The purpose of this thread is to keep people informed of progress on PakBritain, and to encourage people to help with the bits they can/want to:
- I will update this first post to give a summary of where we're at, so keep looking at this post.
- if you are planning on doing something, post a reply and keep people updated so there is no duplication.
- if you want to draw things, please ask. Graphical consistency is very important to this project. I can supply blender files if you are interested.
Graphics:
Done:
- Catenary / third rail electrification (done for now) :)
- canals (including tunnels and bridges) (done) :)
- rail tunnels & bridges (done for now) :)
- rivers (done) :)
- signals (done) :)
- road tunnels & bridges (done for now) :)
- Depots (done) :)
- bus/truck stops (done for now) :)
- Fence (Using Fabio's pak128 one - thanks!) :)
- boat/ship stops/quays (done for now, will probably draw some more at some point) :)
- goods rail station graphics (done) :)
- station extension buildings (done) :)
- powerlines/transformers (done) :)
- smoke (done) :)
- airport graphics (done) :)
- menu bar/GUI (done, but modifications ongoing) :)
- buses (done) :)
High Priority (for next release):
- trucks
- rail freight wagons (work in progress)
Low Priority (future releases):
- narrowboats/ships
- aeroplanes
- narrow gauge trains
- london underground trains
- more trees
- more trains
- more industries
- more citybuildings
- more attractions
- more bridges/elevated ways
- headquarters buildings
- crossings (road/river)
- citycars, pedestrians
Other stuff:
- industry balancing (getting input & output volumes/productivities right)
- economic balancing (getting vehicles to the right level of profitability)
- research for dat files for any of the graphics above.
- adding interesting info on buildings/attractions/etc to the translation file.
i can get .dat files for a few of the graphics :)
the pic for TheHood.
I would not do like to harm anyone but third-rail electrification is ready - while anyone could separate it from official pak128 - and else I understand that face of it would not be perfect for pak128.Britain.
Current Pak128 3rd rail is not suitable - it is too curvy and also the colour is too bright. It is also not open source (yet), so can't be included in pakBritain.
Oh, sorry - but I think it could be used as base for making third-rail electrification for pakBritain.
One issue that has been around for some time.
The Mk3 carriage cannot have an HST rear power car built after it, making the HST almost useless. Theoretically, a Mk3 could be final vehicle in a train as well (to reflet Mk3A behaviour).
Umm, not sure how that happened but it's easy to fix. I'll change it next time I upload stuff to sourceforge (you will have to re-make the rail yourself using makeobj).
Edit - look in the svn, changes have been made :)
Hmm, maybe there should be a separate Mk3a (same graphics, same .dat file, apart from: can couple to things other than HST power cars, later introduction date (am I right in thinking 1978 or 1979?), and maybe a very slightly higher purchase cost).
Personally I think that might be a bit confusing and there's not a lot of need really, so I won't rush to put one in the official releases. But you have access to the sources so if it would be good for your gameplay style, then of course you can make one!
Ahh, except that all the graphics for trains (apart from the King cl****) are missing from the SVN...
When was the last time you looked at the SVN? ;)
About ten seconds ago - why?
There are a few more trains than just the King cl**** as of a couple of weeks ago...
Yes, all the .dat files are there, but the only .png file is for the King cl****: see here
http://simutrans.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/simutrans/pak128.Britain/trains/images/
Funny, they should all be there. I will upload them tonight.
Excellent, thank you :-)
Done - let me know if you spot anything else missing or dodgy
Excellent, thank you. A brief look and all seems in order.
Mk3's used to be able to be coupled to anything (I know because I'd considered Mk3a's when I made it...)
Has anyone used the updated mk 3 I put on the SVN? Are people happy with it or should I just remove constraints altogether?
Haven't had a chance to try it yet - have been busy with programming...
One other thing that perhaps ought be added somewhere is station extension buildings: currently, the set uses Pak128 buildings, which don't fit the graphical theme.
These aren't essential for the pak to run (and there are two station extensions in the set already). I'm adding it as low priority.
Perhaps another item for the low priority list is a startup logo? (See also here (http://forum.simutrans.com/index.php?topic=1746.msg0#new)).
Edit: And one other (probably low priority) to-do list item is headquarters: the existing Pak128 headquarters graphics again don't fit the style of PakBritain.
In fact existing pak218 headquarters are a disaster (two levels? bah).
How many do you think is appropriate? Only 1? Or more? To be honest I never saw why they were needed so didn't bother playing with them!
I do not even know how many are possible. (Prissi, Frank,...?) But I ****ume generally everyone wants a complete suite from the pig barn (remember TT?) to towers of steel and gl****.
Well do I remember TT's pig barn! Perhaps we should have everything from a garden shed to Canary Wharf Tower? The player colour should probably be used somewhere in the headquarters, too.
And I think that headquarters in Simutrans are a status symbol rather than something that has an effect on game play...
I seem to recall someone like Prissi saying that the HQ actually increased growth of the nearest city, or something like that...
Ahh, interesting - didn't realise that! If they have function, then that's most worthwhile. Prissi - can you confirm that?
I'm planning on including some trucks, vans and other road vehicles for transporting freight and mail in the next release. I'm no expert on road transport, so it will take me a long time to work out what to make. Does anyone want to create a timeline for this or give ideas? Something similar to jamespetts's bus stuff - http://forum.simutrans.com/index.php?topic=1069.0
- would be great (I'm going to provide graphics for these in the next release).
Required info for dat file:
- intro year
- apprx retire year
- weight
- top speed
- power (as best you can, even if it is a guess)
- freight capacity
A link to a picture would help me draw it too.
We might also need engine type (there were some steam lorries in the 1910s-1930s), and horse-drawn waggons, of course; the tram horses could be re-used themselves. And, I think, we need introduction and retirement months as well as years, don't we? If it is not possible to get it exact, then it is better to take a figure at random than have everything happen in January.
Perhaps you could provide a definitive list of PakBritain goods to ****ist with what sort of lorries are needed?
Yes, don't worry about drawing horses, the existing ones can easily be re-used. Carts very much need to be done though!
The list of goods currently in use is:
- bulk (including grain and cement in the same category).
- fluids
- long goods (steel / planks)
- crate goods (including containerised goods)
- refrigerated goods
- livestock
- mail
If anyone would like me to do narrow guage I would be happy to do it, I would need some help though.
I daresay that you doing narrow gauge things would be very welcome indeed! The Hood would be the best person to offer tips on how to get started - I have done a number of vehicle graphics myself, but narrow gauge would require tracks, stations, tunnels and bridges as well as vehicles, all of which would have to be drawn to the reduced gauge. There would be far fewer vehicles for narrow gauge, though, than standard gauge, so it'd be easier to get things finished, and, once you have one type of track, station and vehicle, all the other things can relatively easily be aligned to the same gauge.
I have to say, I've been hoping for some narrow gauge for a long time! It'd make a delightfully quirky and rather wonderful addition to the pakset, as well as filling a useful practical purpose in the late 19th and early 20th century of filling in a gap between heavy rail and road transport.
Narrow gauge would be quite a large project (requiring track, depots, stations, vehicles, signals, tunnels, bridges). I'd recommend getting your eye in with some additions for other vehicles or buildings first, and once you've got the hang of it then maybe start on narrow gauge.
I think I will start with a station building, I'll look this weekend for a good prototype, and a tutorial on how to make it.
I'd recommend using blender for consistency - and also then you can use existing buildings as a starting point. I can send you any of the files if you want to work from these, along with some more detailed instructions about how to convert into simutrans images.
I can vouch that the easiest way of doing things by far is starting with existing Blender files and modifying them.
I would very much like that hood pm me some instructions when you find the time.
Oliver, for some reason I can't get sending you a PM to work. Anyway it's not confidential information, so I'll post it here.
Thanks for considering drawing stuff for pak128.Britain. At this stage, I'd say the first thing is get used to how to use blender. I taught myself enough blender to use simutrans by following this online tutorial: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikibooks:Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro
The main skills I use are creating shapes, moving nodes, ****igning colours and textures, and rendering. However, it is probably easiest for making pak128.Britain models if you take an existing blend file which has the correct lighting, camera and render settings already set up, and modify that (it's also often easier to create one model by modifying another as well). I suggest you pick an object from the current set that is close to the object you want to create, and ask me for the blend for that object. I'll send more detailed instructions on how to get from the blender model to a simutrans pak file then.
Good luck!
Thanks Hood, I think that its not much harder than Auto-CAD after I looked at the book you gave me a link to, thanks. I will look over the files and see if I can find something similar.