Here Come the Skeletons!

[GreatNortherner]

Colleagues,

Please let me introduce myself here by posting a preview of my latest model, together with its (already uploaded) beta version.

Here is a little skeleton logcar, modeled after some photos and drawings, but not exactly after one specific prototype. It's about 40' long, just long enough to carry the default log pile. An own model of a log pile is still on my to do list, but as we already have a log pile that fits onto the model I thought I should go ahead and release the car.

Now, before I send it to any file library, would anybody be willing to give it a quick test run? I've packaged the car and put it on rapidshare... if anybody would like to run a public beta test I would really appreciate it.

There's one issue I noticed today, the (default) logs sit one or two feet off center, in z-direction. Could anybody tell me which line in the car's BIN's cargo section defines the z-positioning of the load?

Thanks!!!
Michael

Here's the rapidshare link: http://rapidshare.com/files/198034188/Skeleton.zip.html

And a picture of the car:

[KCJones]

<e d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="000000000000F0BF" d:precision="string">-1.0000</e>
<e d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000000000" d:precision="string">0.0000</e>
<e d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000000000" d:precision="string">0.0000</e>
<e d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000000000" d:precision="string">0.0000</e>
<e d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000000000" d:precision="string">0.0000</e>
<e d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="000000000000F03F" d:precision="string">1.0000</e>
<e d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000000000" d:precision="string">0.0000</e>
<e d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000000000" d:precision="string">0.0000</e>
<e d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000000000" d:precision="string">0.0000</e>
<e d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000000000" d:precision="string">0.0000</e>
<e d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="000000000000F0BF" d:precision="string">-1.0000</e>
<e d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000000000" d:precision="string">0.0000</e>
<e d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000000000" d:precision="string">0.0000</e> x left/right
<e d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="000000A04C15EC3F" d:precision="string">0.8776</e> y up/down
<e d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000001FC0" d:precision="string">-6.5510</e> z fore/aft
<e d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="000000000000F03F" d:precision="string">1.0000</e>


Does this help?

Dick

[kin3]

Hey, those look real good.

[petebauer]

I have downloaded your log car and tried it out. It works great and fits in very well with my new lumber yard.

Pete

[GreatNortherner]

Dick,

Thank you!!! These are exactly the values I was trying to decipher... and... coming to think about it, the line numbers / axis settings match those of the coupling section, don't they?

Pete,

Glad to hear the car runs okay. Looking forward to your lumber load! Should be very easy to add it the car, or to throw any kind of load onto the car. I just love the relatively open architecture of the BIN files.

Thanks everybody!

Michael

EDIT: The car is now available at Elvas Tower!

[rscarter]

I have been having a little trouble getting the log cars to connect to each other when running a scenario. It is like they hit a barrier short of the buckeye couplers. Is there a "bounding box" problem ... or "collision box" around the car that is too large? It happens with some locomotives, but it also prevents one log car from connecting to another.

Dick

Richard S. Carter, Ph.D.
rscarter@microconetics.com

[GreatNortherner]

Hi,

I've got your email, but will post here so others can read it too.

Yes, from your description it does indeed sound like badly set up pivot or coupler receiving points. I never observed any such effects during testing, but maybe I was not throrough enough. I'll look into it and let you know! Most likely it's an easy fix.

Cheers!
Michael

EDIT: All done, I suppose. You were right, the bounding box exeeded the couplers very slightly. See the attached file.
The only thing that puzzles me is why it was working with some engines, and not with some others. Oh well.

[rscarter]

I found the problem.

In researching this, I found that if I use RS_TOOLS to edit the file:
C:\Program Files\Rail Simulator\Assets\GreatNortherner\Allegheny\RailVehicles\Freight\Logcar\Skeleton\Wagon\skeleton.bin

I edited the “CollisionLength” and reduced it from 13.1 to 12.9 as per the instructions in the Rail Simulator Developer Document “How To Create A Wagon” and the subheading “5.1 How to Create A Wagon Blueprint” on p. 6, It showed that the CollisionLength should be (FrontPivotX + Absolute Value(BackPivotX) – 0.4. In this case it should be (6.69 + 6.69) – 0.4 or (13.38 – 0.4) = 12.98. I set it to 12.9 and this resolved the issue. The railcars now connect to one another flawlessly.

I'll try to attach the fixed skeleton.bin (in a zip file) to this reply for those that don't want to attempt editing it in RS_TOOLS.

Dick

Skeleton.zip

[petersde]

Thanks Dick Ran into this same problem with a large array of rolling stock and locomotives, with the same apparently "random" results--some couple, some don't and some roll right through one another and create massive and visually stunning derailments!

Upon checking the bin files, the collisionlength was not as you noted. This is MSTS dejavu Now I'll see if the edits lead to consistent performance.

Thanks again,
Dave