Amtrak unveiled a new ACS-64 wrap today! Think there is any chance we will get it in game? Here are some shots I got of it at Newark Penn Station:
Read the latest Dovetail live article: https://live.dovetailgames.com/live...462.767700739.1638734675-387454433.1595124099
Now if that doesn’t jump up the player numbers I don't know what will. Well done to whoever did that, things like that will help pay for more artists and bigger routes. Need to start tapping up other companies now and doing this. Looks brilliant
Maybe Matt can answer it: Who is actually the lead artist for this livery? Has DTG designed it or was it Amtrak?
Our team led it but it was a joint effort, there was a lot of back and forth between us and Amtrak to hone it to the final livery as there's lots of critiera to adhere to - it's not just a blank canvas you can put anything on. E.g. we couldn't put our Rush hour slogan "Be in control" or equally something like "Drive this train in Train Sim World" because there was a concern people might misunderstand that it referred to the real train. Really pleased with how it has ended up, strong base on the Phase 3 livery - which was important because as train fans ourselves we wanted to see something more than just a moving advert - but plenty of customisations to make it unique to us, I love the cityscape subtly in the background for example.
Hopefully the 387 can get something similar (hopefully 387 208 since that’s the one on the rush hour artwork). Especially since GX are starting back up next week.
If they can add full liveries to specific units only, hopefully we'll be able to have the blue Class 313.
A wonderful idea and a nice Christmas present for players, especially the US fans. Plus it's mirrored in the real world, so no complaints about fictional liveries! Thanks, again.
Amusing moment from the beta discord where I asked some of them on there what they thought an ACS-64 in Phase 3 as a livery would go down like, and the sentiment was "dont think anyone likes fictional liveries" to which I replied.. weeeelllll....
Decals vs full liveries. This is the first time (assuming it does actually only sub for the appropriate unit - TrainSim-Matt Is this indeed a full separate livery, or does it only affect the unit that actually has it?) a full livery has been done this way. If it works, more one-off liveries like the blue 313 are possible. I wonder if they'll include a new scenario for the route, like with the P42DC pack?
Yeah, that's similar to model trains. Some people buy fiction, but it's still fiction. Once you put it on a real train, it opens a brand new dimension.
Its a separate livery, couple of reasons - we've never tested the system used for the decals for an entire train and there's some concern over performance, second, we thought you'd prefer the opportunity to select it rather than wait for a 1 in however many chance of randomly getting it.
Can only 1 spawn at a time, or is it possible that 2 or more will spawn at the same time? I actually like the 1 in 25 chances to get the trainbow or Medway-395 in SEHS, as it is really random, like in real life.
Thank you so much for that. Don‘t think I‘ll ever use anything but the new livery for the ACS-64 in the future
What about AI use then? Does this mean it’ll never be seen as AI or it will still be spawned just once as AI as long as you aren’t driving it yourself?
It looks amazing, I hope this inspires new routes from Amtrak to be collaborated with DTG and licensed to be made in TSW 2. I am exciting for this livery, it is so nice to see Amtrak sponsoring DTG's game. I almost didn't believe this happened today.
So what difference is there in the engine term between making a whole livery and a decal? Why would the performance probably suffer from one and not the other?
A decal is just something you add to the livery, so it just adds the trainbow or medway texture over the top of the existing livery. Presumably therefore to expand the system to do full liveries, you'd need either a huge decal the size and shape of the train, or loads of decals - neither of which sound particularly good for performance.
Speaking just for myself, I would prefer it to spawn at random and only on locomotive # 662. It makes it more special and exciting, and really stand out, when it does show up. The system for a separate livery on a specific locomotive may not have been tested before -- but at some point, it should be, because it would open up new possibilities for the game.
This is true for basically any special livery, 5 are coming out next week, they SHOULD be bound to specific numbers and therefore appear only when that number is selected (or picked by the player).
Well ideally the special livery should be selectable when starting a service, but should be bound to a specific number. So in this case, you could select the Amtrak Anniversary livery in the menu and it would put you in #662. Or if you're driving something else, #662 would spawn randomly in this livery. I suppose a system like this is not implemented yet, but would be good to have in the future for official special liveries like this, and also for user made ones, so certain lvieries could be bound to specific running numbers if needed.
Not really related but the Boston-Providence routes does feature random spawning custom liveries. Try putting a few on the Amtrak ACS-64 and it's various Amfleet cars. They will at times spawn with a random livery in the consist or loco. I honestly love this feature. I hope this feature is extended to future routes that release. I also agree having that special unique train should be a feature, if it's ONLY 662 then I think a system could be made for that. It just makes the locomotive special to see it on the route.
Random spawning of custom liveries is already a thing on all routes. Exception are certain DB rolling stock like the ICE and certain EMU routes like the LIRR.
AIUI, alt liveries will spawn randomly on individual locos and cars (except for Clinchfield freight cars, for some reason), but not on EMUs or DMUs, apparently because there's no way to have the whole train spawn in one livery set. Except: the Cathcart 314 will spawn alt liveries as one train... but weirdly, it has something to do with leveraging the hidden FGW Blue livery routine for the 166 and HST. Because if one has that unlocked, you suddenly start getting Scotrail Blue Saltire 314s on the Great Western Mainline!
Not until this new Amtrak #662 livery comes out. It would seem that most if not all British routes/trains may have some sort of this system in place. It's otherwise absent for other routes, namely American and some German routes.