West Highland

[cjbarnes5294]

Regarding the EULA, I've just seen a post on UKTS that clarifies what is and isn't allowed:

"Regarding the EULA and our terms of use, the most critical part of our terms is that ANY commercial use of any kind including commercial scenario packs is absolutely prohibited. However non-commercial scenarios are fine, we do prefer that these are distributed via the Steam Workshop but other forms of distribution are ok such as UKTrainsim. Our terms are not there to restrict the enjoyment of the product or simulator- far from it, it should be fun! The reason for these new terms is the large number of new organisations and groups that keep appearing trying to make a “fast buck” off the back of other’s hard efforts (including our own). These groups do not contribute to Dovetail’s ongoing development as we do, well over 50% of our revenue goes back to Dovetail to support their hard efforts developing the core game and future technology. These new terms will apply to all forthcoming products that we are working on."

Seems fair enough. My thanks to Tim (tnleeuw01 on UKTS) for getting in touch with Thomson Interactive and asking for clarification. The original, full post can be found here: http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic. ... 5#p1722309

Chris

[styckx]

I have to say, and I noticed it with other new engines. I hate DTG's "Less is more" approach to modelling. The new Class 37 while functionally nicer, looks aesthetically cheaper that it's original counterpart. I also noticed it on the Class 92.. It just plastic looking instead of a 126 ton beast of machinery. Not the first engine (92) too I noticed they didn't even bother detailing wheels. ie: You can't tell the wheels are even rolling because it's just color and no texturing. Such cheap and lazy shortcuts to take. Anything to save a buck at the expense of immersion.

I might take a gander at this new Class 37 and see if I can make it not so Fisher Price looking.

[FoggyMorning]

As best I can tell the class 37 included with the route was also created by Thomson and not internally by DTG

[styckx]

I'm just a stickler for stuff most don't care about. Most know this by now though. When I'm complaining about textures and nothing else. That's a compliment.

[Caliban]

Small note - the brake timing switch ( and the ETH, and sundry stuff ) don't do anything functional, deadlines beat them. The 37 3d work was all Thomson.

[BigVern]

This is one route which would definitely benefit from the ability to have the AI operate the train while the player can sit back and chill out to the scenery "on the cushions", or the classic UK pose of standing by the carriage door droplight, head out the window appreciating the thrash and lovely oily diesel exhaust as the countryside passes by. The West Highland stock does provide the latter (very atmospheric) but even though you can control the train from that view it's still necessary to pop back to the cab and always the danger of missing a visual prompt only visible from forward view.

[cjbarnes5294]

This is one route which would definitely benefit from the ability to have the AI operate the train while the player can sit back and chill out to the scenery "on the cushions", or the classic UK pose of standing by the carriage door droplight, head out the window appreciating the thrash and lovely oily diesel exhaust as the countryside passes by. The West Highland stock does provide the latter (very atmospheric) but even though you can control the train from that view it's still necessary to pop back to the cab and always the danger of missing a visual prompt only visible from forward view.

Funny you suggest that, as that is exactly what I did last night in a spare hour, as a first scenario scripting exercise. It works quite well but not perfectly, so I've been tweaking and testing it this morning - the problem is that I'm going to get sick of it when I'm finished, which is a bit beside the original point.

Chris

[cjbarnes5294]

Further to the above, I've just tested the scenario to Glenfinnan and it works pretty well, driving the EWS S-C 37 (I opted for something simple) quite smoothly, braking for new speed restrictions (most of the time, the 10mph crossing near Fort Bill didn't work for some reason, but the 5mph over the swing bridge worked very well, as did the restrictions approaching the viaduct) and automatically cancelling the AWS. It should also brake for adverse signals, although I've not tested that. So you can truly just sit back in the passenger view and take in the sights, whilst listening to and enjoying the AP Pro pack noises. The only point you have to take over is ahead of the finish point, as I haven't thought of a way to make it automatically and safely stop at a track marker yet.

Hopefully I can demo it later.

Chris

[BigVern]

That's interesting Chris - how do you get round the issue that, up to now, as soon as you click on a train the player assumes control?

[cjbarnes5294]

Strictly speaking, I am still in control of the train as far as the game core is concerned, because it's the player train. If I press the relevant keys or try dragging the controls the script has been given control over, there will be a conflict between where the player wants to move it and where the AI wants to move it, and you can see the control values erratically shuffling as the player input and script input systems fight. The scenario script is able to manipulate any control on any consist's engine, including the player train and AI trains, so what I have done is script a sort of autopilot for the player train, I suppose a bit like that German LZB.

Chris