General North American 3rd Party News

I don't think retroreflective decals have been attempted in TSC just yet. There's no way to accurately do them but I feel like someone with enough time and effort can make an approximation of it.

 

I believe to have seen reflective mile markers, traffic signs, cones and bollards somewhere.
Do not often run trains in the darkness, so cannot really remember.
I suppose it has to be a decal with a specific material setting or using a reflective shader?

There are many repaints I haven't perused yet, since all freight cars have multiple reflective markers nowadays and many repaints specifically say ; side sill stripes and such.

To stay with the Southern theme: https://ncrails.com/2022/08/15/the-...diesel-application-of-scotchcal-v-scotchlite/

Those reflective decals would be an awesome visual addition IMO, since they feature in every YT rail cam that operates 24/7 and has some kind of spotlight illuminating the tracks at night.

 

Schnauz' review of Diesel Workshop's ALCo C424 EL pack

 

https://travelbytrain.company.site/SD70ACU-Norfolk-Southern-p546526557
$19.95 without Steam refund policy? No, thanks.

The announced Searchlight Simulations will for sure deliver the quality/value for money of 'pro range' at no doubt a premium price.

Who will be the first to review this DLC? Schnauz' or RWA?

 

Perfect. A blank post.

 

It looks like searchlight's UP and NS SD40-2s should be back up on the site soon https://www.store.searchlight-simulations.com/products

 

genuinely curious, did you intentionally pick the most unflattering image possible for the product or was that the best promo image there was, because yeesh...

 

There's a bug in the forums whereby linked videos don't show in Edge. Try viewing in Chrome.

 

Searchlight’s NS ACU is going to be sold for $15, so there is literally no argument in ever getting TBTs.

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=626451679475881&set=pcb.626452242809158
(there is no way to insert a FB picture gallery?)
None of the provided FB picture are particularly 'sales effective' as the original Horseshoe Curve route is showing its age and the Season and TimeOfDay settings and angles aren't favourable either. Deep black hides lots of details.
Anyway, the wheels seem to have the metal shine both on the outside and inside of the treads?

Best wait for a video showing this DLC off. It should appear on Steam also?

 

Searchlight Store everything is unavailable.

 

wonder why

 

Its out now
https://www.store.searchlight-simulations.com/products/jrsd70acu-cpb

 

Got myself the CP Red one, and will get the NS Black one, at $14.95 each seems like a good deal.
And a new freight car pack soon, and another freight car pack announced.
JR has a huge back catalog of Trainz models.
I hope we'll be able to get some good, new and up-to-date SD40-2HH, SD40-2T, SD45, SD45-2T and many other to replace those DTM's

 

You refreshed your page?

 

is what the webshop shows and I've completed the purchase of the single livery CP SD70ACU.
Hopefully, the NS locomotive has desktop controls to set it apart.

 

The only page that's available to purchase from is as FighterCommand says, the ACU single and bundled pages. The other stuff is still being worked on like the big red banner says. Someone needs to wake up before telling other people to wake up.

 

Again, I defer to the big red banner that says the page is still under maintenance. Your screenshots don't show anything contrary to what I stated about the ACUs being the currently only available products for purchase.

 

Nice looking and operating locomotives. Sounds are great too, horns that blip and blare.
On first glance:
The hand symbol that allows me to open the front cab door is a bit distracting when hovering the mouse pointer over the screens.
No shadow texture under the locomotive nor the cars, perhaps I'd look into the Season and TimeOfDay settings and the setup screens to get a bit darker shadows

Running down the Soo Line through a street in Oshkosh, WI.
So many road crossings, and families and business even have their driveways crossed by the tracks
Probably a 'quiet zone' otherwise you'd be leaning on the horn lever
Actuation distances for the bells and flashing lights very short, so the cars seem to stop at the last moment, which is probably true-to-life ;-)

After a second run:
The CTRL+I info is very nice, and useful to asses the dynamics of a long consist, for instance how resistance increases in tight curves. Since it is a scenario message, it has to be cancelled by clicking on the "X" I suppose?
It indicates gross HP/ton so don't forget to set up the lash-up and DPU correctly otherwise you'll be left with a dog train of less than 1 Hp/ton.

There are too many functions tied to the "I" key in my liking, I'll re-assign the Isolation switch to the "R" key and link the desk and instrument lights to the "I" key and the cab light and various accessory lights to the "L" key, the wipers to the "V" key to align the operation with my other locomotives when I take a look at the key bindings.

I'll try top put an engineer and helper in the seats on the manned unit.

Then I'd like to pack the asset into an .ap file, which probably means the authentication keys and Script directory has to remain outside the .ap so the game can write to them.

.ap files archive and backup so much faster than thousands of little files over many directories.

I'd think a $14.95 well spent. The Black Thoroughbred will be a sure addition to my roster!

 

Your now dirty deleted screenshots clearly showed the ACU available to add to cart, which is like how I said it was. The other products are unavailable, again, like how I stated they were. The reason being is because the rest of the site is being worked on, just like the red banner says. I'm not sure how else I can better explain this.

 

Children play nice.

 

[Removed - Alex: Personal Attack]

 

Hi guys, sorry if i ask a dumb question. The SD70ACU on Searchlight Simulations website, what is the difference between the bundle and the Single Livery versions? There is no explanations on the store page. I presume it includes the CP version, but will that include the NS version as well?

I see numerous people buys the Single Livery Pack. Is there a reason for that?

 

The single livery only has the CP beaver scheme, while the bundle has all of the CP skins. The NS one is separate and not available yet.

 

Thank you mfeets. I did not read the product descriptions properly

 

As if snide little comments like these make you any more mature. [Removed - Alex: Behaviour]

 

I suppose the CP and NS versions come with different details. I hope for a desktop controls cab on the 'horsie'.

DTM and JR/SS are in business for about the same time, but the difference in quality and functionality is astounding.
JR has a huge catalog in Trainz, and I'll glad buy part of that when it comes to TSC.

 

NS ones don't have desktop controls as far as any of us are aware. There are differences you can spot like a few different controls on the stand, no fridge, replaced with an ice box, no hotplate down in the nose, less IFC spycams, cab signals.

 

the NS locomotives have working cab signals and is there a NS route that enables them?
NEC, HSC are old routes and in need of a serious upgrade to bring them closer to TSW standards in 'look and feel', though TSW is still post apocalyps

 

Not sure if we'll make them work. There really is only HSC as an official route that would utilize them, but there is that HSC Revamp over on TS Community that we could make it work with maybe, as well as possibly the LSL?

 

You are apparently not willing to understand me. Thats ok though.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

 

Just speaking for myself they'd be really nice to have, even if we don't really have routes that the NS ACUs use cab signaling on.

 

Wasn't the NS SD70ACU advertised as upcoming on Steam some time ago, but then disappeared without a trace?

 

That's Travel By Train's Model, not Searchlight Simulations, which is available on their own site.

https://travelbytrain.company.site/SD70ACU-Norfolk-Southern-p546526557

As well as....umm their take on the CP ACU.....

https://travelbytrain.company.site/SD70ACU-Canadian-Pacific-Norfolk-Southern-PRE-SALE-p480893059

 

The grind doesn't stop..

 

Would actually be funny if you guys got that done before TBT's version ever gets released on steam.

 

Most of us do like to take engines everywhere on the network. NS definitely travels the NEC (less than CSX) but maybe that's too big a project given each route seems to be unique (judging by how every loco fails on other routes in places, or even on their own, hello FL9).
Scripted signal pickup can be a perk regardless, even on other routes, if it's possible at all.

 

I don't really care about what they do.

That's the big issue with doing cab signals -- compatibility with what signal scripts? I'd have to look at what the new HSC is using, otherwise it would maybe be down to OpenNEC? I don't know the answer to this kind of question quite yet.

 

Well, if he behaved using the new account all should be fine I would have thought.

 

That's too bad. And more a flaw of DTG not enforcing the same standards over every route to make the lives and efforts of the developers a little easier. There are no such interoperability problems with the British and German routes where safety systems are standardised.

 

My understanding of the rules is no alternate accounts and no using said alternate accounts to evade a ban. However I feel discussing a ban is also getting off topic and also falls foul of forum rules so I'll leave my 2 pence there.

In other news, looks like some cracking stuff on the way to my untrained eye and a quick browse

 

From the SS FB front page:

... hold your horses and put purses away for a while ...

 

Why that statement ? Are you involved in the TS or DTG projects ?

 

Yes Rob works for DTG and like atomicdanny chooses not to have the DTG_ or Trainsim_ prefix probably because they are both fed up with every comment they make being percieved as "DTG's official opinion".

 

Statement is funny. Rob basically states that DTG never agrees with what he writes or with his opinion. Legally they normally phrase it different , using the word necessarily.

Ok, back to trains

 

i'm looking forward to rolling stock pack 03 witch is next on release.

 

I'm not here in an official capacity so the statement by both myself and Danny is correct.

But yes back to the trains, if I ever branch into American content on my streams, looks like there is enough stuff in this thread to keep me going for years

 

It was, as were DTM's latest U25 creations. Since these will be released through the Dovetail Games (publisher) shop, perhaps they got stuck at Quality Assurance?

But the patches to the recent DTM releases are still up on the FB page, and none are included in the Steam releases AFAIK, since the SteamDB doesn't list any updates to the actual DLC: https://steamdb.info/developer/Digital+Train+Model/ or how a person should interpret the database?
In fact, 2 years after release the DTM BL2 still has the incomplete trucks, the DTM HiLiner and SuperLiner still have their trucks the wrong way round and I remember locomotives being released with missing couplers, trucks the wrong way and more such errors that apparently nobody in QA noticed?