Italian Train Set [WslowlyIP]

[FooBar]

I'd add a 1px red line below the windows. While that isn't entirely true to scale, this red stripe is key to the livery design.

[Emperor Jake]

Somehow I have the feeling that its a tad bright.

That's what shading is for Great start, by the way! How much experience do you have with drawing sprites?

[buckethead]

Not much.. Before I drew some planes for the WAS.

showcase2.png (45.64 KiB) Viewed 4948 times

Better like this? Gotta now so that I can proceed in drawing the other sprites.

[Emperor Jake]

Yep, that looks great

[SwissFan91]

Forgive me for picking a flaw in these great sprites, but doesn't the nose look a little bit too.. pointy? Could be just me.

[buckethead]

I tried making it less pointy just now but it doesn't look great..

[KittenKoder]

I like them. Can't give any real input, but I think they look cool.

[buckethead]

I should have time to get back on track next week or perhaps earlier.

[Vandirac]

Hi guys. I am a train buff from Italy, and I was beginning work on an Italian train set and road vehicles set too. Early attempts at understanding NewGRF coding failed miserably, but I guess I could help with some graphics.

Couple of words 'bout me, since I joined the forum right now: I worked "in real life" in the rolling stock manufacturing business (CTR Minuetto and NCDP Vivalto -mostly- and some internal components for ETR600, plus many trainset designs that never left the drawing board). I thoroughly contributed to the creation of the Project Railways on it.wiki, including this page you may find useful http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lista_dei_ ... i_italiani, and to many of the pages about those vehicles. I own some interesting books about rolling stock (FIAT trainsets, carriages and wagons, mostly).

I'd love to help out with this project, but I've to point out this is my first time designing pixel graphics and (since I'm beginning a new job) time is scarce. Could I count me onboard on the project?

(P.S. I noticed that some of the image provided, as the ETR200 and MDVE, are made by me for Wikimedia Commons )

[Vandirac]

A few technical questions by a noob.

1) Should we use the historical paint schemes, or use the system colors to allow replaceable colors on the vehicles (that could mock Trenitalia colors, and even allow for change in time)?
2) Are you planning to create new type of railways to emulate the five different kinds of electrical lines used in Italian history (3600V 3-phase AC, 10000V 3-phase AC, 3000V DC, 25000 AC, 650V third-rail)? I honestly don't know how much work is involved, and how important is historical accuracy.
3) Should the set include pre-1940 vehicles, since the game usually begins at 1950? Some significant Italian locomotives date back to 1850.
4) Some of those trainsets include record-breaking vehicles, such as the ETR200, which shattered almost any record on his first run and is comparable to the Series 0 Shinkansen appearing in the 2cc Trainset only in 1964, some 30 years later the availability year of the "viper head". I guess this will have consequences on game dynamics. Have you thought out something to fix this?
5) Is there a list of "to do"s or could I start from what I want?

[buckethead]

A few technical questions by a noob.

1) Should we use the historical paint schemes, or use the system colors to allow replaceable colors on the vehicles (that could mock Trenitalia colors, and even allow for change in time)?
2) Are you planning to create new type of railways to emulate the five different kinds of electrical lines used in Italian history (3600V 3-phase AC, 10000V 3-phase AC, 3000V DC, 25000 AC, 650V third-rail)? I honestly don't know how much work is involved, and how important is historical accuracy.
3) Should the set include pre-1940 vehicles, since the game usually begins at 1950? Some significant Italian locomotives date back to 1850.
4) Some of those trainsets include record-breaking vehicles, such as the ETR200, which shattered almost any record on his first run and is comparable to the Series 0 Shinkansen appearing in the 2cc Trainset only in 1964, some 30 years later the availability year of the "viper head". I guess this will have consequences on game dynamics. Have you thought out something to fix this?
5) Is there a list of "to do"s or could I start from what I want?

Bella lui!

1) I guess that will be the case.
2) I seriously don't think so..
3) Yes, but I think we should mainly focus on recent trains and some old trains. I don't know if we'll be able to release the set, and if we will, to release more than an alpha. In this case we should focus on the most important Italian trains, to make a nice little release.
4) Haven't thought about, don't know what to think about it.
5) Yes, Emperor Jake and I have a tracking table, which is still a bit incomplete. If you wish to help then don't hesitate to PM me or E.J.

[Emperor Jake]

1. Yes, very much so. Now thet I have discovered teh recolour sprites, I tink it would be good to make all future art in company colours, then they can be used in company colours or real life colours like the UKRS2 set.

2. Yes, very much so. That's what ToE-Teacks is for In fact, I've already coded a test GRF of the 3-phase AC tracks. They would be condensed to a single 3-phase railtype though, but 25kV AC and 1500V DC are planned. Obviously the set will remain compatible with regular tracks also.

3. Yes, very much so. I think we should go back to at least 1900; that should cover most players' starting dates. In any case, I can code a large chunk of engines before they are drawn using placeholder sprites (take a leaf out of Andy's book, if you know what I mean )

[Vandirac]

I know that's a damn lot of work, but we Italians never liked to settle for one engine when we could have four different engines in three versions each in "Must have" you have engines built in high number, or which played a significant role in FS history. "Secondary" are some notorious engines, but not so important. I left a lot of them out for good.

Please consider that most of the electric locomotives actually had two codes, an even number for passenger service, an odd number for cargo duty (i.e. E.632 was the passenger version of E.633, faster but with less power due to different gears setup). It could be an easy task to add both those groups, since they share the same graphics and just have different parameters.

MUST HAVE:
FS E.326
FS E.424
FS E.428
FS E.402A
FS E.402B (FS E.403 is an evolution of 402B, but it's better known with the other name)
FS E.412 (FS E.405 is a sub-group)
FS E.444
FS E.444R (an rebuilding of 444, but much different, keep them separate)
FS E.464
FS E.626
FS E.632
FS E.636
FS E.646
FS E.652
FS E.656
E.640
CTR Minuetto (both -D diesel and -E electric)
NCDP Vivalto
E.491 (a little jewel, and the protagonist of one of the most horrorific waste of money in italian railways. Basically, 25 built, none entered regular service)
ETR200 (ETR220 and 240 are identical, but have different weight)
ETR300
ETR401 (first active tilting body in the world, mind you)
ETR450
ETR460 (470 had different paintwork, 480 and 485 had different paintwork and characteristics)
ETR600 (ETR610 had different paintwork)
ETR500 1st gen
ETR500 2nd gen
ETR500 politensione (3rd gen)
Alstom Coradia CSA
TAF - trainset
TSR - trainset
ATR100 - trainset
ALe 883 - trainset
ALe 601 - trainset
ALe 801 - trainset
ALe 724 - trainset
ALe 642 - trainset
ALe 601 - trainset
ALe 582 - trainset
Tipo 1921 coach
Centoporte coach
Tipo 1933 coach
Corbellini coach
Tipo 1959 coach
Tipo Y coach
UIC-X coach
Carrozza Vicinale Piano Ribassato coach
Due Piani coach
Gran Comfort coach
MDVC coach
MDVE coach
Z1 coach
Vivalto coach
FS ALn 56 - trainset
FS ALn 556 - trainset
FS ALn 663 - trainset
FS ALn 668 - trainset
FS ALn 772 - trainset
FS ALn 773 - trainset
FS ALn 990 - trainset
FS D.445 - trainset
FS D.443 - trainset
FS D.343 (similar to FS D.345 with different stats)
FS D.341
FS Gr. 940
FS Gr. 910
FS Gr. 897
FS Gr. 875
FS Gr. 870
FS Gr. 851
FNM 220 (not many built, but what a beauty!)
FS Gr. 835
FS Gr. 750
FS Gr. 746
FS Gr. 744
FS Gr. 743
FS Gr. 741
FS Gr. 740
FS Gr. 736
FS Gr. 735
FS Gr. 730
FS Gr. 685
FS Gr. 691
FS Gr. 470



SECONDARY:

FS E.400
FS E.454 (would love having this, it was a real beauty, but only a prototype)
FNM 600
FNM 610
FNM 630
METROSTAR - trainset
ATR220 - trainset
Stadler FLIRT - trainset
FNM 620 (short version of E.632)
ALe 840 - trainset
ALe 803 - trainset
ALe 792 - trainset
ALe 790 - trainset
ALe 540 - trainset
"Traditional" coaches (dates back to early 1900s, but run up until 1990. It's a bunch of different designs joined under a single name)
Tipo 1931 coach
Tipo 1937 coach
Tipo 1946 coach
Tip 1955R coach
Eurofima coach
FS ALDn32 - trainset
FS ALn 64 - trainset
FS ALn 442 - trainset
FS ALn 873 - trainset
FS ALn 880 - trainset
FS D.461
FS D.449
FS D.442
FS D.356
FS D.342
FS D.236
FS Gr. 981 (third rail)
FS Gr. 980 (third rail)
FS Gr. 912
FS Gr. 906
FS Gr. 905
FS Gr. 904
FS Gr. 902
FS Gr. 900
FS Gr. 899
FS Gr. 898
FS Gr. 831
FS Gr. 830
FS Gr. 737
FS Gr. 688
FS Gr. 728

[Vandirac]

I tried to post a list of "must have", but it says it has to be approved since looks like spam. (?)

I'll try to provide you some sprite ASAP.

If you have trouble understanding the codes and naming used in Italian railways please feel free to ask.


P.S. I tried to upload a graphic for FS D343, but it's still pending moderation... how long does it usually take?

[Vandirac]

My first try at pixel graphic: FS D343

introdate: 1967
reliability: (don't know, historically quite high)
vehicle life: 20 years
class life: 40 years
running cost: (quite low, actually)
purchase cost: (medium)
engine type: diesel
speed: 130 km/h
weight: 60t
power: 1050 hp
rail type: standard rail
climate: any
passengers: no
cargo: no

[Bob_Mackenzie]

Looks good though the back edge of the top right sprite looks like its missing some pixels - ie it looks rounded

[planetmaker]

For CETS a tracking table on google docs works excellently. It also allows to collect stats etc at the same time which will come in handy during coding. It also has the advantage that it is semi-public (everyone can view, but editable only by those who are authorized).

With a bit of scripting the content of such table could be directly converted into NML code.

[buckethead]

@Vandirac: There's a tracking table in the first post! I'll add you to the team in the mean while!

[buckethead]

Moving on..

E646.PNG (5.27 KiB) Viewed 4175 times

[DeletedUser17]

I've often traveled via Italian rail, and I can testify to the accuracy of this.

My idea for the paint would be to use the fs schemes, but replace the green and white with company colors 1 and 2. Accuracy buffs could also get their bit by simply using light green and white for electric locomotives.

Hope to follow this and see interesting developments-
Ciao ciao