: The Denver & Rio Grande This company is going to be the hardest and longest to win .The D&RG (or D&RGW-I decided to use the original name instead of the more long term one) serviced at least 50 of the cities on this map, I have to do some more checking that number might rise even higher. So there is going to be a connection goal of around that # of cities, perhaps having fewer required depending on difficulty level. The D&RG had some interesting concepts including some of the first routes built almost purely for their scenery and the fast parcel shipping concept. So their operations included long slow scenic tours (even in the earlier years there were many train tourists from "back east" visiting Colorado) and also a small and fast - almost UPS type approach to service the towns in its route. That's not to say that the D&RG didn't haul it's fair share of pure tonnage in the form of coal and ores, but these were two things that were associated with the D&RG . So I am working in a passenger production/price bonus system (based on haulage #s rather than speed) and a Hotel bonus that will make them quite profitable and help get Passenger production up. The fast parcel concept will be implemented by a stations visited count AND mail haulage quota that will boost mail production and perhaps price.

[Stoker]

The map is now pretty much done, and the basic structure of the different players and the selection system is done as well. This is a fresh repaint with the "redband" floated in . I may end up changing this to one of the brown colors because in the mini map for Engine selection the red glows and looks terrible.

[Stoker]

Here is a sample download for the new Mile High and Rising Map. The 000_KC zip is the scenario, with the start date open. The suggested start dates are 1860 - 1880. There are no medal events yet, but the basic structure of all the different players is taking shape. Each Company/Player will have unique medal goals. The Jan83MHAR zip is a saved game taken at Jan 1883 after an 1874 start as D&RG. I have 100% control over the D&RG and 100% control of a shell company (you are allowed to start 1 company in this scenario) that when merged will make a complete network from Denver to Albuquerque to Salt Lake City.This is the heart of the D&RG Mainline and will be part of the medal goals for this company to complete this in a given time period- perhaps ten years since I was able to do it in 9 fairly easily. This game is about at the limit of what my antique computer will handle, I am curious how other systems can handle this level of build and # of trains. I am quite pleased with the AI tack building action in this map. In the saved game nearly all of the track in the mountains was AI built- even the loop and spokes @ Buena Vista and the Loop tie- in @ Cheyenne. The third zip here is a Language file that will allow you to see the names intended for use with this scenario. "Troops" are renamed to "Men" for instance to allow them to be used as either soldiers or Workers- the latter being the case for MHAR. To use this first rename your existing language file (in the Data/Language folder) to something else and then unzip this one into there. If you want to switch back just name your original back to RT3 and make a temporary name for the MHAR one. None of the name changes are too drastic, most of them just making the cargoes more generalized- like Packaged Foods instead of Cheese. One Cargo that is changed from its original 1.06 useage is Dye, which has been renamed Leather, with Dye farms being re-buildinged using the Bakery model and Renamed to Tannery. King Coal will address all of these same changes plus a few more, and includes many new industries, some of which are built into this MHAR scenario as Programmed warehouses. This is a real fun map to build, and the stock market can be a real roller coaster . So anyone interested in doing some Railroading in sunny Colorado give this map a whirl and let me know what you think. Happy Railroading!

[Stoker]

OK, after a 3 year hiatus I have an improved version of Mile High & Rising! I always keep going back to RT3 and this scenario I have been making in particular. It keeps growing and getting more complex, I think it is close to completion now- LOL. To be honest I have not fired up this scenario for a few months but I intend to this weekend. I had some interest expressed in this scenario, so I am going to post the latest version. The latest version now includes a choice of 9 different pre-made companies and 3 choices for starting your own company. Each company has it's own goals and win conditions, so it is obviously a really complex scenario. One of the big things that I have NOT completed at this point is a good briefing, and briefings for each company, I hope that you can get the hang of it. There are many custom made Warehouses and special industries that I have swapped out the buiildings for, so bear that in mind. One goal of the custom warehouses was to create a real use for Ore, which was left hanging in the breeze in 1.06 and never got completed. I will have some time to work on some of these things this weekend, at which point I will post a more thorough explanation of the intricacies of this map here. Until then, here is the latest version of Mile High & Rising. If anybody actually gives this a run through before this weekend, please give me any feedback that you can- regardless of how scathing it may be. Anybody who has made these scenarios knows how hard it is to see every detail without some feedback it is really hard to catch everything, and maybe more importantly to keep interest in your scenario.

++Mile High & Rising_e.zip

(4.14 MiB) Downloaded 315 times

Edit to add: This is a 1.06 scenario. One issue I am aware of has to do with the D&RG scenario (option 1) that screws up in regard to the connection to Leadville and then later with the completion of the mainline to Salt Lake City (the details are a bit fuzzy right now), but it does not make a crash or anything of that sort. It has been a while since I have played this, I will fix some known issues and make a better test version of this at some point this weekend, but as is the scenario is nearly fully functional and in my own humble opinion a heck of a lot of fun to play. This is NOT one of those sparse maps, it could be better described as an "Embarrassment of Riches", but the goals are set accordingly and you really have to hustle. Please feel free to ask any questions and please note any errors you encounter and let me know,and Happy Railroading!

[RayofSunshine]

Stoker,
I like the concept of this scenario, as a player can play each railroad on an individual basis.

The 1 problem I have, since there isn't a "briefing" as to what constitutes a "production"

As I live in CS, some of the terrain is not in reality, but as it only being a scenario, it is within the imagination of a creator. But the surrounding cities are at least in a perpective location. So it is an enjoyable creation in the concept of its goals.

[Stoker]

Thanks for the input Ray. I was concerned that perhaps there was a glitch relating to the custom building swaps I used in this scenario, but I guess that is ok. As far as the terrain goes, it is actually derived from the USGS data and to my knowledge is accurate with a couple of exceptions, mainly that Albuquerque in reality is a bit off the map to the south, and that I had to smooth out a few places and/or move cities slightly in order to have buildings place in certain city locations.

As for "production": Troops are meant to be Workers, or second class passengers. The Express Terminals create a supply/demand flow for passengers and "Workers" and these will usually make a profit. Weapons are meant to represent Mining Machinery, this is why you see barracks in most cities, especially the mining boomtowns. Ore can be processed into "Ingots" by using the "Refiner" warehouse(factory) . Also, "Crystals" can be processed into Ingots at the Warehouse/factory "Chemical Processor". "Crystals" represent the various oxide ores that must go through a chemical process to yield Gold/Silver/Copper etc. There are then several uses for Ingots (instead of the wonky dysfunctional 1 use for Ingots in 1.06- the "Machine Shop"). First and foremost of these is the Denver Mint, which creates a huge demand for Ingots (Gold/Silver/Copper) and will suck up a whole bunch of them per year. The next most important demand for ingots are the East and West bound Warehouses- especially if you are playing one of the companies that owns one of these. These are not purchasable during the game as they have way too much profit potential to be plunking them down all over. The next use for Ingots is the Assayers office, which is mainly used to create demand enough for Ingots to make the production of them profitable, but they consume very little of them. Thirdly are the Brass Foundry and Tool Manufacturer warehouse(factories). These can be built in game, and can make a good profit, but there is a limit to how many you can build and still be profitable because there is a limited supply of Ore and therefore Ingots to be had and these are programmed to consume a lot of Ingots (some Ingots are used to produce other loads at a profit, and there is also a demand that simply consumes Ingots) and limit the overall profit potential of these industries. The Mining Supply Warehouse and General Supply Warehouse are both meant to create demand for things required to mine, and they in turn produce Ore and Crystals when fed with the required items. The other big thing to know about this scenario is that heavy industry is best done in one of the "production zones" . Outside of these zones it will be very hard to produce industrial goods. I will go further in depth on that subject soon, but in general anything that requires skilled labor and an industrial base (machinery/weapons - etc) is best produced in an industrial zone rather that out in the "boonies" . Steel has a production boost in Pueblo, Durango, and Denver as well. These are historically where there were actually Steel mills and or Iron foundries.

There are many more intricacies with the production chain for this scenario, if anybody has any questions please post them and be as specific as possible and I will explain what I had in mind, and perhaps tweak them a bit where problems are spotted. I thought I would have time to tinker with this scenario some this weekend, but the weather was just too nice here in AZ, so I was outside getting some things done. My indoor season here is approaching rapidly so I will definitely have the chair time to get this thing wrapped up in the next couple of months.

Thank you again for giving this scenario a go Ray O Sunshine, I really do appreciate your input and I hope you had fun.

[Stoker]

I was curious as to whether I had the placement of Colorado Springs shifted for functionality purposes so I checked, and it is in fact dead on accurate in it's placement and the terrain elevations- etc.

Mile High and Rising Colorado Springs location

Google Map of Colorado springs location


I posted these links to pics showing the location of CS in both MHAR and from Google MAPS. Some cities (mostly in mountainous terrain) have been shifted due to terrain issues, but CS is not one of them.


Hawk: Not sure if this is related to the new server, but I am getting the following error message when trying to link to pics in my Photobucket page :

It was not possible to determine the dimensions of the image.

[Blackhawk]

I think photobucket may have recently disabled hotlinking for their photos so that may be the reason it doesn't work.

Speaking of server issues though, do the time stamps work correctly for others? Mine is saying this is posted at 10am when it is the afternoon and I double checked to make sure I was set for the correct time zone.

[Stoker]

Thanks for the thought Blackhawk but I am pretty sure the issue is here. All of the pictures I posted here from my PB in the past are all working fine, it is just ones in new posts here that will not work. This makes me think the issue is on this end and not at the PBs end. Also, I have been posting new additions to my PB in other forums recently and there are no issues. Hawk has been solving these issues as soon as he gets alerted to them, I have full confidence that he will work this issue out as well.

Oh, and to anyone giving MHAR a testrun, the issue with the connection to Leadville has to do with a special award for doing it in less than two years while playing as the D&RG. You get a double bonus for it is the issue. I may work this out or I may just do away with that particular reward. It is pretty darned hard to get there in two years, but I assure you it can be done...

[Hawk]

Hawk: Not sure if this is related to the new server, but I am getting the following error message when trying to link to pics in my Photobucket page :

It was not possible to determine the dimensions of the image.

Thanks for pointing that out.
An Internet search tells me it's a php.ini setting that needs tweaking. I'll send the info on to the server tech and see if he can fix that.

Speaking of server issues though, do the time stamps work correctly for others? Mine is saying this is posted at 10am when it is the afternoon and I double checked to make sure I was set for the correct time zone.

The move to the new server took us form Pacific time to Central time. A two hour difference.
I think there's a setting in the ACP for this. I'll look into it.
It would help to know the difference in time from the board to your actual time.
The forum time is shown on the main page right under the User Control Panel link.
Mine is showing a 5 hour difference. That's strange as there is only a 1 hour difference between where I live and where the server is.

[Stoker]

Thanks for looking into fixing this, we all appreciate your efforts to keep this place rolling and at full steam for all of us die hard RT fans to hang out.

My board time is showing a 6 hour difference . This may be due to me having my preferences set to PDT, when I am actually in Arizona. AZ does not do the daylight savings time deal, so I am not 100% sure if we are currently the same as PDT or not- I lose track. So it is either 5 or 6 hours off. One other thing I am noticing is that this thread is not getting kicked up into currently active topics for some reason. I have no idea what that could be but I thought that since you are troubleshooting I would let you know about that as well.

Thank you again for all that you do here Hawk.

[Blackhawk]

I'm in the central time zone and it's 5 hours off for me.

[Hawk]

My board time is showing a 6 hour difference . This may be due to me having my preferences set to PDT, when I am actually in Arizona. AZ does not do the daylight savings time deal, so I am not 100% sure if we are currently the same as PDT or not- I lose track. So it is either 5 or 6 hours off.

I think you mean DST and not PDT.
You should have your time settings at [UTC - 7] Mountain Standard Time with Summer Time/DST is in effect: ticked at No.
That should give you a 5 hour difference.

Click on image to view full size

One other thing I am noticing is that this thread is not getting kicked up into currently active topics for some reason. I have no idea what that could be but I thought that since you are troubleshooting I would let you know about that as well.

Do you mean the View active topics link? I never use that link. I always use the View unread posts link, which will say You have no unread posts if there are no new posts since your last visit.
I'm not sure how that View active topics link is supposed to work. Like I said, I've never used it.

[Hawk]

I'm in the central time zone and it's 5 hours off for me.

Yep. It's 5 hours off for me too. I'm in the Eastern time zone - Georgia, and based on my time settings in the UCP, ( [UTC - 5] Eastern Standard Time ) that would be right for me.
You're actually in the same time zone as the server. It's in Kansas City.

[Hawk]

One other thing I am noticing is that this thread is not getting kicked up into currently active topics for some reason. I have no idea what that could be but I thought that since you are troubleshooting I would let you know about that as well.

I just checked this and it's quite possible that it isn't showing up when you click on View active topics because this thread is sticky'd.
Since it stays at the top of the forum, it may not list it in that link.

[Stoker]

OK, thanks for looking into this Hawk. Yes, I have my time set to Pacific Standard Time which is correct in the winter, so right now I should be 5 hours off, the same as everyone else. I have had my browser tab set to "view active topics" for a long time now, I just changed it to "View unread posts" and I see many threads that are active that do not get into the active topics deal, this place is not nearly as dead as I thought it was- .

Just trying to make sure that as many people as possible see this thread, I don't want to build a railroad and not have anybody ride it....

[Hawk]

Just curious; Why do you have your time set for Pacific Standard Time if you're in Arizona?

BTW! The time should be right for everyone now. The clock on the server was off. My time shows correct now.

Also, try the image thing again and let me know if it works. The server tech said he made some changes in the php.ini file.

[Stoker]

There is no option for Arizona time in the board options. When I first signed up it was winter, so we were the same as Pacific time. I now have it set to Mountain and i think I have it so DST does not apply. Not sure though.

Here are the two images showing the map placement of Colorado Springs to test PhotoBucket :

Map shot from MHAR looking straight down. You can see that CS is slightly south of the peak of Pikes Peak:



Google Maps shot showing the same:



When I placed the cities on this map I made an image in a paint program and overlayed map images to get the correct placement. In some cases it was necessary to either move the city slightly or fudge the terrain to make the map playable. Most of the cities are pretty accurate in their location.

Edit to add: The images from PB did work this time , BUT, I got a message saying "images must be a maximum of 800 pixels wide". I know I have posted full screen shots in the past- this thread is full of them, so I am guessing there is some other setting that needs adjusting? I went back and edited the in game shot above - it was 878 pixels wide, so I made it 800 and reposted it and it worked. Still some sort of issue though.

Thanks for getting on this so quickly Hawk.

[Hawk]

There is no option for Arizona time in the board options.

Yes there is. It is Mountain Standard Time - UTC-7, as you have selected.
Did you see that image I posted with the US time zones (in this post - viewtopic.php?p=33350#p33350 ). Arizona is in the Mountain Standard Time zone.

And since Arizona does not recognize Daylight Savings Time, you are right to tick the No box for that.
The board should be showing you the right time now.

Edit to add: The images from PB did work this time , BUT, I got a message saying "images must be a maximum of 800 pixels wide". I know I have posted full screen shots in the past- this thread is full of them, so I am guessing there is some other setting that needs adjusting? I went back and edited the in game shot above - it was 878 pixels wide, so I made it 800 and reposted it and it worked. Still some sort of issue though.

No! There's nothing wrong. Linked to images are limited in size to 800 wide.
If you attach an image to a post, it can be larger and the forum will create a smaller thumbnail, I think about 600 wide. Clicking on that thumbnail will show the full sized image.