Midshire TANEline

[PFX]

I've been messing about with fudginator and nexusdj's Midshire Mainline for several months now, adding procedural track, additional trackside infrastructure and updating textures. I've made a short video which starts in the Horseley Fields area and continues to just beyond Glauston International. It's not the best as it's the first time I've used the video software (and I managed to wheel slip the whole way as I had no sound) but hopefully it will give you an idea of what I've been up to. I'll attempt to do one which is a bit better quality once I work out how to.

https://youtu.be/fklo0fWVzmo

[cyberdonblue]

Nice video Innis.

Unfortunately, Trainz has a wierd idea about wheel slip and it's causes. It ruins things in my opinion because the game bears no resemblance to the realities of wheelslip. I have, many times in my career, had an HST at full throttle and accelerating away like a good 'un virtually from a standing start without even the slightest hint of wheelslip. The biggest causes of wheelslip on the railway are rain/snow and greasey surfaces. HSTs don't like light rain (in fact, most units/locos don't) but on a normal dry rail you will rarely - if ever - see wheelslip. This applies to freight trains just as much too, maybe more so because if you're pulling a heavy freight train and you open the throttle too wide then you'll hear a loud bang and then total silence (and then all of your wagons will proceed to hit you up the arse like they want to kill you and snap all the couplings in the process.) In otherwords you will suffer an overload - generator overload = loud bang. Something to be avoided at all cost. That's why you've got an ammeter. I don't know many people who actually suffered such an experience (a few) but I certainly don't know anybody who experienced it twice. The maximum reading on the ammeter is 10,000 amps but you will never reach it without causing severe damage (and some loud noises in the process.) In fact, you will never reach it full stop! I've touched 9,000, maybe 9,000 and a very small bit whilst pushing my luck a couple of times and I've got away with it. Wheelslip was never on my mind, or even a threat but it's not something I would make a habit of doing because most engines would overload long before reaching that.

The main strain is on the initial get away. I was amazed when a technical bod from Derby, travelling with me one day, told me that the strain on the coupling between my engine and my train at the current speed we were travelling at (we were doing 45 mph with 32 loaded MGRs) was 13lbs (about 5.9 kgs.) That's just over a thousand tons of coal and wagons effortlessly trundling along happily following the engine. It just doesn't happen in Trainz, does it.

Sorry for the blog. I just had to get it off my chest

Cheers

Dave

[trainzrule]

So true! But it must be possible to add some sort of script to the rolling stock to stop wheelslip from happening. Especially modern trams and EMUs can be VERY annoying in trainz.

[PFX]

Dave, no apology required. The HST in Trainz has long bothered me with the ridiculous wheelslip it suffers. It needs to be going 40+mph before you can even put it in notch 3. I always wondered if this had any relation to the engine spec as I, and I'm sure everyone else who has seen one take off, knows an HST can go from 0 to full power very quickly from a stand. Certainly The Other Sim is more realistic in that respect. Even the wee shunter at our railway can handle 7 carriages without any issue other than making it wheeze somewhat.

Anyway, I hope to manage a better quality video next time. I just need to get the hang of the one that is made by GeForce.

[cyberdonblue]

...The HST in Trainz has long bothered me with the ridiculous wheelslip it suffers. It needs to be going 40+mph before you can even put it in notch 3. I always wondered if this had any relation to the engine spec as I, and I'm sure everyone else who has seen one take off, knows an HST can go from 0 to full power very quickly from a stand...

(Stand by for Blog No.2. I ought to write a book, I think .) The braking capabilities of the HST in Trainz are a thousand miles off reality too. We would regularly be doing 110mph past Crewe Coal Yard when coming back from Preston. Step 3 on the brake and you would be doing 60mph through the crossover at Crewe North and into the platform where you would often be taking the brake off (or dropping back to step 1 at least) in order to reach the southern end of the platform. Do that in Trainz and you might be lucky enough to stop at Stafford .

We had a feller who pulled the stunt with a rake of Mark IIIs and a DVT too - but totally by accident! . He hadn't been trained on HSTs yet at that time and he overheard the tail end of a conversation in the messroom at New Street between two people who knew HSTs but were only just learning the road to Preston. One of them had witnessed the HSTs excellent braking capability for himself and had told the other one about Crewe Coal Yard. The critical thing was, though, that the eavesdropper never heard him say "HST." A few days later our eavesdropper was working a London bound service from Preston to Crewe, where he would be relieved before working a service back to Birmingham. He decided to try the "110 mph past Crewe Coal Yard" technique. When he walked into the messroom back at New Street he was a fuming, nervous wreck and instantly tore into the two road learning drivers who just happened to be there. However, he quietly slipped away when he was told of his mistake - but the news went round like wildfire, as usual. Days later, when he'd recovered his composure, he told the tale of what happened by the milli-second. I laughed so hard and for so long I thought I would need hospital care. The ironic part about it all though is that he did actually stop at the southern end of the platform (by the skin of his teeth in a cloud of smoke and dust accompanied by the sound of the foulest language ever heard on earth apparently ) I promise you, he never tried it again - and to the best of my knowledge nobody else has ever dared either (except with the HST, of course.)

Sadly, all trains in Trainz behave like "rusty buffers," even down to the empty metallic clunking when you take the brake off. That's why I always smirk when I hear someone call Trainz a simulator.

Cheers

Dave

[Mightyena]

I hardly ever actually drive in Trainz, simply because the physics are just so off. I mean I've never driven a train in real life (obviously), but even I can tell that a class 319 does not take 1-1.5 minutes to apply/release the brakes, nor should it wheelslip like crazy in anything higher than nothch 2/8 (in trainz. Oviously 319s don't have that many positions in reality).

As far as I can tell, whoever programmed the physics engine was never informed that not all trains are massive American freight trains with a single loco controlling everything. Probably even more glaring in modern-era EMUs (just whack it into full throttle and let the traction control deal with the rest ) but I don't think there's any piece of stock I can put into notch 4 if I'm doing under 30.

Nope, these days I stick to my route building/reskinning, and let the AI drive the trains, since it can ignore things like physics when it suits it...

[PFX]

I rarely drive in Trainz either. It's too unrealistic, both accelerating and braking though there are a few exceptions to the rule for the accelerating part. I find the braking in particular, very unrealistic; it seems to be all or next to nothing. Unlike Dave, I don't have lots of driving experience but I have driven often enough to know how a real train reacts to braking.

I stick to route building and the only driving I do is to check everything works as it should and for the odd screenshot or two.

Innis

[klambert]

I don't know if it's rose tinted specs but I swear the driving physics were better pre 2012, I certainly remember having no issues with 2006.

[PFX]

only posting them here because they never show up in the screenshot thread High Res Bias

I don't think this is really the right thread to be posting them either?

[PFX]

I've had another attempt at recording a video. Resolution is considerably better this time and yes, the 225 set has the wrong lights.

https://youtu.be/OMfwTERdusU

[cyberdonblue]

Very professional looking, Innis. I'm impressed. Is that Irfanview or something else?

Cheers

Dave

[PFX]

Thanks Dave. Just a test to see if the higher resolution causes any issue. Seems okay and I'd only set up a single camera for it. I just realised that it has also recorded the radio I was listening to at the same time! All part of the learning process.

Not sure what the software is but it's part of my GeForce installation. Think it's part of the GeForce Experience package. If you're using a GeForce GPU, you should be able to download it.

Innis

[Mightyena]

Sounds like Nvidia Shadowplay - comes with Geforce experience and works with all Nvidia 600 series and higher cards. If you have an AMD card i believe Radeon ReLive does a similar thing.

Personally, I used to use FRAPS for recording, but the high overhead used to cause stutter on my reasonably modest PC, and its tendency to create files in the gigabytes for 30 seconds of video caused me to switch to RTSS. Only thing I miss is the ability to remove the mouse cursor from videos

[PFX]

James, I think you're right. I never really paid it much attention until now.

[Briggsy]

only posting them here because they never show up in the screenshot thread High Res Bias

I don't think this is really the right thread to be posting them either?

Agreed.

Deleted.