Modular Railyard Set

[____----____ 37]

Ok so after designing many freight stations I have felt that there (until now)

has been no way to capture that vibrant freight yard feel, of rows of tracks with

all sorts of freight cars.

So the idea I had was to develope a set of transit enabled lots of various sizes

(some large and some small) that can be combined with the wide variety of freight

stations already available to creat customizable rail yards for your industrial/port/farming

communitties.  this would allow players to make full on massive rail yards with tons of

freight cars,grain hoppers, ect or just to add some life to a few of their industrial rail spurs

Frankie_Grove has been great and volunteered his skillz to work on the lots which is great

We are also possibly looking for one more person (a BATer) that would like to join in this project

to possibly BAT a realistic grain elevator.  So if this intrigues you please feel free to post

up and chime in.

I have done a quick google search and come up with some pics of 

various types/sizes of rail yards to get an idea of the type of environment 

we are trying to capture.

 

 

[Frankie_Grove 32]

And i've got a few satelite pics of some railyards, for ideas,


I plan to make several smaller sections of yard, that can be combined into a large on such as these (the ones above and below)



Of course, no lot could easily be this large, but i'm using the basic ideas for the basis of the lots. (note the above pics are Bailey Yard, Nebraska)


So far, i managed to start on an entry piece, and a main section, using mainly textures from North_Country_Dude. More to come!

-Frankie

[wouanagaine 84]

As I pointed out in AK CJs, this will definitly be a great addition !

Good luck!

[Rayden 7]

That's an excelent idea, I'm just sorry I can't be of any help as I don't know much about the LE yet, nor BAT. I wish I could

But I can at least wish you guys good luck and support this all the way. I'm sure at the end I'll be one of the proud users of these lots of yours

[crazychickensc12 84]

What about creating a set of 1x1 Rail puzzle pieces from North Country Dudes textures and Transit enabling these lots, then on some of them but freight cars that in which different types(peg random trees idea), and the freigth props would be set so that when you plop 2 1x1 lots next to each other it would be seamless appear each time you plop that way there are endless possibilities of combinations for rail yards..whadda ya think?

[LivingInThePast 364]

It would look and feel horrible if there weren't any 1x1 rails, which someone needs to do pronto!

[Frankie_Grove 32]

These lots will probabily range from 1X1 to however large we feel necessary. These are meant to go anywhere And it's modular, so we will need fillers anyway.

EDIT: Also, i think we should use plain dirt textures as our base, and use overlay textures for the mainline, and base for sidetracks.

[Silur 3,308]

Hi, Aleking

I like your "AK CJ" and I like your railroads pictures in this place. Really this is nice .... My favourite game before SC4 - Railroad Tycoon 2, but this game now is 3d and no this game for me since 2003. Now only SC4 forewer ......

[LivingInThePast 364]

I mean, single rails.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Originally posted by: crazychickensc12 What about creating a set of 1x1 Rail puzzle pieces from North Country Dudes textures and Transit enabling these lots, then on some of them but freight cars that in which different types(peg random trees idea), and the freigth props would be set so that when you plop 2 1x1 lots next to each other it would be seamless appear each time you plop that way there are endless possibilities of combinations for rail yards..whadda ya think?quote>

Two tiles that are transit-enabled in the same direction, but on two different lots cannot collide. It doesn't work.

Try yourself: You can place e.g. Marrast's train station side by side, but you cannot place two right behind each other. That's why your suggestion won't work, unfortunately.

[ardecila 125]

Right, exactly. This is why there must be at least one through route through the railyard that is dragged rather than plopped.

Great idea, aleking! I recently added Google Earth placemarks for Chicago's rail yards, so I've been looking at these a lot.

I could send you my grain elevator model, although it's not that great. If you know anything about gmax, you should be able to move and copy the pieces around and then render whatever size elevator you want.

[buddybud 63]

contrary to a recent post that claimed this was a stolen idea....i threw these photos out there about a year and a half ago in some obscure thread here at simtropolis. and like most ideas they were based on others ideas....

anyways the idea was to make small railyards and spurs to liven up an industrial area.

as most of my stuff it never came to fruitrition.

heres some shots of lots built with the textures i made and the textures below that. (lots no longer exist)

feel free to use them.

1x3 used twice

1x3 on left and 2x3 on right

combination of 4 1x3 and 2 2x3

textures.....the first row never had a lot made for them...the other two rows are from the lots above.

   

   

 

good luck and take care

[hamsterTK 93]

contrary to a recent post that claimed this was a stolen idea....quote>

[edited by sam  - please try to be more polite next time] ... you can't steal ideas because ideas can't be copyrighted....

Those are cool buddybud

[st louis dude 6]

Wow! Where did you take those pictures?

[north country dude 207]

Originally posted by: hamsterTK

contrary to a recent post that claimed this was a stolen idea....quote>

[edited by sam  - please try to be more polite next time] ... you can't steal ideas because ideas can't be copyrighted....quote>

C'mon guys, the issue is has been resolved and is long dead. The misunderstandings have been patched and we are all working together in peace and harmony on the very same project.

In point of fact, I picked up the railyard textures idea from Stardog13 over 2 years ago(4 of his textures are similar, but that's all he had). I created a batch of my own textures(about 160) using a cheap 10$ off-the-rack image editing program and the first fsh editing program posted here long time ago.(let me tell you what a pain-in-the-*** that was.)

The files never worked correctly due to the IID conflicts, but since getting the assigned range from the BSC Texture Index and using the SC4Tool, well the rest is history. But that's not the point.

I don't mean to disagree with you hamster-dude, you're a really great guy(love your CJ!), but ideas can be copyrighted after a fashion, they're called patents. Also, anything you make and post on the STEX, or any other exchange is 'de-facto' copyrighted. (for clarifications, please see callagrafx's posts in this  thread:https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=32&threadid=82242&enterthread=y)

But enough of this, no patents have come from the STEX and it's not really keeping with the spirit of the game. Besides, we are now all working together!

Buddybud, dude!, those are really nice textures! The last texture in the first column, I never thought of that one!

I have to tell you that those are really nice rail sidings and Freight stations! (railyards are for the sorting and classification of whole freight train consists, while sidings and stations are for the unloading and loading of freight cargo)

I believe there is going to be some complaints from people, but railyards are, by their very nature, large. Also, those things created using the Maxis 'doubletrack' aren't really railyards either.(unless someone can find me a real life picture of that, I will always say "that ain't a railyard!")

Stations and sidings can be small, for example the InnerCity Freight is just a small siding off the main line. Larger than that is the Medium Freight Station, but that isn't considered a 'railyard', but is in fact a Freight Station. It unloads and loads cargo onto freight cars.

Think of a railyard as an inland seaport. Incoming freight trains are divided up into different 'consists' and sent to different destinations, but no cargo is unloaded or loaded. If you view the pictures in the first post of this thread, you can now see the difference between railyards and sidings. You will also see that railyards are actually quite large. They have to be, since they are sorting and making up entire freight trains!

But, we are definately going to get complaints like: "That's to big for me." "I don't have room for that, can't you make it smaller?"

People are going to misunderstand that, 'modular' in SC4 means several lots that fit together to make a whole.

The problem for us is going to be; is it just 'eye-candy' or is it 'functional'?

ncd/Arf

[ricb 19]

Originally posted by: T Wrecks

Originally posted by: crazychickensc12 What about creating a set of 1x1 Rail puzzle pieces from North Country Dudes textures and Transit enabling these lots, then on some of them but freight cars that in which different types(peg random trees idea), and the freigth props would be set so that when you plop 2 1x1 lots next to each other it would be seamless appear each time you plop that way there are endless possibilities of combinations for rail yards..whadda ya think?quote>

Two tiles that are transit-enabled in the same direction, but on two different lots cannot collide. It doesn't work.

Try yourself: You can place e.g. Marrast's train station side by side, but you cannot place two right behind each other. That's why your suggestion won't work, unfortunately. quote>

I realize I'm not a batter and just a lurker, but I do pay attention and I think it can work.  Simply use overhanging textures and props and drag rails between the lots.  At least I believe it could be done that way.  Am I wrong?

[deadwoods 542]

You can have overhanging props but not textures.

[north country dude 207]

Sorry ricb, don't mean to be flippant, but there is no such thing as overhanging textures.

But there is a way to make BAT models that overhang, they also need to be 'pathed'. Problem is, none of the team is a BAT maker. We're looking though.

Also, look at the textures. Sidings have been made already that can fit in a 1x2 tile space, but those aren't railyards. They're called sidings or spurs.

The Railyard and Rail Spur Texture mega-pack was made for people to Transit Enable and put rail sidings on their Industrial Lots. Just look at some of jestarr's latest stuff. Also, SimGoober has made one or two lots, using the sidings.

[1973tr6 0]

I too am interested in realistic looking, and functioning, railyards.  Sidings as well, but not quite as much.  I have seen yards IRL and they are HUGE.  Sometimes beyond comprehension!!  I would expect a game one to be at least as big as the big airport.  Twice as big would be even better though!!  And it would have to be TE on at least one path all the way through.  Or can you make a train stop at a certain location on the track and just sit there for a while??  Or enter a roundhouse or other repair facility??  It would be neat to be able to manually switch the traks and park cars on certain tracks!!  I love the looks of buddybud's lots.  Could somebody recreate them from the screen shots shown??  I'm not good enough at max yet to even try.

[NetPCDoc 1]

Great Idea,

But can it be made functional?

Remember -

Transit enabled lots - in order to enable them to be placed end-to-end need to be at least 2-tiles-long (and, at 2-long, plopped in proper order); and these need to be properly tweaked.

-NetPCDoc

No detail is too small to be micromanaged.

EDIT:

- not flaming/blaming/bashing anyone - just an FYI that properly tweaked 3-tile-long TE-Lots can be plopped next to each other (with the TE-road/rail/etc going across all properly tweaked lots).

[crazychickensc12 84]

yes, my idea will not work because of the TE'd lots not allowed to be placed next to each other, but I am new to this and it was only an idea..my BAT skills are slowly and i mean slowly developing but if anything needs to be BATed just post it and ill try no promises , i can make buildings and texture and all that i just need to get better at my details and learning the ways of the BAT !!

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Originally posted by: crazychickensc12 yes, my idea will not work because of the TE'd lots not allowed to be placed next to each other, but I am new to this and it was only an idea..quote>

Don't worry, nobody blamed or attacked you... I think your intention to help is appreciated by everybody here.

[____----____ 37]

*sings don't worry be happy*

a little note on what i had in mind by modular touching on a few points

-much like the airport packs which have been broken down into components

many of which are still large this will be broken down into as many components

of a railyard as possible.

-this way the pieces will all go together in one way or another but people will be

able to configure them in their own way. I thin that the easiest way to do this woud

be to have a couple pieces functional (one acting as an inland seaport TEd for

freight-maybe the big hub, and maybe one by-pass spur so traffic can pass through.

-the rest, maintenence, sidings, loading areas, storage could be eye candy.

keep the ideas coming,

ALek

[north country dude 207]

Originally posted by: 1973tr6 .......  I love the looks of buddybud's lots.  Could somebody recreate them from the screen shots shown??  I'm not good enough at max yet to even try.quote>

Not to blow my own horn, but did you search the STEX with my name, I have a couple of things there that might suit your purpose.

---

The development is proceeding apace, and the main sections are functional. The expansions are functional, but not Transit Enabled. The expansions will be functional Industrial Lots with Jobs, while the main sections will be functional Freight Stations that allow Freight and Rail only.(this may change in the future)

Previews...

ncd/Arf

[wouanagaine 84]

looks good, I'll try them ASAP

Edit : This is a pwd protected zip Any chance to get the pwd ?

[north country dude 207]

Hey Frankie!!! (where is that guy when you need him???) Did you get the MRS beta test file?

To all:

Any files posted in this thread are for the testing and exchange between project members prior to public release. If you download these files, please be aware that they are incomplete and may not be completely functional. They are bare bones test files. They will probably not have read-me files or tutorials for use.

Secondly, they will only be available for brief periods of time, so please, please, do not ask us to repost them prior to public release. The reason for that is, as these test files are being worked on, previous versions will be obsolete and no longer available. They may also be password protected so that project members will get a chance to review and test them before unleashing them on the un-suspecting public.

Thirdly, these are beta test files and will not have all of the props and textures that the final releases will have. Comments regarding these things, while welcome, are not high on the priority list (e.g. "this road name locomotive would look better", or, "needs more trees", etc.)

Comments we need are; Does it function or crash the game?(remember, you were warned) Is the crime rate too high? Does it provide the right amount of jobs? and that sort of thing.

With that said, the pass for the MRS-beta v01.zip is : nOfEaRgOlD

PS: If you want to suggest props packs that we may not have, that would be great, but we gotta keep the dependencies from getting outa control. And we are still looking for a good model maker. (Okay roll'em smokie!! *wolf whistles and catcalls from audience* Noo!! Not that one!)

[Frankie_Grove 32]

Originally posted by: north country dude Hey Frankie!!! (where is that guy when you need him???) quote>

 

You never know the answer to that

I'm just now getting the test file, let me download and try them out

[____----____ 37]

just a test layout with the old version of frankies lot and NCD's new stuff

hopefully this weekend i will get started on a loading lot that will go where 

i have sim goobers now but i want to make some thing much larger.

[Jack 'Sharky' Ballade 2]

If you want a good train yard go to Chyenne, Wyoming or Shelby, Montana. Chyenne's is VERY HUGE because it's on the transconnental railroad. Shelby's is not as big but its big enough to be in some train games.

[freedo50 1]

this all looks really great guys i hope you can keep up the pace and get a release out soon, these would really birghten up my gaming!

@ AK - is there no end to ur SC4 talents??!