NEWSFLASH I am pleased to announce that the Scotrail Express (EDN-GLA) extra paths mod has now been added to Trainsim Community. If you are interested then you can find it here Edinburgh to Glasgow - EXTRA PATHS Have fun with it and, if you do give it a try, please let me know if you find any glaring errors in it. ---------- Some screenshots from a test scenario created to help 'prove' an Edinburgh Glasgow mod. (Ignore the duplicated HSTs ).
First scenario completed with 30 AI services in place. Some minor things to sort out as I'm not quite happy with how Waverley looks at the end. Will then do another version travelling the other way before pushing the mod out for testing. The only real disappointment at the moment is the way that Haymarket depot has been created. Unlike Eastfield it is pretty inaccessible and, of the sidings that do have markers, nearly all of them are covered by buildings so you can't actually see any trains that you want to place on them.
However testing the snow scenario gave me the 'joy' of realising that the 'white' HSTs were still about. Wasn't this issue fixed?
Well I suppose it was inevitable that I'd end up in one of these. (As usual all screenshots taken from a scenario and not free roam).
Am now trying to visit a number of the overtaking loops on the route in the NR HST. Who knows we might even see something 'steamy' when we get to Bo'Ness loop. Note we are starting from Haymarket PL0 this time for a change
A little bit of everything in these NR HST scenario screenshots. Still trying to find out the best way to make use of Haymarket Depot. Very few available markers and have now, also, found out that the depot head-shunt is incorrectly named meaning that it can't be used either
Who said that Pullman passengers were more discerning? "Shut that door" Now heading off to Bo'Ness loop where it would seem that something is stirring at Manuel platform.
Hmmm. I thought I would see if it was possible to get loose consists into scenarios alongside the paths mod. And, guess what?, it is See below for a poor screenshot showing a rake of loaded Seacows positioned in Glasgow Queen Street in a test scenario. I can now see some more playing coming along.............together with a few less empty sidings in scenarios.
Loose consists? (More wagons in your sidings?). Well I think I now know a method of getting them in to scenarios. However it is far more complicated than I thought it would be. (Will only really be practical if you have lots of paths open and duplicate versions of many formations.......but I'll try and sort that out next). Basically you created your own formation in the Editor with a loco on the front and place that in your scenario. (Scenario Creator won't recognise a wagon on it's own). Then, just before packaging the file up, you swap this file in the editor for another identically named one that doesn't have the loco in it. Then you package up this new file and, suddenly, all of the affected consists 'lose' their locos. Then you can save and package the new scenario for distribution. Still in Queen Street, as that is where I have a number of adjacent starting points, but now every platform apart from the Player one has a small rake of wagons parked in it automatically. No other locos present at all.
Last part of the NR HST scenario. (Bo'Ness to Eastfield). Passing a newly added short rake of Turbots and Seacows at Greenhill. Enjoy
Think I have now got my finished files for the EDN-GLA mod. Have ended up with 102 paths utilising 120 Start & Finish points on the route. (This includes all of the platforms at Queen Street & Haymarket and most at Waverley. There is also good access to Eastfield depot but, sadly, only minimal access at Haymarket Depot due to the way the route was set up. Finally the trams can now be included in scenarios too). I have also included in the mod a number of new formations. There are 43 new drivable formations 99% of which use the CL66 with a selection of empty and loaded wagons - Seacows / Turbots / PCAs / PGAs / BBAs / JNAs and TEAs. (There are also 6-car formations of the CL385 unit). Finally there are 36 loose consist formations using the Seacows / Turbots / JNAs and BBAs (empty and loaded). When I started messing about with this I hadn't intended to do anything with formations and, TBH, this has become quite complex. However I think I am there now. All I need to do is to work out whether to upload the whole lot in one mod or split the formations from the paths? At present the formations link to the SEH CL66 but, now, I'm wondering if that was a good idea. Might the PBO one have been a more obvious choice? Now I just need to re-test the scenarios I have created to make sure that they play right. (It really seems never ending some times). There won't be that many loose consists in them as the route doesn't really have that many freight sidings however I need to place them to see if there are any in-game issues caused by their use. (Below is a good example). Below is a better screenshot of the loose consists placed at Greenhill in the NR scenario. A CL158 comes out from Haymarket Depot as the NR HST sets off for Glasgow. An Azuma overtakes whilst we are waiting for permission to follow behind it. Finally a CL158 in the shed at Eastfield depot.
I spoke too soon. In the end I couldn't resist adding the CL170 from Fife Circle to my mod. This means that the AI at the Edinburgh end can be a bit more varied although, obviously, it adds another dependency for my mod to work. Here are a few screenshots from a short scenario starting around the back of Haymarket depot and running ECS to Waverley. Class170/158 combo anyone? Enjoy
A snowy scenario running in a CL170/158 combo from EDN-GLA that, typically, goes wrong 2 minutes from the end !!!
Have also now added CL170 6 car rakes to the mod and here is a service made of this type of formation arriving at Croy station.
I think this will be my last scenario before I now really do finalise everything. Running in an HST from GLA-EDN. So that's 10 scenarios in total that I will now need to treble check and document to make sure that they all work correctly. (I still need to decide whether to switch from the SEH CL66 to the PBD one. Quite a bit of work involved there). Re the mod the final file count will end up as follows. 86 new formations (of which 50 are drivable and 36 are loose consists). 107 paths (with 126 different start / finish points). I have learned quite a lot doing this exercise and, when I move on to another route, should be able to make something similar quicker and in a more efficient way. (The next route will probably be GOBLIN however I might sneak something in for TVL beforehand).
Only 2 ??? How many do I get for this? A CL170 sets off from Darlo and is routed onto the ECML. A CL66 heads past Darlo on the freight avoiding lines. Both screenshots taken from a test scenario and NOT Free Roam. (Apologies for the poor sunlight conditions).
Better lighting......but a worse outcome. (The Oil train simply came to a random halt after it had passed Darlington. I'm guessing that there is an issue with the track when you are heading northbound). Anyhow at least I have got some basic paths and formations into TVL. Watch out for a separate TVL thread some time in the near future. (Still got quite a bit to do on EDN-GLA first).
Gotta say David, this is looking fantastic, nice to see you are putting the experience from Edinburgh-Glasgow to good use on other UK routes too Keep it up
Yes it has helped to get moving a bit more quickly with this route. I'm not, at the moment, getting tangled up with creating more formations as I had already made many BR Blue ones. Also I now know to try and get as many paths keyed in in one big input working from one end of the route to the other. The downside is that you then think about other ways of trying to do things which may, or may not work. For instance, at Lackenby, I would like to see if I could just make one path that passes through all the sidings in a particular area. (A sort of a zig-zag. Not for driving purposes but for the ability to be able to place loose consists on, say, 10 different sidings without having to create 10 separate paths). Not quite sure how to manage formations in general. I might need to put them in their own pak files to avoid duplication. However that will mean people needing to have all the 'elements' to be able to use them. It's actually quite complicated (but not unsolveable) and makes me start to realise why the 'proper' Formation Designer still seems to be some time away. Anyway I have now created a separate thread for TVL so, any comments that anyone wants to make about that route will be better off placed there. Thanks for your interest.
As you may have seen from the TVL thread, I managed to accidentally delete all of my files connected with this mod. However, as with TVL, I have managed to recreate most of what was lost and am now going through the process of checking the 10 scenarios that I had put together as they all 'broke' when I had to recreate the paths again. Hopefully it shouldn't be too long before I get things back on track. Anyway here are a couple of screenshots from a test scenario using the CL33 on a return excursion run from Manuel platform at Bo'Ness.
Yes it is. From memory, search for "Saltire" on CC and it comes up as a 715 Aventra from BDL Houston.
Ouch. Can empathise, I recently had my laptop die on me, and it was the one where the internal SSD was glued in place and I'd completely stripped the screw trying to get it out, took 2 weeks after getting my new one to finally drill it and get a good enough grip with an extraction bit to finally pull it out and get access to all my work of the last month and transfer it to my new system, meaning all my work was on hold while all those files were inaccessible.
Well I'm pleased to announce that my Scottish mods transferred across to TSW5 with no problems at all (unlike some of the other routes). And here are a few screenshots from a test scenario.
Actually it's been quite good fun revisiting this route.....especially once it is full up with trains
I am pleased to announce that the Scotrail Express (EDN-GLA) extra paths mod has now been added to Trainsim Community. If you are interested then you can find it here Edinburgh to Glasgow - EXTRA PATHS Have fun with it and, if you do give it a try, please let me know if you find any glaring errors in it. I have also uploaded mods adding extra formations for BR Blue era locos (7780 different formations) and the Class 66 loco (880 different formations). There can be found here. BR Blue Formations Class 66 Formations The combination of both the Extra Paths mod and the extra Formations mods is quite a powerful one and will greatly enhance the ability for players to create much more engaging and challenging scenarios (and free roams). The files are easy to install and don't overwrite anything else within the game. (So if you don't like anything just remove the .pak file and you are back to normal). I have a number of scenarios ready to upload that will use these mods (screenshots from these can be seen earlier in this thread) so it will be interesting to hear what people think of these. Before that, though, I will need to finalise my invisible loco formations mod. This is the file that will enable you to populate empty sidings with loose consists which, again, will add to player immersion. Enjoy.
