[kafovofa]

I've been thinking about dynamic numbering, and the concerns some others have brought up about variety and uniqueness of rolling stock in other games with dynamic numbering. One solution I can envision that allows for the convenience of dynamic numbering, without ending up with a string of identical cars, is allowing for seasonal rolling stock textures and randomized alternate textures in a car's number series. Seasonal textures, I presume, would be less challenging than implementing alternate textures since there's no random function required to choose textures when loading an activity/timetable. However, dynamic weathering could be tweaked (or made more complicated) in the future to allow seasonal textures to transition onto models if, for instance, the game were to end up with dynamic weather at some point.

Obviously, dynamic numbering opens up a new can of worms when it comes to sorting cars and creating consists. I feel that reworking activity mode to support dynamic numbers is not a priority considering most use an activity as opposed to running in timetable mode when they want to represent specific unique consists car by car and use their favorite MSTS models. Timetable mode is unique to Open Rails and isn't a feature in MSTS, so Timetable mode could be made to accept a new type of consist file without trampling over compatibility with old MSTS consist files used in activities. Perhaps these could be called "OR Consists" and allow users to define consists by length, weight, car type position (including whether they are MT/LD), power, axles on the locomotives etc.

The need to specify reporting marks in a consist could be left out of consist definitions and managed by a filter applied at the start of a timetable defined in game. So as not to exclude unique older models that may be replaced by a series of dynamically numbered cars in timetable mode, a car manager could be associated with timetable mode and use reporting marks and numbers to find duplicate models such that users can specify their preferred models over dynamically numbered models that conflict. Users could specify dynamic OR consists in the same way as they do normal MSTS consists in the timetable editor now and specify in the filter the reporting marks they want represented in a timetable with adjustable percentages to ensure a unique but realistic balance of rolling stock. It would also be necessary to allow users to remove cars from the filter that don't fit in, specify default stock, and possibly allow for duplicate cars, say if someone doesn't have enough rolling stock to fill an entire timetable with unique cars. The car manager might allow users to add tags to all of their models when adding them into the timetable filter such that eras can be specified.

In addition to dynamic numbering and weathering, consider the possibility of adding dynamic graffiti. Specifying regions on a car where randomized graffiti "decals" could appear would allow artists to experiment with car artwork separately from reskinning, and provide an intermediate point for the game to intervene and allow the user to adjust how much vandalism appears on their rolling stock by percentage. This would be an exciting feature for OR to pursue, since it's unlikely for new game developers working closely with railroads to go out of their way to create a system that could be perceived to glorify vandalism in a controlled environment despite the realism it could add.

I know that's a lot to take in, so I'm curious to hear how this complicated theory could be streamlined, what features sound absurd and pointless, what doesn't make sense, and if I accidentally contradicted my own logic somewhere. (This is my first post here so feel free to move it if it's in the wrong place.)

[darwins]

Sounds complex.

When it comes to seasonal textures - what about seasonal models as a possibility - having all the carriage windows closed does not look right on a hot summer day.

[kafovofa]

darwins, on 08 May 2018 - 03:00 AM, said:

Sounds complex.

When it comes to seasonal textures - what about seasonal models as a possibility - having all the carriage windows closed does not look right on a hot summer day.

That was on the back of my mind. Fortunately most rolling stock would only really need snow textures/shapes, unlike trees and bushes. 3d winter models could go so far as to have animated piles of snow that grow as an activity gets underway and textures could transition to grimier versions as trains run through the rain. Dynamic weathering could be created as a standalone feature, but how dynamic weathering is implemented is likely to determine/suggest where alternate textures for dynamically numbered cars could go in the future, and I want to throw that thought out there. Developing it as an interesting standalone feature, and having to rework/scrap it down the road to use it as a basis for unique looking dynamically numbered cars in the future would be too bad or a lot of extra work.

If OR were to implement dynamic numbering, it would have to contend with older MSTS models and duplicate numbers, which is where the game shows it's age. The MSTS models throw a wrench in the mix, but it would be disappointing if random consists with dynamically numbered cars didn't include people's favorite MSTS rolling stock. The added complexity would make its dynamic numbering more complicated than any other sim that offers it right out of the gate. Knowing that and knowing how fantastic and user-friendly ORs options are as the game stands now, working on features that can be utilized to make OR's dynamic numbering more unique, flexible, and feature rich for the player than any other implementation seems like the direction OR could go in to make dynamically numbered consists a genuinely desirable feature farther down the road.

Dynamically numbered cars might have wag files for different reporting marks in the same folder referencing the same shape while using different texture sets. Alternate textures could be used to represent patched versions of the same series of car. Perhaps cars could be limited to 3 alternate textures to allow variety and avoid serious performance headaches. In theory, even unit trains that use the same car would have variety and be capable of including occasional unique MSTS models in the mix.

I'm asking myself if dynamic numbering fits into ORs philosophy as I think about this and thinking of what could be involved to preserve the character of the game if implementing it ever came about, because I know I'm not the first to consider dynamic numbers. They are, at the very least, convenient. I figured if there were useful standalone features that could prevent a future implementation of dynamic numbering from falling flat they would be worthwhile to explore such that they don't prevent dynamic numbering from being a possibility in the game's future. Not that it's even wanted or coming anytime soon, but perhaps that's because of how dynamic numbers been implemented in other games. There's no reason for dynamic numbering to be dull aside from the added complexity necessary to allow for variety in the textures of the cars, depending on whether it can be made to work at all and work smoothly.

This post has been edited by kafovofa: 08 May 2018 - 08:38 PM