[markus_GE]

I just once more tinkered around a bit with some smoke Settings on some diesels and got some surprising results when I later switched from using 3DTrains' medium to light dieselsmoke.ace (available as Freeware from the (currently down) 3DTrains Homepage):



What about that? Looks darn Close to what one sees above modern diesels: No smoke, just heat. Doesn´t it?

Tell me what you thik while I Keep experimenting :) (For the time being it´s just an "accidential" result from trying to get realistic-looking smoke)

Cheers, Markus

[markus_GE]

Here´s a better Picture: better Background and running in notch two (as it´s exhaust, it´s engine-RPM controlled still)

[rdamurphy]

Very nice, very nice. And a good demonstration of what the exhaust particle system can do with a little tweaking and adjustment!

Robert

[markus_GE]

Thanks for the Kind words. ;) And you got it exactly right: Will only work for particle Systems, IE in OR as the Setup is especially designed for use in this Sim. I tested it in MSTS and what I got was somewhat... - you know xD



I´m currently trying to get a Setup for a usual exhaust stream from the stack and a second "flimmer-exhaust" stream from above the Radiators... Just it the density of both is controlled using this block of code (below), so it´s hard to get decent results - want exactly what I have for the flimmer, but thicker clouds for the actual exhaust, and the only possibility to make that work is the nozzle-width Parameter in the eng file...

 DieselSmokeEffectInitialMagnitude (1) 
 DieselSmokeEffectMaxMagnitude (8) 
 DieselSmokeEffectInitialSmokeRate (5) 
 DieselSmokeEffectMaxSmokeRate (17)

These lines are the same for every exhaust stream you have, ocurring once in every .ENG file. The only way to make one stream not look the same as another is ist nozzle-width (last line before the closing bracket):

    Exhaust1 (
     0.05 4.84 -3.0
     0 1 0
     0.35
    )

The examples above are what I used on the locos in the above screenies. The first code-block replaces the lines named like that. The second paragraph has to be renamed "Exhaust2", "Exhaust3"... according to which paragraph inside the "DieselSpecialEffects"-Block it is meant to replace - but best Thing here would anyway be NOT to COPY the WHOLE block, but just Change the third Parameter (nozzle width), as the other ones would modify the Placement (and direction) of the plume.

Cheers, Markus

PS: More screenshots and maybe a small PDF-doc will follow once I get some more results! :pleasantry:

[Falcus]

I understand that all Exhaust will be linked to the Throttle settings, but can't different Exhaust points have different Density settings? I remember NALW's old big boys having issues with "Two Tone" exhaust for awhile before someone finally made a fix for it, and though thats not specifically a Density issue, it would seem to suggest you can do different things with exhaust on the same model through different exhaust points? (IIRC, NALW's Big Boys actually uses a second exhaust point for the "second stack" behind the first)

The other Idea I had is can you add exhaust to a FA? Or maybe even make a second model they way they do for Articulated Steamers or even similar to the MILW Steam Heating effect that was made for the Quills and Bi-polars? Imagine just making a separate "Heat Flim" Car to stick behind F Units in general or behind EMD Hood Diesels? /shrug.

Good Luck,
Falcus

[markus_GE]

Yes, you can have different "density" for different exhaust Points, but no, you can´t add them to a FA as they are defined per engine (= .ENG file) instead of per shape.

The possibility to implemente different exhaust density on different stacks /.. of the same model is to use the nozzle Parameter of the exhasut Point: Roughly, below 0.2 you will get plumes like e.g. a starting Big Boy would produce them (1 stack, without the irregularities produced by the chuffs). 3.5 to ? (haven´t had time for further experiments since my last post) will produce the above effects, when used with 3DTrains` light dieselsmoke.ace and the above "General" smoke Settings.

These plumes as seen above, however, still look much like an exhaust plume when viewed from a greater distance. The struggle now is to find General Setting (already posted paragraph somwhere above) tha will look good for each nozzle width, and also find a nozzle width that does not give an exhaust-plume like smoke "pile" but also does not disperse smoke too much (forgot to mention: the bigger the nozzle, the more the exhasut will be dispersed higher above the Train - also not wanted for heat flimmer, that would more likely become thinner with height as air cools down and get´s mixed with cooler air).

A separate flimmer car would definitely be something to consider, but it would mean a lot of consist editing to get it in. I will first try the ENG-editing Approach, as it to me seems somewhat more practicable (one loco edited - smoke / flimer effects on that loco on all consists that use that loco on that one loco).

Cheers, Markus

[rdamurphy]

If you're using a locomotive with one exhaust stack it would be possible to define two and overlap them...

I have a post somewhere around here that explains what all of the diesel exhaust parameters do in OR.

Robert

[markus_GE]

I know about the overlappning and how to add more plumes, but overlapping I consider of Little use, as the flimmer and exhaust should appear at their correct Location, of course, IE above the stack and the Radiator section.

As for the explanatory post you mentioned: It would be a great help if you could link me to it. I seem to have found out a lot with Trial-and-Error, but not all I can find. And Trial-and-Error is very time consuming, as most of you know, probably :)

Cheers, Markus

[Falcus]

I see what you're saying Markus, though I disagree about the convenience of editing a consist vs editing a .eng...

Lets say you figure this all out right, and decide that Exhaust flimmer nozzels need to be added to say, XYZ, on all 3dts AC44s right? So you create a new ENG for BNSF C44 1033 (Or w/e # you happen to be working on), now what about all the other 3dts C44s? With different settings for ditch lights, and cvfs, and whatever else have you?

What about Running said locomotive in the snow? (I realize that heat flimmer will probably be present even if the human eye can't see it, but its been rare in my experience to see it in cold weather, which is usually pretty overcast for somewhere say like the Pacific North West). Where as running full blast over Cajon or Tehachapi one fully expects to see enough waves off those locomotives to fill a small lake XD .

I think a Car you could just slip in behind (Or in front of) The backside of the locomotive makes more sense, because then you could just apply it to whatever consists you want to use on whatever routes on different locomotives of the same type (Might even work X-Producer, C44s have roughly the same dimensions whether they were built by MLT, 3DTS, SLI, or Freeware). This also makes it more convenient to slip it into consists that are associated with desert routes through Train Store or what have you.

Regardless though, you should of course do whatever you feel is best. Maybe try both out? Or just do whatever you want. Its your effort and at the end of the day you're the one that had the motivation to go out and do it XD.

Looking forward to your results,
Falcus

[markus_GE]

Somehow it seems my brain tricked me during vacation and I totally forgot about this one Project of mine... see if I can get some more things.

@ Falcus: Once more you got me caught with what you say (although I had to re-read the thread to really get what you mean - I must have overlooked your post during vacation).

Seeing it that way, you´re definitely right. It´s probably just for me and a few others that do check every loco when they used it in an activity before running it (nothing to do with preparing them, but with the fact that I recently (8 months or so ago) decided to use different alerter Settings, that I´m now slowly applying to all locos I got installed; and with that goes the smoke update)..

@ all: Anyway, I see two Problems with the proposed flimmer car: You won´t be able to get exact Placements of the flimmer piles using that (although some might be OK having it there which way ever) and I´m not really confident I could do it.

I´m not saying, I wouldn´t do it, but for that, I´d Need somebody to help me in doing so. I in fact don´t really know anything about how to create a loco, especially when it Comes to such "oddities" as a flimmer-loco (as cars can´t have exhaust in MSTS, it´ll have to be a loco - so far I´m Aware :) ).

Anybody willing to do this (at the appropriate time, when Ißm done with my Research into the Topic)?

Cheers, Markus