[copperpen]

 ATSF3751, on 20 February 2016 - 05:27 AM, said:

Also at the moment if you even had a dyno the only way you could do it is through the Eng file and steam effects area so it would not work unless we implamented it onto a specific steam locomotive.

Brandon

Right now all steam locos regardless of country or era have a steam usage deduction for a generator which cannot be turned off. Most UK steam locos ran with small oil marker lights that were there for the benefit of the guys in the signal boxes. UK steam locomotives did not have headlights, with the exception of "Big Bertha", the Lickey banker.

[longiron]

 Traindude, on 19 February 2016 - 10:15 PM, said:

Steamer_ctn, I believe what you are thinking of as the "drain pipe" is the "injector overflow pipe," which water and steam pass out of as the injector builds up enough steam pressure to force water into the boiler.

There are plenty of other exhaust outlets and vents described in the schematics in the first 25 pages of the Model Railroader Steam Locomotive Cyclopedia--air pumps/compressors, feedwater pumps, mechanical stoker engines, booster engines, too many to list (I even have a CD of ICS' Steam Textbooks if you're interested).

But here's a simple one--many steam engines have electric lighting, and that electricity is supplied by a generator driven by a steam turbine--commonly called a "turbo-generator" or "dynamo." This could also be a possible addition to the special steam FX, although I am assuming it will be "always on" by default.

Steamer_ctn,

In reviewing those pages also, there are three major 'drain pipes' used for American steam engines; (1) feedwater heating whether its open (Worthington) or closed (Elasco/Coffin); (2) boiler injectors such as exhaust steam injectors (which would only show steam and water when they are in use) which could be linked to that parameter; after 1900 steam turbo generator or dynamo. As Traindude indicated the turbo generator is probably the only one on most of the time.

[Traindude]

 Coonskin, on 20 February 2016 - 07:27 AM, said:

Not in the era's that I model the most: Link n' pin era's. For me and my steam modeling, having a dynamo steam trail would be as useless as t i t s on a boar hog.

Therein lies the challenges the OR programer's face: To develop for the desired end result yet retaining options for the end user so as to be adaptable/flexible to model a multitude of elements.

You bring up an interesting point, Coonskin--not all steam FX should be mandatory for all engines. For example, if you have a 2-part articulated locomotive (separate .eng files for both the front and rear engines), then the rear .eng should not have a stackFX parameter.

[vince]

 Traindude, on 20 February 2016 - 11:50 AM, said:

You bring up an interesting point, Coonskin--not all steam FX should be mandatory for all engines. For example, if you have a 2-part articulated locomotive (separate .eng files for both the front and rear engines), then the rear .eng should not have a stackFX parameter.

If it's not defined in the *.eng/wag file then it's not displayed right?
regards,
vince

[ATSF3751]

That is kind of what I was trying to get at Vince with my comments.

Brandon

[steamer_ctn]

Based upon the feedback, I would like to add some comments.

Firstly some general contextual comments -
The Steam locomotive model in OR has two aspects to it.
i) the steam physics (ie how it performs against real world performance)
ii) look and feel - ie how it looks compared to the real work

These two elements don't always align nicely, for example the particle drawer does not accept direct steam quantities from the physics, and therefore doesn't provide the expected look and feel. Thus each of the above components currently require separate calculations.

To achieve a "perfect" simulation of every steam locomotive type would require a huge amount of investigation of their individual physics and relevant formula, and considerable coding variations. Thus I believe that we should be aiming to get the "right" look and feel, within an acceptable level of performance, for the MAJORITY of locomotives. Hence not all locomotives will be able to be modeled accurately.

Thus there will always need to be a balance between what is included, and how it is included, etc.

Based upon the above, I have attached a further patch with some further refinements. Hopefully some of these refinements address some of the suggestions provided.

Based upon the the principle that steam effects should be included for those elements that occur on the majority of locomotives (eg steam whistle), and that they should be clearly visible (eg steam cylinders), otherwise they don't warrant the effort to try and code them, the following effects are now supported:

• Steam cylinders
• Stack
• Compressor
• Generator
• Safety valves
• Whistle
• Injectors

NB: The drain pipe has been disabled in this version of the patch.

In this patch I have tried to model the fact that at speed a lot of the steam effects will dissipate very quickly and will not be readily visible. Thus as the locomotive speeds up some of the steam effects will "disappear", and only reappear as the locomotive slows down.

In regard to some of the comments about user control of the effects, as already alluded to, if a steam effect is not included then it will not be shown. Thus for example in no whistle is defined in the steam effects then no whistle will show when the locomotive is displayed.

In this patch if the generator steam effect is omitted then the generator will not operate ( a linkage has been made to the steam physics). Conversely, if it is defined then it will always be on.

 Traindude, on 19 February 2016 - 10:15 PM, said:

There are plenty of other exhaust outlets and vents described in the schematics in the first 25 pages of the Model Railroader Steam Locomotive Cyclopedia--air pumps/compressors, feedwater pumps, mechanical stoker engines, booster engines, too many to list (I even have a CD of ICS' Steam Textbooks if you're interested).

I would still be interested in looking at some of this information. Is it possible to scan a few sample pages, and PM them to me?

Thanks

EDIT: Working example locomotive here.

[Csantucci]

Peter,
I would like to inform the Italian community about this great improvement.
Does your Atlantic loco download file already have the new .eng file, so that downloading the loco one gets the new effects?
And if not, may I post in our Trainsimhobby forum your modified .eng file?

[steamer_ctn]

Hi Carlo,

 Csantucci, on 25 February 2016 - 07:00 AM, said:

I would like to inform the Italian community about this great improvement.
Does your Atlantic loco download file already have the new .eng file, so that downloading the loco one gets the new effects?
And if not, may I post in our Trainsimhobby forum your modified .eng file?

I haven't had time to update the ENG file on the download loco yet, as I have another few enhancements that I am working on (both in the OR code and the ENG file).

I hope to do that some time next week, along with some manual input, etc.

As a temporary measure, I am happy for the ENG file in this post to be referenced as an interim arrangement ( with appropriate caveats in regard to pending changes).

Thanks

[Csantucci]

Thanks Peter. I prefer to have a stable situation before announcing the good news. So I wait until you have inserted the few further enhancements. Keep on the good work!

Carlo

[captain_bazza]

The infamous 0-10-0 Licky (Incline) Banker, a.k.a. Big Bertha, was indeed that rarest of Brit locos, for sporting a huge headlight and for her unique 0-10-0 wheel arrangement.. For further information, check her out on Wikipedia.

Cheers Bazza.

Edited.