(mod) Tsw 2 New Dynamic Cloud Visuals

Discussion in 'TSW General Discussion' started by londonmidland, May 12, 2021.

  1. chieflongshin

    chieflongshin Well-Known Member

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    Agreed , I remember Matt mentioning this. It just highlights there is more that could be done.
     
  2. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    Well, West Somerset isn't a vintage route, it's a modern heritage railway. The cars should be modern.
    I give DTG props for coming up with '70s-era US cars for Clinchfield.
     
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  3. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    I think cars in general just look cr*p in TSW. Although it isn’t the main feature of the game, they look very unrealistic looking because all of them are super glossy looking. They look like toy cars.
     
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  4. fanta1682002

    fanta1682002 Well-Known Member

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    request DTG recruitmet IONDONMIDLAND join the team
     
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  5. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    As I’ve said, I’ll happily do special requests for them, however I do not want to work directly for them.
     
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  6. fanta1682002

    fanta1682002 Well-Known Member

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    of course it"s better than salary
     
  7. WaveyDavey

    WaveyDavey Well-Known Member

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    Why would seeing modern cars driving around on the roads break your immersion on the West Somerset Railway route? It's a modern day preserved railway so the cars you see in real life are obviously modern cars. ;)
     
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  8. gigi.tre

    gigi.tre Member

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  9. mariussoare_84

    mariussoare_84 Well-Known Member

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    The feeling that the route gives me is of the "romantic era", steam-age in some places. This is why I get that impression when I see modern cars. :)
    In my eyes, some cars of the 70s/80s would have come in like a glove. We know that there are no moving vehicles other than trains on the route so the effort to develop 10-15 car models (it's a very short route anyway) doesn't look like titanic work.
    Having most of the routes modern is convenient as the chance to share assets between routes is greater which saves time for not having to create as many diverse models and not having to do as much individual research required for different eras.
    I think the route is good with the potential to be great if that slight touch would have made it in the game.
     
  10. WaveyDavey

    WaveyDavey Well-Known Member

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    But it's a modern day route set in current times not in the 70s or 80s so having cars from the 70s and 80s would be totally un-realistic and really would destroy immersion. As others have said the route is a current day preserved railway that obviously has period things on the stations but the cars you would see if you went to the real WSR would be the normal cars driven on the roads today by members of the public.
     
  11. mariussoare_84

    mariussoare_84 Well-Known Member

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    I understand that and I find the route good as I mentioned. I was saying that with a little more effort to put the route in a past era, it would have been more appealing to me (and possibly to others that see it suitable for steam trains as well) and fit better overall with the diesel locomotives it comes with (both the route itself and the DLCs) which are from the 60s.
    I was not suggesting to have a modern route use cars from a different era. I am aware that sometimes making yourself understood on the internet is not the easiest thing, I am sorry if the message was not clear enough.
     
  12. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    I think any more discussion of cars and anything else related should go into another thread, as we are now veering off topic.
     
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  13. WaveyDavey

    WaveyDavey Well-Known Member

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    Yes, my apologies.
     
  14. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    Hello all. My skybox mod has now been updated to 4.26, as a result of TSW 2 being updated.

    Simply delete the current skybox .pak file in the DLC folder and replace it with the updated version, which can be found here

    (The link is the same as the first page)

    7EBB9C73-6EB9-4619-B730-38F93D14C7FC.jpg
     
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  15. breblimator

    breblimator Guest

    Godlike. Thank You.
     
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  16. mariussoare_84

    mariussoare_84 Well-Known Member

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    Thank you londonmidland
    I see that the new file is 3 times smaller than the previous one. If I remember correctly, with 4.26 comes a reduction in file sizes, which is more than welcome.
     
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  17. SonicScott91

    SonicScott91 Well-Known Member

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    Still waiting for the update to download at the moment but you can be sure I’ll be redownloading this mod before I jump into Boston! :)
     
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  18. Yerolo

    Yerolo Well-Known Member

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    Great work on getting this mod up to date so quickly...I ran Boston for the 1st time without it and almost dry heaved at the default sky. Downloaded the updated mod and the lovely sky is back
     
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  19. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    I thought I’d get this mod out straight away seeing as so many people have downloaded it, as well as it being my favourite creation :)
     
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  20. JayTG123

    JayTG123 Active Member

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    Thank you londonmidland !!
    Just need the ECW, GC, SEHS enhancement packs and your
    Class 465/9 interior enhancements + Driver cam fix ;)
     
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  21. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    I’ll upload them in due course :) Though I’m sure I saw a mention of DTG fixing the driver cam fix for the 465 in the patch notes?
     
  22. JayTG123

    JayTG123 Active Member

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    Nice one mate!! What would we do without you.
    Regarding the 465... Yes I spotted that in the patch notes too but I just done a quick drive in it and its still far too high unfortunately.
     
  23. LT586

    LT586 Well-Known Member

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    Was gonna ask you about this. Brilliant thanks
     
  24. breblimator

    breblimator Guest

    After recompiling .pak files to 4.26 does it now work for all routes or just my imagination?
     
  25. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    It’ll depend on the route. It’ll only work on TSW 2 routes and routes which the preserved content team have upgraded from the old TSW 1 skybox.
     
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  26. anarchy99

    anarchy99 Well-Known Member

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    Legend. Massive respect for the swift update.
     
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  27. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    A message for the devs at DTG - why haven’t you made the skybox part of the core game?

    Surely this will stop the need for you to having to upgrade each route one by one? Also, by the skybox being separate to each individual route, this means that all routes will never be consistent and up to date, as newer routes will have visuals and features which aren’t in older ones.

    Also, what happens when you release a new feature, or more cloud layers? Will you not have to go through the process of updating each individual route again, which is extremely time consuming and slow to roll out, as seen now?
     
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  28. anarchy99

    anarchy99 Well-Known Member

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    I agree 100% it should be core and consistent with all routes. After all the amazing work that has been done for the PIS update on ECW I was disappointed to discover it still had the old skybox. I have been really enjoying the updates Adam and the preservation team have made to WSR and MSB and with the addition of londonmidland skybox mod they look exceptional.
     
  29. Yerolo

    Yerolo Well-Known Member

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    It's certainly weird / annoying that ECW got skipped on the skybox update and WSR received it. Hopefully the preservation crew can take a look at this one but they have most probably moved onto other routes now so it may take some time to get updated
     
  30. LT586

    LT586 Well-Known Member

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    SimUK covered this here:

     
  31. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    Consider the source. SimUK have an incurable hate-boner for DTG. Using the specious old argument that if you want additional locos layered in, you have to own them separately. (Just like with any other DLC).

    Yawn.
     
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  32. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    The video isn’t a reliable source, however I’m still confused as to why the weather system and clouds aren’t part of the core. It just isn’t viable or efficient to try and update each route individually, as this will only get harder to do as more and more routes come out.
     
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  33. Callum B.

    Callum B. Well-Known Member

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    As I understand it, clouds are a part of the core (it's obvious because changing the clouds texture affects all routes with the updated skybox). Rather, it is just that each route has a pointer to the core cloud configuration. Old routes point to an old core system, and new (and slowly more preserved) routes point to the new core system.
    It's not like each individual route is baked with duplicate copies of the weather system.

    This man likes to sound like he knows what he is talking about, but he has nary a clue. He might sound authentic with the lingo he throws around, but anyone who actually understands how TSW works and is familiar with basic programming principles knows how ridiculous his claims are. Do not validate his thirst for attention.

    Cheers
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2021
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  34. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    But if it were as simple as just changing a pointer, why wasn't it done with ECW?
     
  35. Callum B.

    Callum B. Well-Known Member

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    It's a matter of QA usually. It really is just a simple pointer change. Even Muff (trainsimcz) managed to do it himself with LIRR before it was updated by Adam by hex editing the pointer to a different location.

    Cheers
     
  36. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    The fact that it’s such an easy and straightforward process, it’s begs the question as to why all remaining routes with the old skyboxes aren’t just updated all at once?
     
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  37. ASRGT

    ASRGT Well-Known Member

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    Honestly in my opinion the gold standard of what can be done while not been compute intensive in game.
    While I don't expect DTG to take on such a project there are some great tid bits of info in this video especially around how using sky capture added benefits to lighting data overall.
     
  38. Callum B.

    Callum B. Well-Known Member

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    As is often repeated, it's because currently even a 1 byte change to a route requires an entire redownloading of the multi-gigabyte file, and DTG simply doesn't want to make people redownload their routes for tiny changes.

    But then that begs the question, why didn't they do it when they repacked all routes for 4.26? I don't know, but I think that was a missed opportunity on DTG's part.

    Cheers
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2021
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  39. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    That’s what I originally meant. I didn’t mean for them to roll out an update solely for the skybox, I meant why don’t they just include it alongside an update they’re working on.
     
  40. chieflongshin

    chieflongshin Well-Known Member

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    How many times does it need to be mentioned. I was nigh on put in my place mentioning it on a boston stream. It’s like selling a dirty car, it works but half looks a mess
     
  41. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    So it’s been mentioned in tonight’s stream that my skybox mod will officially be added to the core game of TSW 2 for everyone to enjoy across all platforms :)
     
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  42. Mr JMB

    Mr JMB Well-Known Member

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    I think this is a fantastic move by DTG, congrats to LM and I hope it encourages all modders to keep improving things.
     
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  43. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    Thanks. It was a bit of a shock when I found out :D
     
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  44. breblimator

    breblimator Guest

    Pride, joy, victory, congratulations \o/
     
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  45. Tom89

    Tom89 New Member

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    Congratulations!
     
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  46. BjornGroen02NL

    BjornGroen02NL Well-Known Member

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    Absolutely fantastic news! It's my favorite mod, so seeing it become official and recognized by DTG now it awesome!
     
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  47. chieflongshin

    chieflongshin Well-Known Member

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    Really good news. I was listening earlier and did post here in some bizarre sausage fingered typo ridden gibberish asking if it was you, when they answered in stream I deleted.

    it’s great they’ve reached out and been humble enough to recognise yours as a better solution. Any tweaks that can reduce total whiteout with no definition on higher cloud settings would be amazing.

    Your mod was one of the best that’s come thus far and I hope they enlist you for more and furnish your palm with gold

    Nice work and you’ve always been decent to people here too.

    Respect :cool:
     
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  48. mariussoare_84

    mariussoare_84 Well-Known Member

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    Congratulations londonmidland
    I'm happy for you that your effort was recognized and will be part of the main game.
    This creates a positive precedent for people like yourself to keep creating high-quality improvements that can be part of the main game one day.
     
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  49. JBViper

    JBViper Well-Known Member

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    Excellent news, a very useful mod and delighted that it is officialized by DTG. Congratulations londonmidland.
     
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  50. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the comments guys :)
     
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