â€œThe Piddington Light Railwayâ€

batroost · Post by **batroost** » Tue Jan 06, 2004 9:20 pm

Hi Mike,

The boulders (and textures) originally came the Train-Sim.com website. A guy called Ron Spalding put them together for distribution with non-commercial routes. His Readme said:

License and disclaimer:
This file, and all contents including shapes and textures is the original work of and copyright Â© 2002 by Ron (ChooChoo) Spalding.
These objects may be included in a distributed non-commercial Route for MSTS, but they may not be used in any commercial project or distributed singly without the written consent of the author.
These objects are provided "as-is" without any warranty of any kind.

Comments and questions should be directed to:
Ron Spalding (ChooChoo)
email: ChooChoo@maleposer.com

On this basis I'm sure you're OK to use them.

Best wishes,

Batroost

sp762 · Post by **sp762** » Tue Jan 06, 2004 9:47 pm

Thanks for that - I haven't yet decided if I'll use them or not... I've been concentrating on the outer yard in any case.

Mike

andrewgadd · Post by **andrewgadd** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 4:58 pm

Hi guys
I have been forced to work out how the alpha channel behaves, this is due to the fact that I wished to renumber Mikeâ€™s battery loco and could only do so by altering the alpha channel. Having made this discovery certain other options have now manifest themselves with the scenery.
I have on disc a few started routes, one of which is (and may still be completed) a standard gauge route with as small a download size as possible. This idea has always appealed to me as being a challenge for the builder and convenient for the end user. The problem for narrow gauge route builder is that some of the scenery is far to large in shape to look correct, however by masking of the platform and cross fence, the station below does not, now, look out of place. What do you think?
The saving on download size is still negligible, as the new texture file will still have to be included with the distribution butâ€¦
One last point, I feel that the default equipment never looks good up against many of the custom built models and it would therefore be more sensible to keep to only default scenery together in given areas.
The current download size is 6,541KB!
Notice the extremes the photographers go to on the P.Lt.Rly. (Standing in the water tower).

Click the image to zoom in

sp762 · Post by **sp762** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 11:31 pm

Hi Andrew,

I have not quite finished the loco yet - so if you email me your altered texture, I'll use that. I usually apply the numbering etc as a 'decal' overlay. I hope you haven't been fiddling with the worksplate, as that will void the warranty...

I've been fiddling about with mines as well. Can't post pictures until later on, but the sort of mine I'm doing is a bit different to the welsh slate cavern idea. Think about mine tunnels held up by props, and that's where I'm heading.

The general approach that I'm taking is to create the tunnels as TSM objects, place them, then lay the tracks to fit. Creating them as scenery objects with a rectangular shadow, produces a nice patch of gloom near the bottom, suggestive of lighting from above. A bonus is that the tracks are clearly laid to fit the tunnel, rather than the other way round.

Where the tunnels emerge into larger spaces, I'm using the cut and cover method that you describe.

The residual problem is that now I've got a hill with lots of little gullies in it. I may have to make a really big object that covers the hill, or plant lots of trees on top.

Has this sort of thing been done before?

sp762 · Post by **sp762** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 10:38 am

OK - I'm hijacking this thread to talk about mining... I apologise for my rudeness (but don't really mean it...)

<IMG width="543" height="407" SRC="http://album.atomic-systems.com/showPic ... /mine1.jpg">

This is what it looks like inside a junction tunnel.

<IMG width="543" height="407" SRC="http://album.atomic-systems.com/showPic ... /mine2.jpg">

A different junction - how can you tell? the light strings give it away...

<IMG width="543" height="407" SRC="http://album.atomic-systems.com/showPic ... /mine3.jpg">

Recommend driving your battery loco backwards - it's easier to see where you are going... in this case up the grade toward the entrance.

<IMG width="543" height="407" SRC="http://album.atomic-systems.com/showPic ... /mine4.jpg">

How it all works - and why you can't use 2 and 3 camera views very effectively.

I'd love to make the lights work - and I still have a few issues with the sky poking in from time to time... noting a few years hard labour won't fix though!

ideas and comments welcomed.

rwaceyw · Post by **rwaceyw** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 5:31 pm

Wow! These look great! I know I want them!

David

pitleyfalley · Post by **pitleyfalley** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 6:45 pm

Oooh, that looks very interesting, are they effectivly scenery items then with a hole through them? Or is it more complex? Im just thinking about a smaller version (ie single and narrow) for my Quarry route....

Pitley

sp762 · Post by **sp762** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 11:28 pm

Hi Pitley

these objects are basically drive through buildings, with the outside faces removed to save polys. (Which is why you can see through the tops.)

Mike

andrewgadd · Post by **andrewgadd** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 6:03 pm

The end of the line at Piddington, No11 has just brought a train in and stands by the loco facilities whilst a bus leaves the station heading for Piddington town.

Click the image to zoom in

andrewgadd · Post by **andrewgadd** » Sat Jan 10, 2004 10:11 am

Narrow gauge level crossing on the P.Lt.Rly. This has all been made with transfers!

Click the image to zoom in

Frsimplex1993 · Post by **Frsimplex1993** » Sat Jan 10, 2004 12:16 pm

andrewgadd wrote:Narrow gauge level crossing on the P.Lt.Rly. This has all been made with transfers!

Click the image to zoom in

Andrew could i have a copy of that wonderful fencing and crosing for my rout please as little boy's wonder on my track these days no screenie's because they scarped when they saw me!

Cheer's,

andrewgadd · Post by **andrewgadd** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 9:52 pm

Just a quick update, nearly all the track for the railway is now laid accept the standard and narrow gauge transfer sidings, left the best bit till last with multiple heights of trackwork. The Quarries still remain as two flat tiles since the replacement tiling took place, but ideas abound. I can see Mikeâ€™s battery locoâ€™s bustling about multiple height galleries with inclines and mine workings. I also have an idea or two of how to access to different galleries without actually using the inclineâ€™s, which, letâ€™s face it, are never going to work in MSTS.
I have spent much to time recently looking at the route textures so as to make it work in the snow! Also reducing the size (KB) of some of the textures. The current upload size of the route is still only 6.7MB.
The shot below show's work at the mainline station (canâ€™t think of a name for it yet). With the narrow gauge passing underneath the standard as it accesses the station to the left of shot. In the top right can be seen the P.Lt.Rly. works and loco sheds, which are next to the standard gauge main line.

Click the image to zoom in

sp762 · Post by **sp762** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 10:08 pm

Hi Andrew,

I had a bit of a drive along the line last night with my Hunslet and some Ruggas.

I'll send some detailed comments by PM - but it's a nice, compact route and there's a surprising amount of stuff contained within it. Can't wait for the finished article!

Cheers

Mike

davidaward · Post by **davidaward** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 1:59 pm

This route looks it'll be worth the wait!

andrewgadd · Post by **andrewgadd** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 1:24 pm

Work in progress.
A shot of the P.Lt.Rly.Co. workshops and locomotive sheds, where they briefly meet the standard gauge. The mixture of the two gauges is the only real reason for working in Truescale as both gauges are playable. As on the S.W.L.R.

Click the image to zoom in