Sorting the lads.........

[CaptainBazza]

I expect creating 3d cab views to the standard shown so far in the sim is going to be a hurdle for many modelers. It would be great to make a hi detail steamer cab view for each locomotive, but I think we will have to rely in a series of generic cabs unless some cab maker genius comes along.

Cheers Bazza

[DarwinS]

There seem to be lots of high quality locos in the making... it should not be any more difficult to create a cab view to the same standard should it?

[superheatedsteam]

> but I think we will have to rely in a series of generic cabs unless some cab maker genius comes along

Which is not unlike the current situation with MSTS. Cab building has always seemed to me the poorer cousin to 3D modelling. Technically I would have thought that 3D cab modelling should be no more difficult than rolling stock creation except for getting reference material for cabs which I have always found to be difficult and learning the coding required to make gauges/controls work.

It is my impression that most of the freeware cabs currently available for MSTS are built by a smallish number of content creators. The transition from 2D to 3D graphics programs may be an stumbling block for some but hopefully a challenge others are prepared to take. This where ‘teams’ can have a distinct advantage over lone wolves. I personally can create reasonable 3D representation of a real world object but my texture creation skills are abysmal due to a partial colour deficiency coupled with not having an artistic bone in my body.

Hopefully there will also be a number of Trainz content creators jumping ship to Rail Simulator . They have had 3D cabs since the first release so there is an existing skill base and the potential porting (with modification) of existing Trainz cabs into the new simulator.

From the Rail Simulator videos posted so far it looks like the gauges are 'scalable' for want of a better term and hopefully programmable. Trying to fit (twin) legible IFD screens, AAR control stand and maintain a drivers perspective (sitting in the seat and not at the rear of the cab) in MSTS was impossible. Thankfully it looks like this new simulator will allow us to create more immersive cab environments.

Regards,

Marek.

[richard222]

To be honest, I dont think we will have to rely on generic cabs, the reason being, to put it simply, there aren't any! At the moment, all the model makers/MSTS Cab Gurus are attempting to make cabs and with some practice, say 2 or 3 models, they are bound to be better at it, and would therefore be able to make the cabs for the new model they are doing.

Richard

[SteelixB]

Making accurate cabs needs a LOT of reference (you have to make the entire cab it seems...), so I won't be surprised if a lot of stock do use default cabs, or low quality (due to lack of reference) cabs.

[Fodda]

I can see the sale of loco models from commercial publishers being a lot more lucrative with EARS. Similar to the way FSX add-ons are popular.

[DarwinS]

Perhaps so...

I am very much hoping that the payware people will sell individual downloads. I am not keen to repeat the experience of buying a rolling stock CD only to find the rolling stock I really wanted was not there and instead i had a lot of stock of minimal interest and a ficticious route of no interest whatsoever.

My best buys for MSTS have all been route CDs... at least I know I want the route!

[DarrenCarter]

I have only ever modelled my cabs in 3d because i simply did not have the specific photographs on hand for the photo realistic option and was so keen to do a 1938 tube stock cab. Now after a few years of cab modelling and being able to obtain said photographs i will obviously stick with the 3d cabs. Personally i find this a very exciting time as my 3D cabs were only good for taking screenshots of for creating the cabview for MSTS although our next release which is the R49 is going to include a 3D cab as part of the passenger view. The biggest drawback is that i work in Gmax and there is no support planned for that in EARS.

It is definately a big leg up being part of a team as you may well know me from the Underground forum. Richard Scott builds the models. I do the cabs and Jimi Ibbet glues it all together and makes it work. This allows Richard and I to concentrate on the next work in progress at our own paces even before our previous work is released. There is always something in the pipeline.

I hope we will still be working as a team for EARS underground freeware as we all plan to continue with MSTS and EARS.

Darren.

[jplahti]

Hopefully there will also be a number of Trainz content creators jumping ship to Rail Simulator . They have had 3D cabs since the first release so there is an existing skill base and the potential porting (with modification) of existing Trainz cabs into the new simulator.

I'm one of the "jumpers". I got frustrated to Trainz where you have to work around buggy sound engine and hassle with a messy scripting system. Just hoping that things are done better in KRS I will be building cabs for all my models. I have not seen content creation manual and such tools yet though... but I say this shouldn't be too much of effort for existing TRS content creators.

[tommylommykins]

One thought that I've had for TRS and KRS, which might be useful as a stopgap measure is just to use a texture plane, with holes cut in it for windows.

[g0fthick]

One thought that I've had for TRS and KRS, which might be useful as a stopgap measure is just to use a texture plane, with holes cut in it for windows.

How would that help, or work?

The cab view places the player in a 3D environment, of which all can be viewed, zoomed into etc. The cab needs to be a good representation of the real life thing or it will fall flat on it's face.

[tommylommykins]

it will work the same way it works in BVE and MSTS. So long as the player doesn't move or rotate the camera, I see no reason that ought not to work.

[g0fthick]

it will work the same way it works in BVE and MSTS. So long as the player doesn't move or rotate the camera, I see no reason that ought not to work.

But MSTS didn't feature 3D cabs, it features image based cabs. The first thing a user will do after downloading a new cab is look around it, and I doubt they'd think too highly of a cab view that only looks good if you have it in the exact position it was designed to fit.

[tommylommykins]

Yeah......

My feeling is that I would rather have an image based cab for a particular loco rather than a completely unrealted cab for a loco. It would certainly be possible to make the user aware of the fact that it was a 2D cab being used.

[kimdurose]

Playing EARS has reignited my desire to build cabs again, but I can't see it happening with the "3rd party developers and DRM" situation.