Loader - load mismatches

[OldProf]

Like its RSC predecessors, TS2016 includes a number of both interactive freight loaders and freight cars that they can load. As far as I can tell, each loader is preset to produce a specific type of load, such as coal, grain, etc, and each interactively loadable freight car has its specific commodity that can be loaded.

The peculiarity or problem, depending on whether it makes you laugh or cry, occurs when the two do not match. For example, here's a screenshot of what happens when a loader identified as "wood chips" in a scenario is actually a coal loader, but the hopper under it is restricted to loading wood chips:



And here's a "sawdust" loader that is actually a coal loader, but loads hoppers with wood chips (not sawdust)



There must be some way to deal with these mismatches and someone who knows how to do so. At least I hope so!
Meanwhile, let me add quickly that neither the route builder nor the scenario writer should be blamed for these visually ridiculous situations.

[Handbrake]

It is the route builders fault and I take full responsibility

To build a route intended for workshop you have to pic a core route or set of routes which will supply the assets needed. The routes used for Adriana County are Penn Coal, Marias Pass and Sherman Hill. The only interactive loading and unloading point available is the coal unloader (the concrete base with white handrails) and the coal loader which is a blue block only visible in the route editor.
Interactive loaders will load/unload any car regardless of their cargo. If a coal hopper is fitted with a coal load, then that is all it will carry, but if is fitted with iron ore then that is all it will carry. Either way if you attempt to load a coal car on a woodchip loader it will still load coal.
Because the only available interactive loaders were coal ones I had to use those to load cars, hence the black dust. I could have used some third party interactive loaders which have correct color animation but then you wouldn't have the route on workshop.
No cars except third party ones have sawdust loads, so wood chip has to suffice if you want to load open cars, especially when you are limited to a small amount of pay ware rolling stock for workshop scenarios.
I'm not sure if sawdust is carried in open hoppers, but put an interactive loader in there anyway just incase. A sawmill near me loads converted containers with saw dust, so I wonder if maybe hoppers are used? I am English, not sure what kinds of systems are employed in the U.S. but personally I envisaged that a hopper would likely be used on that facility.

Of course if you visit the quarry the same applies, black dust from the loader because I added the same interactive coal loader I used at the saw mill, but it will load stone if your cars are fitted with stone loads. I use ballast cars, third party ones, but wrote a scenario using the default rolling stock so no extra requirements were needed for workshop. This scenario of course had to use coal hoppers which do load coal at the loader so a little imagination is required!
Hope this explains why I used them.

Mark

[OldProf]

Kudos to Mark for his willingness to take the blame, but I still see this mismatch as a fixable fault (just not by me and, evidently, not by Mark, either). Just as there is something in each hopper's coding that determines the appearance of its load, there must be something within each loader's coding that determines the color and texture of what comes out of it. I'd like to challenge those clever at programming to come up with a simple variety of freeware load-codes dedicated to products such as wood-chips, sand, sawdust, grains, etc., along with corresponding effects for unloaders. Any takers?

[GreatNortherner]

Hi Tom,

... Just as there is something in each hopper's coding that determines the appearance of its load...

In the case of gondolas/hoppers with animated cargo the hopper's cargo is part of the rail vehicle model, this works differently than on loadable flatcars where a seperate static object gets attached. The appearance of the hopper's load is determined by the texture that the animated cargo object has been given. So if the modeler has painted the cargo object with a coal texture, it'll always show up as coal no matter what a modder may write into the blueprint of the car. To get around around that one would have to create duplicates of the car and repaint the cargo to whatever it shall carry, and then label the repaints' display names accordingly. Jim Friedland did something like that with the old Kuju coal gondola.

...there must be something within each loader's coding that determines the color and texture of what comes out of it. ...

It's similar to issue with the rail vehicle's cargo. The blueprint of the (un)loader references a particle system for the dust etc. These particle blueprints contain some color information for the smoke/dust effect, but also a texture that (can) carry color information or even the coal lumps.

Long story short: modifying these is possible and not too complicated, but it can't be done without creating clones of the cars and loaders. Each clone can only use one specific load (color of the particles). I don't think it's possible to create a "one size fits all" rail car or loader that switches its animation or particles depending on the situation in the scenario.

Cheers
Michael

[OldProf]

Hi Tom,
.......
Long story short: modifying these is possible and not too complicated, but it can't be done without creating clones of the cars and loaders. Each clone can only use one specific load (color of the particles). I don't think it's possible to create a "one size fits all" rail car or loader that switches its animation or particles depending on the situation in the scenario.

Cheers
Michael

That fits what I have in mind and the name each gondola or hopper could indicate its load. In fact, don't we already have some of these, such as Woodchip Hopper? I've never envisioned some kind of universal car/wagon, but numerous specific ones sounds great.
The same applies to loaders/un-loaders, since each of them seems to consist of a do-hickey to be hidden within a spout of some kind that is a "physical" part of the loading/un-loading structure.
If someone can provide basic instructions, I'll give the manufacturing process a try.

[jalsina]

That black dust in the loaders could be solved by changing the color or texture of the particles?
Just thinking without looking at the bins.

[GreatNortherner]

If someone can provide basic instructions, I'll give the manufacturing process a try.

Ah, I thought you were looking for a "one carries all" car. Sorry for misunderstanding.

The different cargos / different loaders thing has already been done by Jim Friedland long ago. I found a copy of the files on trainsim.com, search for "Invisible Transfer Points" in RW Scenery. There is also a set of Kuju coal gondolas with repainted loads that match the cargos on the invisible transfer points.

Cheers
Michael

[OldProf]

Found it . . . thanks, Michael. Of course, the only fly in the ointment is that transfer points still cannot be placed at the scenario editing level.

While bumming around TrainSim, which I haven't visited in many years, I also came across Richard Ham's Logging Camp and Steel loaders.

"Nostalgia isn't what it used to be".