Red*Stars modern train station set [beta released]

[XeryusTC]

Surprise, surprise. Here is the release! Doing stuff when tipsy is not the most productive I must say so it is possible that I forgot something.

Basicly this is 1.0-beta. Why is it beta you ask? Well, that's simply because large parts of it are untested and might not behave properly. Glitching errors are possible especially on stations with graphics which hang over the tracks so to say.
It is also highly recommended that you take note of the readme file as you might not be able to figure out how to (properly) build all the stations otherwise.

You might want to download this set after the weekend if you have anything planned

[Badger]

Downloaded! Will have a play tomorrow. Well done!

[planetmaker]

I must say: very nice and glad to finally see this set alive and kicking.

A few remarks and questions:
- why can I only build the racoon city plaza as 1x1 and not larger or drag it? Is it correct that it's a plain green tile only?
- Racoon City can only be built as length 1. That doesn't sound useful nor does it look nice. I guess the check came out here just the wrong way
- for better alignment wrt North the Jena Paradies plaza graphics needs to rotate by 180°, at least where the road entry / exit is in \ direction (the other is fictional anyway )
- Hannover Laatzen: why not allow to build the overpass building only (length 1)?
- Hannover Laatzen: why not allow longer lengths? The non-overpass tiles could be added infinitely in track direction.

- ramps and round ends: it doesn't make sense to allow longer lengths than 1.
- why don't you allow to drag the plant square and other stations of that type? It may seem sensible to not add them infinitely, but it's the user who has wants to build it bigger and look at the result... If there's no graphical restriction to it, then I'd not forbid it as it will only annoy, if bigger areas are desired.

Wishlist:
- snow awareness of the graphics
- tiles without roof, like those of the Alderville or Hannover might want to use semi-transparent ground tiles instead of the brown ground to better fit into the environment; the brown area is IMHO a bit too dominant.

Cheers & kudos,
pm

[SamMacca]

Just one little wish from me.. half stations, like on the Canadian Station Set and the PGS.

Makes for more realistic stations IMO.. still, looks amazing..



EDIT; you should add some buffers to the set aswell, ones that match the stations.. please

[ColdIce]

Thank you so much for this release

thank you... thank you thank you

@planetmaker

I`ve managed to build all the stations. Just follow the instructions on the readme file

[XeryusTC]

- why can I only build the racoon city plaza as 1x1 and not larger or drag it? Is it correct that it's a plain green tile only?
- Racoon City can only be built as length 1. That doesn't sound useful nor does it look nice. I guess the check came out here just the wrong way

That's because OpenTTD doesn't have a +7 button like TTDPatch does. I suggest you take a look at the readme file because all the stations are quite complex.

[Nite Owl]

Most impressive even during the quick once over I just gave it. Thank you both.

[Red*Star]

I must say: very nice and glad to finally see this set alive and kicking.

Thanks

- for better alignment wrt North the Jena Paradies plaza graphics needs to rotate by 180°, at least where the road entry / exit is in \ direction (the other is fictional anyway )

I'm sorry... could you explain that once again? Are you talking about the relation between game and reality?

- Hannover Laatzen: why not allow to build the overpass building only (length 1)?

Because of the reflections in the windows. Maybe I can create an additional version without the reflections in the future.

- Hannover Laatzen: why not allow longer lengths? The non-overpass tiles could be added infinitely in track direction.

Then the grass tiles in the north have to be repeated also, and that's space-wasting, IMHO.

Wishlist:
- snow awareness of the graphics
- tiles without roof, like those of the Alderville or Hannover might want to use semi-transparent ground tiles instead of the brown ground to better fit into the environment; the brown area is IMHO a bit too dominant.

I see: We won't get out of work ^^

Just one little wish from me.. half stations, like on the Canadian Station Set and the PGS.

Makes for more realistic stations IMO.. still, looks amazing..

Sorry, but do you mean terminus stations? Or just "smaller" stations?

]EDIT; you should add some buffers to the set aswell, ones that match the stations.. please

Good idea! I will put it on my agenda.

[Roujin]

Great to have these nice looking stations playable at last!

If I may add to the collective wish-list, I'd love it if the "Ramp" and "Round End" platform tiles were available with half-tile platforms (meaning a platform either left or right of the track, but not both sides). This would be needed to create a nice platform end e.g. for the alderville station, which uses halftile platforms.
You could either just make these halftile parts manually buildable, or the existing "Ramp" and "Round End" tiles aware of the tiles next to it so the game selects the fitting sprite automagically. I reckon the first way is easier...

[planetmaker]

- for better alignment wrt North the Jena Paradies plaza graphics needs to rotate by 180°, at least where the road entry / exit is in \ direction (the other is fictional anyway )

I'm sorry... could you explain that once again? Are you talking about the relation between game and reality?

Yes, indeed. The Jena Paradies round-about is in the South-South-East of the station (at the Paradies side ), the road passes to the North-North-West under the tracks towards the town centre. Currently I cannot create that Thus my suggestion to rotate the / view of that sprite by 180°. Of course this arguably is a very petty point - but there are not many stations where I (de-)boarded a train more often

- Hannover Laatzen: why not allow to build the overpass building only (length 1)?

Because of the reflections in the windows. Maybe I can create an additional version without the reflections in the future.

That'd be very welcome. For one, this overpass is awesome in its own right and looks nice when put adjacent to eachother. For 2nd it would allow MUCH more user-friendlyness. The grass-tiles being added are IMHO no problem. If a user minds he can either skip building it or remove or overbuild them afterwards. But currently it's just frustrating to build - which is much worse than "author thinks it's not sensible". Alternatively one could add randomly one of the many park tiles there.

With the same argument I'd allow any length of the racoon station which is (2+n)x(4+2m) with n,m >= 0. The station would loose nothing, the graphics support that without change and the set improve A LOT its user-friendlyness.

Cheers,
pm

[SamMacca]

Just one little wish from me.. half stations, like on the Canadian Station Set and the PGS.

Makes for more realistic stations IMO.. still, looks amazing..

Sorry, but do you mean terminus stations? Or just "smaller" stations?

I mean like this;

CanSet Half Platforms.PNG (47.88 KiB) Viewed 5704 times

[Muzzly]

- why can I only build the racoon city plaza as 1x1 and not larger or drag it? Is it correct that it's a plain green tile only?
- Racoon City can only be built as length 1. That doesn't sound useful nor does it look nice. I guess the check came out here just the wrong way

That's because OpenTTD doesn't have a +7 button like TTDPatch does. I suggest you take a look at the readme file because all the stations are quite complex.

So is the a way to build Berlin Plaza in openttd? readme.html has not help me.
I also cannot build racoon city, I hope that's because it is only beta release

In any case great work . Thanks !!!

[planetmaker]

So is the a way to build Berlin Plaza in openttd? readme.html has not help me.

Same here. The "suggestion" of the readme actually means that you HAVE to use the drag tool and drag the station to that EXACT size which is "suggested" by the readme. Which is, sorry to say, anything but intuitively to grasp, given the possible sizes of 2...5 x 8.

[Red*Star]

- for better alignment wrt North the Jena Paradies plaza graphics needs to rotate by 180°, at least where the road entry / exit is in \ direction (the other is fictional anyway )

I'm sorry... could you explain that once again? Are you talking about the relation between game and reality?

Yes, indeed. The Jena Paradies round-about is in the South-South-East of the station (at the Paradies side ), the road passes to the North-North-West under the tracks towards the town centre. Currently I cannot create that Thus my suggestion to rotate the / view of that sprite by 180°. Of course this arguably is a very petty point -

Uhm... I never really thought that [O]TTD was strictly aligned to anything like the compass rose. Or at least I thought that was just an optional alignment to do in one's own brain.

but there are not many stations where I (de-)boarded a train more often

I always could take two starting locations when I studied there: Jena Ost or Jena Paradies. Interestingly it made nearly no difference when going from there (over Halle when riding from J. Paradies, over Göttingen when riding from J. Ost) to my home and family - neither in time, nor in money.

So is the a way to build Berlin Plaza in openttd? readme.html has not help me.

Same here. The "suggestion" of the readme actually means that you HAVE to use the drag tool and drag the station to that EXACT size which is "suggested" by the readme. Which is, sorry to say, anything but intuitively to grasp, given the possible sizes of 2...5 x 8.

The suggestions are really meant as suggestions. The real problems are:

1. the set is beta
2. the set is beta , so the readme partially explains things that are not implemented right now -- I'm sorry about that
3. if one does not read the text, where it is said that

The station must be built on an partially elevated site which allows 4 platforms to be built on the upper and the two entrance towers next to them (called "Berlin Plaza" in the game) on the lower level. The plazas need to be at least 8 tiles long while the station must be at 4 platforms wide and 6 or more tiles long."

and only looks at the "suggested layouts", then it is right: It looks like there are more degrees of freedom than in reality there are. But then it's one's own fault, because the text is not there just-for-fun
However, I see (and have to apologize for that) just now that "The plazas need to be at least 8 tiles long" is indeed wrong, there should be written "exactly 8 tiles long", although it is a good idea to implement that more dynamically. Fortunately I was not the author of that paragraph, unfortunately I should have noticed it when I edited the readme

Just one little wish from me.. half stations, like on the Canadian Station Set and the PGS.

Makes for more realistic stations IMO.. still, looks amazing..

Sorry, but do you mean terminus stations? Or just "smaller" stations?

I mean like this;

CanSet Half Platforms.PNG

Ah! Yes, that was initially planned by me, IIRC, but is not implemented right now.




@most of the other problems & bugs:
Now with the set in the online repository, I currently can't do more than write it again: If you can code, help us with it. If you want the bugs removed and are not able to code - learn it, if this is an important project for you.

[ColdIce]

maybe this video could help you build the stations


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP5Ma6L-1ec

[blitzkrieg]

Fantastic graphics!!
@ Red*Star:- Could you add an introduction date? Looks really futuristic when used in pre-1980 period.

[DJ Nekkid]

Fantastic graphics!!
@ Red*Star:- Could you add an introduction date? Looks really futuristic when used in pre-1980 period.

If so, please add a parameter to disable that check

[XeryusTC]

There should be an introduction date on the Berlin station and possibly on the Jena or the Racoon city station but I'm not sure about that. It might be that it doesn't work anymore though as quite some time has passed since I started coding them. I do need to add it for more stations though

[Roujin]

maybe this video could help you build the stations


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP5Ma6L-1ec

(Supposing that's you who made the video, ) did you know you can drag the raise and lower tools too (since ages) instead of raising one edge and then using the flatten tool?

[Chris]

Thank you very much for this great set!