Tropic Station Set [WIP]

[MeusH]

Thank you all for nice words, you made me draw again

Any chance they could be done for use with the iron ore mines in the Temperate climate? I'd LOVE to have real iron ore stations, not using coal mine station for them too.

Yeah, I don't think I'd add some copper ore scattered around (which has other colour than iron ore)


Darkmast49, how about the shading? Do you think it's okay?

[MeusH]

I'm sorry I haven't been posting for a while - I got stuck with two things and I didn't knew whether I should post it or no. Well, here it is:

First, there are too many pipes on station that handles liquid cargo. I need a lot of patience to draw rest of pipes and compose them into sprites.

Then I got stuck with sheds: there is something wrong with the pavement alignment - I think it's under the overhead things, can anyone verify it?

[Ben_K]

Meus, looking really nice

Coincidentally, Im in Cracow at the moment!

[MeusH]

What a big delay. Laziness, exams, holiday, work.

But here I am again. I set myself some priorities and I took control over the pipes.

My idea is to have one (or a few of, on big stations) big pipeline, and many small pipes.
Besides that, platform sprites would get randomly some steel on them.

My question is, shall I merge ground sprites with pipes, or they can be dynamically connected in-game? Wiki says they can be connected in-game, if I understand it correctly

So for each type of tile in a station you need at least two seperate sprites for the foreground and the background.

The red-yellow artifacts should help placing pipes over platforms.

There will be a "hi-tech" building available after certain date, like 1970 or 1980
What do you think about station that is to be used to load/unload liquid cargoes?

Thank you for your time

[XeryusTC]

You can seperate the pipes from the background. It is better to split the pipes in the back from the pipes in the front though, otherwise it will get messy when trains drive through it.

[MeusH]

So I understand these sprites are good
I'll proceed with drawing other stations, then

I hope you're still interested in coding, aren't you?

[XeryusTC]

I am, but I'm a but busy with other things too nowadays, I hope I can do some coding again in 2 or 3 weeks.

[Ben_K]

Great work Meus

[MeusH]

Thank you

Now I'd like to try some unloading animation Not sure if players like it, so comments are welcome. Wiki says

Train enters station (starts loading/unloading) platform where the train is
Train leaves station (done loading/unloading) platform where the train is
Train loads/unloads cargo platform where the train is

seems my plans are quite real, but can NewGRF check whether tile is occupied by train or not? It would be silly if cargo was being dropped from wagon that does not exist, because train is simply shorter by platform?

[DaleStan]

Sometimes. If the station uses PBS, you can check whether the tile is reserved or not. Tiles that are not reserved obviously have no rail car on them, but tiles that are reserved may also be empty.

[MeusH]

Dalestan> Thanks for response So in conjunction with info of train being (un)loaded, it would be possible to determine whether wagon are on a given tile.
However, this won't work when there is no PBS signalling on a junction nearby, will it?



I present you an early version of station - available immediately after game start - the pits will get filled with copper ore when train unloads, then copper ore will vanish, also in animation.

I've photoshopped some variants of copper ore unloading station. Now I'd like you to voice your opinion (also in a poll) to help me make nice station I'd like you to consider copper ore (in this colour, IIRC) so it won't blend with pit walls and floor.

[MeusH]

I prepared some tanks for liquid cargo station, basing on photos
How do you like them?
And don't forget about the poll thanks for voting

[Ben_K]

Sorry chap but I dont get what the poll is actually asking?! For example, arent 1 and 3 the same but at different stages?

[MeusH]

No, they are all different looks of totally empty station. I ask you to choose which one looks the best in your opinion.
How should I ask the question so that it is understandable?

[athanasios]

Problem is I also though it was a different stage, so we can't both have problem with our eyes.

From what I mentioned above I will vote only for the non dark bottom ones. But first put the copper ore inside so we can see where it fits better. (cream/brown or grey one).

[Ben_K]

See, like athanasios, I thought that the dark brown bottom was the unit filling up with Ore!! I like the idea of stage 1, then stage 3, then more filling it in!

Otherwise, I would say either 1 or 2. In fact, both colours would be nice in the set as you can then use whichever suits the rest of your depots better!

[White Rabbit]

3 and 4 look all metallic and modern. Perhaps they could be station upgrades available after a certain year?

[AndersI]

I like #4 best, but that heap of copper ore is much too bright. In reality, there's not much difference between iron ore, copper ore , bauxite, gold, whatever - everything is dirty, crushed stone when it's brought up from the mine. In the game, you should of course use your artistic freedom, to make it easier to differentiate them - but I still think that's too bright.

[MeusH]

AndersI> Good point, I'll keep this in mind.
This pile is, however, old and not detailed - I just needed to find some copper ore fast. But I'll work on new pile soon. Thanks for info about minerals.
I'm amazed by Sanchimaru's copper ore, and I'm almost sure that he making good graphics will encourage me to improve myself.

White Rabbit> Thanks for the idea. I want to draw a rotating tube that unloads trains faster, and it would be available after certain date. It may come with modern unloading station, with more elements of metal

Ben_K, athanasios> It's fixed now. The ore doesn't look well, but I wanted to change it before going sleep. Your advices are valuable. I may make different designs as long as I have time, which I wish myself in bulk amounts

I'll wait some more time for more votes, but I think I'm making my choice (with you )

NewGRF masters: is it possible to change (un)loading times on certain stations? Well, I know it's possible for vehicles, but I haven't found any info about this in, for example, wiki:Action0Stations

[DaleStan]

No. Loading speed is a function of the vehicle, not the station.