In my opinion, there is great potential in updating the Class 45 to a more current standard, with the existing addon being somewhat dated and there being no enhancements for it either freeware or from AP. What I believe could be done is similar to what was accomplished with the Western Hydraulics Pack, bringing many types of loco that are similar to each other and are in need of an update to make them more playable with better features and functionality. The equivalent here would be making an updated 45 alongside its sister classes, 44 and 46. The similarities are in their design, liveries, engine and workings. Class 44 Class 45 Class 46 These locos typically ran on the Midland Main Line, East Coast Main Line and the Settle to Carlisle line. As some are preserved, heritage lines such as the West Somerset Railway would also work. Therefore, there is great scenario potential for each of these routes by including scenarios for all of them. The sections of the ECML would be Peterborough to York and York to Newcastle. As for rolling stock, Mk1s in BR Maroon and Blue/grey would be fitting. Maybe going the extra mile by adding special features to these coaches would increase the worth of this pack. Examples of this could be a head out passenger view, opening compartment windows and being able to sit in many different parts of the train, as well as having them be compatible with the AP Mk1 Sound Pack. For AI purposes, perhaps a DMU such as a 101/117 could be included to liven up scenarios similar to what was done with the 159 pack including a HST as AI only. It would be great to have both BR Green and BR Blue included with clean and weathered variants. A suitable thing to add would be the different loco variants (headcode, split headcode etc) to get more variety out of this pack. Here are some pics of these different variants to look into: BR Green - Centre headcode w/ small yellow panel (Class 45,46) BR Green - Centre headcode w/ large yellow panel (Class 45/46) BR Green - Headcode discs w/full green ends (Class 44) BR Green - Headcode discs w/yellow panel (Class 44) BR Green - Split headcode (All locos) BR Green - Full yellow ends (Class 45) BR Blue - Centre headcode w/ small yellow panel (Class 45,46) BR Blue - Centre headcode w/ full yellow ends (Class 45,46) BR Blue - Headcode discs w/ full yellow ends (Class 44) BR Blue - Split headcode (All locos) BR Blue - Full yellow ends (Class 45,46) Not all of these variants need to be included, any not so I'm sure will be fixed up by the community. So what do you guys think? Would this be a good idea to invest in? There are many left in preservation so recording sounds wouldn't be hard and I'm sure its in high demand.
Yes please! The outer axles are just there to spread the weight as are those of the EE type 4 (a.k.a Class 40). Unpowered axles are denoted by numerals so they're 1C0-C01.
I'd LOVE to have these in TS!! Also, for your future proposals, consider making a poll for people to vote.
Was wondering if there were any Peaks available... thanks for the heads up about the 45. In the Steam list, there only seems to be lists of routes. Wasn’t there a list of locos too?
Although the class 45 is available, the class 44 and 46 would also be welcome additions. While the class 44 doesn't have a relevant route in the game, the class 46 could have some scenarios for ECML: York to Newcastle.
Didn't the original Class 45 model for RW (call it the "father" of the model we have now) get expanded with versions to make it both a 44 and 46?
Apologies for the revival of an old thread, but I thought this was appropriate to the topic at hand - WIP for Vulcan Productions. They require the DTG Class 45 Pack and I've just crafted a new nose which sits on top of the old one and allows the creation of other nose variations. The discs will be set by number or by player usage of controls and are actually animated in their movement between the 3 positions.
Just an update. D9 had a Class 45 style front fitted post accident in 1969/70 with working headcodes etc. I've spent a good few hours in Blender making properly animated scrolling headcodes. If only I knew a way to upload videos here directly then I would share them with you. Pretty pleased with the illumination also and you can see the different style of grills that D9&10 had along the bodyside.
Post to Youtube. Link directly. Is this just for the 45? Frankly, I'd love to see a brand spanking new 26 if VP might have that in mind. Maybe the 25 or 27 can be the base for a pack covering all three, and I'm not sure AP will ever do it.
Unfortunately that won't be possible as the 25&27 Headcode box/roof are larger than th Class 26 and they aren't deselectable via nodes of the model.
Okay, well then here goes. Here is a brief look at some of the features currently introduced and scripted whilst developing the Class 44 add-on, which shall be the first released of the three classes of Sulzer 1-Co-Co-1 locomotives. In the first section you can see the animated train reporting discs. The start position can be determined in scenario editor when placing the train and is then also user-controllable during play. If you switch the marker lights to illuminate one end of the loco, then any marker lights behind discs in the open position will automatically be illuminated. D9, after accident damage in 1969, was unique in receieving a Class 45 front end - this has been fitted with brand new animated headcode blinds. Just like the discs the reporting number displayed at startup can be setup in scenario editor as well as controlled by the player during the game. A small but notable additional feature is a random number generated that will slightly move the position of each headcode blind to look authentically wonky. D9 can also be seen wearing a different design of side grille, this was a feature that it shared along with D10. In the last section of the video we see the options for high beam, both sets of handrails individually, headboard clips and OLE stickers to be swapped/removed as required for recreation of specific examples of the class at any specific time throughout their lifetime. I hope this video has proved useful and whet your appetites a little.
As you can see in this image, details have started to be moved over to the BR Blue livery version of the Class 44s, here showing all of the additional stuff for D9 in its blue guise. Bodyside numbering is now also completed, in terms of user input you just have to use the number as built - for D9 it is D9# (the # covers for the need to have D10 and show a blank texture). From there in the number string are 2 options, PreTOPS=X and TOPS=X There are a total of 7 options for numbering on the Green variants and 6 on the Blue (no option 1), these are as follows: 1. D-number old font style, below cabside windows x 4 2. D-number Rail Alphabet style, bodyside behind door x2 Left hand side 3. D-number Rail Alphabet style, bodyside behind door x2 Right hand side 4. D-number Rail Alphabet style, bodyside behind door x4 5. TOPS-number Rail Alphabet style, bodyside behind door x2 Left hand side 6. TOPS-number Rail Alphabet style, bodyside behind door x2 Right hand side 7. TOPS-number Rail Alphabet style, bodyside behind door x4 Hope everyone has had a good Christmas!
The devil is in th details, I've been very fortunate to find good quality photos of all the Class 44 nameplates and have been making 3D plates, thickening up characters, tweaking curves and getting the spacing for all of these as spot on as I can. The red backed plates are only actually a feature since preservation beckoned and in service they matched the bodyside colours, but what is life without choices? There's been a bit of work over the controls and scripting too which mean that there's one set of controls to do either end of the loco for discs, taillights, marker lights, scrolling headcode etc, but the script consults which cab the driver is in to disable activity at the other end of the train. Lighting and headboards will automatically be removed upon coupling up either end of the locos to a piece of rolling stock. I think that covers everything updated for now.
I wish I had more spare time :-D I've now got various other features and ways of setting these up that I'm looking to mop-up to try and make it much easier on the user in terms of the input required with the running number. I need to try and work out a system similar to the Config files which AP use to be read out by the script in sequence so that truly optional things like headboards, disc/Headcode setup and if you want names etc are far more prominent amongst the number list rather than lost in the ether as they currently are.
Various new items have been added to the pack now, anything that isn't a permanent fixture has optional flags in the loco running number to control it - I'm hoping for this to be handled by an external config file eventually, but that shall come with time. For now a couple of images. Here we can see various step covers, vent covers and an additional vent along with the taller and lower reaching door handrails. This image shows the fully dynamic numbered shedplate, but one of the drawbacks for dynamic numbers is if characters are narrow then they get very widely spaced (shot on the right). So I devised two additional textures for the number 1 digit which each appears toward either side of the texture. The result is the image on the left, much closer to real life. For single digit shedplates such as 8A, I have done the same approach as the closer spaced number 1s, but this time the digits are cut in half so you have the left side and right side of an your number split in the centre. These are then spanned centrally across the two faces and the joining edge and give the appearance of one centrally located digit above the letter.
Hot on the heels of yesterday's update, I've decided to add a little element of "what if". What if the Class 44s had soldiered on and had mainline careers well into the 90s and then preservation runs on the mainline? Here we see examples of the class in green livery with high beam headlights, I'll be giving optional OLE sticker type changes too. In this second shot you can see the shorter handrails by the cab door which were a feature of D9 after the crash repair which saw it gain a Class 45 centre-headocde nose.
Working on more details and testing a lot of the features also, I've now added two more modern designs of OLE stickers to the loco. These are intended to be more in keeping with the high beam and preservation era usage some users may want. I may/may not have the maths right, but with the 3 designs, the ability to have the stickers removed or in 4 locations independently on each nose and the bodyside, there's 375 possible combinations of how to set the OLE stickers up.
So something of interest to this discussion. AP has removed their Class 47 sound pack. It this a requirement for this pack, and has AP already offered to allow you to use the sounds with this pack? It would be pointless to put this up with a requirement already removed from sale at the time it launches. Especially if it's payware - in which case it would be necessary to revert to default audio almost immediately without permission to use the AP sounds in a payware product.
I appreciate where you're thinking here, I'm not going to discuss conversations that have and have not yet been had with other developers, suffice to say that the Preserved Deltic pack that I produced via Vulcan Productions utilises the AP sound pack with permission. If there are any issues such as this to navigate then posts shall be made as and when possible regarding that, but there's no point getting bogged down in hypothesis now before the event of any releases. It is intended that the Class 44 pack shall be the first payware release in a series to cover the variations and options of 1-Co-Co-1 designs generally referred to as "Peaks".
OK, so this confirms that it's a payware release for these upcoming engines. This is good to know. I don't know if it was confirmed previously or not (I may have missed it if so). I recall the Deltic pack had a large number of scenarios included, and this I feel is the most important element of a pack as two or three scenarios isn't enough when a pack is reliant on people using it in their scenarios. Not a problem for AP engines (and, to an extent, Just Trains, and also the ChrisTrains stock on Dutch routes at SimTogether), but I seem to see less of this branching out from there. I hope this pack finds use outside of the scenarios in this pack, as that's how a payware DLC can be judged as a success in my opinion. (Just don't use the old Newcastle Modern route, use the DPS version instead unless the fact it's free forbids this.) And for the record, I did see one nice use of the VP 55 pack at UKTS on, I believe, the West Somerset route appearing in each scenario in the pack, even driven a couple of times IIRC. I had DMed you on the Class 55, so I didn't expect that to come up here. Again, it doesn't affect me, but I am hopeful full support can be provided using the sounds. Otherwise, the removal of the Class 55 Sound Pack is going to be more likely to promote piracy in the acquisition of required audio files, so AP permission for you to incorporate them fully would be ideal and provide an alternate method of acquisition, making your pack then the source for other reskins of the 55 using those sounds. Same goes for the 47 pack if you use that.
So I've heard a rumour this project has been pulled. I hope this is not the case, as these liveries can still find a home on scenarios. Can a new pack published through Steam become a possibility here instead? Would hate to see this project die.
Well, that's the trouble with rumours. How on earth do you know they can be trusted? I haven't said the pack is being pulled and I'm the one who is putting in all the effort to make it.
The BR/Sulzer type 4 family (class 44, 45 and 46) were iconic and are historically very important. All power to you in your endeavours and I will support by purchase when ready.
I found a BR Blue Class 45/46 item under Legacy. Might that be it? Otherwise, yes, I'm still curious about this as well as I recall the removal of the sound pack killed the project at last check, and I hope the similar death of the 57 pack further back can eventually lead to redos of the Virgin and Arriva of those, too.
This is still in the pipeline, but a few issues that are quite major obstacles have come up - not just the removal of audio packs, required by the loco.
This thread is over a year old, but I found my way here today doing a Google search looking for a Class 46 in a scenario (likely IHH) and remembered this project in the works. What is going on with it? Is this still happening?