RS New Technology

[RSPaul]

Hullo everyone, I will be posting some thoughts on the updated core code we are working on. If there are any questions I will try and get on and answer over the weekend. Hope thats OK?
Paul

[Hawk]

Hope thats OK?
Paul

That's kind of a silly question.

It's not only OK, but I think it's great.

[RSPaul]

Thank you Hawk, its the Brit in me.... always have to take ones shoes off before walking into someone elses front room;-)

[micaelcorleone]

Great to hear from you Paul.

I really appreciate the new Community push from RSC here on RailworksAmerica.
Derek, Paul and Tom do a great job and it's wonderful that we are involved in some projects.

[TDHenderson]

Thank you Hawk, its the Brit in me.... always have to take ones shoes off before walking into someone elses front room;-)

Paul, come on in, pull up a chair, and enjoy a pint on the house.

Trevor

[styckx]

Paul did give a write up Facebook. Posting it here for those who may not have known and or saw it.

OK so this is my first real look at the new technology that’s been coming together over the last nine months or so. It’s still some way off so here are some caveats about anything I will talk about. Also should make it plain that this is dev code, may not all make it into the upgrade, should do mind. PS: It’s also my notes built up ov...er time so feels a bit stream of consciousness like, that’s deliberate otherwise it will just sound like a load of jumble and it won’t make sense even to me!

Firstly I have promised absolutely NOT to discuss anything to do with the graphics engine, that’s been the focus of a huge amount of work and I am under complete embargo (on pain of death) from talking about that yet… other than to say our target is to jump from 2007 to 2011 in a single bound! Secondly I won’t be talking about Multi-player, it’s easy to do a . version, seeing a lot of that about. We don’t want to make that mistake, so not ready to talk about it yet. We’ve been investing a huge amount in improving the technology behind RailWorks and I’m just beginning to see some of the results –these changes will make use of some of the improvements in PCs and graphics cards of the last 5 years . First impression is that it’s still early code, no surprise there! Hmm! Is this our new route in the Allegany’s? As a birdwatcher it’s will be good to hear the new North American bird songs coming through. Some of Tim’s family come from Pennsylvania, so we had better get that right! The consist is huge, got to be well over a mile long. Been told it takes more than four minutes to roll by at a reasonable speed (will try that later). 100 plus wagons. OK it’s a UP ES44 on point, well that’s inappropriate! But a good mix of loco’s, also SD70’s and Dash 9’s, think I can tell they are different loco’s from the sounds but I am no expert. A three, two, two lash up, last two just idling before the climb. OK, up the hill all going well, Oh! And the route is clearly the Cajon Pass, so I am a nitwit! Thought this was going to be the new route! Trust DEV code to throw me off my game!

[Toripony]

{giggle} Me thinks Paul enjoys teasing us just a little bit....

[styckx]

Thought the same. :) He said just barely enough to get good speculation churning without actually giving anything away. Except a route.. Yours by chance?

[micaelcorleone]

So what we can conclude from this post, that there will be some major improvements in physics.

[PapaXpress]

Incorrect. We can conclude from this post, that there "MAY" be some major improvements in physics.

He spoke with his Product Manager hat on. No dates. No committal to specific features. No open ended questions.

Not that I have anything against this, I have done much the same thing with my projects at work

[styckx]

Incorrect. We can conclude from this post, that there "MAY" be some major improvements in physics.

He spoke with his Product Manager hat on. No dates. No committal to specific features. No open ended questions.

Not that I have anything against this, I have done much the same thing with my projects at work

Preach on. Do it every day myself. Good way to keep yourself out of trouble and avoiding the "Buuut you said" line from a client.

[arizonachris]

Me thinks he may have been a pint or so into that. First something about a new Allegeny route? Sorry, Tori's got that one spot on, can't get better than the C&O. Then, he talks about the Cajon Pass? OK, smoke and mirrors maybe.

The team at RSC has been working hard and I for one can't wait to see what the big update brings to the table.

[Toripony]

One of the key words in there is that mention of "Allegheny" (I spoke with him about his spelling but maybe I wasnt' clear, lol). Well, he SHOULD have spelled it AlleghEny, because it is not my AlleghAny that he's referring to. It's a different one. I do, however, have a feeling I'm going to be involved in some way.

Among the other hints he dropped, I think one of his main desires right now is to update the underlying physics and graphic engines to take advantage of the improved performance of today's (tomorrow's) new hardware technology. Asthetically, this may not to generate much change to the ACTION on your screen (i.e. It's not a new route) except for one thing.... what's IS on the screen will move a lot faster and smoother. From my perspective, it looks like they are soon coming to the point where this MUST be done before Paul can continue implementing the new "technologies" that he hints of. Too many more enhancements on top of our current foundation is going to grind our pc's to a halt. Time to move up.

I'm telling you guys, I have some vision and I can see Mr. Jackson's vision. One day this man is going to have us sitting in a "virtual cab". Just think... this is becoming one of the world's best simulator games and it doesn't even have ANY virtual reality technology connected to it yet! Wouldn't you diehard drivers just love to reach out with your left hand from your bumping, bouncing seat and put your hand on a cool steel handle and pull/push your arm back/forward to apply your throttle (or brakes or whatever?). How about instead of fussing over the fog effects on your LCD display panel like we all do today, you feel yourself pressing your nose against the window glass trying to see through the fog that somehow appears to be BETWEEN you and that "screen" (it won't be a screen) in front of you that projects the entire 360 degree landscape around you ALL the time??!

Paul has far-reaching vision. You ain't seen nothin' yet. Meanwhile, we can have lots of fun with the hints. Like... let me start it this time, lol.... so if you were RSC and going to build an "Allegheny" route, which one would you build? My first guesses were pretty broad but I'm guessing it is connected to Reading, Altoona, or Harrisburg, PA. Somehow I get a feeling it won't be the Sandpatch/West End area, but I have absolutely nothing to base that feeling on. You guys know more about the individual routes around there than I, so ya'll take it from here...

Tori

Tori
P.S. Before some of you think I might be finally losing it all, lol, I thought I should mention that I've watched intimately the growth of the personal pc from an IBMxt86 with 32K of RAM to what we have today. That exponential scale of growth "they" speak of in the technology mags is true... in 10 years, you and I won't recognize a home "pc" and "it" will be 100 to 1000 times more powerful than these "power" machines us gamers are buying now.

[styckx]

I hear you Tori.. I've been sold on the vision for awhile now. Although when I was new I was ungodly ignorant and trashing RW left and right. Slowly I started seeing in color and ignoring the black and white. Then now and then coloring myself. :)

Pauls vision is a good one and unlike most ceo's, when he speaks, he comes off as a fan of his own product and believes in its future. Heck, most CEOs don't even talk to us end users. It's usually only a prepared statement "from the offices of" sent to the media when they are in some legal trouble.

I think bringing the game up to 2011 standards is not only great because of the initial payoff but also future development. They can grow as tech changes instead of constantly being behind the 8 ball trying to catch up. To give credit they have done a lot to squeeze everything they could out of someone eles source. I know what is it like digging through someone elses lua scripts or blueprints and trying to add or reverse engineer them. I couldn't imagine trying the same with the source code of an entire game.

My vision, seperate from Pauls is over the next year that the U.S. community continues to grow and catch up to the UK community in terms of being on the same page. While it isn't always rosey and full of glitter, there is defintely more of a sense of a dysfunctional family striving to work, create and help each other. I shalt not miss when nearly everyone who wants to go against the grain and fight with their own pride are gone and all that remain are those who want to share, create, discuss (like a human) and grow with the game and not against it.

So.. I fully expect to take my current 2440+ hours played and have it doubled this time next year.

[RSPaul]

Thanks all for your comments, really appreciated. Just posted another short note, not quite got the software access I want so not quite able to discuss all I wanted too. As I think someone said I am focused on the simulation right now and feeling like we are in a good place. The core is great, we just need to help with the blueprints, I am not sure how to do that yet... but working on it.
Paul