CTA in Train Simulator

[garmon757]

Interesting. Oh well...there's not much to look pretty on my route anyways (not yet at least!)

Very true for the time being.

Hey, I finally made the graphics to work properly. I had to disable the dynamic lighting option.

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

Hey, I finally made the graphics to work properly. I had to disable the dynamic lighting option.

For some reason that helps a lot in many games. There's something similar in Microsoft Flight Simulator X called light bloom. Turning it off helps a ton.

Personally I think it makes stuff look weird. Here's a runway with light bloom on. Below is a screenshot I took with it off.

[garmon757]

For some reason that helps a lot in many games. There's something similar in Microsoft Flight Simulator X called light bloom. Turning it off helps a ton.

Personally I think it makes stuff look weird. Here's a runway with light bloom on. Below is a screenshot I took with it off.

336885_10150647467939432_580819975_o.jpg

Nice shot! The downfall when disabling the dynamic lighting option is that you can't see anything when doing a scenario while it's dark except the signals. I don't know why but having that option on is a frame rate killer man! I wonder if there's an alternative that can keep frame rates stable.

[briman94]

Nice shot! The downfall when disabling the dynamic lighting option is that you can't see anything when doing a scenario while it's dark except the signals. I don't know why but having that option on is a frame rate killer man! I wonder if there's an alternative that can keep frame rates stable.

I agree...the headlights on most of the rail vehicles (EMUs at least) are super dim. The 377's headlights do almost nothing at night. Of course, neither do 'L' headlights.

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

Nice shot! The downfall when disabling the dynamic lighting option is that you can't see anything when doing a scenario while it's dark except the signals. I don't know why but having that option on is a frame rate killer man! I wonder if there's an alternative that can keep frame rates stable.

Thanks! Unfortunately I don't have your answer for that. I can see why it's frustrating though.

I agree...the headlights on most of the rail vehicles (EMUs at least) are super dim. The 377's headlights do almost nothing at night. Of course, neither do 'L' headlights.

I don't get why that is. You would think they would be more useful. Also the L headlights are more useful in tunnels. You can see them better on the tunnel walls, especially around curves.

[garmon757]

I agree...the headlights on most of the rail vehicles (EMUs at least) are super dim. The 377's headlights do almost nothing at night. Of course, neither do 'L' headlights.

It's really bad with the 365's. I wanted to freaking snap off!

[briman94]

I just put the entire project on a set of Git repositories for those of you who know how to use Git (or who want to learn something new!). Clone the repository at https://bitbucket.org/briman0094/railworks-cta-assets.git to your RailWorks/Assets folder as "briman0094" (you should have RailWorks/Assets/briman0094/CTA). This gives you the assets for the route (modified vehicles, modified track rules, etc). Then clone the repository at https://bitbucket.org/briman0094/railworks-cta.git to RailWorks/Content/Routes as 0d81af12-e199-4e38-bfe3-9730ec83d481 (you should have RailWorks/Content/Routes/0d81af12-e199-4e38-bfe3-9730ec83d481/ and then a number of folders underneath it). Then you can pull live updates from the repository whenever I work on the route!

[briman94]

So far I have the red line as far north as Lawrence and as far south as Jackson. It's not enough for a major release, but it's all on the repo if you want to try out the north main line! Let me just put this out there that Sheridan is a PAIN to create and the train will glitch into the platform there :lol:

[Busjack]

So far I have the red line as far north as Lawrence and as far south as Jackson. It's not enough for a major release, but it's all on the repo if you want to try out the north main line! Let me just put this out there that Sheridan is a PAIN to create and the train will glitch into the platform there

When it was originally built (1901?) it only went between Wilson and Tower 18. So you are further than they were. Someone here drove the train that got arrested because it wasn't completed by the franchise deadline.

[TheBrunswickBowler]

So far I have the red line as far north as Lawrence and as far south as Jackson. It's not enough for a major release, but it's all on the repo if you want to try out the north main line! Let me just put this out there that Sheridan is a PAIN to create and the train will glitch into the platform there

Is it difficult to put current cars into Train Simulator?

[MetroShadow]

Is it difficult to put current cars into Train Simulator?

Some of those cars are not equipped to handle sharp turns like Sheridan, so either your train has to be shorter or the platform and track modified (say move the station from across Sheridan to across Irving Park, over Byron's).

[Busjack]

Is it difficult to put current cars into Train Simulator?

Some of those cars are not equipped to handle sharp turns like Sheridan, so either your train has to be shorter or the platform and track modified (say move the station from across Sheridan to across Irving Park, over Byron's).

You should also note Briman's first post, which said he was using existing assets and tried to modify a car already existing in the simulation.

[briman94]

When it was originally built (1901?) it only went between Wilson and Tower 18. So you are further than they were. Someone here drove the train that got arrested because it wasn't completed by the franchise deadline.

Wait...wat?

---

Anyways, I just finished Roosevelt, Cermak-Chinatown, and Halsted (Orange) as well as all the infrastructure between. The interlockings and tunnels south of Roosevelt (Red) are a hot mess and will remain that way until I get some custom assets underway!

Speaking of custom assets...I've been working on something:

Far from done, and I have no clue how to get it into the game, but it's progress!

[Railwaymodeler]

Garmon, what type of video chip is in your laptop? Intel graphics chips are not that great so that might be part of it.

Also, if the EMU cars in question are British, and I am gathering they are by the thing about the 365s, then those might not be headlights in the first place. For a long time, British trains had lights on the front, not as headlights, but as train classification lights. If anyone here has kids that watch Thomas the Tank Engine, you can sometimes see small lanterns on the fronts of the engines. Those would be classification lights.

Modern equipment doesn't use the lights anymore though, but I would imagine after decade after decade of not needing headlights on trains (Old law about having right of way totally separate from the rest of the land via fences), they might just put something minimal on them now.

[Busjack]

Wait...wat?

....

The real one, although it was called the Northwestern Elevated Railroad then. The "arrest" portion is from Krambles's book, but chicago-l.org has a chronology here.

....

Speaking of custom assets...I've been working on something:

Far from done, and I have no clue how to get it into the game, but it's progress!

Looks about as complicated as the Tribune video at the Bombardier plant (again the real one).

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

...Anyways, I just finished Roosevelt, Cermak-Chinatown, and Halsted (Orange) as well as all the infrastructure between. The interlockings and tunnels south of Roosevelt (Red) are a hot mess and will remain that way until I get some custom assets underway!

Speaking of custom assets...I've been working on something:

[Pretty Picture!]

Far from done, and I have no clue how to get it into the game, but it's progress!

On your Red Line tunnels point, that is certainly one of the more complicated areas of the system, and yet it appears to be a simple flying junction in some sense. Good luck!

As for the modeling, great job so far! One thing to remember about the passenger windows is that they are symmetric, so the two little windows are on the complete opposite sides of the car, though you're probably aware of this for when you model the rest of the body.

I remember how another simulator was open about user models and let a program called 3DS Max or something export models they made in the program into the train simulator. I'm not sure about Railworks though, and I have yet to see a user made train easily available for the program.

[garmon757]

Garmon, what type of video chip is in your laptop? Intel graphics chips are not that great so that might be part of it.

Also, if the EMU cars in question are British, and I am gathering they are by the thing about the 365s, then those might not be headlights in the first place. For a long time, British trains had lights on the front, not as headlights, but as train classification lights. If anyone here has kids that watch Thomas the Tank Engine, you can sometimes see small lanterns on the fronts of the engines. Those would be classification lights.

Modern equipment doesn't use the lights anymore though, but I would imagine after decade after decade of not needing headlights on trains (Old law about having right of way totally separate from the rest of the land via fences), they might just put something minimal on them now.

Not sure about the chip but my processor is Intel Premium CPU B980 @ 2.40 GHz. I just recently had to get my laptop fixed at Chicago Gadgets (Kedzie/Wilson) because the motherboard was destroyed. So it's going to cost me $160 to get a new one. By the way there's a patch from steam.com for Train Simulator 2015 to fix some critical bugs and other discrepancies but it's only for a limited time.

[Busjack]

Not sure about the chip ...

If the laptop is running Windows (apparently at the moment it isn't running anything) you can right click Computer, select Properties, select Device Manager, and then Display Adapters.

If you have Windows 7, the system properties has a "rating," which essentially depends on the power of the video board.

[garmon757]

If the laptop is running Windows (apparently at the moment it isn't running anything) you can right click Computer, select Properties, select Device Manager, and then Display Adapters.

If you have Windows 7, the system properties has a "rating," which essentially depends on the power of the video board.

That's correct but I have Windows 8.1 Pro.

[Busjack]

That's correct but I have Windows 8.1 Pro.

Any comparable Device Manager reading? According to this article, if you find the Control Panel, that gets you there. This YouTube seems easier.

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

That's correct but I have Windows 8.1 Pro.

In the past, as Microsoft released newer and newer operating systems, they became more intensive on the hardware and battery. For example, if you had a laptop with Windows XP, then upgraded it to Vista (not sure why you'd want to do that), the battery life would decrease a little and your laptop would need a little more oomph to run the new OS. This would continue if you further upgraded the laptop to run Windows 7. I'm not sure if Windows 8 is the same case, but you might have a little performance boost if you were running Windows 7 (not that you can get it now).

Any comparable Device Manager reading? According to this article, if you find the Control Panel, that gets you there. This YouTube seems easier.

The Youtube is definitely easier, at least in my opinion, but that's because it's closer to learning by doing. It should help Garmon get the answer.

[garmon757]

Any comparable Device Manager reading? According to this article, if you find the Control Panel, that gets you there. This YouTube seems easier.

In the past, as Microsoft released newer and newer operating systems, they became more intensive on the hardware and battery. For example, if you had a laptop with Windows XP, then upgraded it to Vista (not sure why you'd want to do that), the battery life would decrease a little and your laptop would need a little more oomph to run the new OS. This would continue if you further upgraded the laptop to run Windows 7. I'm not sure if Windows 8 is the same case, but you might have a little performance boost if you were running Windows 7 (not that you can get it now).

The Youtube is definitely easier, at least in my opinion, but that's because it's closer to learning by doing. It should help Garmon get the answer.

I know how to locate it but I don't have my laptop because it's at Chicago Gadgets getting repaired with the new motherboard.

[briman94]

Just pushed an update after making progress on sinking the Red Line tunnel underground. So far Roosevelt through Lake are fully underground. The inclines south of Roosevelt are a bit steep but I'm far too lazy to fix them right now given how difficult it is to modify elevation underground. It could be a lot better, but I'd like to get to the other above-ground lines soon so I'm spending less time on the subway portion.

[briman94]

I just realized I'm creating way more work for myself than I need to be! Not sure why I didn't think about this before. I can lower the terrain a ton, move the stations and track down and still have them "above ground", and then raise the terrain again once I'm happy with the station layout.

[briman94]

I remember how another simulator was open about user models and let a program called 3DS Max or something export models they made in the program into the train simulator. I'm not sure about Railworks though, and I have yet to see a user made train easily available for the program.

I have 3DS Max and Train Simulator has a plugin for it, but it's all a matter of figuring out the export process. The plugin exports to some weird format that you then have to convert *again* to the game's format, and I'm not exactly sure what needs to be done for things like animations (doors) and lights.