My first Attempt at new Graphics- Temperate Road Renewal

[Railwaymodeler]

Well, I'm a little hesitant to post a pic of my road work with all the excellent road sets out there, but I wanted to get my feet wet with a graphics set by doing something simple (I tried a train set and it failed. Miserably.) I figure this would be a good way to learn the basics of shading.

Here's a screenshot of the work I have done. Nothing too fancy, just a little renewal of the TTD roads. Since here int he US, the divider stripe doesn't continue through intersections, I removed them on the city streets (Haven't yet on rural roads, but I will). Added small stop signs to the 4-way intersection. Added a mud puddle at the end of the rural roads in two angles. (I'd appreciate knowing how that looks before doing the other two angles).

Any critique would be appreciated.

[BobDendry]

That's very nice. however, try to get the colours on the intersections to match more closely with the divider lines. Otherwise, nice job.

[Railwaymodeler]

Do you mean where I have the stop lines at the 4 way (The white lines I added) or where I patched over the divider lines in the 'T' intersection?

I know the 4-ways are a little off. I plan to fix this soon.

[WWTBAM]

4ways

[BobDendry]

Yes the 4 ways. the alignment relative to the divider lines and the colour are a bit off.

[Railwaymodeler]

Thanks for the critique so far, everyone. Now may I ask: Does the GRF wizard automatically encode all my changed to TTD pallette? I use photoshop to edit the pcx file that GRF wizard puts out, and I'm sure at some point I am using colors that aren't in TTD's palette, which is something I do not understand too well.

Also, when making complete sets, it is possible to replace unwanted vehicles, such as Toyland's, right? I'm totally unfamilair with exactly how TTD patch works, don't know where to begin reading, and would probably get lost anyway. (I understand Visual Basic pretty well, but learning other forms of programming is like learning Swahillian to me). I'm willing and ready to learn. Just point me in the right direction.

[DaleStan]

Does the GRF wizard

I can't tell you, because I don't use it. I'd suggest that you learn grfcodec's command line interface instead. It's pretty easy, assuming you're vaguely familiar with a command-line, and, with 0.9.9, it's hard to encode a PCX file with an incorrect palette.

Also, when making complete sets, it is possible to replace unwanted vehicles, such as Toyland's, right?

Correct.

(I understand Visual Basic pretty well, but

Unfortunately, NFO has basically no resemblance to any other language in existence, with the possible exceptions of ASM and machine code.
But the learning curve is relatively shallow; a simple vehicle can be coded in five lines of code. (Six if you count sprite 0, but I don't.)

You seem to be trying to do an Action A replacement. Those are tedious, but relatively easy. The only wiki pages you have to understand are the ones titled Action8, ActionA, and RealSprites.

For a vehicle set, start here, and read through the tutorial. Then read GRFActionsDetailed, Action8, Action0, Action0General, Action0Trains (assuming you are coding a train set. If not, chose the appropriate vehicle type instead), Action1, RealSprites, Action2, Action3, Action4, VariationalAction2, and VarAction2Vehicles. I suggest that order. Skip any mention of "callbacks", and anything else you don't understand. That looks like a lot, but most of it is covered in the tutorial, so there shouldn't be too much new material here; just some finer points that the tutorial glosses over.
Then go code something. It might be advisable to go code something before reading the two Variational 2 pages, too.

At some point, you'll need to read everything linked on the NewGraphicsSpecs page, but attempting to read it all in one sitting is not likely to be productive. Take frequent breaks to employ what you have learned, and never be afraid to ask for explanations.

If at *ANY* *POINT*, something doesn't work for you, come back and post the text from the wiki that you attempted to obey, the code that you wrote, and the error message from at least one of NFORenum and TTDPatch, preferably both. Someone will have made that mistake before, and will know how to fix it.

[Purno]

Any critique would be appreciated.

It's ok, but you're intersection is 'incompatible' with 'drive on left', FYI.
Besides, the lines on the intersections could be a little more fading in the grey asphalt, so instead of using white and dark grey, use light grey pixels in between it, just like the current stripes on the road.
It's a good start.

[Dave]

Agreed - a nice effort indeed! Roadsets are certainly not as easy as they look but you've had a good try - I'm looking forward to seeing more!

[m3henry]

so dave, what happened about your 'new british roadset'?

[Dave]

It died a horiffic death..

Well it didn't, it's sorta still in progress - I've still got a lot of work to do on it though.

[Railwaymodeler]

Any critique would be appreciated.

It's ok, but you're intersection is 'incompatible' with 'drive on left', FYI.
Besides, the lines on the intersections could be a little more fading in the grey asphalt, so instead of using white and dark grey, use light grey pixels in between it, just like the current stripes on the road.
It's a good start.

Thanks, I knew that when I was drawing, but I figured that I was making these for myself first and foremost and I never play driving on the left

I do have a way to fix that, though- When i fix that line, I could make it into a full-width croswalk, then it wouldn't matter if you drove left or right.

But tell me, how does that pile of muck look at the end of the rural roads? I am a bit doubtful of it. Wouldn't mind adding a small item, such as a bulldozer to one view.

[Dave]

Well - this is what I did for the British roadset - you'll have to look through the entire thread:

(Oh and it's not finished)

http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?t=23536

[DaleStan]

Any critique would be appreciated.

It's ok, but you're intersection is 'incompatible' with 'drive on left', FYI.

That's easily fixed with a second set of sprites, and an Action7 to select the correct sprites.

[LittleHelper]

...But tell me, how does that pile of muck look at the end of the rural roads? I am a bit doubtful of it. Wouldn't mind adding a small item, such as a bulldozer to one view.

I would have had only one remark regarding the fading into the asphalt (see above). For me, the end of the road with the "muck" is ok, a bulldozer might be too much (because you have a lot of roads in a city leading into a rural area..., means then there would be too many bulldozers).

regards
LH

[Dave]

I disagree. Bear in mind that a town never builds a half-tile road. This only happens when the AI or you yourself do so. It is the same in the city centre.

I've been told that my road-ends (the gated one and the roadworks) look the best in my roadset, but you hardly ever see them. So I guess it's a shame.