US Set Development Thread

Oracle · Post by **Oracle** » 21 May 2005 21:43

Oz, those steel mill stations are truly amazing! I'm working on recoding the Industrial Stations right now so that I can get onto coding yours as soon as possible. Maybe chimneys or something on the roof would be good to improve them but I think they look excellent at the moment anyway.
If you draw cranes in different positions across the track then I could make them randomly change position when trains come in. Unfortunately, making them move up and down the station wouldn't work - they'd jump horribly.
For when you cut them up, here are a few pointers:
Just put all the sprites in one file - I only use that so there's no point putting them in separate files.
Cut them up into lots of different pieces - for the older one, I'd recommend: the gravel floor, the "fences"/supports at each side, the cranes, the steel coils, the small building at the end, the side walls of the "shed" and the roof of the "shed" all as separate sprites.
I look forward to seeing it working!

Regarding maglevs, we only have 12 free IDs. If we are going to do it, we'll need to keep the ID usage to a minimum. That might mean two engines and one refittable car - we are that short. Of course, we can change capacities and liveries on refit, so that's not a massive problem. I have to say that I think Mr X's maglev is a bit bland and uninspiring to include, though.

Dan, you'll have to be more specific about ID usage for the interurbans before I code them. I don't really understand how you want them to work with wagons etc. and obviously you haven't given me the specs yet. Don't worry, though - I'm doing stations at the moment.

krtaylor · Post by **krtaylor** » 21 May 2005 23:15

My feelings for maglevs are that it should be just like MB's Transrapid - you get one maglev train, for mail/passengers only, and that's it. That would only take up 3 IDs at the most. We can have different liveries for the three different climates, but that doesn't waste any IDs.

BobDendry · Post by **BobDendry** » 22 May 2005 02:04

I had a go at making an NYC PA. I'm not very good, but tell me what you think.

krtaylor · Post by **krtaylor** » 22 May 2005 02:33

The white stripe needs to be lighter in color, but otherwise, not bad!

Don't forget, we need the B unit also.

BobDendry · Post by **BobDendry** » 22 May 2005 02:53

I felt the darker colour for the white lines blended in better. I tried having white, and it just looked horrible. I might put the white back in and show you, though.
EDIT: Here we go. Which line is better?

Aegir · Post by **Aegir** » 22 May 2005 03:37

Lighter looks better.

BobDendry · Post by **BobDendry** » 22 May 2005 05:12

Heres the current progress

DanMacK · Post by **DanMacK** » 22 May 2005 05:13

Not too bad at all. Although, I have had an NYC PA-1 (and PB-1) in the works for a few months... really need to get those done.

DanMacK · Post by **DanMacK** » 22 May 2005 05:22

OK, the ID suggestions are as follows

1. Wooden Interurban - Refittable to Passengers, Mail, Goods, Food, Valuables, Gold, Diamonds
2. Steeplecab Locomotive
3. Express Car - Refittable to mail, goods, , Food, Valuables, Gold, Diamonds
4. Steel Interurban - Passengers Only (May be refittable in the future)
5. Electroliner - Passengers Only

That leaves us 7 ID's free

krtaylor · Post by **krtaylor** » 22 May 2005 11:59

@DanMacK - Why would the wooden interurban be refittable to all those things? It'd make more sense for it just to tow an ordinary boxcar, which I think they could do.

@WhiteHand - Hmm. You may be right about the stripe. But the rest of the loco is lighter too, particularly the roof, which isn't black, but grey. Here's a good photo:

Post by **PikkaBird** » 22 May 2005 12:53

krtaylor wrote:Here's a good photo:

I'm not saying you're wrong, but one thing I've learned over the last few years is to treat photos of models with great suspicion. Got a photo of the real thing?

krtaylor · Post by **krtaylor** » 23 May 2005 02:33

Your point is well taken, but I only post a photo of a model when I can't find one of the real thing. The many different manufacturers of this model and livery are all a similar shade of grey, though, and it's also the same grey I've seen on other NYC stuff, so I tend to think it's accurate. Dan might be able to make a definitive ruling, though.

Aegir · Post by **Aegir** » 23 May 2005 02:57

I though NYC also had a black/grey/silver colorscheme? Atleast every photo and model (Inluding my nice little NYC f7) has that color scheme. Regardless, I like Whitehand's sprites.

krtaylor · Post by **krtaylor** » 23 May 2005 03:09

I think they do also, but not on the PAs. That version has a darker black, and a brighter white. Maybe it's the freight livery, and the grey was the passenger livery? Dan?

DanMacK · Post by **DanMacK** » 23 May 2005 03:39

Interurbans - The "Wood Interurban" should be refittable to all of those things, the box motor variant could be used to haul all of those things - Everything the express car is designed to handle. Saves having 2 separate ID's for a passenger motor and a box motor. Box motor is designed for light, fast freight shipments, and can only handle oen or 2 cars.

NYC PA-1's. As you can see on the version I've got in the works, the model is accurate. Most new HO scale models are designed accurately. I have got a light grey LS unit halfway done however, so it would be overkill to start another one.

Oz · Post by Oz » 23 May 2005 19:55

Decided against the chimneys. I figure when (!) I get working on the actual mill industry sprites there's going to be plenty going on with the blast furnaces, coke ovens, open hearths, etc. And, in all honesty, I looked over some old photos of the US Steel Gary Works, and train sheds were just that: sheds.

Breaking down the sprites might take a little while. I'm actually on a short vacation at my folks' place, and they don't have PhotoShop. Just downloaded the GIMP, though, and it'll take a little bit to get the indexed color settings right. Gonna try to get them broken down in the next few days. That depends on how much trouble me and my miscreant buddies get into.

krtaylor: if you look at the complete picture of my sprites a few pages back you'll see the platforms with LOTS of coils. I figured on three states: empty, a few coils, and holy shiznat-get those coils off of the platform.

Cheers!

krtaylor · Post by **krtaylor** » 23 May 2005 21:22

I would think maybe more than three intermediary stages would be good - but then, the platform is probably more than one square long; maybe we can mix the three graphic levels to achieve a gradation.

B52 · Post by **B52** » 23 May 2005 23:25

Is it possible for us to have yard slug units.

source 1

source 3

DanMacK · Post by **DanMacK** » 23 May 2005 23:29

Possible, yes. I've been thinking about CN slugs for the Canadian set, but what purpose would they serve? They have no HP, just tractive effort. Road slugs a-la-CSX may be possible, but agian, what's the advantage over a loco with HP?

B52 · Post by **B52** » 23 May 2005 23:50

Like cabooses, it could be a nice feature. Cabooses have no HP or speed. It is just their for eye-candy.

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