Creation Sharing Gwr Pannier Tank Loco Finishing Off

Success so far.
I got the plug in working with the "old" RVV and RVM so the working version now includes placeable headcode lamps and the modified brake valve. I decided to go for a NON PROTOTYPICAL snap/return to Running position from Brakes Off.
If you drive in Brakes OFF the ejector is working full time and will soon run out of steam and trying to get the exact Running detent position was a bit tiresome.

I have just been trying to get the Firebox doors to open when the invisible fireman does his work and had to learn a lot about Unreal Animations (Flip/Flop nodes, layered blends per bone etc.etc.)

Next job is to test cook with that and the Custom HUD.
If that works I just need to change the Simugraph to correct the Safety Valves and the regulator size to get more realistic throttle response.

I will do another You Tube video of the "improvements" when I'm successful and then hopefully release it to TSC.

 

Great to see you persevering and continuing to learn and succeed! All the best for your continued progress.

 

Thank you . I have persisted in working forwards from a copy of the plugin which works and doing one change at a time.
After each change I recook from scratch and test the pak. file in the game.

Yesterday I isolated the fault to a discrepancy between the Max/Min Firemass (Coal level) in the Simugraph and the ones in the RVM.
I think after 3 minutes the fireman decided there was already too much or too little coal in the fire and failed the scenario.

I now have a working pak. file and new scenario which works in game and incorporates all the modifications I wanted to include.
In a few days I will release a new You Tube video and then upload the new file to Train Sim Community as the final version.
Any further changes would mean going right back and remaking the skeleton.

After that I will not do any further work on the Class 57 but will concentrate on the Auto Train which I really need for my Calne Branch Line Route.
When I have completed the Autotrain I may use the later cab from that to make a new version of the Class 57 as an "8750" with Top Feed etc. and perhaps release it as a BR black version.


To finish off here is a photo of the loco at Stogumber Station after completing a run from Bishop's Lydeard.



Thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement.

 

That's really good news. Well done with persevering with the challenge. It is remarkable what you have achieved and an Auto train will be the icing on the cake. (Unless, of course, you go on to make one of these ).

 

Thanks for your support.

A Steam Railmotor would be quite a challenge but I think getting an Auto Trailer working (passenger loading and unloading, doors opening and closing, seat managers, driveable Cab and bell communications) will be enough for now.

Maybe one day

 

That's great news! I look forward to checking out the final version!

The custom HUD looks not too distracting, and easy to read as well! For mine, I eventually came across the generic driver HUD (Content/Core/Assets/HUD/Widgets/TrainHUD/NewTrainHUD/NewGenericTrainHUD.uasset,) so that's what I'm using so far. I haven't had a look at "Content/Core/Assets/HUD/Widgets/TrainHUD/SteamHUD/HUD_Steam_Base.uasset" yet, but it strikes me that it might be useful to build off of, if you wanted more of a "DTG look."

As far as advice for the Auto Trailer, I can offer some advice for passenger doors, though as you're aware I'm coming up against some obstacles there myself.

I can tell you that getting doors the player can interact with directly is relatively easy, just requiring the Virtual HID Interaction Components in the RVV and RailVehicleDoorComponents in the RVM. I recommend using animation sequences and Virtual HIDSequence Entries in the animation blueprint Details for ease of use, but moving bones directly should also work, with a bit more setup.

As far as getting things set up so the quick-command (Tab) menu and AI can operate them, this is the tricky bit; though I'm starting to systematically work out where I might be tripping up. It looks very much as though the VehiclePassengerDoors component (the "door manager," from the Core) should be set up to use VehicleDoorControl components (also from the Core,) except they need to be attached to a parent actor, and I can't work out what that parent should be!

But again I'm really looking forward to the .pak, and I know I'm not alone!

 

Thanks for your reply I will certainly be re reading your thread when it comes to doors on the Autotrain.

Thanks also for the pointers on the HUD. My main issue with it at the moment is that I haven't got Speed limit or Gradient which would be useful and for the Autotrain I may well check out the core components that you mention to get a more useable HUD.

Just doing a bit of tidying up (clearing out old skeletal meshes, textures, etc. etc before doing the (hopefully !) final cook.