US Set Development Thread

[andythenorth]

I've played US Set a lot. It's nice, and doesn't currently have any really complicated stuff with liveries, engine restrictions, property changes etc.

We should recode it from scratch, using nml, or the nfo+CPP system used for 2CC set.

We can at least take the realsprites (offsets etc) from the decompiled source, maybe the strings as well.

[krtaylor]

Regardless of the presence, absence, or quality of source code, I'm inclined to agree that a complete recoding is appropriate, given the massive changes in the capabilities of the GRF format over the years since the US Set was first released. It sounds like we can recycle the sprite location coding, which as I understand it is a good deal of the work, so that's good.

However, don't underestimate the work involved in adding the new graphics. There were a fair number of animated steam locomotives that I'm not sure if they were coded; the idea was for all of them to be animated, and I believe that's a major pain in the neck. Worth it though, animated steamers look awesome.

[Purno]

I'm not sure if the current sprites are already placed in templates, but AFAIK that's a major time-saver for the coder (since all xrel,yrel allignments would be identical). If they aren't placed into templates yet, perhaps that's a good start to do. It also might make those animated steamers a bit less of a pain.

I don't know if there's many different templates used all over the community. I know DJNekkid uses them for the 2ccSet, which seem to be necessary with the speed VoyagerOne and other artists spam the topic with new spritework

Just an idea here

[DanMacK]

I'm pretty sure some of the sprites could do with a resizing as well.

[Packer]

Just a curiosity (know nothing about coding) but would it be possible to use NARS2's code to get different wagon lengths and regearing; just adapt it for the randomization of locomotives (NARS2 has some randomization of cars)?

[Purno]

Sounds like more work than just coding it from scratch

[andythenorth]

Like Purno said - on balance, it's probably slightly easier to just recode.

[Kogut]

And I really would like to use result of it

[CharlieMTA]

So what is the state of development on the US set? I know I'm not around often anymore, but I do check from time to time.

[krtaylor]

Everything that's been drawn has been neatly saved and posted on my tracking table, which is still online.

http://www.as-st.com/ttd/usa

And there it sits, as it has sat for some years now, hoping for someone to code it. There've been a few false starts but nothing completed.

[onodera]

These ugly "sources" are most likely mine. Because Oracle had left no nfo files of his own, to add ECS support to the US Set I had to decompile the grf and work with the byte codes. It's not as hard as it looks, if you're a programmer. I even managed to add a couple new liveries and trains and sprinkle it with some useful comments, like the train names.
Yes, it's kt's oversight that the set wasn't distributed with its nfo, but this semi-legible nfo is the only one we have. Recoding it with NML will probably be easier than adding complex new features to the existing one, but you'll still need the nfo to get offsets for real sprites.

[krtaylor]

Well, I've distributed everything I've ever seen. I guess Oracle kept his NFOs.

[OzTrans]

A problem was raised in the Canadian section ...

... Yes, the US set is what I was talking about. It doesn't carry all special cargoes (vehicles for example), but the identic Canadian ones do. ...

I don't have a problem with ECS vectors and the USSet regarding the transportation of vehicles. The US Set caters for vehicles if this cargo type is available.

USSet - AutoRack.png

a) Have you got the most recent version of the US Set; i.e. v0.87.4 dated 27 Apr 2007 [that should probably read 2008] ?
b) You mentioned an ECS adaptor. The only ECS adaptor I know of is for compatibility with the DB Set. I don't think you need an adaptor for the US Set.

[alluke]

Wow, you were right. Thank you.

[Axlrose]

How hard (and would someone be able) to add the wood product (ID 13) from George's ECS set to this American train set? My first estimate would be to have it part of the Gondola train car, followed with a smaller amount in the Boxcar, and then good sized amounts in Centerbeam Wood Flatcar.

Thanks in advance.

[as]

While usset's newcargoes support is not perfect, all freight cars you mentioned can already refitted to wood products in the latest version 0.87.4d, available at usset website.

Unnamed, 1st Jan 1999.png (4.07 KiB) Viewed 3530 times

edit: if you have grf called "ECS adapter for the US Set" do not use it, it was meant for older version of usset and does not work anymore.

[Axlrose]

Ahhh, thanks for that info As. I did download the latest version while I was in the middle of a game, so exchanging the files did not trigger the upgrades until after I exited and started once more.

Too bad I did not look for the upgrade earlier in my game before building a bunch of ship and truck routes since I ~saw~ the trains did not have the various items and proceeded as such.

Thank you again.

[EyeMWing]

I'll just leave this here:

screenshot.png

Work in progress.

(229.3 KiB) Downloaded 1 time

Okay, maybe I won't just leave it there, because there's a lot going on. I wrote a widget that takes the decompiled nfo, smashes it together with some PNGs made from the decompiled PCX files preserving the original sprite sizing, positioning and offsets, gives you a handy interface for naming the spritegroups, and ultimately pukes them out into a partial nml file.

So that's all the really tedious spritesheet-fiddling of a potential usset reimplementation taken care of. Now the immediate hard part is putting a name to each of these 752 spritesets.

There are a couple of minor issues I still need to work out with the nml export first (I want to get the compression settings carried over, for one) before I post anything.

[Pingaware]

I'll just leave this here:

screenshot.png

Okay, maybe I won't just leave it there, because there's a lot going on. I wrote a widget that takes the decompiled nfo, smashes it together with some PNGs made from the decompiled PCX files preserving the original sprite sizing, positioning and offsets, gives you a handy interface for naming the spritegroups, and ultimately pukes them out into a partial nml file.

So that's all the really tedious spritesheet-fiddling of a potential usset reimplementation taken care of. Now the immediate hard part is putting a name to each of these 752 spritesets.

There are a couple of minor issues I still need to work out with the nml export first (I want to get the compression settings carried over, for one) before I post anything.

That is quite possibly the best ever ninth post made by someone on the forums. I imagine that you'll be getting large amounts of thanks for putting hard work in to a re-implementation (assuming, as I am, that that is what it is). Let me be the first - thank you very much, and good luck! Look forward to seeing the end product

[EyeMWing]

Working on identifying the sprites now. Does anybody have any idea how you end up with this circus train in-game?

There are some pretty.... Interesting sprites in here. An Acela Express loco with passenger windows, for instance. Might make a nice fictionalized cab car for a single-ended variant.