Custom station tracks

[BadiBasso 1]

Hi all,

I am working on a project to create a set of custom station tracks (custom rails and catenary) which can be used ingame with Touch This mod to replace vanilla station tracks.

Thus far I have managed to PoC it with two lane, two way track and it seems to work just fine (textures from MOM and props from Catenary Replacer)

Before I continue on this I have a couple questions:

-if I wish to use textures and props from MOM and CR where can I ask for permission?

-how can I make catenary to be compatible with CR?

[Bad Peanut 826]

1 hour ago, BadiBasso said:

Hi all,

I am working on a project to create a set of custom station tracks (custom rails and catenary) which can be used ingame with Touch This mod to replace vanilla station tracks.

Thus far I have managed to PoC it with two lane, two way track and it seems to work just fine (textures from MOM and props from Catenary Replacer)

Before I continue on this I have a couple questions:

-if I wish to use textures and props from MOM and CR where can I ask for permission?

-how can I make catenary to be compatible with CR?

you need to be careful about the "Touch This" mod's ability. basically if you edit a station track you may cause the hidden pedestrian paths to snap to different spots, thus breaking any connection to the platform. I would be really hesitant to use anything like that because the only fix would be to delete and plop the station again (and you'd end up with vanilla tracks again)

[Delta2k5 311]

What really would be great: A mod which is able to replace the rail mesh on existing station tracks  As we've got many different styles out there I think this would make most sense. ofc it would be great if the whole tracks appearence would be replaceable by keeping its functionality as a station track but the rails itself are the most crutial part when it comes to looks.

Something @andreharv included in the MOM (the selectable station track style part) would be great just as a stand alone version for rail networks using some algorythm to automatically include all station track variations from the workshop?! Should be possible I think. Guess this functionality is also based on BP's station converter  

[Bad Peanut 826]

44 minutes ago, Delta2k5 said:

automatically include all station track variations from the workshop?

i think this would be the hardest part of that. you would need to know all the names of the individual tracks on the workshop and any new ones. that's why the station converter has the xml file that you manually add names to

[Delta2k5 311]

2 hours ago, Bad Peanut said:

i think this would be the hardest part of that. you would need to know all the names of the individual tracks on the workshop and any new ones. that's why the station converter has the xml file that you manually add names to

Well, a script could seach through pre-loaded networks with train ai and seach further for those which have got spawn points or some other parameter suitable for this task BUT I think that this would be really heavy on resources. I agree that the most easy way in this case would be an XML too in which a user would have to include the workshop ID.

[boformer 3,169]

32 minutes ago, Delta2k5 said:

Well, a script could seach through pre-loaded networks with train ai and seach further for those which have got spawn points or some other parameter suitable for this task BUT I think that this would be really heavy on resources. I agree that the most easy way in this case would be an XML too in which a user would have to include the workshop ID.

It's not resource-intensive. The assets are loaded into memory, that means access times are really fast.

XML files bundled with the asset should no longer be used (it's actually quite slow). CO added a new modding interface that allows us to put extra content into the crp files:

Quote

Asset Data API
The new Asset Data API will enable more advanced asset creators and modders to save custom data straight into their custom asset packages and receive a callback with that data when the asset is loaded. This feature has been requested to ease up custom setup of more complex assets, and should mitigate some needs for external xml-dumps and detour/harmony -hooks on asset loading.

The custom data is saved as byte-arrays into a dictionary using string keys to organize the data. When saving an asset, the game will call OnAssetSaved method in your IAssetDataExtension implementation. The parameters contain the name of the saved asset, the actual asset prefab as a boxed object (which you can cast to game’s internal type in case you need to handle some additional magic), and the data-dictionary as an out-parameter. Similarly OnAssetLoaded will be called for all custom assets when they are loaded. Note that these are called only for the main asset, so for example road elevations or prop variations that get packed in the same package don’t receive additional calls.

https://skylines.paradoxwikis.com/Modding_API#IAssetDataExtension

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/cities-skylines-parklife-dev-diary-5-modding-and-menu-filtering.1098504/

 

[BadiBasso 1]

Thank you all for your comments.

You provided really good tips on possible pitfalls and alternate methods. They made me rethink of how to implement my idea.

Sidenote: As a model railroader I really hate those current concrete slab looking rails in stations. 

[Tim The Terrible 586]

Hey there, looking forward to what you come up with.

• As far as compatibility with Catenary Replacer you will just have to let me know what you like. If you want your tracks to be left untouched we don't have to do anything. If you would like the tracks to work with CR you will have to let me know the name of the default catenary prop (you need to have something, CR can't just add one) and the segment and node ID's of the wires. We can discuss that in private.
• You need to talk to @andreharv for permission to use anything from MOM.

Good luck!

[BadiBasso 1]

@Tim The Terrible Thanks for your support.

Having thought things out and after some insight on current mods I think I might try to create a mod which combines CR and NS on train tracks: that is global replacement of rail textures and per node settings for catenary and other props.

Not an easy task, I know, but will definitely give it a try