(WIP) Caldwell County Railroad

[NDORFN]

Here's an example of why route building can take so long...

As has happened MANY times as I've worked my way along the route, I've come across a problem which presents two solutions. I've got two reasonably busy roads intersecting next to a level crossing. I want as much action taking place in this area as possible, so I definately want traffic on both roads. But how do I stop the cars from colliding? I could run the traffic ribbons away from each other as depicted in the screenshot...

Screenshot_Caldwell County Railroad_35.84551--81.49302_12-10-38.jpg

In this case the traffic coming out of and from the mainstreet would flow to the road on the right and the traffic coming into town would go over the level crossing, and subsequently be stopped when a train passes. Not a bad solution but still not very realistic.

The other solution is to take what could be a couple of weeks off route building to develop an activator to emulate traffic lights. Someone has made something that works already...



But I have no idea where to get it, and I would also need to incorporate the level crossing activation to the traffic activation to work in my case anyway, so may aswell create the whole thing from scratch myself.

So there you have it. I'd have finished my route months ago if I didn't sidetrack into inovation. I can only imagine how time consuming it is for route builders who create their own buildings!

[NDORFN]

Genius....

I know! Unfortunately, I have no idea where that genius has gone so I can't ask him how he did it.

[krellnut]

I think I can help you with that one. I believe that's the work of Tom Boswell. PM me and I'll give you his e-mail address.

[NDORFN]

Thank you Krellnut!

[jonmorrie]

How's it coming? Can't wait for this one.

[NDORFN]

Still slugging away at roads and traffic ribbons. Very time consuming and hard to emulate the prototype with what I have to work with but it's coming together. I have no regrets putting the time in that I have to roads/traffic/level crossings because even without any scenery, with all the interaction with road traffic and peripheral traffic movement it's still emersive to drive. It actually feels like there are hundreds of other busy people going about their day all around you, rather than the isolated feeling you sometimes get.

Next project after roads are complete is animated, walking pedestrians. I'm working on a derivative of platforms for use on sidewalks. It's not going too well, but it's got potential.

[CSX2057]

I know how how that is. Do the best you can,

[jonmorrie]

That sounds amazing, and innovative for the RW community also. However, there's always that one catch: how's the performance?

[NDORFN]

Performance is sweet. I experimented with traffic ribbons/frame rates etc... before I commited to doing it and discovered that they don't make any impact on performance at all. Neither does 2D foliage. Hense why I have heavily candied up areas with loads of traffic and frames well above what I usually get from SH or HC. There's going to be some performance robbing scenery later in the piece as there are sections of track that run through areas with broad, visible horizons of suburbia, but I'll attempt to obscure it as much as possible with foliage and structures within what my prototypical emulating agenda allows.

One thing that's been ticking me off is that road/traffic ribbons will only run for 1000m before placing a node. So I've had to get creative in obscuring the ends of the ribbons so the player doesn't witness traffic appearing/disappering right infront of them. What's the bet RSC will increase that limit the day after I've finished placing my 100+ thousand meter ribbons like they did with the track smoothing tool shortly after I finished laying 1000+ sections of graduated track Such is life.

[NDORFN]

It's looking increasingly like I am not going to find the time to finish work on this route. Is anyone interested in perhaps having a play around with it to see if they can emulate my scenery style and take the route over?

[dfcfu342]

That's never a post I want to see! If I weren't quietly tinkering away on my own I would give it a stab but hopefully someone will be able to take on the challenge.

[Chacal]

[NDORFN]

It's not going to go to waste. I'll upload it "as is" when I find the spare time (I'm lucky I've got the time to post this). Buzz has kindly offered to take it on and if I find myself in a position to route-build again next year I promise something that will change the way we look at Railworks altogether