Panamint Crossing Update

[Paragon]

Well, Hello!

First off, my apologies for the paucity of updates. I have been working on this route pretty much non-stop for the last year. I realize that one year ago today I exported my first model from Blender into the sim, a concrete block if you must know. I would say the route is 50% complete, with the vast majority of the work remaining relating to placement of scenery and painting terrain. All the track, signals, signs, roads, bridges, and tunnels are laid.

If there is interest at this early date, I can make the route available. The route is actually perfectly drivable if you do not mind mostly empty undecorated desert. Even decorating it is not going to help the "empty" part, but you knew that... it will give you an idea of what is to come, and allow me to receive feedback on snarls before too much scenery has been placed.

The route relies only on SMM for signals and crossings. Everything else is either default or home-grown. My goal is to limit the DLC needed to make it as easy as possible to distribute the base route. All the models I create will be published freely, with Blender source. There exists export pathways from Blender to other platforms as well.

I have also expanded the blog that supports the route. You will be able to see where I'm headed documentation wise. My hope is this level of detail will aid not only drivers, but potential scenario authors as well. With nearly 300 miles of track, there is no lack of ideas!

Looking forward to MORE free stuff on the 20th!

Pax,
Paragon


Blog: http://panamintcrossing.blogspot.com

SummitYard07.jpg

FourCars.jpg

SummitYard17.jpg

SummitYard19.jpg

AlkaliFlatsYard-04.jpg

[BillPeck]

Okay where can I get the route vast open spaces really appeal to me? Also like testing stuff.

[jpetersjr]

I too would like to be able to try out the route, would you upload it here, it's looking real good.

[Paragon]

Alrighty then, why not? I love driving the thing, especially at dawn or dusk. And there is MUCH more to come!

I have assembled a beta download package for the route, in four parts. I gave it the RW Tools scrub to make sure nothing was missing, and my aren't we glad we did that? It's much cleaner as a result, and I hope ready for a peek.

More than anything, this route is a leap of faith. To quote Gahan Wilson, "I paint what I see, Child." I have 40-odd years of pent-up modeling to work through!

http://panamintcrossing.blogspot.com/p/files.html



Pax,
Paragon

SummitYard10.jpg

SummitYard14.jpg

[BillPeck]

I just started and am totally awed by this work.

[Csxgp38-2]

Wow. All I can say is blend the texture on the rocks a bit so it doesn't look as repetitive. Other than that, awesome job on a route using all stuff made by yourself!

[OldProf]

The sound you may hear while reading this comes from my downloading your route beta ... I just couldn't resist after seeing those screenshots. How steep are those grades, anyway?

[Paragon]

Thanks for all the great comments! The grades range from 0% on the flats to a punishing 5.5% in Dolomite Canyon. In the screen caps above, the grade is leveling out from 3.5%. On the old Towne Pass line, it's 4% for 27 miles without interruption. The main lines run between 3 and 3.5% at the worst.

[jpetersjr]

Defiantly enjoying the route, will be looking forward to the next beta versions to come.

[OldProf]

When I first tried driving the route, 2 of the 3 scenarios provided would not open. Using RW_Tools, I discovered a lot of empty consists and deleted them all. That fixed the problem.

I also want to note that this is the best beta installation package I've ever seen: everything is included, everything has been packaged within RW and will thus be easily removable in case of necessity. Thanks for getting this right!

The mountainous scenery is quite amazing ... like driving a train on another planet, an effect heightened by the currently empty beta landscape. It's almost spooky. I spotted several terrain gaps around some of the tunnel portals, but you probably know about those already. The symbols on those portals are interesting: do they have particular meanings?

If there's a narrative behind this route, I hope you reveal it at some point.

Have I said thank you yet? In case I haven't, thank you !!!

[BlueLight]

I am very impressed with this beta, and cannot wait for the finished alapha version. I have started to write some test scenarios for the route. What I have found is that because of the grades, travel will be slow. Meaning that a 25 mile trek might take 90 minutes. A trip from the Trona Portal to Stove Pipe Wells via the Panamint Butte useing 2 PV engines and 10 Phase III Superlines take almost 4 hours.

[OldProf]

I just took another look at the Alkali Flats yard tracks and want to ask you to reconsider the track markers you have placed there. The markers run from one end to the other of each track, which is extremely inconvenient for scenario writers, especially those who, like me, enjoy having AI engines switch alongside the player's engine. At Alkali, for example, an AI switcher could work in one half of the yard while the player switched the other half, or AI trains could make drop-offs in one half that would later be broken up by the player. However, this kind of action does not work very well--if at all--with end-to-end yard track markers. A better solution for scenario purposes is a single, fairly short marker placed somewhere near the middle of each yard siding that gives that track a name and allows scenario writers to place additional markers elsewhere on the same track.

Thanks for reading,

Tom Pallen

[Paragon]

Thanks for the great feedback! Some items:

The tunnel icons and the choice of stone for tunnels and bridges is a nod to the national park in which the route is mostly located. If an icon faces left, you are at the top of a tunnel heading down. If it faces right, you are at the bottom of a tunnel heading up.

The narrative for the route is taking shape at http://panamintcrossing.blogspot.com/

And now on to siding markers... with the new TS2012 "stopping point" object, which allows a train to move to a point certain, what is the effect of "long" siding markers? Are they needed? What would be an ideal length?

Pax,
jK

[BlueLight]

If road engines are comeing into the yard to drop than your siding markers should be long enough to handle 3 or 4 engines and 4 cars. If it is switch engines, then long enough for 1 engine and 3 cars should do it.

[Machinist]

Letting scenario writers choose where, how much and how long the marker(s) will be is the best choice, it allows much more flexibility therefore more complex and creative operations at long sindings. What Tom suggested is what scenarios' writers really need, I second him by experience. I would add to place signals at each end of each siding (even though is not prototypical), and also a lot of portals especially close to yard areas. All of this grants to run around tons of headaches caused by the current (and dumb) AI dispatcher. Scenarios writers will appreciate, I bet.

Cheers,
Doc.