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PakSets and Customization => Pak128 => Pak128 Add-ons and Graphics => Topic started by: vilvoh on January 13, 2010, 10:46:24 pm

Title: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on January 13, 2010, 10:46:24 pm
I'm a pak64 player but I've been playing with pak28 since some weeks ago and I noticed that there aren't almost any independent power plants. I mean, you need to feed them with coal or oil, and sometimes it's imposible as you don't have nor coal mines neither oil rigs near. In addition, pak128 must worry about climate change too...  :P

I'm going to create several solar powerplants, different from the ones I created for pak64, and a variation of the pak64 geothermal powerplant with a futuristic look.

The rest of candidates are:

So Let's go with the first one. It's a solar thermal farm with fields of solar plates. The central element is a set of depots where the energy that can't be wasted is stored as heat in salt depots.

us (site down, do not visit) ]/image/show/me7qKWVOL0/simscr05.png](http://files.[ simutrans [dot] us (site down, do not visit) ]/thumbstore/74/me7qKWVOL0.simscr05_thumb.png) (http://files.[ simutrans [dot) us (site down, do not visit) ]/image/show/S9Y46SDmkn/simscr06.png](http://files.[ simutrans [dot] us (site down, do not visit) ]/thumbstore/75/S9Y46SDmkn.simscr06_thumb.png) (http://files.[ simutrans [dot)

The second one is a Solar furnace, a structure used to harness the rays of the sun in order to produce high temperatures, usually for industry. it's quite big (7-8 floor). More info here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_furnace).

us (site down, do not visit) ]/image/show/eH5I_N5FNk/simscr07.png](http://files.[ simutrans [dot] us (site down, do not visit) ]/thumbstore/19/eH5I_N5FNk.simscr07_thumb.png) (http://files.[ simutrans [dot)

I'm a newbie in pak128 development, thus I would like to know your opinion specially about scales and sizes. Btw, all are work in progress...
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: VS on January 13, 2010, 11:21:12 pm
I guess it all looks good, scale-wise. Am I supposed to comment on colours or not?
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on January 13, 2010, 11:23:17 pm
No, as I'm still working on textures and reflections.. :P
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on January 15, 2010, 10:53:32 pm
First release of the solar powerplants set. They're two versions of the solar termal farm but with the same graphics: small (animated) and large (static). The small one produces more or less as much as the wind rotor. The large one produces about at least 100 units/day.

a screenshot: http://i45.tinypic.com/29f6uc0.png

P.S: the graphics are available at graphics.simutrans.com
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on January 18, 2010, 11:11:54 pm
Work in progress of the PS10 and the solar pond..

us (site down, do not visit) ]/image/show/CA7VmyWMw0/simscr00.png](http://files.[ simutrans [dot] us (site down, do not visit) ]/thumbstore/51/CA7VmyWMw0.simscr00_thumb.png) (http://files.[ simutrans [dot) us (site down, do not visit) ]/image/show/Nf4zm7We2k/simscr01.png](http://files.[ simutrans [dot] us (site down, do not visit) ]/thumbstore/22/Nf4zm7We2k.simscr01_thumb.png) (http://files.[ simutrans [dot) us (site down, do not visit) ]/image/show/9S4-POlVn5/simscr02.png](http://files.[ simutrans [dot] us (site down, do not visit) ]/thumbstore/67/9S4-POlVn5.simscr02_thumb.png) (http://files.[ simutrans [dot)
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: jonasbb on January 19, 2010, 11:29:09 am
The PS10 has to be rotated around 180 degree. The tower is allways closer to the sun so that the mirrors are in the sunlight and can mirror the sunlight to the tower.

I hope you understand hat i mean.
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on January 19, 2010, 11:47:18 am
I see it. In fact, the mirror's field shoud always face the sun, so as you said it's backwards. Anyway, in PS10 case, I'll paint the four rotations therefore the problem is solved..  ;)
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: Václav on January 19, 2010, 10:32:22 pm
PS10 - looks good but white is not the best color for tower and other parts excepting solar panels (which are not white).
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on January 20, 2010, 07:34:32 am
It's a work in progress, just a scale test. The model hasn't got textures yet, so that's why it's completly white.  :)
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on January 22, 2010, 08:08:53 pm
More work in progress and this time with textures. although I must say this may not be the final version. The tower seems too brown and the pictures from the real life version, show that it should be light grey. Moreover, I was a little bit lazy and instead of modeling some of the secondary elements, I've used several stuff from PARTS set.

us (site down, do not visit) ]/image/show/0ixzyl7WMv/simscr01.png](http://files.[ simutrans [dot] us (site down, do not visit) ]/thumbstore/fc/0ixzyl7WMv.simscr01_thumb.png) (http://files.[ simutrans [dot) us (site down, do not visit) ]/image/show/BOTqASqoS7/simscr02.png](http://files.[ simutrans [dot] us (site down, do not visit) ]/thumbstore/83/BOTqASqoS7.simscr02_thumb.png) (http://files.[ simutrans [dot)
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: VS on January 22, 2010, 09:09:48 pm
It's getting better... :)
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on January 25, 2010, 11:46:04 pm
Another preview with a few changes... link (http://graphics.simutrans.com/displayimage.php?album=103&pos=4). Now the tower is grey and has a poster where should be able to read Solarex. I've removed the solar panels, as I'm going to render them twice the size, in order to get more quality, and then scale them back to pak128 scale removing the transparent pixels. I'm also thinking about adding a sandy road to walk along the solar panels..
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: Diegote on January 25, 2010, 11:57:30 pm
Looks pretty nice.  :)
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on January 30, 2010, 06:44:27 pm
The Solar Power Tower PS10 is ready to produce electricity from the Sun. It has a capacity of 380-400 units by day and only appears at warn climates.
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: gauthier on January 31, 2010, 01:59:32 pm
your plants are awesome ;)
just too much white for me ...
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: gauthier on January 31, 2010, 02:14:49 pm
add this in your dat files  :-X
needs_ground=1
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on January 31, 2010, 10:12:47 pm
In fact, all those objects have the needs_ground attribute with that value. Did you detected something wrong I've missed?
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: gauthier on February 01, 2010, 07:32:21 pm
They appear as there was not "needs_ground" ... you don't have this problem ?
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on February 01, 2010, 09:54:16 pm
No, I don't. Could you please post a screenshot?

On other matters, I've almost finished the stirling solar dishes. There're three or four different types, but I still don't know if I'm going to code them as fields or as 3x3 buildings..

us (site down, do not visit) ]/image/show/Jfzyl_EM5j/stsd.png](http://files.[ simutrans [dot] us (site down, do not visit) ]/thumbstore/54/Jfzyl_EM5j.stsd_thumb.png) (http://files.[ simutrans [dot)
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: gauthier on February 02, 2010, 06:43:58 pm
...
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on February 02, 2010, 10:09:35 pm
Seems you're right. I'll have to check it. Are you using a nightly or a stable version, gauthier?  The central element do have needs_ground but the fields don't. In fact, I didn't know the fields may have that atribute.

On the other hand, I've finished modeling the last solar stirling dish and I'm still working on the solar pond. I've added several pipes, and some details like the generator on the right side.

us (site down, do not visit) ]/image/show/EyMgVYSUq6/solar-p.png](http://files.[ simutrans [dot] us (site down, do not visit) ]/thumbstore/f1/EyMgVYSUq6.solar_p_thumb.png) (http://files.[ simutrans [dot)





Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: The Hood on February 03, 2010, 09:12:18 am
You may want to look at this topic, it sounds similar:

http://forum.simutrans.com/index.php?topic=3056.0
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on February 03, 2010, 09:54:21 am
Then, as far as I've read, it's a matter of Simutrans but the bug should be fixed. Perhaps gauthier is using an old stable..  ???
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: gauthier on February 03, 2010, 01:01:16 pm
Quote
Then, as far as I've read, it's a matter of Simutrans but the bug should be fixed. Perhaps gauthier is using an old stable..  Huh?

yes, I'm using the underground_slopes experimental version  ;D (because underground slopes aren't included in the main version)
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: The Hood on February 03, 2010, 01:10:55 pm
Underground slopes are in the latest nightlies aren't they?
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on February 09, 2010, 12:02:06 am
The first part of the stirling solar collectors set is almost finished. Have a look at some screenshots of the final versions.

(http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/4315/simscr06.th.png) (http://img708.imageshack.us/i/simscr06.png/) (http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/3475/simscr09k.th.png) (http://img39.imageshack.us/i/simscr09k.png/)
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: Václav on February 09, 2010, 09:26:22 am
Looks interesting. Is it another fielded factory (like forest or grain farm)?
And this question is partly off-topic: How much fields can be around center? Is it set inside *.dat file or is it matter of game code?
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on February 09, 2010, 09:39:50 am
Looks interesting. Is it another fielded factory (like forest or grain farm)?

Yes, they are. There're two versions, animated and static...have a look at the sources (http://graphics.simutrans.com/thumbnails.php?album=103). In real life, this kind of factories are large installations which occupy many acres, so the field factory approach is the best choice.

And this question is partly off-topic: How much fields can be around center? Is it set inside *.dat file or is it matter of game code?

You can set the max and min amounts of fields that must appear, and the spread factor. All are dat attributes. Then the game places the fields according to those parameters adding a little bit of randomness. In these cases, the minimun number of fields is 9, therefore the central element is always surrounded by fields.
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: PkK on February 09, 2010, 12:00:40 pm
First release of the solar powerplants set. They're two versions of the solar termal farm but with the same graphics: small (animated) and large (static). The small one produces more or less as much as the wind rotor. The large one produces about at least 100 units/day.

a screenshot: http://i45.tinypic.com/29f6uc0.png

P.S: the graphics are available at graphics.simutrans.com

Please remeber that IRL solar energy is something not cost-efficient (e.g. no one would put solar cells on their roofs if they wouldn't get a lot of money from the government) cost per unit of energy produced is still about 10 times as high as for water / wind power. Therefore I suggest these power plants only give a rather low amount of energy.

Philipp
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on February 09, 2010, 02:19:28 pm
Well, the production range I had in mind is 20-180 for field factories (solar plates, stirling dishes, etc..) and 180 -400 for big installations (Solar furnace, PS10 solar pond, geothermal etc..)

The main problem is that coal and oil powerplants production is extremely high compared with the rest, at least twelve times higher, so I always hesitate if I must increase the production or not. Obviusly I try to be realistic, but a balanced gameplay is also important.
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: wlindley on February 09, 2010, 02:33:18 pm
Vilvoh: Where did you get the desert graphics? 

The saguaro cactus only grow here in Arizona, in the Sonoran Desert around Phoenix and Tucson... Hm, if there are other matching graphics I might have to do a pak128.Arizona!
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on February 09, 2010, 02:40:02 pm
I use the latest pak128 stable release.
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: DirrrtyDirk on February 09, 2010, 04:39:02 pm
I think it it just something that people instinctively connect with deserts: cactus of some sort. Maybe it's caused by Hollywood movies?

But yes Saguaros... I remember them well from the 6 months I spent in AZ...
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on February 14, 2010, 06:13:40 pm
Finally, the stirling solar powerplants set is finished. It consists of 4 factories, with animated and static versions.

P.S: the attachment is compressed in 7zip format.
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on February 17, 2010, 10:28:30 pm
This is a preview of the geothermal powerplant. It's based on the one I made for pak64, but more futuristic, and with more pipes.

us (site down, do not visit) ]/image/show/3NSLVlZWD5/geothermal-pre.png](http://files.[ simutrans [dot] us (site down, do not visit) ]/thumbstore/be/3NSLVlZWD5.geothermal_pre_thumb.png) (http://files.[ simutrans [dot)

EDIT: Some ingame screenshots...

us (site down, do not visit) ]/image/show/vDiTmhxeI_/simscr01.png](http://files.[ simutrans [dot] us (site down, do not visit) ]/thumbstore/8a/vDiTmhxeI_.simscr01_thumb.png) (http://files.[ simutrans [dot) us (site down, do not visit) ]/image/show/RR3RIM5xje/simscr00.png](http://files.[ simutrans [dot] us (site down, do not visit) ]/thumbstore/cb/RR3RIM5xje.simscr00_thumb.png) (http://files.[ simutrans [dot)
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on March 12, 2010, 07:19:52 pm
Final release of the geothermal powerplant. Two rotations, with winter version and special night colors. It only appears at cold climates (tundra, artic and rocky)

A screenshot...

(http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/7233/simscr02.th.png) (http://img708.imageshack.us/i/simscr02.png/)

EDIT: factory fixed and updated. Now it generates electric energy. Please download it again...  ;D
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: gauthier on March 13, 2010, 05:08:54 pm
nice ;)
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: gauthier on March 14, 2010, 09:39:08 pm
... powerplants'name MUST finish with "kraftwerk" unless they don't produce any power.
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: VS on March 14, 2010, 10:27:56 pm
That's why in pak128 1.4.6 they all have "new name" ;)
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on March 15, 2010, 08:34:51 am
Thus that's why the names were changed in the new pak128 release..  :P

Well, while they're addons, not official stuff, I rather use real names.
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: jentlemangim on March 15, 2010, 07:48:31 pm
How do you connect power lines and transformers? In the new pak128 I can't place a transformer next to the farm. It must be able to connect to the central portion.
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: gauthier on March 16, 2010, 07:31:21 pm
Quote
That's why in pak128 1.4.6 they all have "new name" Wink

Si I have to update my pak128 ?
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: VS on March 16, 2010, 10:00:12 pm
If you are asking about the solar plants: No, vilvoh released them as addons and they were included & fixed later (but before release).
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: gauthier on March 17, 2010, 11:38:15 am
okay  ;D
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: Aquel on March 19, 2010, 09:20:30 am
How do you connect power lines and transformers? In the new pak128 I can't place a transformer next to the farm. It must be able to connect to the central portion.

I got the same problem.
When I want to connect it says:
"Transfomer must be placed on enmpty flat ground adjacent to a factory"

Any Ideas what it could be?
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: gauthier on March 19, 2010, 09:19:20 pm
(I answer in French, it's faster :D )

Ca a déjà été répondu au-dessus, étant donné que c'est un addon encore en version de test il n'a pas été configuré en tant que centrale. Il faudra attendre la version finale ;)
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: gauthier on April 12, 2010, 04:25:10 pm
I saw that solar plants were included in the latest pak128 but why the geothermal one isn't included too ?
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on April 12, 2010, 10:31:01 pm
I released it after the pak128 release, so there wasn't time enough to include it, in case pak128 guys decide so..

Btw, I'm still working on the solar pond. It's almost finished.

EDIT: a preview. I have to fix some alignment details from the pond fields yet.

us (site down, do not visit) ]/image/show/L7eY49QlvS/solarpond-pre.png](http://files.[ simutrans [dot] us (site down, do not visit) ]/thumbstore/c3/L7eY49QlvS.solarpond_pre_thumb.png) (http://files.[ simutrans [dot)
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: gauthier on April 13, 2010, 07:06:23 pm
can you post a workin version of the geothermal power plant please ?
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on April 13, 2010, 08:26:39 pm
What's wrong with the current released one, available on the top of this page?
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: gauthier on April 16, 2010, 07:23:51 pm
not working because of the name which doesn't finish with "kraftwerk".
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on April 16, 2010, 08:22:24 pm
let me check it..

EDIT: you were right. I didn't notice it.. :-[ ... I've fixed it. Now you can download working version.
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on April 17, 2010, 05:37:40 pm
Solar pond finished. It produces more than the solar farms but less than the geothermal and the PS10 tower. Only appears in desert, tropic and mediterran climates.

PS: this time I didn't forget the kraftwerk's detail...  ;)
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: gauthier on April 17, 2010, 06:36:06 pm
nice ;)

you should put all downloads here or in the first post.
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: Milko on April 28, 2010, 08:48:31 pm
Hi

Sorry, but I don't understand.
Does last nightly work? Vilvoh fixed solar plant in 17/04, but last change in Pak128 SVN is 07/04 (Make solar plans "connectable").

Giuseppe
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: gauthier on April 28, 2010, 09:30:12 pm
I don't understand anything  ;D ???
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: Milko on April 28, 2010, 09:59:02 pm
Sorry, my english is very bad.

The changes introduced in nightly from VS (I watched the sequence of changes to SVN pak 128) were made on 07/04/10, which was before Vilvoh made the last adjustment on 17/04/10, for this I think that the last nightly are not working correctly.

You can look SVN changes at http://svnlogs.simutrans.com/pak128.html

Giuseppe
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: gauthier on April 29, 2010, 08:30:47 am
No no I undertood what you say, but I can't understand what "17/04" refers to ...
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: VS on April 29, 2010, 09:52:49 am
Geothermal plant is not included yet... :(
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: gauthier on April 29, 2010, 01:35:13 pm
You can download it here, can't you ?
Title: Re: Solar and geothermal powerplants
Post by: vilvoh on April 29, 2010, 01:58:07 pm
I guess VS would need the sources too. Anyway, please be patient. Perhaps he has decided not to include it yet.. :::)

PS: Meanwhile, as gauthier said, you can download it from here... ;)