"French Trains Set - freight rolling stock needs drawing

Purno · Post by **Purno** » 24 Oct 2005 09:10

HT, looks awesome

hovering teacup · Post by **hovering teacup** » 24 Oct 2005 11:27

thanks for all compliments guys

and,

Snail wrote: By the way, your 2C2 3100 is very well drawn, but it's a couple of pixles too long. When I finish the steamers I was planning to shorten it a bit and add the green livery, which will be similar to those of the PLM early electrics, is it okay with you?

ofcourse, please give it a second life.

Snail wrote: Only thing I noticed was, I tried to attach my locos to your Talbot wagons, and noticed a bit of misproportions. Raising your coaches by one pixel made things much better. When the steamers are done (which will be far away in the future), I was thinking about starting from your Talbots as templates, raising them by one pixel, and drawing the batch of old-timer carriages. I hope this is not the starting point of some major compatibility problem in the future.

good luck there also

Snail · Post by **Snail** » 25 Oct 2005 22:34

After a long silence... the factory doors are opening again.

Meet the 230! I know it's been an outrageuosly long wait, seems this time the workers were lazier than usual. But the good news is that the loco is done!
Some history... this engine was called "bonne à tout faire" (literally "good at everything", meaning it was a universal locomotive). It was derived from the glorious 221 Atlantics (sadly out of the set, because in 1921 they were already old), whose the last trailing axle was replaced with a third powered axle. The result was a slight decrease in top speed, but a good gain in power and tractive effort. These Ten-Wheelers quickly distinguished themselves for being good compromises between a decent top speed and a nice amount of power, and as a result pretty much all railway companies through the nation owned many units of these. The Pacifics proved to be better engines under almost all the points of view, but these continued to be used as cheaper alternatives.

The set will include them in six historical liveries, representing both their evolution and the differences that characterized each railway company's version. From above you can see: PLM's green 230B, Nord's brown 230D, PO's light grey 230B and Midi's black 230B, which represent the older variants and will be available until 1938 with equal probability; the last two versions represent the SNCF era, with a black 230D and a green 230G. These will be the only variants available since 1938, with equal probability each as well.
As you can see, I decided to include models from three different series of the 230. For the Nord company, I chose the 230D instead of the 230B to recreate the historical fact that the locomotives of the Nord company were "better" than the others, i.e. they received a better maintenance and often benefited of some modifications which enhanced their performances. I did draw a brown 230B as well though. As for the modern era, it's represented both by the repainted older locos like the black 230D and the last evolution of the class (the 230G).

I'm also posting a mockup, to show how they look when attached to their tender. This is meant to be a picture of the loco yard just in front of the factory and was taken just before the A 3/5 was shipped towards Geneva

Comments, critics? My next project will be the Pacifics. They're some of the best French engines ever built, and will include 14 different liveries to be spawned over four IDs. Definitely don't hold your breath

lifeblood · Post by **lifeblood** » 25 Oct 2005 22:38

Snail wrote:I know it's been an outrageuosly long wait, seems this time the workers were lazier than usual. But the good news is that the loco is done!

Must be that 35 hour work week. I like 'em very much. What's the likelyhood of putting out a teaser?

hovering teacup · Post by **hovering teacup** » 26 Oct 2005 01:16

bravo Snail, they are perfect.
the "/" and "\" views could be by one pixel thicker, but this might be not needed if they get an appropriate ypos coordinate in coding.

krtaylor · Post by **krtaylor** » 26 Oct 2005 02:04

I'm looking forward to this set. Seems like a lot of these locos are even smaller than the Japanset ones, and those are narrow-gauge!

The Irish · Post by **The Irish** » 26 Oct 2005 11:37

Great work Snail. Looks really awsome. And thanks to HT also, quality sprites as always... Keep up the good work.

On a side note, I am really sorry, but I currently can't help at all with this set. Real live is interfering all the time, move to Brussels, new function in the office, loads of travelling etc, just to busy.

Hope that by the beginning of next year, it will all be settled and I will have a new PC also, so then I will be able to once again help out with the set. But anyways. Please keep going, HT and Snail, than at least we get the sprites together.

Snail · Post by **Snail** » 26 Oct 2005 22:41

Thx for the comments guys!

To HT: yes, I checked the sprites and they apparently were slightly thinner than they were supposed to be, in the diagonal northbound views. A matter of four pixels. Here is the corrected version. A revised A 3/5 has already been shipped to the Swiss border, together with something else

To The Irish: no problem, as you can see even my production pace is very volatile. Glad to be at your service

As for my production now, I'll get started on the 231/240's in no time. Still have to decide about the liveries. Might end up drawing "only" 12 (multiple liveries is really what delays models, as the shading has to be redone practically from scratch, and lots of details change from version to version).

A taster set? We'd love to... if only we could find a coder...

jvassie · Post by **jvassie** » 06 Nov 2005 18:58

Awesome sprites Snail!

Any progress with the website Wallyweb?

James

Snail · Post by **Snail** » 19 Nov 2005 23:54

Long time no news... well, after a quiet period, our factory opens its doors again.

Here you got the Pacifics and the 240's! As I anticipated, they were a joint project (the real machines shared the same chassis), so that's why it took so long. I hope that 16 liveries spread over 4 IDs are enough to justify the wait!

Let's talk a bit about these engines... well, one could say that they were some of the best French steamers ever, and some of them were the highest peak of railroad engineering in Europe, unmatched by any other loco of the time. The Pacifics were heavily used in almost all railroad networks around the country, and the 240's proved to be a very ingenious and successful modification of the original design, through which a huge amount of extra power was reached losing just a little bit in top speed. Their employment era was around 60 years old, with the first engine being delivered in 1907 and the last ones set aside in the early Seventies. Among there engines there were many famous ones which pulled the special trains with CIWL coaches, which will be included in the set.

Follows a long, boring explanation of the models, so if you can't wait to see them, just scroll down

More specifically, and dividing by ID:

The first ID is named 231A and includes the original Pacifics. It will show up in eight different liveries: (1) the famous PO 4500 series, in its light grey color scheme, first Pacific to be built in Europe, available 1921-1938; (2) PLM's 6100 series, in the usual green colors, also available 1921-1938; (3) the earliest 231's by Nord company, similar to the two previous ones, available 1921-1924; (4) Nord's early SuperPacifics, a deep modification of the previous ones, available 1924-1931; (5) Nord's late SuperPacifics, available 1931-1936; (6) the famous streamlined version by Nord company, available 1936-1938: and (7) a black repaint of the earliest 231's, named 231A by SNCF, together with ( 8 ) a green repaint of Nord's SuperPacifics, later named 231C. The last two variants will replace all the previous ones in 1938 and will be available until the engine disappears, representing the SNCF era.
So, this ID will be populated by quite a few engines. This is intentional, as French 231 engines went through a dramatic evolution, and we tried to model it in the game at the best of our possibilities. The predominance of engines by Nord company is intentional, too. Historically, that was the railroad company which owned the best Pacifics in the country, and it often was the first one to equip its locos with new, better solutions.
The historical popularity of each engine is also modeled by the availability years of each single model. PLM pacifics, for instance, were built in 462 units with similar design, that's why the early green variant is available unchanged for 18 years. OTOH, Nord's streamlined version was actually a one-of-a-kind, so you'll only have two years in the game to build it (1936-1938, when it was historically built); it will be much rarer in the game.
As for availability, until 1938 any color scheme (green, grey, or brown) will be available with equal probability. The brown schemes are intended to replace one another as time goes on, so if you want to build a Nord engine, you'll always get one brown livery, and the purchase year will determine which one. After 1938, the black and the green one will have equal probability as well.

The second ID is named 240A. They were the first batch of modified Pacifics, with basically one more driving axle replacing the original trailing axle. Two are the liveries: the original PO light grey scheme, originally belonging to the 4700 series, available 1932-1940, and a later repaint, black, historically also used by PO, but here representing the transition to SNCF regime.

The third ID contains four of the most famous French engines ever. Here they are: (1) the Nord-built 231E, which in the game will be coupled with the Flèche d'Or special consist; (2) the PO-built 231H, in its original light grey livery; (3) the État-built 231G, that will be combined with the Transatlantique coaches, also built by État company; and (4) the PLM-built 231K, which will pull the Étoile du Nord special train. These were André Chapelon's masterpieces. 231E and 231H were old PO engines, while 231G and 231K were old models of État and PLM companies respectively; all of them were totally rebuilt from 1934 on, adopting such advanced solutions that they would develop 3000 HP (against the original value of 2500) and could attain top speeds of up to 175 km/h. The four liveries will be available with equal probability and will determine the livery override for express pax carriages.

The fourth ID includes the latest evolution of the 240's, in two liveries, a dark brown one still used by SNCF on some models, which will be available until 1946, and a classic dark green one. The green livery will be more likely to appear than the brown one (3/8 - 5/8 should do it), and from 1946 on, only the green one will appear on new engines.

Right, if you still alive after reading this, you do deserve some eye candy. So here they are! I'll have to do a double post, coz the forum doesn't support more than three pics.
Moreover, I'm working on the animation of these things. Side views are done and I'll focus on 45° views in the next few days. When they're ready I'll post a mock-up.

Guys, three words. Critics, critics, critics. These were awesome engines and they will have to look accordingly awesome in the set. I'm almost proud of having drawn these beasts, and it was a lot of fun, but I'd be happy to get any idea to make them better.

Cheers!

Snail · Post by **Snail** » 20 Nov 2005 00:06

And here you get the 240P's in their two liveries, together with a mock-up of what the engine should look like on a straight track. I chose a light grey 240A to build the mock-up; since the dimensions and the general shape of all the engines are pretty much the same, it should be representative of all the 16 versions. Also, some tenders are shared, to save sprites.

My next step will be to animate these beasts! But first, unleash your comments.

OzTrans · Post by **OzTrans** » 20 Nov 2005 02:02

Critics ... well, they do look exceptionally good ... awesome in one word.

krtaylor · Post by **krtaylor** » 20 Nov 2005 12:58

The French set seems to have a very different style to it, which will be great.

The Irish · Post by **The Irish** » 23 Nov 2005 10:41

OK everyone. On the initiation of Snail, we have added a poll to our topic, to see what you folks think about animated steamers and if the French Set should feature them as well. Thanks to Rai for actually adding it.

Of course, I had to vote for option 1

Please vote...

Thanks.

Snail · Post by **Snail** » 23 Nov 2005 23:27

TY The Irish!

Hope there's enuff interest in the animation of steamers, if there is I might review the sprites I drew so far and add the moving rods to the wheels. Some engines, namely the tank steamers, would only be animated on the horizontal views though, as the diagonal views display too little of the driving wheels. (the lateral tanks cover them so they don't show completely in TTD perspective, which is from above).

Anyway, I'm done with the 231/240's. It was a hell of a work and I hope the results are worth it. Here you get the animated sprites at work, plus all the sprites in the same picture (I drew 6 frames for each engine). Afraid I'll have to do a double post again.

Comments? Critics? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I guess I can say this is the first European animated steamer (that is, not coming from sprites of other sets outside of Europe)

Here you get, the order is the same as posted before,

My next work will be the 140C. A smaller engine, for local heavy traffic, to be drawn in 4 liveries (it's gonna be a child's play after these things

). I'll try to animate that, too, even if the driving wheels will be much smaller.

BTW, I was reconsidering the engines list and I guess we do need a Decapod after all, together with the 151A. So I was planning to put the 150B which, contrarily to what I though, comes from an original French design and not a German one (I made confusion with the 150X). To HT: I remember you posted some info about the 150B, which I intend to use; do you know by any chance the length of that engine? Also, do you have any info regarding the previous 150A? My idea would be to put many choices of freight locos in the set, at least one for each of the three major pre-SNCF company: we have the 240 for the PO, then the 151A for the PLM is planned, so we do need the 150A/150B for the Compagnie du Nord.

Anyway, here you got!

Cheers

Snail · Post by **Snail** » 23 Nov 2005 23:29

And here there's the second batch of files. Enjoy!

lifeblood · Post by **lifeblood** » 23 Nov 2005 23:32

Swell. Where's wallyweb though? Your site needs an update.

krtaylor · Post by **krtaylor** » 24 Nov 2005 02:27

Those are awesome! I especially love the rotating rear wheel. That's some of the best steam-loco animation I've seen in TTD, and I think I've mostly seen all there are.

Post by **PikkaBird** » 24 Nov 2005 04:47

Very nice.

Good luck coding a 6-frame animation though.

4 or 8 would be a lot easier.

Snail · Post by **Snail** » 24 Nov 2005 09:23

Pikkabird wrote:Good luck coding a 6-frame animation though. 4 or 8 would be a lot easier.

Whoops...

I didn't know that!! Well, let's see if our coder (yea right, as if we already had one) can do something with these, otherwise I'll edit them to make them easier to work with when it's time to code them.
Anyway, I was planning to use 4 frames for most of my future engines. Only the 241/242 project was planned with 6 frames, as those engines' driving wheels are the same as the Pacifics (the larger they are, the more frames you can successfully draw).

Apart from this, thanks for your comments guys!! I'd like to really get some feedback on these, because they'll be some of the most representative engines of the set.

lifeblood wrote:Where's wallyweb though? Your site needs an update.

True, but our mighty Webmaster asked us for a vacation some time ago and we let him take it. It's part of the contract (you know, the 'Benefits' stuff...) and this means we'll only make him work harder when he's back.

(j/k!!!)

To HT; any news about the Decapod?

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