Hi All.

I been lucky enough to get copies of several card model steam locomotives, but there is a problem. To use them we need to have a more flexible system for setting up the train formations, as the length of the coaches and wagons are going to be a lot different from the current default rolling stock. is there any way we can think of to do this?

Hi Guys.

This is one of the reasons we need an easy way to change the trains around. This is a Southern Region Bullied coach, used on the Southern Railway, during WWII. I have matching locomotives too, but they do not fit the programmed train formation, because of the difference in length of the models.



Ralf or Tony, would it be possible to have anther one of those external tables to set different trains up? All the exe needs to know is the center point of each model so it puts them together properly, without overlaps or spaces. Is that possible?

I'll have a look tomorrow John to see what routine sets the position of the rolling stock items.

Jel

If you script the model names, you can add code to find the lengh of the model.

edit:
sig removed

I have not had chance to look yet, but I am wondering if the positional data for MGO's is coming from the TMod table which is now in "TMod.dat".
If so, it raises the possibility of splitting TMod.dat so that a line of individual data could be included with the other files relating to a TMod, and used if present in the referenced folder.

Jel

Hi Tony.

I was thinking about a model list, for a set of train 3dz's, like now, but if possible adding a random factor to which set is selected, like train set allied 1, 2, 3...... This would allow the player to see different trains, when flying missions.

Hi Allen.

Is there anyway to set the direction of travel on a line? A from-to, like if we lay a line from Berlin to Paris, the train always starts in Berlin. Setting the direction, would allow us to lay double tracks, with trains traveling in both directions. This would be far more realistic and give us more trains to attack.

The railways always seem to be a bit under used in EAW [a bit like the birds used to be], when in reality they were heavily used by both sides in WWI, and WWII.

The composition of both allied and axis convoys is set by default in the exe (as a fallback) but also in a number of "*.mpf" files, and has been since the early days of the 1.28 series.
These files cover trains, trucks, armoured convoys, escorted merchant ship convoys and battle fleets.
If the appropriate "*.mpf" file is in a folder referenced in a "dir.set" file or in the root folder it will be read and used.
For the moment I will check out the placement of individual components of the train. Just about to start now that our visitors are out for the day

Jel

Col,

Have you tried the new models in a train yet ?

I only ask because when Ray and I used the towed gun model it seemed to fit into the road convoys OK even though it was significantly longer than the lorry on it's own, but conversely when I made the Tiger2 and tried to put it into armoured columns, if I placed it in the kubelwagen slot it overlapped, so I suspect the spacing is already taking into account the tmod data for the size of the model....


cheers,


Pobs

Before checking the code I made a "TrnList.mpf" file which was made up a train convoy of destroyers and windmills LOL.
I flew a train interdiction at Deelen in a Tempest:



I think that John's anticipated problem regarding sizes does not exist, and that Pobs is correct in that the size comes from TMod.dat (which is what I suspected)

Jel

Good Tony, one less problem then.

How about the setting up of the trains, the spawing of the trains, and the direction of them?

Oh these are the models I'm going to be converting into 3dz for EAW.

http://www.zioprudenzio.it/fok-micro.html

The direction is determined by the start and finish of the railway and I can not see a way round that.
I have posted a bit more about railway issues at the Gen, as we cannot post code here.

Jel

Hi Tony.

Thanks for looking at this.

You know I'm a railway nut, and I'd love to see proper railways like they have in BOB.

Hi Tony.

I've tested the coach but things are not quite right here.





The model is Tmod46_H, 360 points long, and the model radius is also set to 360, so if the exe is reading the model correctly, it should fit in the train.

John,

That is the problem of putting a large model into an unmodified tmod.dat slot for a smaller model I think... the overall dimensions of the model are defined in the tmod.dat file and I think that is where the game is looking for its dimensions to create the 'space' for the model... try changing the tmod.dat dimensions for the tmod46 slot and see if it allocates more space...


cheers,


Pobs

Hi Pobs.

That is why I suggested a data file for each train set, so it's in the folder with the 3dz's and textures, but Tony's screenshot suggested this was not a problem.

Col,
your soft spot for the railway is revealed
Another stupid question: Those wagons are colourful and beautiful. Weren´t those wagons toned down in wartime with complete camo or camo stripes?

Hi Fran.

That coach is in post war [1947 Crimson and Cream] livery. During the war it was painted in Southern Railway, Malachite Green. During the war years everything was allowed to get very run down, so even the brightly painted engines took on the look of being painted Black.

In Europe, most engines were painted Black, but the coaches would have been in a better state of repair, but mostly Green was used.

I'm hoping Mike might be able to fix the colour for me.

What both Pobs and I said is that the size is set in TMod.dat and not in the graphic.
This is a single file which holds the data for all 256 TMods. It is the TMod table hardcoded in the exe exported to an external file which makes it easier to edit.
If we were to split it then an individual file could be made, and used.
We would need to make "TMod(0).dat" to "TMod(255).dat" files and then get the exe to read them.

Jel

Sorry guys, I missed that point.

Trains are made up from:
Tmod43_*.3dz Locomotive
Tmod44_*.3dz RR Tender
Tmod45_*.3dz Box car
Tmod46_*.3dz Tanker car
Tmod47_*.3dz Flat car
Tmod48_*.3dz Car w/Panthers
Tmod49_*.3dz Flak car
Tmod50_*.3dz Fuel truck
Tmod51_*.3dz Open truck

So we need a separate file for only these Tmods, and the smoke position on the engine.

This is the first British Saint class, which is in progress.



Oh it looks like we have the old problem of British "OO" and European "HO" scales, which is why the new coach is slightly bigger than EAW stock.

I have just written a utility which splits TMod.dat into "TMod000.dat" to "TMod255.dat" files



I need to work with Ralf to get them read, but I have not heard anything from him for a few days.


Jel

Tony, You just love your little applications.

Meanwhile back in the locomotive errecting shop.

I am late to the party and twi as always.



If load time is not an issue, take the dimentions directly from the 3dz and not from an external data file.

I do not look at the code, or visit the gen, so my comments are basic programming only. This stays witin my NDA and SinHQ rules.

You can do this if you use a signed int. Positive is one dir and negitive is another. Duel rails becomes an offset. If your offset is not the same polar direction of travel, you have to use geometric math to adjust the movement

Ie. duel train movement polar North would use a simple X offset for the negitive facing train.

Allen. Unless you check out the code it is difficult to see where the signed integer flag would go.
Anyhow this is what we are dealing with:

The table you can see is the first part of the "railways.dat" file, and the picture shows all railways in the selected area near London and the South East of England.
The four values in the table are the startX, endX, startY and endY values (hexadecimal) of a straight line of track.
The section with the startX values coloured cyan are one continuous railway line from start to finish.
Note that the startX (06B91800)and startY (E5E58400) values in columns one and three of the second line (are the same as the endX and endY values in columns two and four the first line.

Where the colour changes to yellow the startX and startY values in this line are not the same as the endX and endY values in the line above it.
So the yellow section is a completely new line.

Now if the first line is chosen for use in the game then any train on it will be moving from (06B91000,E5E1EC00) to (06D98F00,E6746000) no matter where it spawns. The direction that each component of the train moves in is the direction of the particular straight section of track that it is on.


Jel

Hi Tony.

Nice to see some railways in the South of England. Need a bit of relaying though.

As for news from the erecting shop, we are almost ready for a steam test.



No points left so it's finished, just bits of mapping to do.

I would like this for the planes as well, but i couldnt figure out how.

To setup the plane dimentions in the flightfiles without graphical tool is a horrible task. For example we have the coordinates of the hardpoints somewhere in the 3dz files and we have to adjust the same in the flightfiles by trial and error.

Same goes for the wingtip etc.

On the other hand, the hitbubble position and size dont have a related values in the 3dz´s.

The first test steaming showed up a few glitches, but nothing hard to fix.



Tony, please note the smoke will need looking at.

Using the editor for the full TMod.dat file and selecting the train engine:


You can see here where entries can be edited, such as the dimensions and the smoke offset values.

Jel

Hi Tony.

Are the values the same as 3dz points?

Sorry John, I have absolutely no idea.
I am totally "au fait" with the distance measurements as far as terrain goes, but I know nothing about the 3dz scales.

Jel

Hi Tony.

Can you point me to your Tmod editor please.

We drove to Lyon this morning and I'm just getting re-organised. I'll upload it to Utilities as soon as I can- it should be on the external HDD I brought with me.

Jel

Presenting our first British loco.

EX G.W.R. Saint Class


The real thing.


Close enough?

Ralf,

You will need a container for the information. You can either add to an existing array, or create a new one. If you create one, make sure the memory is deallocated. I did not learn to release memory early on, and I payed heck finding all the memory leaks I created.

At load time (when FPS counts less) scan the 3dz for max x,y, and z.

This programming sintax is not correct, I am only trying to show you the logic needed.

example:
int points = max points of 3dz
array vector = xyz data for max points
int maxX,maxY,maxZ;
int minX,minY,minZ;
maxX=MaxY=MaxZ=-1
minX=minY=MinX=1;
while points is >= 0
{
if ( vector.x > maxX ) maxX = vector.x;
if ( vector.x < minX ) minX = vector.x;
etc..

points--;
}

The result is that you will know the max and min coords for each model. If you need a better example, email me.

Tony,
Your showing a simple path model. If you want to add 2 way paths, you will need a few things.
#1 a special flag determining if it is a 2 way path.
#2 an offset distance of the path
#3 a matrix that can swap the X,Y of the return path section and move the X,Y in a geometric vector for the offset
optional
#4 a matrix that does the same for the primary path, so both paths are centered along the single path defined by the editor
#5 a Z value adjustment that finds the Z at the offset X,Y.

Do this at load time, so the FPS during the simulation are not affected.

Thanks Allen. I will teak your ideas onboard, but the thing that came to mind was the possibility of splitting Railways.dat into each of the separate sections, in line with all the other splitting we have achieved. It would make editing much easier.
John
Following discussion at the Gen, but posting here because it is easier to show pics I have done two things.
One is that I increased the length of your carriage from 1080 to 1200, and it is just about right. I had increased the length of the engine to get it out of the way, destroyed it to halt the train and then came back for the screenie:



I also checked the code, and in trains the first vehicle is always the engine and the second is the tender.
However, with what we now know we could use a tank engine, and in TMod044.dat set the scale factor of the tender to zero, so that it does not appear, and the length to zero. I will test this anyway- having fun with the new toy!

Jel

I just did exactly that, but used your TMod043.dat instead of the long length one. The tender is not visible



So, it could work with a tank engine, or an engine and tender combination in TMod43

Jel

Nice, but have you been able to find a constant conversion factor?

I have several tank engines, but I was just going to put a coach in place of the tender.

It looks like we have a working setup now, which is really good. Your idea of splitting the Railways data files is good too, so we can have a dedicated British rail network.

We still have the problem of switching sides as the railways are captured, in Europe, by one side or the other, and laying double tracks.

I have not looked, but while you were posting I reset your train length to 600 and re-flew:



It may be a little too long, but the earlier one seemed to be a fraction short.

BTW I have a "trnlist.mpf" file made with notepad in the root folder which reads:

46
46
46
46
46
46
46
46
46
46

This makes all the wagons carriages, which are unarmed and makes it easier to test and take screenies.

Maximum length of passenger trains in Britain were about 12 coaches, and 14 in Europe, but as coaches got bigger they reduced it to 10 to 12. Freight trains were about 50 wagons, as we small ones, and 30 bigger bogie ones in Europe.

If we use the mpf system, could we setup a number of different trains, and randomly access the mpf's to replace the current random system?

Now with the correct tender- thanks John



Jel

Slightly adjusted

A good model John
Thanks for fixing the tender- it looks even better now!

Thanks Tony.

I hope others see some value in what we are doing, as it's not just the railways which will benefit.

Great work as usual, guys! Thank you

Cheers

In Production at the moment.



The most common goods wagon type to be used in Britain, which lasted from the late 1890's until the 1980's.

Don't forget the distance models- the train and tender are OK as is but the carriage is in the oil tanker slot and there is a noticeable change as you approach.
Also can you please give me the 3dz lengths of the engine tender and carriage so I can work out an appropriate conversion factor for the editor.

Jel

Sweet guys, really a nice improvement.

And this is in a new version of the 1.3 WIP that I just compiled using Ralf's V7 as a base.




Jel

Hi Tony.

Looking good mate.

I suppose the next step is to create a split rail map?

That is logical, but I am ready for a break.
Check my post at the Gen as this 1.3 exe is using an interesting combination of the info from "TMod.dat" read first, followed by the info from any "TModXYZ.dat" files that may be present.
It means we can work with just the "TModXYZ.dat" files needed.

Jel

OK Tony.

Just try not to forget where we are. The only thing I need from you is a conversion factor for setting up the Tmod files.

From a post at the Gen:



Did I miss something?

Jel

What is now clear is that the graphic is centred in the TModXYZ.dat length.
This was not obvious with the engine and the tender as they were the first two vehicles.
An engine which is too short followed by a tender which is too long may still look perfect.
In my testing I have been modifying the trnlist.mpf to have three or four engines next to each other in the train, followed by three or four tenders next to each other in the train. If you destroy the first engine to stop the train you can see if the distance values are correct, or adjust them if necessary.

Jel

Hi Tony.

I thought you had 3dz Studio?

Loco 40W 177L 64H
Tender 40W 121L 50H
Coach 44W 324L 68H
Wagon 42W X 102L 45H

I've had to shrinks the coach a touch, as it was a bit too big, and the loco needs to be a tad bigger, but work with what you have for now and try and get a conversion factor.

Thanks

Just having a bit of fun.

Good stuff, but now an important question, and a response from players would be welcome.

The only TMods relating to trains are

43 TRAIN ENGINE
44 TRAIN TENDER
45 TRAIN BOXCAR
46 TRAIN OIL TANKER
47 TRAIN FLATBED
48 TRAIN FLATBED TANKS
49 TRAIN FLATBED GUNS


What you can see in the screenies are different versions of some of these TMods, but in the same slots.

The routine that builds a train convoy always makes the first vehicle TMod43 and the second TMod44, the engine and the tender.
Now this applies to all trains, allied and axis, so they all look alike.

With up to 256 TMods available, we could have two sets, allied and axis, maybe more. However, we would need to reserve slots for the new ones so that train composition routines can be written. The train composition would depend on whether or not the target is in enemy territory.

We could use slots 243...249 for the second set so that the last two digits are the same.
Should we do this?

Jel

Hi Tony.

What about the Tmod, Tmog, Tm?? {can never remember the third one]? These were supposed to allow for Allied and Axis according to Ralf.

That is correct, but for now I have it working with a flag, just to see it it is possible, which it is
I'll check the TMog stuff too.

Jel

Hi Jell,

the tmog system will indeed work but I don't know how it will interact with your train.mpf which specifies a tmod number... you just need to make sure that the tmog system and the mpf system work together ok.

regarding the mpf system for making land and sea convoys.... can we specify different models for allied and axis or do we just gewt the same tmod numbers for both sides ?


cheers,


Pobs

I have it working with TMogs
With the default TMod43/44*.3dz files extracted from the "3d.CDF" renamed as "TMog...", and Funky's new files remaining as "TMod..." I flew a Tempest and saw the default engine and tender:



Flying a 190A I saw Funky's British engine and tender:


What I need to do next is to work out a means of handling the "TModXYZ.dat" file when the sizes of the engines differ.
However, if we were to use the slots I suggested for the rolling stock then there would be no problem as there would be a "Tmod043.dat" and a "Tmod243.dat" etc.

Jel

Hi Tony.

Nice to see you have the two different types of trains working.

I'm not planning of having British engines working in Europe, even though there were a few types used by the army.

http://www.lner.info/locos/O/WD_Austerity.shtml

http://www.railalbum.co.uk/steam-locomotives/austerity-280-1.htm

http://www.railalbum.co.uk/steam-locomotives/usatc-s160-1.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USATC_S100_Class

I'm hoping you'll think of a way to set the UK's railways as independent from Europe, so we can have differing trains on both sides of the Channel.

Has anyone got a set of my German HR train set, they could send me? It seems to be missing from WOB.

This has been achieved, either by TMogs or an eaw.exe which references different slots for allied and axis railway vehicles.
My current preference is to use the latter because trains are the only TMods where the length value in TMod.dat is critical in the display of the convoy, so it only involves reserving an additional 7 slots out of those available.
However, if I can find a way to use the TMog system with the correct lengths then there would be no need to use slots 243-249.

Jel

Hi Tony.

Is there any reason why the trains have to be a Tmod/og?

Interesting question. What might they be if they were not?
There could be a possibility of all the MGOs being moved to a different section.

Just to remind/inform readers that if a TMod file has a corresponding TMog file then the one that is used depends on the location.
In my earlier post (with screenies) I was flying Luftwaffe in a 190A against a target in England. Because it was on the Allied side of the frontline the TMods for slots 43 and 44 were used for the train locomotive and tender.
In the Tempest I was flying RAF against a target on the Axis side of the frontline. As there were TMogs available for slots 43 and 44 they were used.
In cases where a TMog would be preferred because of the location, but none exist tor the slot, then the TMod for the slot is used.

In the case of slots 43 and 44 no TMog files exist, so normally only the TMod files are used. However, in my example I had extracted the TMod43*.3dz and TMod44*.3dz files from the 3d.CDF and renamed them as TMog43*.3dz and TMog44*.3dz files. The TMod43*.3dz and TMod44*.3dz files used in my game were the ones made by Col Gibbon, not the default ones in the CDF. All these files were in the root folder so they were used by the exe in preference to any in the CDF.

Jel

In my spinning brain, I thought maybe if there were separate file lists for trains road convoys and ships, Tmods/Tmogs could be just used for structures. The convoys could then be tailor made using your MPC files, and a bigger selection of models used.

Hi Tony.

Just carried out a test with double tracks, thanks to Pobs, but there is no second train, so I guess the exe only spawns one train at a time.

Nice to have a line from London to Dover and back though. Even if the tracks are about 1/2 a mile apart!

John,

I just did a very quick mock-up for you this morning, placing the tracks closer together is not a problem but it is time consuming, and for the purposes of the trial I thought speed was more important than accuracy

cheers,


Pobs

Hi Pobs.

Thanks for doing the files for me. Could I ask another favor? Could you lay a section of double track, so they are a close as possible to each other? I'm trying to sort out a Terminus Station building, and I need the tracks for spacing the platforms. I'm totally fed up with trains running into an engine shed.

Col.

I can place them as close as you want, the best approach would be to make the station model and then I will fit the tracks to it rather than the other way around. One point though, remember that the current setup accounts for the train disappearing at the end of its track, which is hard coded into the game. unfortunately as things stand your train will not stop at the station and wait there..... unless Jell can make it do that...


cheers,


Pobs

I have searched tho code but have not yet found the precise routine which respawns the vehicles back down the track.
AFAIK the vehicles respawn one by one as they enter the shed, and not as a whole train in one hit. Ideally the train should simply stop, maybe even before it enters the shed.

Hi Tony.

I'm converting a hanger model, into a terminus, but I need to make it big enough for a train to look as though it would fit inside. Not like now, with that silly shed.

Maybe you should PM Allen, for a bit of advice, on how to get two trains running in opposite directions.

The train stops



Interdiction at Rotterdam. Normally the train starts very close to the end if the line, but now it starts at some distance away.
I flew a lone Tempest with no support, vs Me410s. I shot down all the 410s to kill a bit of time for the train to get to the terminus. Even then I had to wait, so I stooged around a little staying away from any AAA and the train itself which is armed. Eventually it arrived and stopped in the shed

Jel

That's interesting Tony!

You have a stationary train, and yet it's still smoking as if it's moving. I always thought the golden rule of Tmods was, it moves it can smoke, and yet it's not moving and it smokes!

Can you make a factory smoke?

Jelly,
When something is reset, it is often faster to do a memcopy of the starting data or change the data pointer to the starting data. That can be a tough one to find without stepping through the code in debug.

TMogs re-visited

I have produced versions of the 1.28E and 1.3 exes which read both "TModXYZ.dat" files and "TMogXYZ.dat" files. In the case of TMogs it is specifically for slots 43-49 (railway vehicles).
"TMogXYZ.dat" files are identical to "TModXYZ.dat" files, but they contain data values matching the TMog 3dz files, such as length.

Interdiction in Axis territory, using TMogs when available:

The "TMog43*.3dz" and "TMog44*.3dz" files were available and used along with "TMog043.dat" and "TMog044.dat" files.



Conversely the interdiction in Allied territory uses TMods:

The "TMod043.dat" and "TMod044.dat" files were used in this case.

Jel

More HR TMogs for slots 43-49 from a set that Col Gibbon sent me.



Jel

Just a quick review of what has been achieved as far as the eaw.exe is concerned.
Both the 1.28E and 1.3 exes that I have been able to compile will:

1. Firstly read and use the data from the "TMod.dat" file to get the data for slots 0 to 255

2. Then read and use the data from the split "TMod.dat" files (if present) as either "TModXYZ.dat" or "TMogXYZ.dat".
The values in these files update the values read from "TMod.dat".

3. Use the "TMog" files if available for targets on the Axis side of the front line, or default to use the "TMod" files if the "TMog" files are not available.

4. Start train convoys a reasonable distance away from the terminus they are heading to if the originally calculated starting point is too close.

5. Make train convoys stop when they reach the end of the line.

Jel

Fantastic work Tony!

Many thanks for taking on a tricky job.

I'm building a proper terminus to replace that horrible shed.



The roof texture is from Leipzig Staion C/O Google Earth!

Great!
Now I have just uploaded a 7-zip self installer to your folder at the Coders' FTP.
It is named "128E4ColGV18.exe".

Jel

Great work Jell,


thanks for all the time and effort


cheers,


Pobs

Thanks Pobs

Grab the last file I posted from ColG's folder.

Double tracks?

Col,

drop me a model station to fit them to and I will place one and set up a track run in and out of it ...

cheers,


Pobs

Pobs and ColG

I have just uploaded another 7-zip self installer named "OAWfols128EV18.exe" to your folders at the Coders' FTP.
It contains three folders for OAW128:



Load all three and compare an Allied train interdiction vs an Axis one.

Jel

Hi Tony.

Willco later today.

Hi Pobs.

I've got to finish off the model and then you can play with it.

How's this looking?

I recall a friends father (bombidier on a B-17) told me that the banhoff in Munich was used as an initial point for the Mercedes factory there and vice versa. So, when I was arriving at the station I saw the Mercedes symbol on the hill that overlooked the it. Cool eh? I guess his memory was correct.

Also, ever notice all of the new railway bridges sitting next to the bombed ones in France or the ruins of flak towers that sit on the edges of so many French railyards? Well they were that way in the 80's.

I know that it is OT but, what the heck.

Looking good Col,

will the smoke come out through the building roof when the train stops inside though ? not important really but just a thought, if the terminus had open space over the tracks that wouldn't be a problem.


cheers,


Pobs

Not finished yet, but close.

And now in game, which shows I need to make it a tad bigger

With the new exe and the title "Hauptbahnhof" it needs to be a TMog

John

Will you please put a copy of the program that makes a text dump from the 3dz file in my folder at Coders.
I need to compare the readings I am getting with my own 3dz reading program with the ones in ther text version to check that mine is working correctly.
I have extended the capabilities of the program to help Ralf with a hardpoint related matter.

Thanks

Jel

Nearly finished.

HolyMoly - this is really looking gorgeous
Kaiser Bill would have been very pleased...

Btw, "Hauptbahnhof" as main railway station might have been accompanied by stations like:
Ostbahnhof
Südbahnhof
Westbahnhof
Nordbahnhof
...just to add some variety

Is it possible to let some three or four rails run into the hall? Would look more realistic imo...

Hi Fran.

I'm begging Tony and Pobs to try and get a double track line working, with two trains working.

As for the German station name. I know they would normally have another name as well, like I've done with the French version, but I thought "Hauptbahnhof" was good enough. For a British version I'd thought Central Station would be OK.

I am looking at adding parallel tracks, and have started a new EAW_RRD.DAT reader.
The maths is extremely complex because if you take a letter U and move it slightly in any direction then the old and the new will cross, so it cannot be done with simple (x,y) offsets.

Jel

No promises- this section was fine but it was done with a simple offset



Jel

Nice Tony!

Maybe a tad too far apart.

12' between running lines.

Anyway, there is a placement problem with the station.





I expect it's because the old model does not really have a front and back, it's just mirrored, not like mine.

The maths is horrible

No promises LOL

Fine - lots of thx.
A further question: Is the length of the trains i.e. engine + wagons variable to create (almost)limitless train-strafing fun?

John
We are getting some strange results in tests with TMogs and TMods for your terminus.
The problem may be "*.bmp" related but we are not sure, so can you please send me an 8 bit version to see if we get different results.

Thanks

Jel

The x,y should be the x-sin, y-cos over distance. At your point along that line you could have to take the Z from the map.

N1, N2 and N3 are consecutive nodes on the same railway track.
From them the equations of the lines N1N2 and N2N3 need to be calculated.
AB is parallel to N1N2, and CD is parallel to N2N3 at a perpendicular distance of 5 metres (or whatever is needed) from the existing track.
So the equations of AB and CD need to be found.
Then to find the corresponding node to N2 at point P the point of intersection of lines AB and CD needs to be calculated.

That's the maths needed just to calculate the position of just one node

The routine that draws the railway line uses the land height for the height so that is no problem

Jel

We need stuff like that to go into a CAD program..

Jelly,

What you are showing is the manual drafting way of finding the intersection. Looks like I should have finished my trig class before leaving my CAD degree, I could easily be wrong.

You need to find the angle created by N2N3 and N2N1. Half that angle plus the angle of one of the two lines should give the vector to offset point N2.

The next building for the revamped railways. This one is for Southern Britain.

And now in game.

Nice bit of video..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqN_Pd58MFw&feature=related

Nice film Spitty, and I love a bit of Holst too.

level crossing now in production.

Thanks Allen, but I did it my way





The routines that did this now need to be transferred to the target editor. It will take a bit of time but the maths is right

Jel

Now that looks cool Tony!

A silly question. could it be possible for a train to change a distance model, not the player? It would be cool if this model could be triggered by the train, as the distance model would have working signals!

Anyway here is my latest creation in game.

Railway network map for the PW gang.

http://www.semgonline.com/sr_map/srmap.html

PW = Permenat Way, otherwise know as railway track.

It is working in the game with an edited EAW_RRD.DAT made by the target editor

The first and last sections are not yet made as it needs different code to calculate the start and end points. Now the middle sections are working I can add this code

Jel

Sounds good Tony.

I've just posted a link to my Level crossing, so now you should have a Terminus, wayside station, signal bod, and crossing, now I have to just make some more versions for Britain France and Germany. I'll wait for the other EU countries to start crying out before I make any other countries, but if they want a set find the textures please! I've had a devils own job finding models to copy and adapt, so they look something like right.

It is done


Using the Target editor which now uses mathematical calculations for the parallel line endpoints I made a spiral track in Kent, and duplicated it 5 times:


Here is a close up showing two parts of the spiral- you can just see the multiple lines


Here's a train on it under attack:



Here you can see how the calculated angles and intersection points lined the different sections up beautifully.


Now I need a break

Jel

No you don't, you need a bloody medal!

4 track though is normally the max unless your heading out of Waterloo.

Super work. You deserve oak leafs on the medal you already have, an R&R in Paris, and a transpher to a vitory bonds tour.

when you are rested, I am sure Gibbons will want radiused intersections. ( joke! )

Great idea Allen! What about it Tony?

LOL

The target editor has a size limit for the selection of an area which will display tiles. If you select an area bigger than this limit you see a blue background that cannot show the difference between water and land. This can make problems if you are making railways, especially from scratch

So introducing "Global Railways"


On the "Whole World" page there is a "Draw global railways" checkbox, and a "Sections" textbox with a default value of 16 in it.
If the "Draw global railways" checkbox is checked then when you click and drag it will draw a railway line as a red line.




The line is chopped into 16 (or the edited number) parts to create nodes along it and the data added to the railways grid.
Then if you uncheck the "Draw global railways" checkbox and select a smaller area you see the line on the "Railways" page:


Then nodes can be moved, other nodes can be added if necessary, to get the line that you really want.
Parallel lines can be created if you need them

I just need to make a couple of cosmetic changes to the editor, and I will upload the new version of the editor, and the new 1.28E exe for testing to the Coders FTP site

Jel

Hi Tony.

How close in can you zoom in, and still see the railways? I'm no good in the magic art of Tmod placement, but I would like to try.

Building 3dz's are easy, but other aspects of EAW are a dark art.

All joking aside, the last bit of the puzzle is to try and get more trains working in opposite directions, so all these lines have a use.

Using DAW I selected Malta from the Whole World page with tiles showing. I reselected then edited to bring the last railway node close to the airfield TMod at Hal Far.
Note the distance across in each picture. The whole pic in the last one is 1 metre x 1 metre so the node and the airfield are millimetres apart


Edit:
BTW I used the new Global Railway feature in the Target Editor to make the rail line at Malta, then moved the nodes into position using the features on the Railways page.

Jel

Hi Tony.

Looks a bit pixelated, can we use 512x512 PCX or BMP tiles?

The tile pictures are 256x256 jpgs in the E,N,S and W folders. A tile is 4.096 km x 4.096 km so it will not make any difference when very small areas are selected for fine placement. In some cases these fine placements are used to put a set of TMods at the same point. In any case with the smaller tiles less memory is used to load them.

Anyhow there is a "NewTEDandXE.exe" 7-zip self installer with both a working set up of the editor, and the latest 1.28E exe with essential CDFs in it in the "Utilities" folder at our FTP.

Jel

Great work Tony, now go and enjoy the Sun for a few days.

Got it Tony, but I'm getting runtime error 53, if I try to click on the map showing the railways. Can't seem to zoom in.

Any chance you could post a set of files for default EAW Europe world. I'm not interested in DAW. Sorry Ray.

These are some other enhancements from various cereal boxes here in the states. (Boy did I have to eat a bunch of cereal to get these..)



And:




Thank you.

So part 2 asks about the applicability of these keen little exercises displayed over the course of the last several years. As a casual observer, I have to wonder how much closer you guys are to a solution.

Or is it now a moot point?

The appearance is one of grown men having fun in a sand box without any supervision. Well.. maybe once in a while an old bean might drop in for accolades. But aside from that, it doesn't seem like there's much more on the horizon.

Yup.. just like old times.

A solution to what?

That would be telling.. but I believe you know to what I'm referring. Playing coy is pretty transparent in this instance.

For example, a great opportunity was bestowed upon this community about seven years ago.

(It was a bad thing for me to read those archives again. Now I can remember where I left off)

Hi BP.

Like your graphics, but they are only 2D, so I can't do much with then. I just hope you didn't have to eat to many Corn Flakes.

On the subject of the archives. They are there to remind us of things we did, and from time to time I go poking around trying to find out things I've forgotten about, but there is also a lot of heated discussions, which are better off staying in the past.

What was, should stay in the archives, and not be dragged back into the present. I don't want to see this positive development thread locked by opening up old wounds. If you want to do that PM Tony.

Sandbagger will no doubt be watching.

No I won't push the matter. Not really worth the effort in these times..

Sometimes the mere suggestions are enough. I have a notion that these high hopes that were so well proffered up in antiquity have since suffered a slow and uneventful demise.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some lemon sorbet waiting for me in the kitchen.