SimYouLater's NewGRF Ideas Thread

[SimYouLater]

A list of ideas I came up with that may or may not be made by me. I'm putting them here to say "these are up for grabs and look simple, they might be good for learning NML or NFO".

I'll put them in order of complexity for the ones I have now, and add any others as they come to me. Please do not post in this topic unless it is to state that you're going to use one of these ideas. If you think any improvements to the ideas listed can be made, discuss it in a topic for actually undertaking the task or send me a Personal Message if you won't be doing so (if I don't respond, PM a mod and have them cross out (like this) the flawed part and add the improved version.

Keep in mind that these ideas are here for a good reason: They're suggestions. If you like them, try and do them yourself, otherwise asking won't do much unfortunately.

[SimYouLater]

Min-max Universal Tracktype Set
or
Munchkin Ultra-graphical Tracktype Set

Difficulty: Low
You need NML and that's it. It's also much simpler than BARRBS was.

Looking at the Standardized Railtype Scheme made me realize how a trade-off could make a good generic track set.

Gauges? Since there are monorails, maglevs, vacuum tubes, and even pipelines and wires, you need them all.

Speed limit? That too.

Axle load class? Can be given the same step-ups as speeds, so sure.

Power source, on the other hand...

Picture this. You have a Standard Gauge, Very Low Speed, Very Low Axle Load track. For power, you have two options: Non-Electrified and Electrified. So how is that special? The graphics. Each electrified track type is as you would expect for a generic electric line in the code, but graphically it clearly has both AC and DC power (if there is a graphical difference), and has catenary, 3rd and 4th rail, and any other electric types used on the guages of two-rail train lines.

Not very realistic, but it is guaranteed to have what you want graphically and doesn't require anything special code-wise.

Special cases to include, if reasonable, likely by a parameter for anyone using a 32 Tracktypes patch or Patch Pack:
Note: Gwyd pointed out this might not be possible. MUTS might need to be separated into a "MUTS, Part 1" and "MUTS, Part 2; 32-Tracktype-only!"

MONO/MAAN - Monorail
YAAE - Yarmanchuk Half-pipe "Monorail" Track (Electirfied?)

MAGL/LATL - Transrapid (German, used in China)
LATV - Transrapid Vacuum Tube

MAGL/LAJL - Japanese SCMaglev (a.k.a Standard TTD Maglev)
MAGL/LAJV - SCMaglev Vacuum Tube

UAAM - Metro track, surface
UAAG - Grass underground metro
UAAU - Bike Path metro (requires new graphics, concrete from the metro track set will do at first)
UAAS - Pedestrian path metro (requires new graphics)

PIPE/PAAP - Pipeline
PAAU - Underground Pipeline (transluscent, requires Waypoint for graphical niceness)

?/WAAE - WIRES Electric Lines (Industry Sets would need to include the Electricity cargo, or the wires would need to carry Coal to the power plant, neither is that nice of a choice)
WAAU - Underground WIRES (transluscent, requires Waypoint for graphical niceness)

?/WAAI - WIRED Telecom Lines
WAAF - Underground Telecom Lines (Fiber-Optic? transluscent, requires Waypoint for graphical niceness)

tAA7 - TTD-Scale (Original Toyland-style) Tracks (includes 3rd and 4th rail)
tAAE - TTD-Scale Tracks (standard MUTS electrified)

[SimYouLater]

Minimalist Increasing Speed Fully Up-to-date Bridge Set

Difficulty: Medium
Requires NFO, but minimal spriting.

A bridge set that consists of:

• Bridge heads styled like Custom Bridge Heads but with straight track/road.
• Bridges that only contain "hovering" track/road, in speeds that make more sense for specialized track types like VacTrains, PIPES, WIRES and WIRED; as bridges can't be different speeds depending on rail types, the speeds will need to apply this way regardless.
• Optional: NewGRF objects that enable the bridge's supports to be what you want. This can be included but could also be left to other projects.
• Optional: NewGRF objects that look like station platform tiles underneath the bridge, enabling that "feature" with no code changes. This can be included but only for GPL v2 stations, and could also be left to other projects.
• Optional: Custom tunnels that look like there is a small park on top of them. Can use Underground Metro track tunnels as basis. Should not have any railings at the "cliff" because...
  • Waypoints that look like additions to the park tunnel.
  • NewObjects that look like additions to the park tunnel.

[Gwyd]

I very much like the sound of MUTS and MIS FUBS. I'm not sure if the first can be done easily, considering how many track types there are: NML compiler might get unhappy with that.

[SimYouLater]

Fallout Expired Vehicles
Lame Reference is Lame

Difficulty: ???
I had a bunch of switches planned to be in it (some of which could be cut out) to show a way to learn parameters and .pnml by route, but I just lost everything on it by cutting and pasting the notes and then saving the file, not saving a draft and accidentally closing the tab.

Would be compatible with both normal and Wasteland Climate cargoes.

The Wikia would be the best place to look for info.

EDIT: Trying to remember switches best I can.

True Canon
Switches for turning off vehicles from certain games, with warning about turning off too many, sorted into...
Fallout 1 & 2
Which has some weird differences to the modern games.
Fallout Tactics
That much-hated, non-canon strategy game spinoff.
Van Buren
The original, cancelled Fallout 3.
Fallout 3
Some people (myself included) have come to the conclusion that it was actually very linear, against the style of the games both before and after.
Fallout: New Vegas
After the first half of the story is done, it switches from linear to open-world, as you no longer are given only a single logical path. Was made by Obsidian instead of Bethesda; Bethesda banned them from officially releasing critical patches to boost Skyrim sales.
Fallout 4
Some people don't like the slightly more colorful graphics. I disagree with "colorful is bad", but some might not.
Real Life
Nuclear-powered concepts like the Ford Nucleon and some Nuclear-powered Locomotives like the X-12.

Descriptions
Switch that change the vehicle description...
Ambiguous
You can't tell whether it's Fallout-verse or Real Life.
Fallout
Official sources and/or Original Flavor text.
Realistic
All fictional entities and Fallout-verse Geopolitics modified to be a hypothetical retro-future of real life (circa. 2017), instead of a retro-future in an alternate timeline which diverged in the mid-20th century.

Fuel Sources
There are fuel sources which conflict in canon. How to handle these with switches is difficult but the problem can be summed up below.
Battery Power
Most vehicles used batteries in the first two games. This conflicts with proliferation of Nuclear Powered vehicles in later games.
Energy Cells
Sometimes used instead of "Batteries". These don't conflict with canon at any point but are purely fictional and the canon at all points in the history of the series rarely claims they power a vehicle.
Nuclear
Most vehicles in Fallout 3, New Vegas and 4 use rear-mounted nuclear engines. This conflicts with the batteries in earlier games, but feels better for the 1950's retro aesthetic (see the real life Ford Nucleon concept car). There is also a nuclear-powered airliner in Fallout 4.
Petroleum Fuels
The Tractor in Fallout 4 has an internal combustion engine, but as petroleum fuel was reserved for critical tasks only (of which food production logically was probably one), this can be considered canon. Everything else, ranging from the original Corvega in Fallout 1 to the locomotives resembling the F-series - which strongly appear to be diesel-powered - in Fallout: New Vegas, has no good excuse.