I'm back...sort of? Anywho, mod talk

[dtrainBNSF1]

Hello all!

I think it's been about 2 years or so since I posted last. Life got busy. School, work, same stuff as always. In any case I am done with school for the foreseeable future. Some stuff happened with my graduate program (won't go into it) and it left me reeling and wondering if I want to keep going with the major I had.

Enough about that. I'm back home and I'm waiting for the delivery of a new gaming PC which should be here on July 14th. My current laptop simply cannot handle TS anymore (it either dumped or locked the computer so hard that ctrl+alt+del wouldn't work so I'd have to manually shut the laptop off and restart it) so I bit the bullet and bought a new one. Here are the specs:

17.3 inch FHD (1920 x 1080) 300 nits 144Hz 9ms 72% color gamut with Eyesafe technology
1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive
16GB DDR4-2933MHz, 2x8G
NVIDIA(R) GeForce RTX(TM) 2070 8GB GDDR6 with Max-Q Design
Windows 10 Home 64bit English
10th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-10750H (12MB Cache, up to 5.0 GHz, 6 cores)

Hopefully I should finally be able to run TS half-decently now.

So, what's next for mods?
-I am no longer working on mods for the Big Boy and Challenger locomotives. Mrennie is in the process of rebuilding the Big Boy and he will also sometime in the future work on the Challenger. His models will be far superior to the current ex-IHH models and the models available with the Wasatch route on Steam from Milepost Simulations and where it's Mrennie the new locos will not only look good but feel good as well. There's no reason for me to mod the Challenger and Big Boy any further, so I won't.

-I did have plans to release a mod for the PRR K4s. That hasn't gone anywhere due to computer problems and lack of time when I was in school. I could get back to work on it, but I want to be sure that there's still interest in getting a mod for the K4s. Let me know if you guys would still be interested in seeing a K4s mod and I'll gladly get back to work on it once my new laptop arrives and I get TS installed on it.

-I've put out multiple mods for the SP&S E-1, NKP S-2, and GS-4 but I didn't correct the positioning of the crew in the cab and the brakes were still a problem as after a time they wouldn't fully release. I did figure out a way to fix the brakes but never got around to finishing a new mod update for the G-Trax 3. Anyone still interested in seeing further mods for these locos?

-I've gotten into modding diesel locomotives and rolling stock on multiple US routes and have considered doing full "route mod" packs for individual routes which would update the physics of all included locomotives as well as make ND versions on older routes like Cajon Pass and would adjust the weight and friction values of included rolling stock to address the ever-present issue of freight trains not "feeling" heavy during scenarios (like how on Donner Pass the single stacks weigh the same loaded as they do unloaded). All modified stock would be given an alternate name so as to not mess up any of the stock for any included Career scenarios. I would also attempt revisions and improvements on included scenarios just to make them look and feel better and feel more believable (going back to Donner Pass again, there's a scenario for the SD70M pack which has you descending the pass with a tanker train with 5 SD70Ms in a 2x1x2 formation, which that's just a weird formation in general, SP didn't have that many SD70Ms so they wouldn't have thrown 5 engines on a single train, SD70Ms were usually used for high-priority merchandise freight rather than unit drags, and also SD70Ms were never equipped for DPU operations so the helpers would be manned and in the form of SD40-2s, SD40T-2s, SD45s, or SD45T-2s, and SP ran Oil Cans like that primarily out of Bakersfield to Delores, CA via Tehachapi, so...yeah, the whole nature of the scenario would be changed). I might even throw in a bonus scenario or two if the variety of the included scenarios seems a bit lacking. Some routes have dlc made specifically for the route, like the SD75M for Cajon Pass, SD70M for Donner Pass, and the ES44DC for the Surfliner route. I could include mods for those locos separately or I could include them in the full route mod and try to incorporate them into the reworked scenarios just to throw in some flare (let me know what you guys think about that). I did a proof of concept full mod of the stock and scenarios on Sherman Hill, Donner Pass, and Marias Pass and I personally found it quite nice, as well as a nice challenge and test of my own knowledge of real railroad practice as I modified the scenarios. Let me know if those sorts of mods would be up your alley.

-I now have a real job and my schedule fluctuates by the week with 1 or 2 days off depending on the week. I'll have to work on any future mods one at a time if I'm going to get any project done in a decent amount of time.

-As there are comparatively few US steamers to modify, I've toyed around with the idea of modding international steamers like Tornado, Flyings Scotsman, and the German Kriegsloks for example. Might be a bit weird where this is Railworks AMERICA, but I'd still like to know your thoughts on that.

So for now, I'll just kick back and wait for my new laptop so I can play TS again (I miss it - I haven't had a decent session since before Christmas). Let me know what you all think of my ideas.

[harryadkins]

Good to have you back. Thanks for sharing your good work.

Harry

[dtrainBNSF1]

Thanks Harry

[Railfan587]

Welcome back! Personally, I would be interested in any of these mods.

[dtrainBNSF1]

Welcome back! Personally, I would be interested in any of these mods.

Been a while Railfan587! How've you been?

[CN2899]

this will add a fair bit to the game, and i hate it when people make SD70M ;s dpus or lead of dpu train , they need to be paired up with 70ace gevo C44AC/CTE

[dtrainBNSF1]

this will add a fair bit to the game, and i hate it when people make SD70M ;s dpus or lead of dpu train , they need to be paired up with 70ace gevo C44AC/CTE

I know, right?!

[Railfan587]

Welcome back! Personally, I would be interested in any of these mods.

Been a while Railfan587! How've you been?

I've been good. I've been playing TS off and on lately due to work, but there's many projects (mainly audio related) that I want to work on. My current project is a whistle pack for thelocoshop's N&W 611 pack. I've also considered upgrading my graphics card so I can record higher quality videos for my YouTube channel.

[dtrainBNSF1]

Welcome back! Personally, I would be interested in any of these mods.

Been a while Railfan587! How've you been?

I've been good. I've been playing TS off and on lately due to work, but there's many projects (mainly audio related) that I want to work on. My current project is a whistle pack for thelocoshop's N&W 611 pack. I've also considered upgrading my graphics card so I can record higher quality videos for my YouTube channel.

I didn't even know there was a N&W 611 pack out there (shows how long I've been out of the loop). I found it. I'll have to check it out once my new laptop gets here.

[NorfolkNE]

I didn't even know there was a N&W 611 pack out there (shows how long I've been out of the loop). I found it. I'll have to check it out once my new laptop gets here.

It just a copy of Smokebox's 844 model with a awkward looking 611 shell placed on top with child objects. Nothing that special.

[Railfan587]

I didn't even know there was a N&W 611 pack out there (shows how long I've been out of the loop). I found it. I'll have to check it out once my new laptop gets here.

It just a copy of Smokebox's 844 model with a awkward looking 611 shell placed on top with child objects. Nothing that special.

Yeah, it certainly isn't perfect. But it's a start. They did say that they'll update it at some point. While the model isn't the best, the coaches and the aux tenders are really well done.

[dtrainBNSF1]

Interesting. I've just looked at some footage of it in action on youtube. It does still look a bit "off" seeing as the J class has 70in drivers vs the FEF-3's 80in drivers and the bodywork looks a little MSTS-conversion like, but it is an impressive idea.

On another subject, I've been thinking a lot lately about those double stack cars from the default Cajon Pass. The one big problem they have is that the load is WAY too tall. They're fine for India which has the tallest stack I've ever seen but this is the US and compared to other double stacks they look really odd. I know you can alter the position and size of child objects in the blueprints, but how are loads handled? Are they treated like child objects? I'd like to try and resize the default double stacks from Cajon Pass, but I'm not sure if I'd do that in the car blueprint or if I'd have to mess with the actual container's blueprints.

[dtrainBNSF1]

The laptop arrived on the 8th and TS2020 is up and running. Already crafting a mod for Sherman Hill. The mod will include:

-New physics for the C45ACCTE, SD70M, SD40-2, and SW10. In addition a mod will be developed for the SD60M (I'd like to mod the Gas Turbine, but I don't know how much the mod would work with the scripting that's included with the loco. I'd have to take a look at the scripts before I consider a mod on the turbine). This is because when you buy Sherman Hill you now get the SD60M for free, so I might as well make a mod for it.
-Reworked car physics for Sherman Hill and the SD60M pack, including more accurate cargo weights and LD/MT variants when necessary.
-If needed, modified couplings
-Reworking scenarios. Mostly to improve the player consists, improve the dialogue, attempt to make the scenarios feel more prototypical, and give everyone a chance to run the modified stock out-of-the-box.

There are plenty of scenarios between the original Sherman Hill scenarios and SD60M scenarios, though I might consider making a bonus scenario or two featuring the SD60M as there were only 2 that came with the pack.

For now, this is my main project. I'll start up another project when I finish this one.

[dtrainBNSF1]

Sherman Hill C45ACCTE - modded. Next up, the SD70M.

[ZekTheKid]

I didn't even know there was a N&W 611 pack out there (shows how long I've been out of the loop). I found it. I'll have to check it out once my new laptop gets here.

It just a copy of Smokebox's 844 model with a awkward looking 611 shell placed on top with child objects. Nothing that special.

Yeah, it certainly isn't perfect. But it's a start. They did say that they'll update it at some point. While the model isn't the best, the coaches and the aux tenders are really well done.

Could just be my setup, but the colors look horrid on my end, as well as the broken alpha channel on the locomotive and tender.

-Reworked car physics for Sherman Hill and the SD60M pack, including more accurate cargo weights and LD/MT variants when necessary.

Is it possible for these physics to be interchangeable with other generic rolling stock that's available?