Longer traincars for bigger map

[Jeef]

Hey there,

I've been developing a huge version of Alaska for quite some time now, the map is 25x25 and all of it is land, so there's no waste. Cities and industries are all over the place and in the edges of the map, providing maximum use of the size.

I wanted this cos I wanted long distances between cities/industries for the sake of realism.

Now I need something else, related to trains and cars.

I need to make longer trains, so they don't look so tiny and stupid on such huge map. I need to either make the cars longer, or make them double/triple cars. If each car is a triple car, then the total would be 24, instead of 8. Of course that really its just 8 cars, but visually we're tricked to think it's 24.

Rodea2007 did something similar to this with the cars on the map Borneo.

Unfortunately, I don't have the knowledge to do such thing, neither know what options I have. I've searched on the forum but couldn't find my answer.

Can anybody point me in a direction here?

[karsten]

You can use Rodea's cars, of course, but as I recall they produce a train of 8 long cars, not a visual 24.
If you think about it, a visual 3car-car would be very long indeed and not bend in curves, so I think the visual effect might be less impressive than you expect, and probably not worth the modelling effort.
So I personally would go with the 8 long cars, and invest my time and energy into creating a great Alaska scenery and scenario instead.
But perhaps Rodea or WingsofPhoenix differ on this.

[Jeef]

Turns wouldn't be a problem, since the map is huge. No necessity to make sharp turns.

I play as realistically as I can. Like in real-life, railroads are made as straight as possible, cutting thru mountains and bridging over ravines, in order to make as straight and level as possible. I play like that.

I would love to have no map limits, to have long trains crossing huge distances, like in real life.

I think it sucks the small maps where a trains arrives in one city but the last car is still on the previous city. I mean, wtf is that?

There's so much I would love to do with SMRR, but I lack the skill. I would like trains with 50 cars, cities 25 units away from eachother instead of a 25x25 map. A 250x250 map sounds like something I would like. A scenario that would require months to beat, instead of a couple of hours.

I guess I'm the only one here with such weird taste, otherwise we would already have something like this in the works.

I'll try using Rodea's cars. All I have to do is to copy the traincars files into my alaska map folder and change the traincar model in the xml file right?

Also, what software is used to edit the 3D model of trains and cars? I can give it a go myself.

[karsten]

It seems to me that Rodea has pushed the map size to the extent allowed by the 3GB limit already. According to Warll, "because SMR is a 32 bit program we do have a hard limit of RAM at 4GiB. We're not at the limit yet but are at least half way there already." So you may push ahead under Windows 7 and 8, but many current users will not be able to follow.

It is also a question of clever map design to create a "distance" perception, indeed woefully lacking in the original SMR maps.

Free Nifscope is essential, for checking the effects of new skins. To modify models, a compatible application like Blender (free, steep learning curve) or Autodesk 3ds Max (userfriendly, uberexpensive at US$3,495, free for "students").

Personally, I would say, in real-life, railroads are only "made as straight as possible, cutting thru mountains and bridging over ravines", to a very limited extent, for cost reasons. This is only cost-effective with high-speed passenger trains like TGV, ICE, Shikansen.

[wingsofphoenix]

Well I like realism, most of my work is dedicated to that to bring something of it to SMR. But I have to accept the limits SMR has, like the 8 traincars. Though it might possible to merge 2, 3 or more traincars into one model, they will never pivot on curves or grades, which will make them look really odd. I've merged the consolidation with its tender for testing (dual consolidations with tenders), and even this small engine looks awful on any grade change.
I dont see why straight and level track laying would have something to do with realism, maybe in flatlands I may agree. But wheres the fun in that?^^ Even highspeed routes have curves and grades to keep the costs as low as possible.

I also made some traincars with realistic lengths, like rodea, but only passenger and mail cars are available here. Others on bobbys forum. You may test them if you like. Of course a large map of atleast 20x20 is required for that with larger distances between towns.

[Jeef]

Is there any other games in the same lines as smrr? One that doesn't have the limit of 8 cars? A good one.

I heard about railroad tycoon 3, but it's damn old, I'm afraid the graphics would be awful. Is it worth it?

[karsten]

RRT3 is an amazing game, with tons of good mods available, and rich challenges. Pretty basic graphics, but otherwise highly recommended. Winning strategies are quite different compared to SMR.
Most RRT3 players ignored SMR, because they found it ridiculously simple in comparison. But some of our scenarios here have achieved a very satisfying challenge level.