A plea for the NG

[Raichase]

I've been playing a bit with Narrow Gauge and the Canadian Set recently, and am noticing that a lot of sets that have no narrow gauge graphics available TTDP takes the "monorail/maglev" graphic and places it when unavailable (which makes sense, as that's what narrow gauge has replaced).

I don't know how possible it is, but it looks a bit funny to have narrow gauge level crossings show up as monorails, because I am using a custom graphics set.

[Purno]

You mean road sets? Got the same issue with metro tracks unfortunately.

[Raichase]

You mean road sets? Got the same issue with metro tracks unfortunately.

Not limited to road sets - bridge sets, tunnel sets, pretty much anything that deals with the replacement of graphics involving railways.

I'm not commenting on the sets themselves, merely looking for a solution .

[michael blunck]

Problem is that original TTD has only a limited set of tiles for level crossings, bridges, etc. Thus, the game engine is unable to assemble correct sprites (ground sprite, road sprite, rail sprite, ...) to make up the needed tile.

regards
Michael

[mart3p]

Currently support for other road sets etc. has to be added to the alternative track types individually. I have already done some work on this for the Narrow Gauge Rails grf, to which I added support for TTRS3 road crossings. I also have a test grf which adds support for UK roads.

I can add support for other road sets, I just need the sprites.

There is a better solution than adding support for individual sets, being developed for OpenTTD. This will allow overlays to be used for the alternative track types, so any track type can be drawn over whatever road tiles are being used.

[peter1138]

And while it is being developed for OpenTTD, the spec has been designed so that it can be implemented in TTDPatch.

So please post requests, concerns, etc to the discussion page.

(Please don't send a PM. A little birdy said I should have received one a while ago that I never saw.)

[FooBar]

Got the same issue with metro tracks unfortunately.

Why haven't you told so? I'm in the position to fix that. The still-to-be-released version of the metro tracks which you can find in your PM box supports TTRS, NARoads, UKRoads and OpenGFX already. What would you like to have added to that?

[peter1138]

Heh, you should try the Metro tracks version I've got...

[FooBar]

Heh, you should try the Metro tracks version I've got...

I'm interested. If you don't want to make 'em publically available, just send me a PM. Most likely, I'll need a different version of OTTD with that as well. A win32 binary would be fine

[Raichase]

Problem is that original TTD has only a limited set of tiles for level crossings, bridges, etc. Thus, the game engine is unable to assemble correct sprites (ground sprite, road sprite, rail sprite, ...) to make up the needed tile.

Thanks Michael, that was what I was afraid of .

Currently support for other road sets etc. has to be added to the alternative track types individually. I have already done some work on this for the Narrow Gauge Rails grf, to which I added support for TTRS3 road crossings. I also have a test grf which adds support for UK roads.

You're a genius!

I can add support for other road sets, I just need the sprites.

I'm not sure who made the combined road set that I'm using. I want to say Hyronymus?

There is a better solution

And while it is being developed for OpenTTD, the spec has been designed so that it can be implemented in TTDPatch.

So please post requests, concerns, etc to the discussion page.

I should have known that peter1138 would be behind such magic! Whenever something really funky is being done for OTTD, it's usually got his name on it .

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll keep my eyes peeled.

[michael blunck]

So please post requests [...]

Being "track tiles", even with the new concept they will probably remain "flat", else one could have "real" railway gates eventually (w/o false clipping) ...

regards
Michael

[Acerbus]

Hm, will the new track overlay system allow for diagonal road crossings and such?

[peter1138]

Remember the spec is unfinished, hence it is not on the official wiki.

Being "track tiles", even with the new concept they will probably remain "flat", else one could have "real" railway gates eventually (w/o false clipping) ...

Are you talking about level-crossings? These will indeed need special handling.

I think it sufficient to have a two sets of front and back sprites for the gates, one for open and one for closed. These will have real bounding boxes, parallel to the route that is currently open; so you can have gates behind a train when the crossing is closed, and gates across the road, behind road vehicles, when the crossing is open. A house-style action2 would allow ultimate flexibility, but mixing different action2 styles in one feature may not be simple.

Some space to store an animation frame would be desirable as well.

Hm, will the new track overlay system allow for diagonal road crossings and such?

It is in the provisional specification, though that does not mean it will be implemented yet.

[michael blunck]

[..]

Are you talking about level-crossings?

Yes, o/c.

I think it sufficient to have a two sets of front and back sprites for the gates, one for open and one for closed. These will have real bounding boxes, parallel to the route that is currently open [...]

Same setup as station tiles´ bounding boxes.

road vehicles [...] but mixing different action2 styles in one feature may not be simple.

However, be aware that the old british style of gates (closing the track) is totally unknown in continental Europe.

Some space to store an animation frame would be desirable as well.

Interesting.

regards
Michael

[peter1138]

However, be aware that the old british style of gates (closing the track) is totally unknown in continental Europe.

Indeed. However, because there will be no train on the track when it is in that state, the sprite can just be empty in middle without worrying about drawing the front and back part separately (front and back from the rail point of view, maybe I need to draw a diagram )