TRue TheRailwayUnrealEngine

Re: TRue TheRailwayUnrealEngine

Postby almark » Sat Dec 31, 2016 9:37 am

Well done so far Paul,fantastic demo showing the potential for something that could be quite special.

Not had any issues,running similar to Chris (CJBarnes) but with a GTX1070 installed. FPS very smooth etc.

I do have a couple of queries; firstly,the levers and bells pull themselves (though I can still play with them),I'm guessing from what I have seen that we are intended to watch and enjoy the spectacle from the box (which is very enjoyable!) rather than mess about? I note that when I did put a signal to danger,the train ran through the red signal.

Otherwise it's fantastic,great sounds and visuals,the HAA's also seem to shake as they go past,but again I'm sure you're aware of that issue.

All in all fantastic demo,superb atmosphere and definitely something that will be worth purchasing when it's completed if current progress is anything to go by!

Cheers,
Mark
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Re: TRue TheRailwayUnrealEngine

Postby Pauls » Sat Dec 31, 2016 10:35 am

Sly wrote:Hi Paul

Are we talking about terrain painted grass or the 3D ?

In the screenshots the grass on the terrain looks like it does not have any normals,
The 3D grass looks like it has shadows enabled , were they painted on with the landscape tool ?
If so turn the shadows off they wil kill your PC.

If its ground textures you are looking for , best tip is to purchase some from the Epic Marketplace then pull them apart and reconfigure to suit your needs,
The landscape tools are very powerful but take some learning ( got lucky with this one and am no expert )

The 3d grass I have used is a mix of a dozen or more commercial grasses purchased from the marketplace, usually rescaled, shadows off and desaturated .
You can paint all of them at the same time setting parameters for scaling , density etc , sometimes you get a good mix

Sorry I can't be totally specific but making a competitors game (DTG) look better would not be a good idea for me :-)

Happy New Year all

Paul G


Hi Paul,

Thanks for the ideas. It's the 3D grass I'm interested in.The shadows are turned on so I'll do what you suggest. I'll look into the normal thing as well. My grass is just placed as a 3D mesh object - I have done a quick test with the landscape paint brush for 3D objects but haven't got around to ground textures yet. This grass does have desaturation but is default lit. The subsurface lighting just left it looking washed out

So I've got to look into ground textures and how to import some terrain and how to make an embankment. Lots to learn but UE4 is a powerful tool. Your models in your demonstration have really inspired me. I have exported to UE4 from Sketchup and from 3D Studio Max with very little change from my original models.

Apologies for referring to your competitors product when asking for your advice - I hadn't remembered your position until now.

BTW if forum members aren't particularly interested in signalling you've still got to look at this demo - it's well worth seeing. You can just sit and watch some very detailed trains go by in some very nice scenery.

Sorry for the thread wander - I wonder if we could have a UE4 forum section ?

Thanks Paul I've really enjoyed your UE4 railway simulation demo .

Cheers
Paul
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Re: TRue TheRailwayUnrealEngine

Postby Sly » Sat Dec 31, 2016 12:17 pm

almark wrote:I do have a couple of queries; firstly,the levers and bells pull themselves (though I can still play with them),I'm guessing from what I have seen that we are intended to watch and enjoy the spectacle from the box (which is very enjoyable!) rather than mess about? I note that when I did put a signal to danger,the train ran through the red signal.



Hi Mark

It appears I have missed out the read me file , :oops:
Auto/Manual operation is explained together with present limitations,
The HAA Shimmer is caused by a badly aligned LOD at the second level, I will get round to it soon.

Thanks For trying and the feedback

Paul G

Here is a copy of the read me

Read Me Txt

Welcome to the free playable demo of THE RAILWAY Unreal Engine (T.R.u.e)

This demo is suppied as is free to users, no support or backup is impied or wil be given.

Availability will be for a limited period, but there is no time limit to playing TRue.

Redistribution is not allowed and can only be sorced from official/approved locations.



Notes

This Demo of the signalling module of TRue, is Pre Alpha and does not represent any finished game that may or may not be supplied in the future.

It is in essence a test scratchpad that has been chopped and changed an awful lot over the past few months.

There are many items unfinished / incomplete / de-activated.

The main reason for the demo is to check performance on a wide variety of systems.


The operation of the signalbox bellcodes and levers/signals is implemented and available to users.
The STC (SignalTrainControl) is disabled... The trains will not stop at on signals in this version
Interlocking is disabled
MP is disabled.
Train Driving Mode is disabled
Error catching of bellcode misuse is limited at this time.
Limited number of services are scheduled
Variation of services is limited to MGR trains loaded and empty


Gameplay
TRue is a true first person game, which means you have a character that can be viewed from first person or third person over the shoulder view.
Use the mouse wheel to scroll from one to the other.
Characters use the WASD keys to move around whilst "steering" with the mouse.
The space bar will cause the character to Jump
Press the "E" key whilsts directly looking at objects to operate them, such as door, block instrument, belltapper, levers.etc

The game opens on the main menu screen,in a window
Pressing Alt+Enter will take you to Full screen
Press the START button (you may have to press twice .. once to get focus on the viewport)

Once the level has loaded you will have to walk the short distance to Bracken Moor Signalbox.
Use the E key to open the door.

The box is set to AUTO by default and you can watch its operation ... AKA Spectator Mode

If you wish to control bells and signals, once all block instruments are at "BLOCKED" you can use the Block Switch found in the middle of the block shelf.
If the handle is to the right you are in manual mode, and will be expected to pass trains through your section using the signals, bells and block instruments.

Because bellcode error checking is not complete, best results on "Manual" needs a relaxed approach to sending bells, typically if you want a reply wait 4 secs before responding to any previous reply.
Slow and steady is the key.
If an expected reply is not forthcoming repeat last signal
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Re: TRue TheRailwayUnrealEngine

Postby johny » Sat Dec 31, 2016 2:57 pm

Paul,

My system:
Win 10 Pro, 64-bit
Dx runtime 12.0
GeForce GT 730
AMD Athlon ll X 2 250 3.01 GHz
Memory 4.00 GB

Probably could do with more memory, but then that would also mean a new motherboard, new processor, etc.

The route loads quickly and the character works a treat. The sounds of approaching trains, however, dies at the respective home signals giving a soundless transit past the box and, in the case of a train approaching signal 15 the train vanishes into thin air.

Regards

John
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Re: TRue TheRailwayUnrealEngine

Postby Sly » Sat Dec 31, 2016 3:26 pm

Hi John

Your results are probably what I would expect I am sorry to say for you.

Both the sound loss and the vanishing train are both due to the slow speed.

I have set it so that on machines that can acheive 22 + FPS trains will all run at a similar speed, and bells, signals, sounds and services should all be in sync
however once you drop below things go awry.

The sound is at present a fixed length sample of a passsing 47, that is triggered as the service passes a fixed position trigger.
This is set so that the expected speed should result in a synced pass of the signalbox.
If it is travelling too slow it will be over and done with way before it has reached the SB.

The Vanishing train is a similar problem, each service has a limited lifetime set, its time was up before it reached the end.

As this project uses pure physics for all train movements it is processing the physX and not the usual rendering that limits performance.
One thing you could try is to switch PhysX calcs across to your GPU. I have seen improvements on some set ups.

All is not lost though :D

They physics workload is as mentioned the limiting factor, and the majority of that workload comes from the 64 Wagons that can be in a scene.
Later (soon) I will produce Timetables that contain shorter consists (half the wagons- half the Phsx loading, and you may well see double the speed)
It may be that owners of lower end machines have to limit the consist size, and run say DMU services ( this would be same load as 4 HAA's Alone)

As a test I am prepared to do A Valley Light package with short consists if of interest to you.

Very valuable feedback, many thanks

Paul G
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Re: TRue TheRailwayUnrealEngine

Postby Pauls » Sun Jan 01, 2017 1:50 am

Hi Paul,

Your advice worked. I purchased a commercial grass scenery product and used then modified the settings from this - much improved.

Image

Best wishes for 2017.

Cheers
Paul
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Re: TRue TheRailwayUnrealEngine

Postby Robert Tarling » Sun Jan 01, 2017 9:55 pm

That's looking very promising indeed, and has a much more natural look than TSW...
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Re: TRue TheRailwayUnrealEngine

Postby Pauls » Mon Jan 02, 2017 12:14 am

Robert Tarling wrote:That's looking very promising indeed, and has a much more natural look than TSW...


Thanks Robert - There is a lot to learn with this program - the basics are easy but it is deceptively powerful. I've been experimenting with a foliage brush - you can paint the ground with 3d foliage using the foliage brush - you can also paint 3d mesh with foliage as well - so setting to both ground (landscape) and mesh you can do a really nice blend between the two types of scenery - you could use this same tool to paint on rocks or any other 3d object you wanted. Anyway I'd better stop the thread wander or I'll be in trouble with Jim and Paul G - It looks like Jim will open up a forum for UE4 and TSW stuff.

Cheers
Paul
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Re: TRue TheRailwayUnrealEngine

Postby Nobkins » Mon Jan 02, 2017 6:22 am

Haven't managed to take a look at this yet but I intend to. Paul I will be creating some new subforums. If you have any input on what would help you and TRue then there is a thread in the members section which I think you have spotted or of course you can PM me.

I have not loaded a train related game in a long time, nice to have something spark my interest once more.
TrainSimDev.com YouTube Channel
Video tutorials and other resources
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Re: TRue TheRailwayUnrealEngine

Postby VictoryWorks » Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:57 am

Well that's typical. I take a couple of weeks out and things get all exciting!
Congrats on getting out a demo Paul, going to give it a look in the next couple of days - really excited to have a play with something I've been watching a long while and we've chatted about.
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