Florida Gold Rebuild/Upgrade

[Lowell]

Florida Gold is being rebuilt/upgraded.

Thought I might share some of the development as I go. First off…Bobby and Snoopy were kind enough, while I have been ill the past couple years, to make a Sam2 version of the old mod. I will provide that link on this first thread post for those who wish to play the scenario, just not having all the new cars, passenger and freight cars I am adding. The scenario will remain the same…however the NASA rocket booster transport will be expanding/changing some.

Seaboard Air Line, Atlantic Coast Line, Florida East Coast, Florida Central, NASA are the rail lines being painted right now. There will be two different color schemes for the NASA rail. A very nice you tube video in HD explains all about the rocket booster transport and such. There will be a different set of passenger and mail cars to match each color scheme and model engine. So far I am up to v5 in my sets…with matching engines that only pull that version car etc.

The new longer Tropicana car has come out looking okay so far. They had a couple different color schemes. Mostly white for the newer models and orange. I have made the orange model so far and may make the white as well. Making the orange v1 and white v2 and set engines for each early/late type car color scheme. I may do this with all freight cars as well. Then you have older engines pulling one color scheme and the newer ones pulling another…mixing cars and colors on the map as time goes by.

Here is a couple screenshots of the Tropicana orange reefer car to be used in orange juice transport. The car has the door open because they were empty…just added it to the map and didn’t start up production yet. So the door would be closed if it were full.

Thanks to Bobby and Snoopy for all their hard work on this larger boxcar BB construction…nice job.





In the start of the scenario you must begin production of wood and paper in Jacksonville. At the start of the scenario you will only have one engine…the shay to pull wood and if you are lucky the first run of paper to Lake City Distribution Center. After the first year and a half you get larger locos to start and tons more as the game progresses.





It turns out that Atlantic Coast Line had a Daylight engine and passenger/mail car set. Painted just like the Southern Pacific version. So…here it is.





At the moment I am placing the finishing touches on the green Seaboard E and F units plus I am about three quarters done with the Orange Blossom Special E A&B units and passenger, mail cars. I will post screenshots as I go.

I do maybe have an issue with the version passenger and mail cars though. If I am running say the Daylight steam and cars, then I upgrade in game to say the Seaboard E unit…the passenger and mail cars do not switch. You have to delete the train and build the newer version from scratch in order for the game to set the newer version cars for it. The versions work great and popup fine, however I am going to have to test save during an engine upgrade and see if it causes any issues…as the newer version engine is not supposed to pull the older versions cars. Not sure yet, it may be something I am doing. One would think if you upgraded an engine while in use, the cars would switch to that engines version as well…but it doesn’t work that way so far.

Here is the link for the older version, which is complete in its form. Now…I have not had time to test play this Sam2 version. Just let me know if you have any issues with the scenario and I will look into it. Warll is also permitted to post this Sam version as well.

The link to the 2008 scenario…

http://CrimsonSun.cc/Florida_Gold_400x_SAM2.rar

Thanks everyone.





You can look forward to these switchers from Seaboard and Atlantic as well...



More on the way...

[snoopy55]

The thing with the cars not changing when the engine changes is nothing you are doing wrong. The problem also shows up when you are using a V1 engine and the game switches to V2 era, the V1 cars stay and any new cars you add are V2. This becomes a mess when you are clear up in 1990 and running 1890 cars with F3s and GP units.

It may just take deleting the whole train to get the car changes. I cannot remember if anyone had found a way around it at the Depot, like dumping all the cars, changing the engine and adding the cars.

Think on it........

[vzbob]

Just drop the V1 train cars at one station or depot and then add it back after it leaves and it will pick up the next version train cars at the next depot or station as it saves you deleting the train and adding it back again.

[Lowell]

Thanks guys. Dropping them off at the next stop and adding them back gets the job done without erasing the train. This allows the train to stay on the same track easier.

I must say, these larger sized box and reefer cars I have fell in love with. They fit so nice on this size 20 map. I also like the gondola…very nice work. Thanks for the gifts and it is not even Christmas yet.

Here the gondola with the steel plates acts as the titanium car…I am not sure if I like the decal on the side yet or not.





Here is the rebuild of the Domino sugar car.





I’m not going to show the Mikado yet. I made a mess of it. I placed some blue highlights on the emsk and it turned out shinny blue instead of black metal…too embarrassed to show it till I work on it some more. Let me not forget to mention thanks to WingsOfPhoenix...he has been helping as well. What great models he has made. Let us not forget Bobby and Snoopy as well.

Thanks everyone
Back to work

[Lowell]

Just about done with the green Seaboard E A&B. I have to have better stencils/lettering for the Seaboard name on the side of the engine and cars.

There are new cars for transporting oranges and limes…no lettering as yet.









The number of new car and engine versions are rising!

P.S. I was wondering if I should make the passenger and mail cars to match the colors of the A&B units? All I have is black and white photos of Seaboard Air Lines early days. I have some passenger and mail sides...but not sure what colors were used with this "green" color engine set. This would be fior this Green set only. There are seven different passenger and mail car sets depending what engine you pull out ior if you use a v1 or v2 train it also has it's own versions. There will be more sets as well. This set is engine and car set v6. The freight cars are all v1 v2.

[Lowell]

Just whipped-up this passenger and mail set to match the green Seaboard Air Line E set. I am sure this color scheme was not used...but it looks nice and matches the engines.

v7 passenger and mail set

[karsten]

Mmmmh, looks tasty. Good work!

[Lowell]

Thanks Karsten. The Orange Blossom Special E unit is almost complete…I might get the last of it done tonight or in the morning. Darn thing has some mean curves and stripes on that engine skin.

I need to tone down the shininess of the passenger and mail rooftops on this green set. I made them from the corrugated type car and the metal shine is bleeding through too much when the games light source hits them. I could just leave it as is…I do want to have other corrugated type cars and it would be nice to use as many default files as I can. Right now I am stripping out and rebuilding everything from the ground up. This way the industries and other items can use the same animations, light and environment files and so forth. Bare bones…and I am going to need it on this one.

The F3’s and F9’s are about done as well for SAL, SCL and ACL. Next to come is all the other diesels. New FEC, Florida Central, SAL, SCL and ACL. Also the red white and blue FEC AC4400. I would love an SD70mac. The new rounded NASA car is also under construction.

Here the SAL passenger train displays the shinny rooftop when the light hits it. Pictured on the double matched scenario made on this size 28 map. You see the engine running almost right up to the edge of the game board…almost to run off the map…remember this is the size 28 map. The size 20 runs just as smooth. So there will be two flavors when all done and posted. One size 20…and one size 28, it is the same scenario except with time etc to match for the extra size.

This size 28 map is way cool…it took three minutes to ride the rail line from the top of the map to the bottom starting at Pensacola and ending at Key West...with no stops inbetween! Plus over water the whole way! Just as a crash test mind you...strictly professional you know.







I just couldn’t believe the darn size 28 map. I had it near full and everything running and it ran like the size 20. So…might as well make it a double set I guess.

I think the landscaping came out better on the size 28 map than the 20. I am not sure if I want to replace the palm trees as yet...they had shadows, which can be removed, however if I remember correct they did not render well with the other trees. I will have to do a test when all done and see.

Ahh...
As a side note. It took thirty two saves when making the SAL Green A unit. It took five for the B unit. One small change at a time, save then look, then back to another change etc. The Citrus SAL A unit has had thirty seven saves so far. Just a side note. That's just two E units.

[Lowell]

The Green SAL units came from these and a couple other photos. This green color scheme was used on F A&B units as well. One photo shows some sort of self powered Baggage car.





If anyone else has any shots of SAL engines, post them here. They had a 2-10-0 or 2-10-2 but I am going to use Wings Of Phoenix’s Northern engine renamed for now.

P.S. Well I say post them here, but we don't need to fill Warll's server...that is why I post all my images and files from my web server...saves him space. So we don't want to get too crazy.

[karsten]

Love your combination of map scenery and rolling stock!

[Lowell]

Thanks. I am trying to stay as close to the real thing as I can get. I have rebuilt other cars for food, key lime pies and a couple others. There is a mix of standard and reefer cars, the larger size.

I just ran a test scenario game play. The game ran smooth. I had no issues. I am doing my testing on both sizes, but tonight I turned up the size 28 and had a great time. All industries were running and all cities were connected. The larger landscape size allows for Jacksonville to be placed on the beach side of the intercostal-waterway. The land area was too small on the size 20 map and Jacksonville had to be pulled inside the mainland. The long rails for bulk goods are way cool. The size and the timing are just right. I prefer the bigger 28 for sure.

The screenshot shows Jacksonville in it's new home. ACL (Atlantic Coast Line) The Champion E8 engine out for a first test run. It still needs a trip back to the paint shop, but it was fun pulling it out for the first time. The Orange Blossom is next. Then that is it for passenger and mail. The GP sets are also under way and I am about done with the F9's. This is moving faster than I thought.







I am also making some adjustments to patents and making a new one at that. Plus a "set" of load screens...this way the player will get a different one each time they enter the map. Well maybe just three or four different ones that will flip.

I have a new version that has all new railroad music...totally. Plus a rock and roll version. Even plays great in the size 28 map.

One adjustment as an example of a Patent change edit is the change i have made here.

<Patent>
<szName>Swift's Refrigerator Car</szName>
<!-- 25% bonus to all perishable goods -->
<Effect>
<szGood>Food</szGood>
<fModifier>1.25</fModifier>
</Effect>
<Effect>
<szGood>Milk</szGood>
<fModifier>1.25</fModifier>
</Effect>
<Effect>
<szGood>Orange Juice</szGood>
<fModifier>1.25</fModifier>
</Effect>
<Effect>
<szGood>Sugar</szGood>
<fModifier>1.25</fModifier>
</Effect>
<Effect>
<szGood>Shrimp</szGood>
<fModifier>1.25</fModifier>
</Effect>
<Effect>
<szGood>KeyLime Pies</szGood>
<fModifier>1.25</fModifier>
</Effect>

Now this is just snippets from the actual listing. But it shows the adjustments I have made for my maps products. The default games patent list has sheep, cows and textiles. What do they get out of a refrigerated food car? Nothing...so I pulled them out. Now key lime pies and orange juice will spoil without those type cars...so production is increased for those items that would spoil.

The NASA run is also changing and the launch pad is now out of the city of Titusville and on the island alone as an industry. The port is moving north towards Jacksonville and is used for export and import. I have the oil tanker setup with some other buildings to be the new fuel dock...the tanker being farther out from bank.

[Lowell]

Thought I might also mention that I am always testing the games saved game feature. When I return to a save point...I open up my MyGames/SidsRailRoads/Saves folder and click on the saved game links, right from the desktop. Plus I also test the Auto Save links in the same fashion. I simply click on the link...the game starts right up...loads me right back to where I saved and left the game etc. Even the size 28...full everything running.

[Lowell]

FEC F9 A&B

FEC-F series engine set 01 complete. I built this with the BB construction kit. The B unit was backwards from the kit...but that is no biggie, I just rotated it -90%. It looks okay and I must say those construction kits are well thought out. Thanks Snoopy, Bobby and others. I really like adding the shadows to the blank tga when I get started so I have some reference lines to go by. After totally painting before I add the hardware, windows etc. I add the shadow layer back again. These kits really make a difference, plus they speed up production.

All Southern engines from the original scenario have been pulled and either were replaced or in the process of. All new assets will have their own folder inside the Assets folder for those who want parts from the mod when I am finished. When complete, all assets will be dumped into a test folder to make sure there are no double files. A few industry models are being upgraded/replaced.

I need a longer covered hopper for grain and corn. A longer wood car would be nice.

The FEC engine pictured will run the maps default v1 and v2 passenger cars and all freight. Only the Daylight and several E sets are passenger and mail only...those have matching car sets. There will be several F unit sets for all the roads on the map. Anyone know how to convert cars from Trainz? I have a couple files I need converted into nifs.

Rodea I may use your longer fuel car for rocket fuel. Is there a model that has the three hatches the same as the middle one? I noticed the outer hatch covers are different from the middle one...can that be fixed?
EDIT: or better still...can the other two hatches be alpha'ed out so there is only one hatch in the middle?

[Lowell]

[snoopy55]

As to painting the BBs, add a layer and paste the Shadow on it. Keep this as a separate layer on top and you can paint the Base a bit easier. When you are done painting, you can drop the Shadow layer on your base and you're done.

Another thing to put into the Instructions I guess........