Hot on the heels of the Tinsley/Cornish 37s and the PHV limestone hoppers, my next project is making the short lived and small dedicated fleet of ETHELs. For reading I'll leave it up to the experts who want to know the history - https://derbysulzers.com/97250.html I'm trying to look at modifying the simualtion and sounds to emulate them being in use.
Matthew, these look absolutely fab. I love stock etc that adds a bit of depth to the game and these will certainly do that.
Many thanks, this is why I haven't been able to get on with TSW, it doesn't allow creation of anything remotely unique at all, and I find it all rather staid. I've added the final child object to the Intercity variants of the ETHELs, due to being deployed behind steam traction, it was worried loose coal could smash a cab window - so window grates/meshes were fitted to help provide protection.
The ETHELs have got a scenario in the works and with the release of my home route and traction, I decided it was time to get straight into backdating the liveries for the Class 323s. First up is original condition Centro Regional Railways colours. Seen in the image below is the livery changes and the child objects for Centro and Regional Railways branding, alongside the new running numbers showing off their functionality.
Metro North Comet Vs, unfortunately there are still have some hiccups that need to be resolved somehow, most notably the number placement situation.
Testing of my new (but actually old) light clusters and also a covered logo which did get caught by the light as a later option for the branding. The last shot is just me reliving my younger years
So, with some scripting woes yet to be overcome, it was a relatively short step to make the jump to the next Centro based conditions of the Class 323. First up the narrow yellow band is removed and yellow doors are in place - still with the old light clusters. Then the Centro branding got replaced by Network West Midlands logos and newer LED light clusters as seen in the current guise. One difference is I've removed the terrible light flare based headlights, and made the textures themselves show up the illumination.
Having sorted out most of the external detailing, I have set about the older style destination screens. Finding images to get a decent font setup was tricky, along with the character sizes, but after a false start I have a full set of West Midlands area destinations - some will need to be animated so a separate object could be the order of the day.
I've had a bit of time to make some more child objects and get the original GMPTE livery for the Class 323 done, completion is again pending interior repaint and textures and a custom object for the destination screens these had.
Whilst I still work on possible methods of displaying the old style destinations, I spent a lot of hours (with some help on the textures) making many child objects to achieve one of the hardest liveries I've worked on to date. This first appeared in March 2016 under London Midland and still runs now with West Midlands Railway liveried DMSO vehicles.
Nowhere at the moment, I'm making a pack of them as we speak to hopefully include the destinations if I can animate them somehow. Anyway, here are the latest out of the 323 factory. Livery fix under the pantograph and correct fonts for numbers on the LM scheme along with WMR branding and Network West Mids stickers and disabled access etc
I've also, with a little help from a friend, done North Western trains blue with gold stars, which only adorned 224 and 233.
Penn Central GP40, might get this ready for the RWA library today or tomorrow, or wait and bundle it with some eventual rolling stock, I'm not sure.
As for my LIRR group project, this is where we've gotten (in literally a span of around 2-3 months). By far the largest project I've ever attempted.
Right, I guess it's time for another 323 update. Ive been working on the WMR (West Midlands Railway) livery, surprisingly tricky at the point of colour changeover. I ended up making a new decal to sit between the cab door and the first set of passenger doors that can provide for a higher resolution texture to be used. The other feature of this livery is that the toilets have been replaced with an accessible toilet which has changed the window layout somewhat on the PTOSL vehicle. I've had to make some custom window blanking objects and a new set of window frames so that the old set can be disposed of via a script. In front of these blanking plates is a large Soho LMD depot sticker that I photographed recently and specific to 323241 is a stickered nameplate for Dave Pomroy a long serving member of the fleet maintenance team.
I've also discovered that the BTP livery was butchered to accommodate the accessible toilet, so I have amended my own object and the livery for the PTOSL vehicle.
Well, I am going to complete all things for a WM region pack first, this will come QD consists, some scenarios and a few route tweaks as well along with the stuff I've done and others have assisted on with the units themselves. I still have to find an effective way to get the old LCD style screens on and controlled/animated too.
Well if we are showing what we are all working on, here's what I'm working on... Leeds out to Bradford/Ilkley and Skipton and then out towards Settle and across to Morecambe.
Another WIP update, this shot is a tiny bit of a mashup in that it features the old LCD screen but with West Midlands area stations on - that will be swapped out. But it is functional, including swapping screens where a destination has multiple screens to fully show. This is the affectionately known First "Barbie" colour scheme as worn by North Western Class 323s after GMPTE livery. A few tweaks and objects to add, but on the whole a very pleasing sight so far.
I've been working on making the default track look a little better. At the moment this works with Chatham Main and Chatham Main & Medway Valleys. Considering they use similar if not the same track this could easily work for other routes too like the Portsmouth Direct Line or the South Western Main Line. What I have done so far is, edited the ballast textures to better match the floor, edited the sleeper and supersleepers to better match each other, created a new 3rd rail item (including boxed) and created a new junction motor. Here is how it is looking so far:
Use ground textures with no procedural flora under the roads to stop the plants growing through them.
To expand on that... Gravel, earth, concrete and tarmac textures have no procedural flora, so paint the roadway, tracks and yard spaces with those and you will no longer have grass coming through your tracks or roads, it's also a good way to merge distant scenery like roads going off towards the horizon.
I will say though, sometimes a little bit of procedural flora can be good when making unkept trackage (quick source of grass and weeds to accompany trackside detail).
A route I am currently working at, M900 Balota - Caransebes, the first version M900 Balota - Orsova is available here https://railstudios.com/product/m900-balota-orsova-v1-3/ now extending it from Orsova to Caransebes, 90km.
And a second route I am working at, "Baragan Route" -> Galati - Braila - Faurei - Buzau, the second version of it Galati - Braila - Faurei is available here https://railstudios.com/product/galati-braila-extension/ Now extending it to Buzau, another 35km
Been a while since I've posted, but definitely getting there - these were needed for thumbnails and the manual I'm part way through writing.
Hi at all I'd also like to show some picture of my fantasy route that I'm working on: It's an Italian fictional line with HS track, classic line and a little diesel branch near the sea; and ther are some yard for who like freight. At the moment I'm around at 50% of the whole project that i've in mind... but I hope you like this work!
Planning on releasing a Penn Central megapack with a variety of logos and possibly rolling stock. The idea is to cover as much of the PC roster as possible. Already completed are: - GE U33C (already on RWA, going to put a patch with it) - GE U33B - EMD GP40 - EMD SD45 - EMD E8 - ALCo S2 To be completed: GE GG1 GE E33 EMD SW1500
The first section of my wip route is nearly done, I just have to fill in these blank spaces And here are some images from the completed areas:
Carrying out a few modifications to the hilariously dated Kuju BR GReen 47. This will represent the Class as built (side note, due to early bad accidents, 512 Class 47s never existed at the same time). The lower shot shows just some of the features you can expect, they use the AP Class 47 sound pack and have custom exhaust and simulation developed by Chris Barnes of our team at Vulcan Productions.