US Set Development Thread

[OzTrans]

... make it so that you can refit the train to the various painting schemes that the loco has, like UP, SP, ATSF, BN, BNSF ...

You cannot, only vehicles that carry cargo can be livery refitted; e.g. a passenger car can be refitted to a particular livery, then the loco takes on the livery of the pax cars. The only way to get company liveries for locos is to select the livery at random and have the player buy them until the desired one turns up.

[NekoMaster]

... make it so that you can refit the train to the various painting schemes that the loco has, like UP, SP, ATSF, BN, BNSF ...

You cannot, only vehicles that carry cargo can be livery refitted; e.g. a passenger car can be refitted to a particular livery, then the loco takes on the livery of the pax cars. The only way to get company liveries for locos is to select the livery at random and have the player buy them until the desired one turns up.

Hmm, well what about a parameter that lets play with all trains with random liveries, or, have only one and any trains that doesnt have the livery are disabled

eg. say if the parameter, only Trains with the Union Pacific Paint Scheme will appear, other trains that don't will not appear in the buy list.

[OzTrans]

... what about a parameter that lets play with all trains with random liveries, or, have only one and any trains that doesn't have the livery are disabled ...

Technically, that is a possibility. Another option would be (depending on a parameter setting) random selection to favour one company over all others. This is still on a wish list for the Canadian Rail set, but it does require a good selection of engines (liveries) for all or most of the companies.

[NekoMaster]

... what about a parameter that lets play with all trains with random liveries, or, have only one and any trains that doesn't have the livery are disabled ...

Technically, that is a possibility. Another option would be (depending on a parameter setting) random selection to favour one company over all others. This is still on a wish list for the Canadian Rail set, but it does require a good selection of engines (liveries) for all or most of the companies.

What about a invisable car you can add that will let you select the livery?

[OzTrans]

What about an invisible car you can add that will let you select the livery?

You would need a cargo type 'livery' for a company livery refit. You could then have that carried by the loco anyway, so the invisible wagon wouldn't be necessary. But this would be an ugly hack. It should not be done, as it would 'steal' a cargo type and trains could no longer wait for full cargo load of all wagons.

[NekoMaster]

What about an invisible car you can add that will let you select the livery?

You would need a cargo type 'livery' for a company livery refit. You could then have that carried by the loco anyway, so the invisible wagon wouldn't be necessary. But this would be an ugly hack. It should not be done, as it would 'steal' a cargo type and trains could no longer wait for full cargo load of all wagons.

Um, both NARS and UKRS have locos that change colour\shape when it hauls certain cars\cargo

[OzTrans]

... both NARS and UKRS have locos that change colour\shape when it hauls certain cars\cargo ...

... and ...

... a passenger car can be refitted to a particular livery, then the loco takes on the livery of the pax cars ...

Yes, that can be done, but you should have appropriate liveries for both the wagons and the engine. Picture this, a player has bought a coal train. The player refits the train to , say, Union Pacific, but if there are no Union Pacific coal wagons then you get awkward questions.

Company based livery refits (of the engine via the wagons) should only be implemented if both the engine and the wagons are available in that livery. This is often the case with passenger trains and that has been implemented successfully in many a set, may be even the USset. But this is not what you are looking for, or is it ?

[NekoMaster]

... both NARS and UKRS have locos that change colour\shape when it hauls certain cars\cargo ...

... and ...

... a passenger car can be refitted to a particular livery, then the loco takes on the livery of the pax cars ...

Yes, that can be done, but you should have appropriate liveries for both the wagons and the engine. Picture this, a player has bought a coal train. The player refits the train to , say, Union Pacific, but if there are no Union Pacific coal wagons then you get awkward questions.

Company based livery refits (of the engine via the wagons) should only be implemented if both the engine and the wagons are available in that livery. This is often the case with passenger trains and that has been implemented successfully in many a set, may be even the USset. But this is not what you are looking for, or is it ?

Meh, I would at least just like to be able to play as one company alone... anyways, this set should have the Krauss Maffei ML4000 in SP Colours, its not the best locomotive, but its unique in that fact it was a Diesel Hydraulic Locomotive built for main line use, rather then branch line or switching use

[NekoMaster]

Hmm, seams a little dead 'round here again

[krtaylor]

True. Oracle, you around? Any news?

[NekoMaster]

Yeah, I would love to see a new release of this set sometime soon :\

[ISA]

Yeah, I would love to see a new release of this set sometime soon :\

Theres tons of stuff to be made! :/

[NekoMaster]

Hmm, well, i hope that there wil be a release eventually...

[alphanumeric]

still at it krtayler? sure has been a long time. keep up the good work

[PikkaBird]

can you make grf's as good as dan mack yet?

KR doesn't draw and he doesn't code... I've yet to work out exactly what he does do for the sets he's involved in. I guess whatever it is it works, since those sets have actually seen completion, unlike the majority of projects here.

BTW, I've seen your recent work in the Locomotion section. Feel free to stay over there. Or get banned, whatever works for you.

[alphanumeric]

well let me fill in that little gap in your head bird. he is very knowledgeable and very well coordinating.

[krtaylor]

Yes, I pretty much manage, and try to guide the sets through to being published. Unfortunately, it's a massive amount of drawing and coding work that takes a long long time (and which, indeed, I don't do). So when the set gets published, the real workers tend to breathe a sigh of relief and go enjoy some "real life".

The US Set hasn't had an active coder in a long time. Oracle did the original work, then he dropped off the forum for a long while. He recently resurfaced to say Hi, but hasn't committed to update the coding. And there are very very few experienced coders around, there never have been.

If you want to see updated versions of the sets, the #1 thing you can do is: learn how to code them. I do carefully collect all the drawn sprites and keep them archived in a tracking table, so a coder can instantly see everything that needs to be done and all the data they will need.

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

I'm still here and happy to assist any coder or artist who wants to work on the set.

[CharlieMTA]

Sorry I haven't posted in years(?) now. If you need any of the livery, tram (yes I know these still aren't drawn 100% correctly), or station graphics (Boston & Providence and South Station Circa 1921) re-posted here let me know.

[krtaylor]

Hey, glad to see you back!

I collected all the sprites you posted, and have kept them in the hopes Oracle will return or some other coder will show up. If I'm missing any I'd be glad to have them.

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

[andythenorth]

I would like to rework the US Set, but I think it's too much work as I have my fingers in too many pies already

I am playing a FIRS game at the moment with US Set and Canset 1.0 and it's fun. NARS 2.0 is my favourite set, but sometimes it's nice to have realistic liveries.

If I reworked the US Set, I'd want to do it properly with complete livery support for certain companies (UP, NS, SP, Santa Fe, BNSF). That's a big job