Yes, I was worried about them looking too much like troop cars. TBH I really like the old Northern Pacific express livery, but IMO it looks a bit too troopy. Although once everything is set up it would be easy to reskin cars to suit personal preference, if anyone wanted to do that.
And yes, numbers of loads is locked into the .exe and can't be changed. The double cars are just eye candy. Increasing cargo prices tends to make the game economy misbehave. If you want to increase rail profits, you can always reduce loco maintenance costs and/or purchase price. You could also reduce track maintenance costs, which would further boost rail profits. Even a reduction in sand, water and oil consumption will help, due to the greater range meaning fewer service stops. There's more than one tool available to adjust profitability of rail.
Cargo weight revamping
Re: Cargo weight revamping (New tanker pack June 11th 2017)
Gumbootz Lokomotivfabrik und Bierkeller
LMR Samson 0-4-0 - Pennsy H3 Consolidation - Custom double tank cars set
LMR Samson 0-4-0 - Pennsy H3 Consolidation - Custom double tank cars set
Re: Cargo weight revamping (New express pack November 2nd 2017)
Ok, new express pack. Again. 
This one has the nifty new cars for the A, B C and D eras. It still relies (for the moment) on PopTop models and skins for the E, F, G and H eras.
It all works. Has a readme, which should be read. Installation is the usual deal.
Go play with them, and then complain about everything you don't like.
This one has the nifty new cars for the A, B C and D eras. It still relies (for the moment) on PopTop models and skins for the E, F, G and H eras.
It all works. Has a readme, which should be read. Installation is the usual deal.
Go play with them, and then complain about everything you don't like.
Gumbootz Lokomotivfabrik und Bierkeller
LMR Samson 0-4-0 - Pennsy H3 Consolidation - Custom double tank cars set
LMR Samson 0-4-0 - Pennsy H3 Consolidation - Custom double tank cars set
-
bombardiere
- Hobo
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2006 9:07 am
- Location: Turku, Finland
Re: Cargo weight revamping
A great gift pack. Wonderful new toys to play with. Thank you. 
Christmas game early. 
I have played A and B sets in game and tested C in sandbox. I have no made indepth study on how new weights affect the gameplay, so I comment visual only.
Great work with texturing. I like your wood panel work and how you highlighted raised structures. The door handle on A mail coach is just splendid.
You will probably add this to A passenger coach. The swords on troop coach is a nice touch.
The textures are so sharp that I can read the sign hanging on the railing in game. You better write something on it.
A coaches roof is bit bland. It could use some highlights and or rail / dirt effect. But I guess that these are work in progress.
One thing about the coach though. I played an early game, Canada Bound, and in my opinion new coaches are big in comparison to early engines. I was thinking that A period could be based on Poptop's A coach. With a new skin. That Pop Top's A looks very much like an early Liverpool & Manchester Railway coach, so I feel that it could a good base on first coach. Then your A could be pushed to B. And so on.
Christmas game early. I have played A and B sets in game and tested C in sandbox. I have no made indepth study on how new weights affect the gameplay, so I comment visual only.
Great work with texturing. I like your wood panel work and how you highlighted raised structures. The door handle on A mail coach is just splendid.
You will probably add this to A passenger coach. The swords on troop coach is a nice touch.The textures are so sharp that I can read the sign hanging on the railing in game. You better write something on it.
A coaches roof is bit bland. It could use some highlights and or rail / dirt effect. But I guess that these are work in progress.
One thing about the coach though. I played an early game, Canada Bound, and in my opinion new coaches are big in comparison to early engines. I was thinking that A period could be based on Poptop's A coach. With a new skin. That Pop Top's A looks very much like an early Liverpool & Manchester Railway coach, so I feel that it could a good base on first coach. Then your A could be pushed to B. And so on.
Re: Cargo weight revamping
Ok, I can write something on the sign. How about "If you can read this, you are too close"? 
The B, C and D cars are based on the default PopTop skins, and the sign already had gobbledegook on it. The wood panelling wasn't exactly my work either, although I did piece and patch it together to get new panelling where I needed it, and did add custom highlights and shadows where I wanted those too.
The thing is that I know how to make my own panelling anyway. That would have been faster by the time everything was done but I was on a theme of mutating the PopTop skins, so kept quite a bit of them as a base.
I agree that the A era coaches could use a bit of grunge here and there. I think the size is about right though. It matches early pax coaches, which were usually triple compartment units. I think they look ok with an Adler up front, and fine with a Firefly. The default PopTop A coach is tiny, much smaller than an original LMR coach, and the proportions are all wrong. PopTop models are not consistent in scale, so rather than try to fit things to no sane baseline I am working to 10" per RT3/Blender unit for everything. Quite a few default locomotives and cargo cars, and the default railway itself, fit this scale well and I'm sure it's what was intended when the game was conceived.
An very early coach body was about 15 feet (4.5 m) long, simply because that's as small as you can make them while still having three compartments. By the time you get framing and seats and a bit of knee room, you need 5 ft per compartment. This was expanded slightly as time went on, since weight wasn't as critical as with a horse-drawn coach and a bit of extra structure was ok.
I modelled mine at 20 feet, which is about right towards the end of the A era. They could be scaled back a little bit. But then some A era coaches were even larger. Here's a diagram of a K.W.St.E. train from the early 1840's. The coach body is 36 ft (11 m) long, not counting the end platforms.. .
The B, C and D cars are based on the default PopTop skins, and the sign already had gobbledegook on it. The wood panelling wasn't exactly my work either, although I did piece and patch it together to get new panelling where I needed it, and did add custom highlights and shadows where I wanted those too.
The thing is that I know how to make my own panelling anyway. That would have been faster by the time everything was done
but I was on a theme of mutating the PopTop skins, so kept quite a bit of them as a base.I agree that the A era coaches could use a bit of grunge here and there. I think the size is about right though. It matches early pax coaches, which were usually triple compartment units. I think they look ok with an Adler up front, and fine with a Firefly. The default PopTop A coach is tiny, much smaller than an original LMR coach, and the proportions are all wrong. PopTop models are not consistent in scale, so rather than try to fit things to no sane baseline I am working to 10" per RT3/Blender unit for everything. Quite a few default locomotives and cargo cars, and the default railway itself, fit this scale well and I'm sure it's what was intended when the game was conceived.
An very early coach body was about 15 feet (4.5 m) long, simply because that's as small as you can make them while still having three compartments. By the time you get framing and seats and a bit of knee room, you need 5 ft per compartment. This was expanded slightly as time went on, since weight wasn't as critical as with a horse-drawn coach and a bit of extra structure was ok.
I modelled mine at 20 feet, which is about right towards the end of the A era. They could be scaled back a little bit. But then some A era coaches were even larger. Here's a diagram of a K.W.St.E. train from the early 1840's. The coach body is 36 ft (11 m) long, not counting the end platforms.. .
Gumbootz Lokomotivfabrik und Bierkeller
LMR Samson 0-4-0 - Pennsy H3 Consolidation - Custom double tank cars set
LMR Samson 0-4-0 - Pennsy H3 Consolidation - Custom double tank cars set
-
bombardiere
- Hobo
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2006 9:07 am
- Location: Turku, Finland
Re: Cargo weight revamping
I didn't realise how much you used from Top Pop's creations. 
That proof how out of touch I am. Anyway, it looks convincing to me so I like your work.
And I need to read it very carefully. A lot of interesting material inside. I use GIMP so I may need to apply it.
Yeah about the size. You are right. It is kind of average of what was available in that period. A period is only 20 years, but there were huge changes even in that time. So I agree with you that a coach from 1850 would look very different than 1830 coach.
To be quite honest, this big carriage has been my annoyance from the beginning. Pop Top's Coach B is so big in comparison to Norris locomotive. Norris is my general duty engine in early scenarios and year 1850 is always a bit of shock when tiny coaches suddenly double their size and dwarf my Norris loco. It gets better when American is available, but that is a five years wait. I have been reading a little about American locos, and now I think that game's American is not a good representative of 1850's 4-4-0. It looks like a later model to me.
I wish that in this area the game could be similar to Transport Tycoon. So that there could be different types of coaches and wagons to choose. Some could be small and slow branchline coaches. Limited capacity, but cheaper. Others would be big mainline coaches. Fast and sleek, but expensive.
This would of course give extra hassle in the game and auto consists would not work. Not to mention that it would require re-writing the whole game. Still I wish that they would have chosen that the cargo would represent units, instead of car loads. This way different coaches and wagon could have different cargo capacities.
That proof how out of touch I am. Anyway, it looks convincing to me so I like your work. I have noticed this thread.Gumboots wrote: ↑Wed Nov 08, 2017 3:03 pm
The thing is that I know how to make my own panelling anyway. That would have been faster by the time everything was done
And I need to read it very carefully. A lot of interesting material inside. I use GIMP so I may need to apply it.Yeah about the size. You are right. It is kind of average of what was available in that period. A period is only 20 years, but there were huge changes even in that time. So I agree with you that a coach from 1850 would look very different than 1830 coach.
To be quite honest, this big carriage has been my annoyance from the beginning. Pop Top's Coach B is so big in comparison to Norris locomotive. Norris is my general duty engine in early scenarios and year 1850 is always a bit of shock when tiny coaches suddenly double their size and dwarf my Norris loco. It gets better when American is available, but that is a five years wait. I have been reading a little about American locos, and now I think that game's American is not a good representative of 1850's 4-4-0. It looks like a later model to me.
I wish that in this area the game could be similar to Transport Tycoon. So that there could be different types of coaches and wagons to choose. Some could be small and slow branchline coaches. Limited capacity, but cheaper. Others would be big mainline coaches. Fast and sleek, but expensive.
This would of course give extra hassle in the game and auto consists would not work. Not to mention that it would require re-writing the whole game. Still I wish that they would have chosen that the cargo would represent units, instead of car loads. This way different coaches and wagon could have different cargo capacities.
Re: Cargo weight revamping
Yeah there are limits to what we can do. It's easy enough (albeit tedious) to make different packs of cars to get the right looks for different regions, but the game will treat them all the same.
The PopTop American 4-4-0 is some sort of mutant they dreamed up, as far as I can tell. I'd like to replace it with the old "William Mason" at some stage.
The PopTop American 4-4-0 is some sort of mutant they dreamed up, as far as I can tell. I'd like to replace it with the old "William Mason" at some stage.
Gumbootz Lokomotivfabrik und Bierkeller
LMR Samson 0-4-0 - Pennsy H3 Consolidation - Custom double tank cars set
LMR Samson 0-4-0 - Pennsy H3 Consolidation - Custom double tank cars set
Re: Cargo weight revamping
Ok, we haz boxcars. Eight custom eras. Files are included for 1.05 and 1.06 cargoes.
Double cars for every era. They look much better than single cars. I'm liking them a lot.
Obviously these are still only single loads, even though the cars are modelled as doubles. To make it easier on the brain when checking your train list, the profile icons are done as single cars. If you see eight boxcars in your train list, your train is hauling eight loads. Simple.
. .
The profile icons for each load have two bars above them, to indicate the double cars. These are coloured the same as the cars. They aren't in your face, but are still noticeable enough for a reminder. So if you are hauling a short consist of five cars you shouldn't be scratching your head and wondering why there are miles of cars behind your locomotive.
The only exception is the double-stacked containers for the H era. Due to the height of these, there wasn't enough room above them on the profile image to add two bars. So the H era profile icons have x2 on the side of the upper container. I think this looks ok and does the job.
Anyway, zip is attached. Installation is the usual deal: back up the relevant folders first, then copy the new stuff into the game folders. These will not work with saved games, but should be fine with any new scenario or sandbox.
Double cars for every era. They look much better than single cars. I'm liking them a lot.
Obviously these are still only single loads, even though the cars are modelled as doubles. To make it easier on the brain when checking your train list, the profile icons are done as single cars. If you see eight boxcars in your train list, your train is hauling eight loads. Simple.
. .
The profile icons for each load have two bars above them, to indicate the double cars. These are coloured the same as the cars. They aren't in your face, but are still noticeable enough for a reminder. So if you are hauling a short consist of five cars you shouldn't be scratching your head and wondering why there are miles of cars behind your locomotive.
The only exception is the double-stacked containers for the H era. Due to the height of these, there wasn't enough room above them on the profile image to add two bars. So the H era profile icons have x2 on the side of the upper container. I think this looks ok and does the job.
Anyway, zip is attached. Installation is the usual deal: back up the relevant folders first, then copy the new stuff into the game folders. These will not work with saved games, but should be fine with any new scenario or sandbox.
Gumbootz Lokomotivfabrik und Bierkeller
LMR Samson 0-4-0 - Pennsy H3 Consolidation - Custom double tank cars set
LMR Samson 0-4-0 - Pennsy H3 Consolidation - Custom double tank cars set
Re: Cargo weight revamping
Shots of the other eras. The previous post showed the G era (1965-1989) and the H era (1990 onwards), with the X58/PS-1 combination being the G era and the double-stacked containers obviously being the H era.
This is the A era (pre-1840) and the B era (1840-1864).
. .
This is the C era (1865-1889) and the D era (1890-1914).
. .
And this is the E era (1915-1839) and the F era (1940-1964).
. .
This is the A era (pre-1840) and the B era (1840-1864).
. .
This is the C era (1865-1889) and the D era (1890-1914).
. .
And this is the E era (1915-1839) and the F era (1940-1964).
. .
Gumbootz Lokomotivfabrik und Bierkeller
LMR Samson 0-4-0 - Pennsy H3 Consolidation - Custom double tank cars set
LMR Samson 0-4-0 - Pennsy H3 Consolidation - Custom double tank cars set
Re: Cargo weight revamping
Had a bit of fun skinning up the 8 axle "rail whale" tanker. Mesh is sorted. Skinning can take forever if you get right into every detail, but this is off to a good start. Won't take much more to get it good enough to use.
. .
Turns out that tankers are really easy to do. Easier than boxcars, in some ways. I'm going to revise the whole pack, since I wasn't really happy with the first effort. Some of the colours were ok under game lighting, and some were not so good, and IMO having the tankers as single cars doesn't fit so well with the double boxcars and hoppers. So all tankers will be doubles, apart from the "whale" era (1975-1999 inclusive).
. .
Turns out that tankers are really easy to do. Easier than boxcars, in some ways. I'm going to revise the whole pack, since I wasn't really happy with the first effort. Some of the colours were ok under game lighting, and some were not so good, and IMO having the tankers as single cars doesn't fit so well with the double boxcars and hoppers. So all tankers will be doubles, apart from the "whale" era (1975-1999 inclusive).
Gumbootz Lokomotivfabrik und Bierkeller
LMR Samson 0-4-0 - Pennsy H3 Consolidation - Custom double tank cars set
LMR Samson 0-4-0 - Pennsy H3 Consolidation - Custom double tank cars set
Re: Cargo weight revamping
Alrighty then. Exporting tonight. Tis done, or as done as it's going to get for the foreseeable future. I ended up revamping the mesh again, of course, and have tweaked the skinning to the point where I can live with it. Time to get the thing running.
. .
. .
Gumbootz Lokomotivfabrik und Bierkeller
LMR Samson 0-4-0 - Pennsy H3 Consolidation - Custom double tank cars set
LMR Samson 0-4-0 - Pennsy H3 Consolidation - Custom double tank cars set