Transport Tycoon Forums

The Universal Rail Type NewGRF is an attempt at making train replacement easier. It allows players to use Autoreplace to convert engines and wagons into models of other rail types e.g. monorail <-> maglev. Simply configure Autoreplace, build Universal Depots (select the Universal Rail construction option and then select the depot) and send the trains that you want to replace to the nearest Universal Depot. Once the trains are all in depots you can convert the tracks and restart all of the trains. Since Autoreplace has been used, the trains' orders and groups are preserved.

Compatibility with NewGRFs that provide new trains or new/modified rail types is not guaranteed. In some cases it may be necessary to remove all wagons from a train for Autoreplace to be successful but there should be no problems with the default engines and wagons.

If you want more of a challenge, set the "Enable push/pull behaviour" parameter and have a look at this post. It requires building a "Universal Engine" to push/pull trains to new depots. It might be really tedious though so it isn't the default behaviour.

Side effects:

• Players can build Universal Rail track which allows any of the default trains to run on it. This defeats the purpose of having different rail types but currently it's the only way to make this GRF function. It's up to you to use or abuse this feature. Of course, you can set the speed limit and construction cost of the track in the parameter menu to add some kind of penalty. In addition, Universal Rail track looks like normal railway track so it may be confusing if you build a lot of it. Note that if you build a Universal Depot at a 45degree angle to other rail, a small piece of Universal Rail track may be built automatically. This is unavoidable.

Version History:
2.0.1

• Compatibility fixes

2.0.0

• Universal rail track speed limit can be set by parameter (defaults to unlimited)
• Universal rail track construction cost multiplier can be set by parameter
• Universal engine does not need to be constructed
• Added readme that can be accessed ingame

1.4 and older

• Add Universal Rail and Universal Engine

Universal Rail Type 2.0.0 and newer require OpenTTD 1.2.0 or newer.
2.0.1 is not compatible with earlier versions of Universal Rail Type.

I recommend using 2.0.1 or newer rather than 2.0.0. It contains some additional safety measures to protect against messing up your games.

Downloads:
BaNaNaS (a search for "univ" should be sufficient. Check this page if you have no idea what that means)
Devzone: http://bundles.openttdcoop.org/universalrails/releases

Source: http://dev.openttdcoop.org/projects/universalrails
Kindly hosted by DevZone and built using the NML Build Framework; big thanks to all involved.

From the original request here.

Hint hint, I think it is a lot more useful if Univ Rail does not set any speed limit ... you do not even need the universal engine.

e.g. NUTS Unrealistic Train Set has no speed limits and it all works like a charm ... yes, people do sometimes use the universal track instead of the "proper" track fo that engine, which I disagree with doing in most cases (except Mars), but hell, up to them.

Yeah, the speed limit is unnecessary. I'll add a parameter for it and default to unlimited.

I'll remove the engine as well for the default behaviour. It's only exists because railtype introduction dates didn't exist when this NewGRF was first made. The engine will remain for push/pull behaviour, although I don't know if anyone actually uses it.

the engine really is just an unnecessary step also, I would only make it available in NO_CLIMATE so that it does not break compatibility with older versions

Version 2.0.0 has been released. But I am an idiot and I didn't check backwards compatibility properly so... version 2.0.1 has also been released.

Changes from 1.4:

• Features and fixes
  • Universal Rail track speed limit can be set by parameter (defaults to unlimited)
  • Universal Rail track construction cost multiplier can be set by parameter
  • Universal Engine does not need to be constructed so it won't pollute the construction menu
  • Added readme that can be accessed ingame
  • Added some compatibility fixes
• Source
  • Reimplemented in NML
  • Moved to DevZone

Version 2.0.0 and newer require OpenTTD 1.2.0 or newer.
2.0.0 and newer are not compatible with older versions (1.x series).

If you want these shiny new features and don't have version 2.0.0 (quite likely) you can skip it and go straight to 2.0.1.

Get it via BaNaNaS or http://bundles.openttdcoop.org/universa ... ses/2.0.1/

Check the first post for a more elaborate description.

I have installed the add-on but I cant find a way to build universial depot? I thought it was gonna be a alternative like railway, monorail etc but it isnt

claxx wrote:I have installed the add-on but I cant find a way to build universial depot? I thought it was gonna be a alternative like railway, monorail etc but it isnt

Yes, there should be a new entry called "Universal Rail construction" in the list of constructable tracks. URT 2.0.1 works as expected in OTTD 1.4.0-beta 1.
Are you sure that the NewGRF is active? Are there any other NewGRFs active, especially ones that provide new track types?

zero.eight wrote:

claxx wrote:I have installed the add-on but I cant find a way to build universial depot? I thought it was gonna be a alternative like railway, monorail etc but it isnt

Yes, there should be a new entry called "Universal Rail construction" in the list of constructable tracks. URT 2.0.1 works as expected in OTTD 1.4.0-beta 1.
Are you sure that the NewGRF is active? Are there any other NewGRFs active, especially ones that provide new track types?

It says its not active, do I have to start a new game to make it active?

THe Universal Rail Construction and Progressive Rail Set is both active when I´m at the main menu but not when I´m the game

yes, see also http://wiki.openttd.org/NewGRF#Activating_NewGRFs and in particular http://wiki.openttd.org/NewGRF#Closing_remarks

i need some help with this.. i just now installed the grf but I can't find the universal track if I open it on my existing saved games. However I do found it in new games.

is there anyway to open it on existing saved games?

Thanks before

Not without ruining your existing savegames.

Once you created the world, you're stuck with it. Make a new world if you don't like it.

I've discovered a bit of a nasty side-effect of this NewGRF: when you go to autoreplace and replace wagons, you'll see the wagons from all the different track types. If you try to replace a wagon with a wagon for the wrong track type, the replacement will silently fail. So, I converted to monorail, then tried to upgrade my 25 tonne food van with a 32 tonne food van. This silently failed, because apparently the 32 tonne van is a RAIL van and the monorail van was a 30 tonne van.

Is there a way to modify this NewGRF so that only the appropriate wagons appear for replacement? Unlike the locomotives, it's generally not obvious from the graphic or description what rail type a wagon is appropriate for.

no. it's the entire point of this newgrf to allow replacing across the "wrong" railtypes.

Replacing locomotives, yes. But you don't want to replace your old wagons with rail wagons if your track is monorail, as the autoreplace will fail.

Eddi wrote: ↑07 Jun 2021 13:32 no. it's the entire point of this newgrf to allow replacing across the "wrong" railtypes.

That's right. However, the problem does exist. It is not big, but it is. It consists in the fact that if you use this type of track only to exchange trains, in the exchange menu you are not able to specify for which type of track a given locomotive or wagon is assigned. This is particularly difficult to distinguish in the case of the default train set where the carriages look identical.

A solution would be to add information about the compatible track type. This information could be a permanent / optional element such as showing which set the vehicle is from or triggered by NewGRF.

LaChupacabra wrote: ↑07 Jun 2021 18:36This information could be [...] triggered by NewGRF.

this is actually possible, although not many NewGRFs use it in this way.

Eddi wrote: ↑07 Jun 2021 20:38

LaChupacabra wrote: ↑07 Jun 2021 18:36This information could be [...] triggered by NewGRF.

this is actually possible, although not many NewGRFs use it in this way.

Do you know how? It'd be good to update this NewGRF to display that info.

you need to set the purchase text callback, but doing that in this NewGRF is a terrible idea, because that would make it incompatible with any other vehicle GRF.

a better place would be a NewGRF which already modifies the default wagons, like OpenGFX+ Trains.

Yeah but I don't want the other changes made in that NewGRF.

making only the changes you want is left as an exercice left for the reader.