Polishing Ts2020 - Low Hanging Fruit

Discussion in 'Suggestions' started by dunkrez, Mar 6, 2020.

  1. dunkrez

    dunkrez Well-Known Member

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    Moving this thread here from general discussion as it may get a better response...

    I've been assessing the bits and bobs required to bring TS on a couple of levels, to polish it up and bring it closer to TSW in terms of visuals and performance. Aside from fundamental core engine updates (dx9 upgrades), there is some low hanging fruit to pick which would arguably increase the quality of the offering. Rw enhancer and a lot of the AP packs help (track and weather) but these details would benefit from some attention:-

    1) 3D trees need overhauling/replacing, they look like they belong in Daytona USA
    2) Colour balance of vegetation and trees needs adjusting, e.g. cowslip is never dayglow green in reality
    3) Reflective surfaces of loco/carriages need to show movement in relation to speed (even if it's just a hack of sorts and not a true reflection)
    4) The people - let's stop having them walking around so much, more standing, better models, and with shadows. There's bound to be a better way of doing this than the current implementation
    5) Loco lights - these shouldn't light up the road ahead during the day
    6) Ancillary model cars - these could maybe do with a complete overhaul
    7) Flora and fauna - let's have more than cowslip at the side of the road, perhaps simple birds flying around, that kind of thing
    8) Map tile loading fps stutter - this would be an incredible improvement, if the way the next tile load could be throttled somehow to minimise any disruption to frame output
    9) UI - the menu, quick drive, scenarios; this would benefit from a radical overhaul, so we can see/access owned loco's and routes etc. without using a sliding bar or having to view 9 items at a time, which is pretty silly at 4k
    10) Water quality, standing water with straight reflections arguably looks amillion times better than the current sea/lake/river water. The wave effects on the Riviera Line would really benefit from some attention.
    11) Windows on buildings - these perhaps would also benefit from some adjustments, to make them appear more realistic.
    12) Rock textures - there must besomething that can be done to enhance these, so many pixels at 4k

    Just a few initial ideas, I'm going to beexploring how to sort these out. Anyone else with technical experience or with any more ideas to add to this, please do make your thoughts known. I'm relatively confident that we can, as a community, really improve what TS currently offers. At this point, TS perhaps doesn't really need more routes or loco's - it's crying out for fundamental changes to its infrastructure. Some of these changes can probably be achieved by us, rail fans around the globe :)
     
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  2. dunkrez

    dunkrez Well-Known Member

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    Further to the above, does anyone have any experience with modifying the kuju engine?

    Will the engine ever become open source, enabling willing coders/software engineers the opportunity to begin the process of upgrading from dx9 to dx12?

    With so much content available to ts2020, and with so many end users having invested in anywhere from hundreds to thousands of pounds worth of dlc, is it not morally right to enable this level of core infrastructure to be upgraded by a very willing ts20 community?

    Anything is possible with the right attitude.
     
  3. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    I know you like your favourite phrase "Anything is possible with the right attitude"
    If it was possible do you think it might have been done in the 10 years or so the game has been in existence?

    I think the engine will become open source the day after Bill Gates make Windows open source.

    In real life Not Everything Is Possible
     
  4. dunkrez

    dunkrez Well-Known Member

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    I think if invested in, ts20 could be improved hugely. I have both ts20 and tsw, and I always revert to ts20 after using tsw.

    I'm thinking it may be worth approaching the rw enhancer team, to see what their thoughts are.

    I improved the class 43 cab because it needed doing and there are current 670 users enjoying the weeks worth of work I put into it, I put the effort in because I truly believe that ts20 is brilliant and the hst deserved better.

    If ts20 ever becomes abandonware, maybe the source for the engine will become available?

    In my experience, whatever I put my mind to, I work very hard to achieve, and I succeed (eventually). Why wouldn't you want ts20 to look as good as tsw? Surely as an avid fan you would benefit too? Why the friction? Perhaps you know someone who may be able to help this along Peter? I've noticed you help a lot of people on this forum, which is really good of you and you have my respect for that.

    Dunc
     
  5. Railfan722

    Railfan722 Well-Known Member

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    Well, a core engine upgrade comes with the very real risk of breaking literally everything ever made for the game. It would take DTG a long time to fix just the stuff they've made, but what about the work of third parties? We've already seen this before with VRC's products; Jerry stopped doing business a while back, and in that time 64 bit came out, and of course none of his locomotives work with 64 bit, forcing people to use the 32 bit application instead. With the right modelling and texturing, TS can look incredibly good - have a look at some of the work Searchlight Simulations or Armstrong Powerhouse have done in the last few years as an example.
     
  6. dunkrez

    dunkrez Well-Known Member

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    I've already invested in everything AP have put out barring the mk1 coach pack, and it's generally all excellent stuff.

    I use rw enhancer pro and reshade with config options that have taken months to perfect.

    I still think the points I outlined in my original post have merit - perhaps using AI and deep learning to upgrade texture assets might be an option?

    I think the biggest want I currently have is to see environment based reflections on the locos and rolling stock.

    It must be possible, I don't believe for a second that it isn't.
     
  7. Random Railfan

    Random Railfan Well-Known Member

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    Lol yeah the wave effects are awful
     
  8. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    There are a good many "patches" in the railworks community to make thing better and if you are making them available then Kudos to you.
    I currently have a number of Freeware items from places like UKTS, RailSim.de and Sim-Together along with Payware items from Armstrong Powerhouse all of which improve the the playing of the game.

    But I do not know of anyone who is thinking about changing the core engine.
    As Railfan722 says above if you were to change the core engine to work with DirectX 12 then you might break the game or at least you would also have to rework the stock. You would have one group of people using the current version and some others using a different one.

    It's like when a Route comes out. The community brings out a mod and it's a clone of the line with improvements to the whole route
    You don't see that many scenarios for these cloned routes compared with the default version.

    There are a lot of things that would be good in the game but sometimes it's just not possible.
    I would like a Class 86/0 or 86/1 in the game but as the bogies are part of the locos Geopcdx file you cannot change them

    Peter
     

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