RS New Technology

[styckx]

Paul, I will be frank, hope you don't mind.. Your post was mainly about physics and features and asking (in so many ways) what can be done to get others to strive for a product like Oovee and the 156. Honestly the first thing I thought of is "why hasn't RSC?". Not a U.S. route or loco to date comes with any saftey system. FRED, viligance etc. All easy information to obatain so distance isn't a issue.

In terms of train physics there is ZERO general knowledge of what a lot of the parameters actually do and control. There are some who obviously have a vastly greater knowledge of the physics configurations but that knowledge is never shared and is more like a well guarded trade secret and if talked about in public it is witten in riddles and vagueness. The wiki was a great idea that information like this should have been shared on and never was and a lot of it is outdated and irrelavant because of all the updates since the wiki was first written.

You have great public relations people now. Simon, Derek, Tom, Adam etc all do a great job (while busting their tail to develop product) getting out and talking to and communicating to your customers. What you need now is human information vacuum who can maintain and re-write that wiki to the standards it should've been at in the first place so the feeling of a secret society hoarding information goes away. Trust me.. That feeling exists.

[RSPaul]

I hear what you say, I do!

I am not happy with the state of the Wiki and we need to think about that. We just increased the size of the QA team by 2 more people and that's making a huge difference to email traffic. Perhaps we can find a way to leverage that into wiki time as well. I HATE the idea people think we are hording knowledge, if we are, I can promise its absolutely not deliberate.

Hmm! Much to ponder.
Thanks, appreciate it.

[styckx]

Not a problem. The steps forward lately to improve and create U.S. product has not gone un-noticed though. Anyone (imo) who says otherwise is lying. I know we sometimes come off as greedy demanding American bastards but we really don't want a lot. Your recent post sounds like it covers about 80% of the current resentment some of your biggest critics have. :) Long trains, big lashups, heavy trains, and the sense of things could go wrong really fast if they don't drive right. That right there is what most U.S. users want to feel when they're driving.

[micaelcorleone]

Paul on Facebook:

"OK so continuing my look at the new technology that’s been coming together over the last nine months or so. As before It’s from my notes built up over time so feels a bit stream of consciousness like, that’s deliberate otherwise it will just sound like a load of jumble and it won’t make sense even to me!

Hmm! apparently one of the loco’s may break down in this scenario, so I’ll have to keep my wits about me, but I haven’t seen that yet!

Reviewed the train pass and yes indeed its long…. Speed dropped from 22.5mph to 16.4mph and the consist took over 4 minutes to pass my viewpoint…. Massive! Lots of debug info floating about on screen. Probably the individual wagon parameters being shown. This is the sort of reality I want, modelling the forces between and along the train, it was one of the big innovations back in the RS days and I don’t think it’s ever been properly explained. The capabilities of the simulation are so powerful, I am always amazed. But in the past the tech could only handle a half mile consist then it would bug out (and nothing else could even do that properly), we are now playing around with 180 wagon consists and making it work, though that might be a bit much for release code!

I keep thinking we really need to help people with the simulation engine. It is unbelievably powerful IF you know how to set up the blueprints properly. Look at the 156 – it’s a fantastic simulation – all down to careful tuning of the blueprint files. I need to think about that, how can we empower more people to do such great work?"

[styckx]

I found that bugging out problem awhile ago. If it's a long long train it starts freaking out like a slinky when you stop. Disconnect the loco and it retains the memory of the long consist it was just attached to. Fun stuff!

180 car trains sounds like fun. Imagine the switching scenarios sorting a train like that? "Duration: Make a pot of coffee"

[g_nash]

I hear what you say, I do!

I am not happy with the state of the Wiki and we need to think about that. We just increased the size of the QA team by 2 more people and that's making a huge difference to email traffic. Perhaps we can find a way to leverage that into wiki time as well. I HATE the idea people think we are hording knowledge, if we are, I can promise its absolutely not deliberate.

Hmm! Much to ponder.
Thanks, appreciate it.

Additional blueprints have been added since railworks was released and it seems that this has gone unnoticed by more than a few people , maybe you could ensure that each RW version increment gets a proper change log if new items are added ( A brief description of any new item is all that's needed in the first instance ) since the blueprints are used by so few people , and then add detail to the Wiki as time permits . ?

Thanks for dropping in to chat .

:)

[LoneWolfDon]

Much appreciation and admiration to the RSC team for their ongoing hard work and support of RailWorks and it's Users.

Just a quick (and perhaps silly) question; As some more big improvements and upgrades come for RailWorks in future, I'm assuming RSC will strive to keep things "backwards compatible"?
I mean, in the sense, all of the current DLC / trainset / Route and Scenario addons for RailWorks should hopefully still work and be compatible with any forthcoming updates?

I also spend a lot of work and time making route & scenario addons for RailWorks, so it would be a shame to see it, and another other addons I currently have, to suddenly become non-working.
But of course I'm thinking and hoping that such problems like that won't happen.

Also, can you say if you know if there will be some improvements / new-features for the world and scenario editor side of things?

Best wishes, and keep up the great work!
--- Don.

[RSPaul]

Continuing my look at the new technology that’s been coming together over the last nine months or so. As before It’s from my notes built up over time so feels a bit stream of consciousness like, that’s deliberate otherwise it will just sound like a load of jumble and it won’t make sense even to me!

Right another UP ES44, running along with camera close to the track and the wagons rolling movement is terrific. Actually might need to be a bit toned down. Each wagon sways independently as it moves past and the feeling of reality is very, very strong. Loco’s moving as well, but in-cab not implemented yet. I need to review against video.

OK looked through the 7idea videos and actually this amount of bucking and swaying might be OK, this is going to be one of those “Looks good in the eye of the beholder” things. A bit like the sounds, when we find the ones we know are the most accurate draw the most fire… Ho hum!

Quick note on the 7idea Videos, fantastic. I want to drive in RW and it look like that. HDR will help, but we are a few years away technologically yet I guess. Love the videos, hope those guys don’t mind a mention http://7ideaproductions.com/catalog/index.php I just keep watching the Donner Pass video, stunning.

[RSPaul]

Hi friends, I have just posted my next thoughts. But wanted to get back to Don.

We are working really hard to maintain backwards compatibility, certainly that's our aim.

PS> I think the discussions and questions are really fantastic, but feel a bit worried I am getting overwhealmed and not answering enough.
Is there any way I could do some sort of Q and A next week?

If that's a crazy suggestion I perfectly understand.

Off to the Good Friday service now.... going dark till after Eggs on Sunday:-)
Happy Easter all.
Paul

[Hawk]

Is there any way I could do some sort of Q and A next week?

Paul

Not a problem.

[styckx]

Ooooh. Entire train sway?

[PapaXpress]

Does that mean that we will be able to replicate the poor conditions of the NYC before their demise? (there is a youtube somewhere on that)

[styckx]

So I have had some time to reflect. Read, re-read, and read again Pauls statments. If it wasn't obviously clear to anyone else, it is clear to me Paul is opening the doors, inviting us in, and attempting to make a wrong a right on the American side of the game.

Let me take the whole thing out of the crowd and put into a simple clear color picture.

The British CEO of British based rail simulator that has a much larger collective British fan base just spent two days publically speaking 100% about everything missing from the American way of railroading and the way our trains operated.

He did this not just in front of a U.S. crowd, but a world wide crowd. This should be embraced and not dismissed. He wasn't trying to pitch DLC, not trying to act like everything is perfect. He admitted faults and seems well ready to rectify them and already steps in the work to do just that.

The longer it sinks in, the more optimistic I am about the future of the hobby on our side of the pond.

[Rich_S]

Hi Bill,
From the first time I tried RailWorks, I had a feeling RSC was heading in the right direction and that is why I moved from the dark ages of train simulations to RailWorks 2 In some ways though it's like 2001 all over again, as we are still trying to work out all of the kinks, but this time we have a company that is actually listening Of course you know what the next problem is, RSC has 100 things they need to do, 1,000 things they'd like to do, 50 things they must do to keep the doors open and 10 people to try and do everything , well maybe not 1,000 But that brings me to my point, for me the car sway is something I can take or leave, but what I'm really still waiting for is the block assets. The route I'm currently working on is in the Eastern U.S. and contains some heavily forested areas, block assets would greatly help with this task. So what's my point, it's like the old saying "Rome was not built in a day", it maybe a while before we actually see car sway in the sim, but what I'm wondering is, can Paul give us a ETA on the block assets?

Regards,
Rich S.

[SCLJim]

Right another UP ES44, running along with camera close to the track and the wagons rolling movement is terrific. Actually might need to be a bit toned down. Each wagon sways independently as it moves past and the feeling of reality is very, very strong. Loco’s moving as well, but in-cab not implemented yet. I need to review against video.

OK looked through the 7idea videos and actually this amount of bucking and swaying might be OK, this is going to be one of those “Looks good in the eye of the beholder” things. A bit like the sounds, when we find the ones we know are the most accurate draw the most fire… Ho hum!

I love, love, love, the idea of that aspect of railroading being added to the sim. Even though you won't be able to actually feel the motions, I think seeing it would really add to the experience. Will in cab motion be implemented at some point?

Riding characteristics of locomotives varied a lot. Four axle locos were a LOT rougher than six axle. SD50s were the roughest, I remember, out of the six axle locos. They had a LOT of side to side motion. I didn't know the correct technical terms or the cause of it. All I did know was when we had a 50 in the lead, you were in for a rough trip. The faster you went, the rougher it got, to the point of having a bruise on the outside of my left knee, from hitting the cab wall. It wasn't your typical gentle rocking motion you generally picture with trains, but more of a side to side banging between the rails. Other locos had a lot of bounce. I remember another occasion where we bounced over a crossing so violently that we knocked one of the traction motors off line in the second out FURX rent-a-wreck we had.

Let them buck and sway away!!