Railworks America

Alright. Before anyone starts asking about it (and I know someone will), the AC4400CW is in the works and not by any means dead or cancelled. This project however takes priority at this point and is way closer to release than the AC4400CW.

Now that this is off the table, let me get into some detail on what's currently in the works. Our or rather my biggest wish was always to model an SD40-2 and now we've decided upon fulfilling that wish. Note that this is not going to be a representation of an EMD (Electro Motive Diesel) SD40-2 but a GMD (General Motors Diesel) SD40-2 with noticable Canadian Style specifications which differ from the standard U.S version. We are working on this in cooperation with Mike Rennie from Smokebox, Dovetail Games, Anthony Wood from MLWAudio and TCS (Train Control Systems) to bring you the best of the best. This DLC will be fully packed with features and the first of it's kind to feature a fully modeled interior.

Features will include:
- GMD SD40-2 Canadian Pacific available in several roadnumbers
- true to life engine simulation
- proper physics simulation (including Advanced Braking etc.)
- fully modeled and animated interior (16-645E3 Prime Mover, Engine Rack Compartment etc.)
- high quality sounds provided by TCS (Train Control Systems) and Anthony Wood from MLWAudio, edited in-house by us
- release in cooperation with Dovetail Games on steam

Before I start showing the first previews, I'd like to give a big shout out and special thanks to Michael Eby @trainiax.net for not only providing the necessary reference material but also allowing us to use it.

As always, constructive feedback is welcome, but any negative comments against individuals will be removed. Now without further ado, here are some previews of what's already exported and of what's currently being worked on.

Please note that the colors might appear a little off from the prototype due to sun/daylight settings.



















This only shows very little of what's actually already done and ready to be exported. Anyway. Now onto a few renders of the current HT-C truck model and the 16-645E3 Prime Mover. Everything is being modeled with a ridiculous precision but then again you shouldn't expect anything less from us

Wow! This is GREAT news!

Although there are only 100 other SD40's in the sim, it's great to have another Canadian SD40-2. Will go well alongside the SD40-2 wide nose DLC! What took so long for this to make it to the forum?

ZekTheKid wrote:Although there are only 100 other SD40's in the sim, it's great to have another Canadian SD40-2. Will go well alongside the SD40-2 wide nose DLC! What took so long for this to make it to the forum?

Slow electrons.

Great job! Curious to see the cab interior when it's ready.

buzz456 wrote:

ZekTheKid wrote:Although there are only 100 other SD40's in the sim, it's great to have another Canadian SD40-2. Will go well alongside the SD40-2 wide nose DLC! What took so long for this to make it to the forum?

Slow electrons.

FYI I mean that it was on their farc(e) book way before it was here.

ZekTheKid wrote: FYI I mean that it was on their farc(e) book way before it was here.

So? Facebook gives you sort of direct feedback and we wanted to be confident enough with this project before moving it over here.

Just a quick question, will you be able to do the start up from the outside, like the VRC gp40? If so I would like to pre order my copy now!

Im just curious about how well this will render on anybody's pc who isn't running a titan....what are you expecting the performance of this thing to be like, specifically since you are fully modeling the interior of the engine bay which will most likely shoot the power demand of anyone's pc, most likely making it harder to run than the FEF id imagine? Do you plan to have the engine details not render when the doors are shut to the engine room or will they be displayed full time?

Berkshirefan765 wrote:Just a quick question, will you be able to do the start up from the outside, like the VRC gp40? If so I would like to pre order my copy now!

Yes you will. There will however be a autostart available as well as you find it on most CP-Rail 40's. Also the start up sequence will be depending on the season, meaning you will have to prime the engine for a longer period in cold weather compared to warm weather. With a cold engine, the prime mover will ramp up to about notch 2 rpms for a set period of time after start up to pre-heat the oil before you'll be even able to move the engine.

thecanadianrail wrote:Im just curious about how well this will render on anybody's pc who isn't running a titan....what are you expecting the performance of this thing to be like, specifically since you are fully modeling the interior of the engine bay which will most likely shoot the power demand of anyone's pc, most likely making it harder to run than the FEF id imagine? Do you plan to have the engine details not render when the doors are shut to the engine room or will they be displayed full time?

That's a possibility I haven't thought about yet. I surely could trigger the nodes to only turn on if any of the cabinet doors are open if the final engine compartment does in fact turn out to have a too big of an Impact on the performance but we'll have to test this out once we get that far. Overall you should expect a performance similar to the FEF-3, despite perhaps running 2 or 3 engines in a consist.

This is looking great Kevin! I'm eagerly awaiting this!

This looks fantastic Kevin, and glad to see you have Mike and Anthony on board as well with your little project, I'm drooling already in anticipation, will keep an eye on this thread for future updates, good luck to you all.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

ex-railwayman wrote:This looks fantastic Kevin, and glad to see you have Mike and Anthony on board as well with your little project, I'm drooling already in anticipation, will keep an eye on this thread for future updates, good luck to you all.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

Thanks I appreciate it!

Looking great, i'm happy to see more Canadian content

This project is among the most promising I've seen! Really looking forward to the final steam release.