Railworks America

Until recently I never realized that we can create changing weather patterns in Railworks. In fact, this feature was a part of the original Railsimulator program. There are several weather pattern blueprints associated with the HSC route that change conditions during the scenario. In other words, the scenario might start out sunny; after a pre-determined time change to cloudy skies; and finally after another pre-determined time change to rain (or any combination we design).

Here's the link to the RW Wiki regarding Weather Pattern Blueprints:

http://www.railsimdownloads.com/wiki/ti ... ht=weather

I haven't been able to determine if the weather pattern must be created as a part of the route creation process or if new patterns can be added as needed. I was able to use one of the HSC weather patterns with another route after editing the scenario with RW Tools.

harryadkins wrote:Until recently I never realized that we can create changing weather patterns in Railworks. In fact, this feature was a part of the original Railsimulator program. There are several weather pattern blueprints associated with the HSC route that change conditions during the scenario. In other words, the scenario might start out sunny; after a pre-determined time change to cloudy skies; and finally after another pre-determined time change to rain (or any combination we design).

Here's the link to the RW Wiki regarding Weather Pattern Blueprints:

http://www.railsimdownloads.com/wiki/ti ... ht=weather

I haven't been able to determine if the weather pattern must be created as a part of the route creation process or if new patterns can be added as needed. I was able to use one of the HSC weather patterns with another route after editing the scenario with RW Tools.

It would be great if we could have real storms with wind, thunder and lightning. I wonder if TS2013 will introduce that. There was some talk about more realistic weather.

Doc already made severe thunder and lightning, but no wind yet.

artimrj wrote:Doc already made severe thunder and lightning, but no wind yet.

Nice one! I must try it out.

Believe there are new dynamic weather patterns coming with Sherman Hill, including a fairly wild Great Plains storm (lightning etc). Not sure how you would then use that in a different route though...

Wind is possible all ready, in a way. It is only used to control cloud movement, speed wise. Here is an excerpt from one of the weather blueprints (Foggy Heavy Rain).

Code: Select all

         <WeatherTypeClear>
            <cWeatherType>
               <WindDirection d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="00000000FB21F93F" d:precision="string">1.5708</WindDirection>
               <WindSpeed d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="000000A04D9CCC3F" d:precision="string">0.22352</WindSpeed>
               <PrecipitationType d:type="cDeltaString">ePrecipitationRain</PrecipitationType>
               <PrecipitationDensity d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="000000A09999B93F" d:precision="string">0.1</PrecipitationDensity>
               <PrecipitationSpeed d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="000000E0F44A3F40" d:precision="string">31.2928</PrecipitationSpeed>
               <FogOverride d:type="cDeltaString">eTrue</FogOverride>
               <FogColour>
                  <cHcColour>
                     <Red d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="00000080DBDADA3F" d:precision="string">0.419608</Red>
                     <Green d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="000000809D9BDB3F" d:precision="string">0.431373</Green>
                     <Blue d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="000000405F5EDE3F" d:precision="string">0.47451</Blue>
                     <Alpha d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000000000" d:precision="string">0</Alpha>
                  </cHcColour>
               </FogColour>
               <FogStart d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000006940" d:precision="string">200</FogStart>
               <FogEnd d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000E08540" d:precision="string">700</FogEnd>
               <LightningDensity d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000000000" d:precision="string">0</LightningDensity>
               <LightningFrequency d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000000000" d:precision="string">0</LightningFrequency>
               <BlendInTime d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="000000000000F03F" d:precision="string">1</BlendInTime>
               <CloudType d:type="cDeltaString">eCloudClear</CloudType>
            </cWeatherType>
         </WeatherTypeClear>


A wind sound is also linked to this value, however, I do believe this variable needs to be faster to be able to hear it. But judging by how fast the clouds move already (much, much, too fast) I wouldn't touch this value, but rather adjust the sound blueprint. It would be nice to have wind that would create air resistance on the consist. Or perhaps, what they mean, is that they are implementing new variables you can change in game to suit the weather to the scenario perfectly, without the need for complex blueprint editing.

It does rain/snow too iirc.

Yes you can create weather blueprints any time.