Details of steam loco steam effects

[scefhwil]

Thanks for all the comments, I'm taking note and will see what can be done.

This all sounds very good, but will it all be for nothing if it's all reset back to default at the next update?

A good point, which I too realised early on. That's why I'm using Kevin Martin's Mogul as my guinea pig. My intention is to create three sets of generic effects; one each for large, medium and small loco's. I then intend to provide effects upgrade packs for various of the freeware loco's available on UKTS, starting with those by Kevin. These will include modified engine.bin files which will point to a new set of blueprint, proxyxml and lua scripts.

Stuart

[Neptune50006]

Thanks for all the comments, I'm taking note and will see what can be done.

This all sounds very good, but will it all be for nothing if it's all reset back to default at the next update?

A good point, which I too realised early on. That's why I'm using Kevin Martin's Mogul as my guinea pig. My intention is to create three sets of generic effects; one each for large, medium and small loco's. I then intend to provide effects upgrade packs for various of the freeware loco's available on UKTS, starting with those by Kevin. These will include modified engine.bin files which will point to a new set of blueprint, proxyxml and lua scripts.

Stuart

That sounds good then. I hope the folks at RW will take on board what you are trying to achieve and help out in some way with the default stuff.

[Wikkus]

Great stuff, Stuart and thanks.

I actually came on to see if I could find a fix for the default "balloons" of exhaust steam and replace them with something more apposite. I noticed that the Jubilee, A1 and A4 have a quite realistic-looking waft of exhaust on idle whereas the Black 5, the 8F and the Hall all have the "balloons". Apologies for a slight diversion, but a pointer to a quick fix would be appreciated until Stuart gets his stuff fully sorted

btw, Stuart: if you need some testing doing, I have all the payware steamers released thus far -- quite staggering for someone who proclaims blue diesels to be their first love

Cheers, Rik.

[mjoliver1]

That sounds good then. I hope the folks at RW will take on board what you are trying to achieve and help out in some way with the default stuff.

Indeed, basically my point earlier, so a resounding ditto to your remark. I'm particularly irritated by the Jubilee, which would suffer the same reversal of the attendant files each time there's a Steam update were they were to be tinkered with.

RSC, please take note.

Mike

[Oldpufferspotter]

It's just a thought or suggestion, but if you have altered any of the default loco files and want to protect them from Steam updates, have you tried creating your own developer's folder and then copying the loco's complete folders/files from the Kuju folder and placing the copied folders into your own folder?
You would need to create a .xml file from the original loco's .bin file, then edit it to change all the kuju references in the path names to your own developer's folder name, then copy the .xml file into your copied loco's folder, and finally covert the .xml file back into a .bin file.
Those of us who reskin locos and rolling stock do this without too many problems if we are very careful and don't rush it!
Worth a look at? It does no harm at all just to convert a .bin file to a .xml file, the original .bin file remains as it is until the edited .xml is converted back to replace the .bin file.
regards Ted.

[scefhwil]

Apologies for a slight diversion, but a pointer to a quick fix would be appreciated until Stuart gets his stuff fully sorted

Not sure there is a quick fix. The reason a ballon appears is due to the "lifetime" of the smoke being set too long for when the loco is stationary. You could shorten the lifetime but then when the loco is at speed there will be a very short smoke trail. What others and my self have done is to add a second smoke effect and then use lua scripting to switch between the two depending on the loco's speed.

QLDriver,

I've managed to create a "pouring water" particle effect (it's not brilliant, but I think it looks effective) and now can switch between stean, smoke and a mix of both depending on the appropriate key presses. I just need now to decide on a condition that would equate to the injector being at max efficiency and thus result in no drain pipe discharges. I really only have the degree of the water value being open to use (varies between 0.00 for closed and 1.00 for fully open). I understand that in reality the actuall water valve opening required is variable (depending on steam pressure?), but what would be an appropriate opening amount to use as approx max efficiency, just to get the effect right?

Stuart

[AndiS]

The reason a ballon appears is due to the "lifetime" of the smoke being set too long for when the loco is stationary. You could shorten the lifetime but then when the loco is at speed there will be a very short smoke trail. What others and my self have done is to add a second smoke effect and then use lua scripting to switch between the two depending on the loco's speed.

Could you give a short list of parameters of an animation which can be set/altered by the engine script, please?
Or is it only on/off?

If the latter is the case, then switching between the two sounds like the perfect solution, but I really would like to see the colour change depending on the firing ("fire quality" in MSTS terms).

[scefhwil]

AndiS,

You say animation. Smoke, etc, is treated as a separate entity ie particle effects, and you can adjust a very limited set of their values direct via lua. My inspiration came from Bill Hobbs postings here (sorry, but it takes you to the dark side!):

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/showth ... p?t=288598

If you do mean animation, as in movement of parts, it's not an area I've delved into. This is pure speculation though - I think the tilting of the Class 390 DLC might be achived by lua scripting, ie reading the train speed and track curvature then modifying the animation (tilt) of the body appropriately. I don't have this payware so don't know what's in it's lua script. As I say, pure speculation.

Stuart

[spontin]

Hi Stuart
I've been working on some steam effects as well but have some issues when editing the LUA file.
Sounds silly but can you edit teh LUA in the Assets folder of the loco or do you need to edit the source? And does the change get picked up striaght away or should you close and restart Railworks.
I ask because some changes I make are NOT being picked up and I'm trying to work out the correct process

Thanks
Steve

[AndiS]

Stuart, I should have said particle effect.

Steve, if you work in the Asset folder, the effects show on reloading the route. But if you export the model again (from the Source folder), you overwrite your changes. If you work in the Source folder, then you need to export after each change. However, this is based on signal modelling in KRS (mostly), but I am pretty sure it is the same for engines.

[kevmt]

It doesn't alway work like that with loco's.

Sometimes you need to delete and re-add the loco to a scenario to see an effect. At other times (eg when changing an animation), you need to close down and restart railworks before you can see the effect.

(I'm talking about working with source files, here)

Cheers,
Kevin

[scefhwil]

I'm a naughty boy and edit the lua script direct in the Assets folder. You only have to exit the scenario (I have a simple single loco on "billiard table" new route") and re-run it, the updated lua being immediately active. The slowest part of the process is how many mouse clicks it takes in RW to re-run the scenarion you just exited! Same goes for particle effects. Once I have the basic .bin file setup and exported via the Blueprint Editor I tweak it via RWTools. You only have to click save in RWTools and can leave the file still open. Re-run the scenario and the changes are instant. The exception to this is with the sound proxy files. This seem to need RW restarting to ensure changes are implimented.

[spontin]

I'm a naughty boy and edit the lua script direct in the Assets folder. You only have to exit the scenario (I have a simple single loco on "billiard table" new route") and re-run it, the updated lua being immediately active. The slowest part of the process is how many mouse clicks it takes in RW to re-run the scenarion you just exited! Same goes for particle effects. Once I have the basic .bin file setup and exported via the Blueprint Editor I tweak it via RWTools. You only have to click save in RWTools and can leave the file still open. Re-run the scenario and the changes are instant. The exception to this is with the sound proxy files. This seem to need RW restarting to ensure changes are implimented.

Thanks Stuart. That's what I thought should happen. It must be something else causing my problems.
I assume Notepad is fine for editting the LUA files??

Steve

[AndiS]

Notepad is fine for smaller changes.

If you plan to do a bit more, you should look at one of the many free text editors for programmers which offer syntax highlighting. This helps you to find some of the unavoidable little mistakes. It also has a more appropriate notion of what is a word (when you double-click on a word, Notepad selects everything to the next white space, while more clever editors only select characters and digits, and not quotes, commas and such).

The editor I am using is called Crimson. It does what I need, but there are certainly others, and I cannot claim to have made a big review of them all.

[spontin]

Ok...I've concluded that the LUA can't read the SafetyValve01 controller variable but thanks to some research I've found that it is supposed to read the Boiler Pressure (thanks for the post on the US forum, Stuart). However, I cannot get the code to work for the Safety Valves.

Code: Select all

	if name == "BoilerPressureGaugePSI" then
		if value > 156.99 then
			Call( "Steam Safety01:SetEmitterActive", 1 );
		end
	end
	
	if name == "BoilerPressureGaugePSI" then
		if value <= 154.0 then
			Call( "Steam Safety01:SetEmitterActive", 0 );
		end
	end

I assume that it is something to do with the ControllerName but as far as I can see it correct as per RW Wiki and the Engine Blueprint

Any ideas, please??

Steve