US Set Development Thread

[Nite Owl]

My thanks too. This set is far too good and has sat for far too long without a code and sprite upgrade. Any work in that direction is worthy of thanks.

Krtaylor is the 'keeper of sprites' and general knowledge about this set. Contacting him would be an important step in the right direction. My knowledge of this set only comes from extensive use. As to the 'circus train' (yellow and dark green livery?): I think it is a random livery refit on the E8 diesel engine during either its early or middle years of service for passenger and mail consists. I cannot be 100% sure without some testing which time does not permit at the moment.

[NekoMaster]

I believe that Yellow and Green top livery is Chicago Northwestern, combine those with bi-levels and you'll get matching green and yellow bi-level commuter cars

[EyeMWing]

Yeah, I've already got the yellow and green setup covered - it's the Chicago & Northwestern livery. What I mean i'm talking about is the rolling stock in here:



The sprites are in there, but I'll be damned if I've ever seen it in game - and the flatcars don't seem to match any of the normal rolling stock for a refit. Even the boxcar and passenger car liveries don't look familiar. Sounds like some early-development eyecandy to me.


I'll drop Krtaylor a line tomorrow. I'm pretty sure I've got everything he's posted, but it's worth a check.

[DanMacK]

I can't exactly remember how to go about getting the Circus Train, but I know it's the F7 and boxcars...

[Axlrose]

Try linking two F7 diesel engines together with box cars and a caboose. While in the depot, they appear normal. Yet once the train leaves the depot, the box cars change into various multiple colored cars, though not the true circus appearance.

[EyeMWing]

Eh. Either way.


Anybody ever want to know what all is actually defined in the latest version of the USSet? Here's a stupid-huge PNG! With labels!

refsheet.png

(1.49 MiB) Downloaded 1 time

Everything is in alphabetical order by the spriteset name I gave it.

I need help on identifying a few items on that chart. Scattered throughout (particularly on locomotives and passenger cars) are sets notated with _liverya or _liveryb and so on, or which don't have a livery noted. If someone could point out what company a certain livery belongs to, it would be very helpful. (The livery is usually the last thing in the text - _up or _mbta or whatnot). Freightcars don't have specific liveries, so that rule doesn't apply to them.

Passenger cars start with bilevel or pax (unless they belong to a trainset - and I already have those figured out).

More important than some missing livery names, though, there's an entire trainset I wasn't able to ID or find ingame. It's listed as unknownsteam and its friends, and is a silver-colored streamlined steamer.

There are also unidentified locomotives called "unknowndiesel" and "unknownelectric" that I couldn't ID or find ingame.

And then there's a whole set of hopper graphics that I couldn't find ingame ("unknownhopper" and friends).




Less immediately, there's the question of if this is even still the usset. In software, it wouldn't be - it would be a fork with its own identity and its own name. It will need a new grfid for sure, since it won't be back-compatible with the original in any meaningful way. Somewhat tongue-in-cheek, I've started referring to it as "USSR" - for "US Set Revival". I am, of course, open to suggestions on this front because that might get a bit confusing. Once it has a name and a preview build, it'll get its own thread.

Finally, at the risk of creating a giant pile of work, I'd like to ask for a wishlist of features. I can tell you for certain that the first revision will have all the same vehicles as the original, plus any new wagons and locomotives in the tracking table. It might be lacking multiple liveries to start with, however.

My personal wishlist:
- Manually selectable liveries (Can we refit vehicles that don't take cargo yet?)
- Distinct generational rolling stock. Seperate heavyweight and lightweight passenger cars, for instance.
- Earlier start date.
- Extended future (some of the 'future' locomotives are in the past now). I think we need a Union Pacific Bicentennial locomotive. 300 feet long and a quarter million horsepower.

[NekoMaster]

It would be nice if someone recoded this set to bring it up to date. Also theres a few things in here that arent in NARS2 that I'd love to have in 2cc.

[FooBar]

You guys are aware that the US Set is GPL licensed? That means the source code is freely available (I couldn't find it, so you have to request it). This source code is probably much more useful in trying to create an updated version of this, rather than working from a decoded grf alone.
See the US Set website for contact details.

[Pingaware]

That means the source code is freely available (I couldn't find it, so you have to request it). This source code is probably much more useful in trying to create an updated version of this, rather than working from a decoded grf alone.

Unfortunately FooBar, while you're right about the source code being much more useful, all krtaylor could provide was a decompiled grf. As he is the contact point for the source code, that's about as good as it's going to get! (See a few pages back in this thread)

[FooBar]

Hmmm, that's unfortunate. It's also an unfortunate GPL violation (or maybe not, as the latest version was released more than 3 years ago and the "written offer to demand the source code" must be valid at least three years. While I couldn't find such offer, the GPL implies one in case you can't find it).
Obviously it's not worth to press any charges and that would show no respect towards the people who spent time and effort to create this set in the first place.

So let's leave it at unfortunate, it is what it is. Good to see great sets like this being continued and improved by others after original development stopped!

As for the NML conversion, I just realised that you guys might want to talk to Yexo. He's created something that did the conversion of FIRS from NFO to NML.

[wallyweb]

Less immediately, there's the question of if this is even still the usset. In software, it wouldn't be - it would be a fork with its own identity and its own name. It will need a new grfid for sure, since it won't be back-compatible with the original in any meaningful way. Somewhat tongue-in-cheek, I've started referring to it as "USSR" - for "US Set Revival". I am, of course, open to suggestions on this front because that might get a bit confusing. Once it has a name and a preview build, it'll get its own thread.

How about US Set Transformation [USST]? Or less seriously US Set Second Coming [USSSC]?

[George]

I've started referring to it as "USSR" - for "US Set Revival"

Please do not use this name to avoid future confusions.
xUSSR set is under development, and it has nothing related to US set. USSR is a common abbreviation for Soviet Union (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union)

[FooBar]

USSR is a common abbreviation for Soviet Union (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union)

I think that's exactly the reason for the tongue-in-cheek EyeMWing spoke about. I agree with you that USSR as name for a US set is not a good name.

[Nite Owl]

Leave it as the US Set but use the version number (currently at v0.87.4) to differentiate it from previous versions. Test versions could be v0.9.x while the final, released version could be v1.0.

If you are determined to change the name then I would suggest keeping it simple and similar so as to not forget the work done in the past. Something along the lines of US Set II might work.

[EyeMWing]

Hey, look, progress! And random-key-smashing statistics! And a hilariously screwed up palette!

[NekoMaster]

One thing I would like from a remake is having a company colour refit of non-2cc locomotives. Either it could be one solid colour (with or without spots for 2nd cc) or just make a 2cc theme based on its original real life livery (like recolouring a Metra F40PH to have a 2cc theme similar to metra), kinda like what NARS2 does

[oberhümer]

No point in that because NARS already does that, as you pointed out. I'd rather see the US Set become more like the Canadisn set, with information about liveries on the purchase screen and optional enforcement of realistic train building.

[NekoMaster]

There are trains in this set that arent in NARS and probably never will be unless a addon set is made

[EyeMWing]

I got the palettes fixed after I posted last night. The big item for today, after I fix some bugs: Livery overrides, and then callbacks. Once both of those are in,

2CC as a configuration option isn't something I'm opposed to, but is entirely dependent upon artist support - and even then, not until everything in the original is done.

[Pingaware]

No point in that because NARS already does that, as you pointed out.

What that says. I see little point in duplicating a set for the sake of a few extra engines. It would be like producing the fabled BROS/BR set in company colours, when that's not the point. Same thing here.