Working on a Route with a group?

T

targanon

Targ (Chris)
Well I'm sure this has been an issue for a lot of people that have come together to work on a project.. especially in Trainz with some people being really good at doing this or that.. building structures run track and getting it right.. texturing, putting tree's in.


I would like to know how you over came the difficulties involved in working as a team on the same project..

like did you just split the project.. up into smaller bits and each work on your section and correspond with each other? did you take on different tasks.. like running the track was completed and then that person sat back and twiddled his/her thumbs till they had to do more.. track work??

Did you put the route on a cloud and all work on it together.. but at scheduled times.. thus keeping it in one piece.. was it shared Via a VPN??


Who had control over the project.. was it the artist the track team.. the Landscape team. The logics team.. ?

I would love to open my route up for more then just me to work on it.. as its around 200Klms from start to end and I don't really have a huge amount of time but would love to see it out and being used.. or Should I just sit on it and give it the 2 years I can see it taking..

How you guys do it?? either alone or in a group??


Targanon_20120115_0001.jpg
Targanon_20120224_0003.jpg
 
Rail-Sim group

Rail-Sim (creators of the Settle & Carlisle add-on package) currently has 6 members working on the next release.
The group is divided according to their interests. One person may have multiple interests:
3 persons contribute to locomotives, coaches and wagons
2 persons collaborate on animated industries and industrial accessories.
1 person creates road vehicles.
1 person on route building
2 persons collaborate on sessions
3 persons contribute to housing and other scenery items

There is a fileshare where creators upload their latest output and a private forum where we discuss problems and announce uploads to the fileshare.

To answer your questions directly:
Q: did you just split the project.. up into smaller bits and each work on your section and correspond with each other? did you take on different tasks..?
A: Yes, the division of labour is outlined above. But there is no agreement that we stick to this division. Anyone is free to contribute anything. Our prior interests determine a de-facto division. It would be important that any group have a complementary set of interests that combine to cover all requirements. Your focus is on route building (using assets from the DLS?), whereas Rail-Sim has a broader brief that includes content creation.

Q: Did you put the route on a cloud and all work on it together.. but at scheduled times.. thus keeping it in one piece.. was it shared Via a VPN??
A: Since there is only 1 Rail-Sim route builder, the question of simultaneous work by different people on the route does not arise. As the route progresses, and more assets created by others in the group are placed on the route, route updates are uploaded to the fileshare so that everyone can see progress so far and provide feedback.

Q: Who had control over the project.. was it the artist the track team.. the Landscape team. The logics team.. ?
A: No one is assigned to have the final word. Where there is disagreement, consensus must be reached. Or if not a consensus, then a majority decision.
 
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Hiballer can give you more detail. For the Darjeeling Himalayan railway, the original route with DEM contours was created as a complete unit, the main single track was laid and then the map was split up into sections for team members to work on. Once they were complete the individual sections were merged back into a complete route.

As there was no existing content that suited that region and era, other team members worked on creating content. With about 8-10 members in the team that was a 3 year project.

Peter
 
Thanks for your input on this. I'm trying to work out how a project could be broken down as such.. I know that most route that are created and make it onto the DLS or made available are of late a very high standard..

As you state that your Darjeeling Himalayan railway has been in the works for 3 years .. with up to 10 working on it.. I see that i will be working on this for a great deal of time to come.. maybe even into retirement.. LOL
;-? Oh My... the other half will be happy with me not bothering her for cake or cookies... if you know what I mean.. I'll be too busy for that .LOL

 
Chris
The project i have underway has been a one may show in regards to the work in surveyor a team effort in regards to items of content built for the maps. When i started this project a group of others had actually stopped trying to build the maps i have been working on. I asked for willing volunteers but only got a few offers of support which was much appreciated from content creators. No-one else offered up, but amazingly when i progressed so far alon g i started gettign offers of help but by that stage as tempting as it was to take them up i looked at it well i have come this far with it i will see it out. I have endured a lot in making this map, i have lost the map twice once to a Hard Drive issue second to a corruption issue but still i have pushed forward. I am proud of the work i have done it may not be exactly 100% accurate but it has the feel of the time period and seems to run as it should. I guess this project was just meant to bre something for me to keep me focused and moving forward.

ghosty
 
OH I hate this editor if you click the wrong button your text is gone never to resurface...

I had typed up a huge reply to you all but mostly to you ghostryder but its gone and I'm not redoing it..
 
to be honest a group thing is a kewl idea and one day would love to try that but at same time Ive had personal ambitions to fulfill as most others do at theyre time and convience.........
but on the same not downloading others or just peepin through routes kindda gives ya the best know how on goin solo to satisfy that s what I wanted to put out feelin and learning from theyre does and donts and if ya hungry enough ya can put out a pretty aggressive route on your own but bottom line is time and dls latest updates can take its toll..........
 
If anyone is interested, I am looking for someone that enjoys doing the scenery. I have created a 120mi long single track main with passing sidings, towns with industries and a central yard. All track is laid with miles posts and signals. It is fully operational, but it could use some scenery.

David
 
Ouch!!!!

Shameless thread Heist... go ahead post ya off topic comment in my thread, You know its considered bad forum to HI-Jack some else's thread..
 
Chris,

My apologies. It seemed to be a gathering of people in the know, so I thought it might be a good chance to ask. Didn't mean to high jack this thread.

David
 
As Peter said, the Darjeeling route (created a few years back, originally for 2004, but up to 2012 standards now) took us three years to build. The first task was to get the actual tracks laid end-to-end on the 54-mile route's DEM. That was daunting since we didn't have anything but a rough outline of how the tracks ran. We used Photoshop (with layers) to produce overlays of varying sizes until we had them properly placed.

I took up the task of creating all the line's original gradients and track smoothing. Once that was done, I chopped the route up into around 25 pieces and put them up for grabs on our DHR site (http://darjeelingtrainz.com/) <--shameless self-promotion. Each of the group grabbed what they wanted and began doing scenery work. As long as the "bitter ends" of the track on their portion were not tampered with (gradient, movement, etc) they would fit right back together again when fully detailed.

We had no content to go with the route so we built our own. I am using the 'we', but I can't make any content at all, so it was actually 'them'. Periodically, I'd stick the portions together and post it on the site for everyone to download and check out. We made a few revisions, but generally things went swimmingly.

Oddly enough, the DHR forum didn't happen until we released the route. We did a LOT of emailing back and forth though. Time differences between Australia and the US and the UK really wreaked havoc, but we hung in there.

I guess I was sort of 'in control' of the physical piecing-together. Between myself and Peter we did a lot of conferring over details. Your group MUST be able to work together well. That is a definite must or the project will just not come to fruition.

Good luck on yours.

Bill
 
I couldn't agre more with what Hiballer has said - the group must have that friendship and trust, or a lot of talk gets bandied about, and nothing happens. Get a group with the same interest, discuss what is the objective, and work towards that group goal. No one person can be 'jack of all trades', it just won't work - but without the group working as a team, the project will falter and die.
 
I see what you are saying I think that, I am going to have a lot of work to do before I can call for help in doing the route...I need to get the line in place and running as close as possible.. I know that will take quite a bit of time..

but maybe I could find some people that have an interest in this route and area.. and some that have ability in doing the things that need to be done..

My only problem is that the people that I know can walk the walk and not just talk the talk.. are either busy doing their own thing or have retired from doing it... LOL
One Such person that creates some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen .. has recently resumed posting on the forum... so who know maybe that person could become interested in working on the project, or even a couple of the rivet counters that troll the forums could put their hands up and help to create it or advise on it as the project progress' rather then after its on the DLS.


I think I will keep plodding along with it as I am for now... at least by doing this I will have a pallet if it does become a group project and there will be some idea's of the season and rainfall to work from..




-------------------------------------
Going too far is often misunderstood, with having a polite dig in name of fun..
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I think that you guys should cut Dap some slack here.
He is only asking about help on a route that I'm sure he would release to the public on this forum.
Do you guys know how much he has been doing on the trainz forum develloping a system for us all to use to run trainz like the prototype.
I'm sure he has lots of hours put into his system for us all to use and enjoy. " FOR FREE"
Please remember we are all here to enjoy trainz.

Bob
 
railroy19 said:
I think that you guys should cut Dap some slack here.
He is only asking about help on a route that I'm sure he would release to the public on this forum.
Do you guys know how much he has been doing on the trainz forum develloping a system for us all to use to run trainz like the prototype.
I'm sure he has lots of hours put into his system for us all to use and enjoy. " FOR FREE"
Please remember we are all here to enjoy trainz.

Bob
Click to expand...

Are you sure this post was for this thread?

Bill
 
HiBaller said:
I took up the task of creating all the line's original gradients and track smoothing. Once that was done, I chopped the route up into around 25 pieces and put them up for grabs on our DHR site.Bill
Click to expand...

I'm curious as to how you chopped the route up into 25 pieces. I didn't know that it was possible.

Joe
 
It took me around six hours to do it, Joe. I started with the entire route loaded and began by marking lines of contour over the route at 500M intervals. The procedure for this is rather involved, but I can detail it if you wish. Then, after all the contours were marked with HOG white, I used HOG red to divide the route into 25 sections right at the joint between boards.

Here is where it becomes very tedious. You have to load the whole route 25 times, taking care to immediately do a SAVE AS... with the name of the section you want. That way, you don't overwrite the original route. Now delete unwanted boards until you are left with just the set of boards you want. It helps immensely if you have something like a printout from TrainzMap (which only worked with TRS2004). That way you can keep things straight. Another way is to put down a single "station sign" or other nameable item into each section and name it with the section name. That way, you can just "Find" (Control-F) and go directly to the section you want to KEEP and chop off all the other boards.

Once you have just the boards you want, save the route piece and exit Surveyor, grab the original route again, and repeat the procedure. This is where being able to do multiple deletes would be a wonderful thing to have.

Bill
 
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