A brief overview of basic modeling requirements for Open Rails at this stage of its development by Captain Bazza
Basic information:
Model as if you were doing it for MSTS.
You can use higher resolution artwork and use the MSTS tools for converting to .ACE and the mesh files to
.S shape format.
Use the same modeling programs that cater for MSTS.
Set up a ENG and SD for locomotives, and a WAG and SD for rollingstock (wagons, cars, etc.).
Use textures in the square format ie, 64x64, 128x128, 512x512, 1024x1024 and 2048x2048.
Use the same animated parts format and naming protocol as for MSTS.
Texture objects in the heirarachy from one texture source per object.
You can have more polygons per object than you can in MSTS.
You can use a single 2000M LOD, or multiple LODs.
Fewer textures the better, but experiment.
Be warned that high polygon model thumbnails may not show up in the MSTS Activity Editor menus, but the
model still loads and will appear in the consist.
MSTS type cabviews work now, but the sprites are not animated. (Sprites = pics of parts that are
animated, these are 2d, not 3d parts.
The same texture rules apply to cabviews as for MSTS.
Note: there are no current smoke or steam emissions.
Note: there may be some displacement of lighting coordinates in the sim. The amount of displacement varies.
Steam locomotive animated parts:
Default - "piston" does not appear to work, you can substitute a rod(x) name for the crosshead/piston part.
Only two bogies (trucks) per locomotive are supported (MSTS legacy) these are bogie1 and bogie2
Each bogie may have up to three wheelsets, these are as follows:
bogie1 > wheels11 wheels12 wheels13 (these are animated by the sim)
bogie2 > wheels21 wheels22 wheels23 (these are animated by the sim)
The main rod that connects the driver wheelsets is main_link_rod (this may be truncated in the conversion
to main_link_ but it will still work in the sim).
You can have up to five driver wheelsets,
wheels1 wheels2 wheels3 wheels4 wheels5
which are animated as follows:
0 - 16 frames = 17 frames total, frame 0 is the keyframe at top-dead-center or zero degrees.
Each subsequent frame (frame 1>) the rotation is advanced by 22.5 degrees until frame 16 where the position of the
rotation is back at 0 degrees.
The following rod sets work in MSTS but with a proviso:
rod1 ~ rod6
rod01 ~ rod06
rod001 ~ rod006 = 18 rods or parts in total.
The proviso is that each rod set is parented to a different object in the heirarachy.
A rod part may stand in for a spare driver wheelset, but is still named as a rod(x) but must still be
parented correctly as explained above. All rods must be animated in order to work.
At this stage of development there are no other animated parts available, but that might change in the future.
Note: you cannot have parts animated while a locomotive is stationary. For example, a bell will not animate until the locomotive moves,
then its animation is governed by the speed of the locomotive. In case you are wondering - there is no animated bell, but you can use a
spare wheelset or rod, however, as mentioned the movement will start when the locomotives starts moving and at an uncontrollable speed.
The above information is intended only for steam locomotives.
(25 September 2010)