NEC - Out August 25th

[bigvern]

Has anyone checked to see if the assets can be enabled for use in 3rd party routes?

[Julien]

From the screenshot, I find the overhead wire system rather light, not to say poor, and unrealistic. It kind of reminds me the beginning of MSTS with those weird wires floating in the air... It's a shame as it is possible to make a realistic catenary if you spend some time creating and placing assets. Here is a screenshot of a set of assets recently created for french 1500v system...



Some other shots



I really think an effort could be made, i know overhead wires are not a tradition in both UK and the US, but still...

[danny3]

Oh, and the first "proper" scenario I tried did this somewhere South of Metropark


Rik.

If its any help to you - There is a way to fix the scenario though , its simple edit the keystone scenario, then find train 19 and change the final destination to Metuchen Northbound Slow (instead of the Southbouth Slow it currently says ) and that will fix the scenario so you can play it (although only the standard one obviously though.

[styckx]

Has anyone checked to see if the assets can be enabled for use in 3rd party routes?

They can and there are a lot of them. All nicely named with the prefix "NEC" for easy finding.

[TristanUK]

I am very tempted to purchase this, but thought that it was going to come with the Acela. Seeing as it doesnt, i imagine the Acela will be released later at additional cost, and Steam will probably run a promo to get the two packages together. Wait and see?

[Wikkus]

@manuel -- thanks, chap All part of the service

@crump -- good summation; plus, the more I drive the AEM7, the more I like

And kudos to RSC for getting the fixes for the scenarios out in record time

Oh, and Rick Grout's P42 Genesis with Cesar's Metroliners are also on the way...

Cheers, Rik.

[jimmyshand]

Call me picky but what's with the great big square box with a tiny little gauge slap bang in the middle of the front window obscuring the drivers view?? what a strange design that is, surely it would have been much more sensible to have a tiny little gauge sized square box that doesn't get in the way of the drivers view?!

Can't figure out what the designers were thinking there? "Hey, this driver has far too good a view out of his window down the track, let's put a TV-sized box in the middle of his window so he can't see the track in front of him" !!

[jimmyshand]

I am very tempted to purchase this, but thought that it was going to come with the Acela. Seeing as it doesnt, i imagine the Acela will be released later at additional cost, and Steam will probably run a promo to get the two packages together. Wait and see?

Agreed, this is one for the next Steam sale for me.

[Wikkus]

From the screenshot, I find the overhead wire system rather light, not to say poor, and unrealistic. It kind of reminds me the beginning of MSTS with those weird wires floating in the air... It's a shame as it is possible to make a realistic catenary if you spend some time creating and placing assets. Here is a screenshot of a set of assets recently created for french 1500v system...

<snip>

I really think an effort could be made, i know overhead wires are not a tradition in both UK and the US, but still...

Very, very nice, Julien -- those arch ones put me in mind of...


However, playing devil's advocate, all I'd say is that I suspect doing something so detailed on NEC might kill the rather good frame rates we're getting at the moment; seeing as it's a "high speed" route, there's only so much detail you'd see in the catenary anyway, so a compromise on the detail becomes more acceptable. Just postulating, mind

Incidentally, one of the really nice details for me on NEC is the green oxidisation on the copper cables...

Rik.

[Wikkus]

Call me picky but what's with the great big square box with a tiny little gauge slap bang in the middle of the front window obscuring the drivers view?? what a strange design that is, surely it would have been much more sensible to have a tiny little gauge sized square box that doesn't get in the way of the drivers view?!

Can't figure out what the designers were thinking there? "Hey, this driver has far too good a view out of his window down the track, let's put a TV-sized box in the middle of his window so he can't see the track in front of him" !!

Does seem strange, doesn't it? However, that's what they did when Alstom overhauled the fleet :s

Before the overhaul, they had a more conventional dash with a conventional speedo :s

In real life, the box contains a flat-panel display with a bunch of other information on it:


But unfortunately, a bit like on the ES44 and the DASH9, for reasons unknown, that extra info hasn't made it into the sim

Cheers, Rik.

[jimmyshand]

Call me picky but what's with the great big square box with a tiny little gauge slap bang in the middle of the front window obscuring the drivers view?? what a strange design that is, surely it would have been much more sensible to have a tiny little gauge sized square box that doesn't get in the way of the drivers view?!

Can't figure out what the designers were thinking there? "Hey, this driver has far too good a view out of his window down the track, let's put a TV-sized box in the middle of his window so he can't see the track in front of him" !!

Does seem strange, doesn't it? However, that's what they did when Alstom overhauled the fleet :s

Before the overhaul, they had a more conventional dash with a conventional speedo :s

In real life, the box contains a flat-panel display with a bunch of other information on it:


But unfortunately, a bit like on the ES44 and the DASH9, for reasons unknown, that extra info hasn't made it into the sim

Cheers, Rik.

Cheers for the info. It's the first thing that struck me when I saw both the RW version and the real thing "which berk put a great big box in the field of view??"

I would be mighty hacked off if I were driving those things and having to peek out from behind a great big TV screen every time I wanted to see ahead!

[micaelcorleone]

"Hey, this driver has far too good a view out of his window down the track, let's put a TV-sized box in the middle of his window so he can't see the track in front of him" !!

Of course. You know how it is in the US? - A TV in every room of the house. Now Amtrak's engineers can even watch the next baseball game at work.

[ihavenonamenoreallyidont]

Totally agree with the comments on the cab textures. It's just not good enough. The most disappointing cab I've seen in RSC's payware range without a shadow of a doubt.

The catenary isn't too clever, either. I would rather have WCML's performance than the cheese-wire we have here.

Unlike many other RSC routes, this doesn't feel real to me. It feels like a model trainset laid out on carpet.

My opinion? Caveat emptor.

[jimmyshand]

Totally agree with the comments on the cab textures. It's just not good enough. The most disappointing cab I've seen in RSC's payware range without a shadow of a doubt.

The catenary isn't too clever, either. I would rather have WCML's performance than the cheese-wire we have here.

Unlike many other RSC routes, this doesn't feel real to me. It feels like a model trainset laid out on carpet.

My opinion? Caveat emptor.

Can't say I feel a burning desire to rush out and buy this one. Not only because it's American but also because from the screenshots it just doesn't look up to scratch. Also that box in the middle of the drivers cab window would drive me up the wall, you can't see the track ahead!! not for me I don't think.

[ihavenonamenoreallyidont]

Don't misunderstand me: I want to love this route. Although I've no interest in US railways, I have such fond memories of this route from MSTS on release day all those years ago.

The monitor in the middle of the loco's viewport is actually the least of my concerns