Wessex_Electric_Nut wrote:Bloodnok, I thought you gave up on Lomo all together!! Or thats what I am sure you told me in the chatroom!
I just got very irritated with it. I decided to leave it alone for a while, and come back later.
This time, I've done one very important thing: Not play the 'Britain' map. Problem with it is that the landscape is just so much more believable than the generated maps, but there is not enough space, particularly around London, to build sensible size stations and lines. Half the country turns into one big city, when there should be plenty of space between individual towns. The generated maps can be much better in this regard, even though the landscape can be a bit on the pants side.
As I haven't gone back and played the britain map, I haven't got so depressed about how lame the generated maps can look.
I've also managed to create a through station that allows trains to run through or terminate in minimal space (i.e. no loops) now. This was always a problem before - having the trains run off in different directions, even if you route them to a specific exit point.
Having played a map or two for a reasonable length, I'm getting a feel for what the game could be if only it had enough vehicles.
A better goods wagon is a requirement for the UK set. Can't be doing with the same 12t van with a max speed of 50mph for 100 years. And I happen to have a VAA and an FFA/FGA which I could import, if only I knew how to render them into locomotion sprites.
A MkIIIb DVT is also a requirement to go with the 90. This I would need to build, but it is something that's part of my planned future projects anyway, and it doesn't need to be a 20,000 poly monster for locomotion
. Having already built the MkIIIa carriage on which the design is based, I don't think it will be too hard to make a mesh for this to use for LoMo. Problem is how to render it from GMAX.
I'd love to make a 92 as well. Probably have to be one version for DC and one for AC, as I read somewhere here that if you set a vehicle up to use 3rd rail and overhead, it is an 'AND' requirement, not an 'OR' requirement. Plus, that means I can show the pantograph down on the DC version
Anyway, yes I am interested, I'd like to see how the dat files work as I too am a complete dummy. If someone produces a trainz IM converter, I am sure that we would be using strings fleet of Class 313/4/5/507/8 and some of my stuff too.
I'd be quite happy with a .gmax to LoMo convertor, don't need to mess around with .im files
(BTW, if this is the case, is it possible to make an articulated train by using the artic sections as bogies, rather like my Class 475 unit that you thought was too heavy for the track conditions?
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Up to four 'vehicle' sections can be put in one unit, and it is possible that the bogies could be full height and be the articulation points of your 475, though I'm not sure how well it would render - the bogies don't have as many angles as the vehicle bodies, so aren't as smoothly animated.
If you watch the APT closely, it sets up the shared bogies when appropriate, and puts in separate ones when not, so there is a lot of potential for smart stuff in the bogies that we haven't found yet...