Grass / Trees growth on unused tracks

[bebeto94]

How about grass/trees to grow on unused or abandoned railway tracks that have been dorment for a specified period of time. It will be great to look back on the history of your old games by seeing where all your old track used to lay .

[Dave]

This has been discussed at some points before and there's a thread aout the appearance of tracks that are unused but don't know where it is. You'll be familiar, I'm guessing, with the way track degrades when no trains run over it. That was the idea of that patch. I always wanted a feature like this because it adds the ultimate level of realism to your network. You could even have the unused track "fenced off" from your normal lines which would be awesome. The only trouble with the other patch was it only had the track with varying degrees of "shine" on the rails, whereas you're looking for a full on overgrowth. I like this idea, and I also think we could have random appearances of track that has a section of rail removed, or something.

[boekabart]

I'm a big fan of this idea. I consider it not just eyecandy though, but actual valuable feedback on the efficiency of the network.

My suggestion for implementation:
Tracks need several states, from full shiny, to rusty, to 'grassed in', to overgrown. GFX anyone?
With time, rails 'downgrade' (tileloop), with every train, it upgrades. With certain levels of degradation, a maximum speed might be correct. So the first train to use a piece of track in a long time, will have some trouble driving over it. But the pathfinder shouldn't take this into account, it will result in a self fulfilling prophecy: non-used tracks won't ever be used again.

Biggest problem with the thing: graphics. Implementation actually should be doable, as long as we find some bits in the map array.. but for rails, m7 should be fully available since it was introduced for newhouses, right?

[Chicago Rail Authority]

...and I also think we could have random appearances of track that has a section of rail removed, or something.

Agreed. Not sure about the UK, but many rail companies here pull up the rails (to save on taxes) and leave the ties and other debris on the side of the crushed stones supporting the reamining tracks. Perhaps if the tracks are abandoned long enough, some get torn up and book-ended by buffers?

[boekabart]

Perhaps if the tracks are abandoned long enough, some get torn up and book-ended by buffers?

The problem is... then the pathfinder must actually not use them anymore -> re-use requires manual repairs. Possible, realistic, but maybe.. a step too far?

[bebeto94]

Didnt realize that there were so many in favour of this . Be great to trace the remains of all your long since closed branch lines .

[ThePenguin]

I've seen tracks were I live have weed and grass going in between the tracks and the trains still use them. Of course it's a very small railroad company (1 destination A to B) but you might want to still allow trains go on them.

[Zephyris]

Surely the tree gfx (esp the young trees) could just be overlaid on top of the railway to indicate disrepair. Using young trees only would let trains travel over it without (significant) glitches.

[Ben_K]

My suggestion for implementation:
Tracks need several states, from full shiny, to rusty, to 'grassed in', to overgrown. GFX anyone?

I'll knock up some GFX if you are happy to look at some coding? Send me a PM and let me know what you need and I'll see what I can come up with.

[TheJosh]

The problem that was encountered last time this was discussed is the map array. basically it was blocked because they were waiting for the new map array.

[saint]

I was having a little play around with this 2 or so months ago but unfortunately uni has taken up A LOT of my time and other projects had priority. The patch I managed to get done (appeared) to work for rail without any problem including rusting on junctions. Also had the ability for up to 16 stages. Didn't get to the point of crossings, tunnels and all climates except temperate since I had trouble creating a .grf properly . Wasn't too happy with some of the implementation either but I was on a time budget.

Code needs more tidy up to follow standards, some comments added, update to latest revision and so on (but I can't access SVN from here since the ports are blocked).

Perhaps someone can use it for a base (or ideas).

[bebeto94]

Any screenshots ?

[Dave]

The problem that was encountered last time this was discussed is the map array. basically it was blocked because they were waiting for the new map array.

That was an issue here too? I seem to remember a similar explanation was offered for TTD Patch.

[boekabart]

The problem that was encountered last time this was discussed is the map array. basically it was blocked because they were waiting for the new map array.

That was an issue here too? I seem to remember a similar explanation was offered for TTD Patch.

Well wasn't a problem for me: I posted a patch + grf file (makeshift) in Development:
https://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?p=591823#591823

Thanks to Ben_K for the temporary graphics you see here.

[MHTransport]

Cool. It will also be very useful as it will allow you to easily see which roads aren't being used. Especially helpful in late games where you can't monitor everything.

IMOSHO The graphics should just replace the ballast and sleepers with grass so it looks like tracks on grass. I think it fould fit better with the current style.

[CMircea]

Actually there are tram tracks directly on grass with no sleepers and are heavily used by light trams.

[knedle]

Actually there are tram tracks directly on grass with no sleepers and are heavily used by light trams.

But on tram tracks sleepers are under grass, covered with a little of earth.

[boekabart]

Actually there are tram tracks directly on grass with no sleepers and are heavily used by light trams.

Do you mean like the tram lines around Arad, Ro? Those DO have sleepers, but they are covered with grass.... Rails cannot stay aligned without sleepers, not even in Romania