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Dear collegues,
in order to get my dormant account finally going, just some screenshots of Tim's and Frank's old but still beautiful iron horses (or rather pelicans, joes and steeples) at work. Enjoy...
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/E45_Coal_ButteYard.jpg
Butte Yard is busy and alive: EF-5 E45 rolls by the Yard Office with a string of 62 loaded coal hoppers for the local power plant on its hook, while EF-4 E73 waits for a clear track East. Unimpressed by the heavy electrics, a member of the local switching crew walks off for a break after tying down ES-2 E82 near the train order signal of Butte Yard.
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/E47_Coal_Winter.jpg
Just in case you're through with the hot & humid summer weather: EF-2 E47 regenerates down the slopes West of Donald with some more coal to fight the cold.
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/608_Quill_E15_28.jpg
Two EP-3 Quills with the Columbian on the towering trestle at Blacktail (note: accurate single-ended modell & corrected paintscheme being in the works with Frank).
Rolling stock: by Tim W. Muir (Boxcab, Steeplecab) & Frank Musick (Quill, double-ended EP4).
Route: RMD Eastern Subs 1&2 (beta), i.e. updated and merged copy of Jerry Sullivan's RMD-1 and RMD-2
Catenary: by Simon van de Laak's CatMaster.exe
Cheers, Lukas
Tim's and Frank's Horses at Work
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#2
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Posted 16 July 2009 - 09:45 AM
Welcome aboard Elvas Tower, and hello old associate! It's good to see you here, Lucas, and bringing some great views of the old work horses with you. I really like the view of the Quills on the Blacktail trestle. Frank's EP-3's are handsome beasties growling across the big Montana sky, aren't they?
Question: How does Simon's catenary effect the frame rates on a route already burdened with high-poly overhead furniture?
Question: How does Simon's catenary effect the frame rates on a route already burdened with high-poly overhead furniture?
#3
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Posted 16 July 2009 - 01:42 PM
Just for the record, what route is this?
#4 Inactive_Swissie_*
Posted 16 July 2009 - 03:12 PM
Dear collegues,
@ Tim: Thanks Mr. Vice-President for the warm welcome ;o) - I'm glad to see you still find the time amidst all the things to enjoy your modelling skills (needless to say I'm looking forward to install all those new PE classes on my drives - the tens are just stunning with their distinct curved windows).
Hard to say what exactly the effect of Simons wires are. There certainly is a difference in fps between the Milw. mainline and the non-electrified NP which on my decent, but not really superfast laptop means either running at approx 20-22 fps under wires or 32 fps without wires. I think the 3D shapes might be a bit poly-intesive (e.g. 250m straight: 648 points) - although I tried to minimize the impact by lowering the LOD setting so that the sim doesn't have to display wires up to 2000m away, and shrunk the texture to just 32x32 pixel. The difference is probably the combined effect of wires and poles meaning the sim has quite a lot of cascading shapes (view db spheres!) to display.
On the other hand, an expert user like you could easily modell his own wire shapes and use these instead (e.g. a protoypical trolley wire). Remember: Basically, CatMaster is a tool that uses a spread-sheet like datafile which tells the program what type of pole(s) and wire(s) to place with each type of track shape, thereby allowing for three alternatives per track shape. Poles and wires can be placed in the same go or in individual sessions; you have the option to add shadows or turn poles into terrain objects, and similarily you have an option to put them upright or tilted to the terrain. Wires will be placed at whatever elevation above track you want - thus e.g. also allowing for different wire heights and types in the same route modelling a heavy traction rr and a trolley or light rail line. In any case, wires are automatically adjusted to the elevation and angle of the track, so the tool is really sweet and nifty, though it still requires some manual editing of .w files afterwards. Example in the picture above: Since Butte Yard is build from "ladders" of a1t track shapes, and the ends of said shapes are offset from track to track, I had to remove single poles along outer tracks, replace the ones in the center track with appropriate spans covering the width of the yard, and replace the sagging wire shapes with non-sagging ones to prevent odd "bumps" in mid-air where the end of a track shape wouldn't line up with the span wire. However, custom-wiring Butte Yard and then making those changes in the .w was perhaps a 30-45 minutes job.
@ Dave: To add to the record: The route is going to sail under the file name "RMD_East" or the name "Rocky Mountain Division Eastern Subs".
@ Any traction afficionados: As stated above, it merges - of course with the original authors consent and kind cooperation - the RMD-1 v2 and Jerry Sullivan's original RMD-2 routes into
- approx. 220 miles of the Milwaukee Road from Harlow(ton) to Deer Lodge,
- approx. 130 miles of the adjacent NP from Toston Dam to Logan, Logan to Butte, and Butte to Deer Lodge,
- approx. 30 miles of the Butte Anaconda & Pacific from Butte now all the way to Anaconda and up to Smelter Hill,
- plus 8 miles the ACERy trolleys from downtown Anaconda to Opportunity and to Smelter Hill on its own, separate right of way (steeper and shorter than the BA&P).
Right now, there's still some work to do with the trolley in downtown Anaconda. I made a mistake by accidentally working off an old plan / photograph of 1900 which was depicting things shortly before the trolley line was relocated a few blockx when the BA&P came to town.
Jerry has a beta of the current state, while I am in the process of patching up a few lose ends. I'll post another screen or so next time.
Cheers, Lukas
@ Tim: Thanks Mr. Vice-President for the warm welcome ;o) - I'm glad to see you still find the time amidst all the things to enjoy your modelling skills (needless to say I'm looking forward to install all those new PE classes on my drives - the tens are just stunning with their distinct curved windows).
Hard to say what exactly the effect of Simons wires are. There certainly is a difference in fps between the Milw. mainline and the non-electrified NP which on my decent, but not really superfast laptop means either running at approx 20-22 fps under wires or 32 fps without wires. I think the 3D shapes might be a bit poly-intesive (e.g. 250m straight: 648 points) - although I tried to minimize the impact by lowering the LOD setting so that the sim doesn't have to display wires up to 2000m away, and shrunk the texture to just 32x32 pixel. The difference is probably the combined effect of wires and poles meaning the sim has quite a lot of cascading shapes (view db spheres!) to display.
On the other hand, an expert user like you could easily modell his own wire shapes and use these instead (e.g. a protoypical trolley wire). Remember: Basically, CatMaster is a tool that uses a spread-sheet like datafile which tells the program what type of pole(s) and wire(s) to place with each type of track shape, thereby allowing for three alternatives per track shape. Poles and wires can be placed in the same go or in individual sessions; you have the option to add shadows or turn poles into terrain objects, and similarily you have an option to put them upright or tilted to the terrain. Wires will be placed at whatever elevation above track you want - thus e.g. also allowing for different wire heights and types in the same route modelling a heavy traction rr and a trolley or light rail line. In any case, wires are automatically adjusted to the elevation and angle of the track, so the tool is really sweet and nifty, though it still requires some manual editing of .w files afterwards. Example in the picture above: Since Butte Yard is build from "ladders" of a1t track shapes, and the ends of said shapes are offset from track to track, I had to remove single poles along outer tracks, replace the ones in the center track with appropriate spans covering the width of the yard, and replace the sagging wire shapes with non-sagging ones to prevent odd "bumps" in mid-air where the end of a track shape wouldn't line up with the span wire. However, custom-wiring Butte Yard and then making those changes in the .w was perhaps a 30-45 minutes job.
@ Dave: To add to the record: The route is going to sail under the file name "RMD_East" or the name "Rocky Mountain Division Eastern Subs".
@ Any traction afficionados: As stated above, it merges - of course with the original authors consent and kind cooperation - the RMD-1 v2 and Jerry Sullivan's original RMD-2 routes into
- approx. 220 miles of the Milwaukee Road from Harlow(ton) to Deer Lodge,
- approx. 130 miles of the adjacent NP from Toston Dam to Logan, Logan to Butte, and Butte to Deer Lodge,
- approx. 30 miles of the Butte Anaconda & Pacific from Butte now all the way to Anaconda and up to Smelter Hill,
- plus 8 miles the ACERy trolleys from downtown Anaconda to Opportunity and to Smelter Hill on its own, separate right of way (steeper and shorter than the BA&P).
Right now, there's still some work to do with the trolley in downtown Anaconda. I made a mistake by accidentally working off an old plan / photograph of 1900 which was depicting things shortly before the trolley line was relocated a few blockx when the BA&P came to town.
Jerry has a beta of the current state, while I am in the process of patching up a few lose ends. I'll post another screen or so next time.
Cheers, Lukas
#5
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Posted 17 July 2009 - 08:58 AM
Looks great Lukas, the MLWRMD has always been one of my favorites
Jim
Jim
#6 Inactive_Swissie_*
Posted 18 July 2009 - 02:30 AM
Dear collegues,
as promised another shot or two. First, one from the former NP Shortline across Homestake Pass.
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/418_BN_C626_01.jpg
A scene from the roundhouse in Anaconda, in order to also feature the BA&P.
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/575_BAP_Roundhouse_04.jpg
Last but not least, the AC&ERy running a leased NOPSI Peter Witt car due to a prototypical equipment shortage ;o)
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/546_AnacondaCopperTrolley_24.jpg
Cheers, Lukas
as promised another shot or two. First, one from the former NP Shortline across Homestake Pass.
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/418_BN_C626_01.jpg
A scene from the roundhouse in Anaconda, in order to also feature the BA&P.
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/575_BAP_Roundhouse_04.jpg
Last but not least, the AC&ERy running a leased NOPSI Peter Witt car due to a prototypical equipment shortage ;o)
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/546_AnacondaCopperTrolley_24.jpg
Cheers, Lukas
#7 Inactive_Swissie_*
Posted 19 July 2009 - 12:23 PM
Dear collegues,
a few more:
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/203_Distant_05.jpg
Just used this Sunday to finish adding the crops to the farmland along the tracks; I have now finally worked my way East all the way from Deer Lodge to Harlowton; Here's a shot between Piedmont and Jefferson Island, made after a much earlier RE-session.
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/280_NCL_10.jpg
Not much to do here but to add a bit of variety to the background vegetation: Spire Rock and the steel trestles of the NP are already top notch scenic items built and placed by Jerry!
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/446_EB_NCL_96.jpg
One of the things I do particularly like about the RMD-2 part of the route are the numerous possibilities to stage "meets" of a different kind between the various railroads involved: E.g. the NP / Milw. crossover at grade in Sappington...
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/269_Act13_TrainSpotting_07.jpg
...or the famous BA&P fly-over in Silver Bow Canyon which carries the BA&P tracks both over the NP and the Milwaukee Road...
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/266_Act13_TrainSpotting_05.jpg
...the Milw. and NP racing past Rocker Yard on their respective ways to Butte...
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/435_SignalTest_05.jpg
...the NP / now BN Alder Branch (or whatever is left of it by now) crossing the Milwaukee Road at grade just at the East End switch of Piedmont...
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/229_NP_NCL_05.jpg
...and finally the busy Deer Lodge yard of the Monster Road with the NP running by in the foreground.
Hope you enjoy, and thanks for any helpful hints and tipps!
Cheers, Lukas
a few more:
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/203_Distant_05.jpg
Just used this Sunday to finish adding the crops to the farmland along the tracks; I have now finally worked my way East all the way from Deer Lodge to Harlowton; Here's a shot between Piedmont and Jefferson Island, made after a much earlier RE-session.
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/280_NCL_10.jpg
Not much to do here but to add a bit of variety to the background vegetation: Spire Rock and the steel trestles of the NP are already top notch scenic items built and placed by Jerry!
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/446_EB_NCL_96.jpg
One of the things I do particularly like about the RMD-2 part of the route are the numerous possibilities to stage "meets" of a different kind between the various railroads involved: E.g. the NP / Milw. crossover at grade in Sappington...
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/269_Act13_TrainSpotting_07.jpg
...or the famous BA&P fly-over in Silver Bow Canyon which carries the BA&P tracks both over the NP and the Milwaukee Road...
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/266_Act13_TrainSpotting_05.jpg
...the Milw. and NP racing past Rocker Yard on their respective ways to Butte...
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/435_SignalTest_05.jpg
...the NP / now BN Alder Branch (or whatever is left of it by now) crossing the Milwaukee Road at grade just at the East End switch of Piedmont...
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii135/Yukonmusher/MSTS/RMD2/229_NP_NCL_05.jpg
...and finally the busy Deer Lodge yard of the Monster Road with the NP running by in the foreground.
Hope you enjoy, and thanks for any helpful hints and tipps!
Cheers, Lukas
#8
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Posted 19 July 2009 - 01:29 PM
Pretty awesome, Lucas, you've done a lot and some folks just wont recognize the old route! Another question: Who's BAP motors are those?
#9 Inactive_Swissie_*
Posted 19 July 2009 - 11:21 PM
timmuir, on Jul 19 2009, 11:29 PM, said:
Another question: Who's BAP motors are those?
Hi Tim,
they're a temporary stand-in for which I am still trying to find a better solution... Actually, it is Sean Lim's CNW boxcab to which I added your E-33 pantograph via freight animation. Skins are from photographs plus using some texture snippets of your EF-1 boxcabs. They share Chuck's cab and Carlo's sounds with the EFs in the common folders.
Since Fred Staudaher was so kind to send me a blue print of the actual BA&P GE boxcabs (also used with a few variations by the B&O and the CN on local urban electrifications, to my understanding), I'm now trying to talk one of my European 3D-modelling collegues from the local MSTS project group into building a more accurate - and less restrictively EULA'ed - shape; or better even all three variants: a) dual pantograph as delivered, b.) single pantograph front end and c) single pantograph rear end as it looked later. My hope still is to get one which can be released when the route is ready, and could possibly also be reskinned to some other color schemes.
(Yes I know what you're going to say - but the route keeps me so busy that I fear diving into learning GMax and spending even more time at learning the basics and repeating the mistakes with some tool others know much better already).
Cheers, Lukas
#10 Inactive_kelticsylk_*
Posted 20 July 2009 - 04:52 AM
Lukas,
While I haven't completed a run on the RMD East yet, the time I did spend on it was enjoyable. My wife can atest. Our office has a "window" that overlooks our family room and the "oohs", "aaahs", "this is so cool" and "that is awesome" as I traveled the route were definitely audible to the rest of the family.
Where else can you roll out of Butte (I think) on the NP and dive into a canyon alongside two (maybe three) other railroads. In a country where parallel routes have been ripped up for nature trails it's something you can't see anymore. Around Philadelphia I was used to seeing railroad cross railroad cross railroad. Along the Schukyll it was the Pennsy, the Reading and the B&O. The Lehigh Valley, Jersey Central, and LNE do a similar thing towards Lehighton, with the Jersey Central and LV running parallel through the Lehigh Gorge.
Anyway, thanks for the work you and Jerry have done recreating this. It's another reason MSTS still tops it's competition.
While I haven't completed a run on the RMD East yet, the time I did spend on it was enjoyable. My wife can atest. Our office has a "window" that overlooks our family room and the "oohs", "aaahs", "this is so cool" and "that is awesome" as I traveled the route were definitely audible to the rest of the family.
Where else can you roll out of Butte (I think) on the NP and dive into a canyon alongside two (maybe three) other railroads. In a country where parallel routes have been ripped up for nature trails it's something you can't see anymore. Around Philadelphia I was used to seeing railroad cross railroad cross railroad. Along the Schukyll it was the Pennsy, the Reading and the B&O. The Lehigh Valley, Jersey Central, and LNE do a similar thing towards Lehighton, with the Jersey Central and LV running parallel through the Lehigh Gorge.
Anyway, thanks for the work you and Jerry have done recreating this. It's another reason MSTS still tops it's competition.