[OTTD] Open Pit Mine NewGRF

[ebla71]

In some of the European scenarios I've created, there are very large open pit mines, in particular for lignite (brown coal).

However, I did not really like the "sharp edges" that you get with most common "decorative" ground tiles and therefore decided to do some additional diagonal tiles.

I started this about two years ago but only now I managed to really combine it into a consistent NewGRF, see below.

Still need to add a bit of "noise" to the edges, though.

Furthermore, I'm working on some overlays since roads and rails reveal the original background tiles:



Furthermore, in particular in quarries, the steep walls that you often find there are missing, therefore I started to create some overlays also for that, to cover the foundations of the adjacent tiles, although I'm not sure how far to take this, since you need a lot of "end pieces" of different orientations. So far only the upper left has been done. And then possibly also need to make these more "rough".

[Quast65]

It might be interesting for you to contact Andythenorth, I believe he was the main artist for the open pit graphics in FIRS, maybe he has some graphics laying around:
memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=17845

This might be inspirational for you (I dont believe the artist is active anymore and I dont think his graphics may be used):
viewtopic.php?p=1122421#p1122421

Maybe contact Pikkabird, he made the graphics for the open pit in ECS (However, I think his graphics may be under a certain restrictive license):
viewtopic.php?p=683057#p683057

With regards to equipment, contact ISA, take a look in this thread:
viewtopic.php?p=939155#p939155
Page 4 & 5 will be very interesting for you

And I think I once saw another Bagger 288 or a similar sort of huuuuge open pit coal miner somewhere here in the forum, but I am not sure...

[ebla71]

It might be interesting for you to contact Andythenorth, I believe he was the main artist for the open pit graphics in FIRS, maybe he has some graphics laying around:

This might be inspirational for you (I dont believe the artist is active anymore and I dont think his graphics may be used):

Maybe contact Pikkabird, he made the graphics for the open pit in ECS (However, I think his graphics may be under a certain restrictive license):

With regards to equipment, contact ISA, take a look in this thread:
Page 4 & 5 will be very interesting for you

And I think I once saw another Bagger 288 or a similar sort of huuuuge open pit coal miner somewhere here in the forum, but I am not sure...

Thank you very much for sharing these links - much of this is from well before I started playing

However, what I want to do is single tiles that can be placed individually, not one large multi-tile industry or automatic graphics generation from a collection of tiles.

The ultimate goal is to combine this with an industry set inspired by OTIS (One-tile industry set) from GarryG, where maybe an excavator marks the position of the industry, but everything else in "decorative graphics".

[ebla71]

BTW - the large excavator is here

[Quast65]

BTW - the large excavator is here

Yeah, I know that one, but I think I remember another one.
That was actually handdrawn in OpenTTD style.
Doesnt matter

[ebla71]

Just to give you an impression of how large the open pit mines in my Germany 16k scenario actually are, this is the Turow Coal Mine in the southwestern part of Poland, near the border with the Czech Republic and Germany, in the so-called "black triangle" which measures approx. 80x40 tiles and now has the "lignite tiles" just finished.

[gravelpit]

An interesting project; it seems to me, too, that it would be enough to tweak the corners or even add a scattered sand effect like the one in "Beach objects."

Black & Co., 2163-07-22.png (423.54 KiB) Viewed 1102 times

[ebla71]

An interesting project; it seems to me, too, that it would be enough to tweak the corners or even add a scattered sand effect like the one in "Beach objects."Black & Co., 2163-07-22.png

Thanks - I think I will first finish all the intended tiles and then try to modify with some "scattering" to make everything a bit less strict.

[ebla71]

Furthermore, I'm working on some overlays since roads and rails reveal the original background tiles:

Playing around with the overlays did not really work well, as I always get some "flicker effect" that seems to be due to problems with the order of spite drawing, in particular with the rear part of articulated vehicles

My best guess is that a rail/road set which combines the "open pit mine" background graphcis with the road sprites is an easier way to go.

However, I've been unable to find any official source for U&RaTT besides going through the release thread multiple times. If I got that correctly. the author was a bit reluctant to add the sources but maybe it is still around somewhere I did not look so far???

[Quast65]

However, I've been unable to find any official source for U&RaTT besides going through the release thread multiple times. If I got that correctly. the author was a bit reluctant to add the sources but maybe it is still around somewhere I did not look so far???

I just searched for "source" within the thread and this link popped up:
https://github.com/Ufiby/U-RaTT

[ebla71]

I just searched for "source" within the thread and this link popped up:
https://github.com/Ufiby/U-RaTT

Ah, there it is - thank you very much.

I still struggle with the graphics for the different "end sprites" since they seem to be read from the graphics file in a particular order but not defined all separately but with some playing around will figure out sooner or later, as this is my very first road NewGRF.

[ebla71]

Making progress ...

[ebla71]

OpenPitMine v0.1 is a collection of decorative graphics to fill large mining pits and quarries with continuous graphics. In particular, diagonal elements missing so far have been added and I've also made a first attempt at "steep rock slopes". Furthermore, within one category, all graphics are now arranged starting from top left and then continuing clockwise, as indicated by the red arrow in the screenshot above.

Original graphics from OpenGFX and some of GarryG's sets, modified and re-arranged in the purchase menu by ebla71

Source code below, content also available online and in-game

[gravelpit]

It would be good if you placed the truck and the excavator against the sand tile background.

209879_ciezarowki_cat_ludzie.jpg (57.55 KiB) Viewed 710 times

[Quast65]

The next step you might be able to look into is to make those objects slope-aware.
That way the right graphic shows up depending on the slope.
Instead of adding loads of strangely floating stuff, that sometimes is hard to see for which slope it is intended, you only need 1 single thing in the menu.
That looks tidier too.

i am not sure anymore if I ever did those in NML, but GarryG has loads of them in his GRFs.

EDIT:
If you dont want to make them slope-aware, you could also look into grouping certain graphics.
Each menu item can have 1, 2 or 4 different sub-views.
Especially with landscape objects, as those are mainly in groups of 4 directions, so very suitable to put into a 4-view menu.
This will also make your menu a lot tidier.
As for now, its ok, but when you are getting loads and loads of graphics, a well set-up menu structure is very handy

[ebla71]

The next step you might be able to look into is to make those objects slope-aware.
That way the right graphic shows up depending on the slope.
Instead of adding loads of strangely floating stuff, that sometimes is hard to see for which slope it is intended, you only need 1 single thing in the menu.
That looks tidier too.

i am not sure anymore if I ever did those in NML, but GarryG has loads of them in his GRFs.

If you dont want to make them slope-aware, you could also look into grouping certain graphics.
Each menu item can have 1, 2 or 4 different sub-views.
Especially with landscape objects, as those are mainly in groups of 4 directions, so very suitable to put into a 4-view menu.
This will also make your menu a lot tidier.
As for now, its ok, but when you are getting loads and loads of graphics, a well set-up menu structure is very handy

Thank you very much for these suggestions.

I've been considering those already but decided to first finish drawing the graphics before working on the menu structure.

Please keep in mind that this is also just a v0.1 version.

[ebla71]

OPM_Road v0.1 is a road set featuring "full tile" sand and gravel roads to match the OpenPitMine (OPM) graphics, so you can now have your trucks entering a quarry or pit without the background sprites showing.

Based on the U&RaTT code by Ufiby and graphics from OpenGFX as well as GarryG, modified by ebla71

Source code below, content also available online and in-game

[ebla71]

Unfortunately, there was a problem with the RoadTypes which prevented vehicles from running on the OPM Roads that required an immediate fix and update to v0.2

[ebla71]

Example of the OPM_Road v0.2 gravel road for creating a quarry in which trucks (here: from RoadHog) can drive with the road surface matching the "decorative" rock tiles.

Note that these are really functional trucks, no decorative elements. The crane is a road stop and the lamp post a road waypoint.

[gravelpit]

Maybe now a word about this enterprise (the power plant). In my opinion, it looks very poor and doesn't measure up to modern OpenTTD standards.

Black & Co., 2373-10-11#2.png (374.93 KiB) Viewed 425 times