The General, a US Civil war locomotive

[tbryson2]

Good eye Shane, this a "feature" of the Auran "realistic" steam physics system they gave us. ....... I personaly take the direct-drive 1 tag off the drive wheels and put it on front or rear truck or more often add it to an invisible bogey. ........
.

Bob, curious about the "invisible bogey" mentioned in an earlier post. Wouldn't I have to create that as an "asset" and then put the "direct-drive" tag in "IT's" config file? Or is there a way to tie it onto an invisible bogey without having to create it as another "asset"??? Not sure how to create an "invisible" bogey I guess. Same as any other bogey without the mesh and the engine has an attach point for it?

Terry

 

[TheCowboy]

I make my invisible bogey as a simple plane about 2 inches square. Then apply a black texture with black opacity so it is invisible. Animate it just like you would a normal bogey, but use the specs for your main drivers in the config file. That is if your drivers are 60 inches, set the anim distance to correspond to 60 inches.

Yes it does have to be a separate asset. If you dont want to make it invisible, you can hide it inside the boiler or whatever if it is small.

You cannot use Aurans invisible bogey as they are not animated and you cannot use the direct drive in the config files of these bogeys.

Let me know if you have more questions and I can send you an example, but there is really nothing to making one. I do think however that it still has to be be "bogey0" if you have several bogeys as bogey0 is the one Trainz reads the direct drive from.

Good luck.

 

[tbryson2]

Thanks Cowboy!

I experimented a bit, (that happens a LOT with this project!!!) and made an invisible bogey and it works fine. I did not use any mesh, just a config file and a new pointer to a.bog2. Seems to work just fine!

I had used a.bog1 for a long time and it was working fine, but I had not made the interior view yet so I was only using DCC. Now that the interior view is complete, I just HAPPENED to be outside of the engine at a slow pace and noticed that bog1 was turning REAL slow!

Interestingly enough, there IS a difference in DCC and cab mode when it comes to direct-drive tag. DCC could care less, but cab mode was whacked.

Anyway, I made an invisible bogey and both sets of wheels turn fine now.

Thanks for the fast reply, Hope to release this real soon now!

Terry

 

[tbryson2]

I forgot to add that since the front wheels have spokes, it was REAL important to get them to spin properly. Looks are everything!

Terry

 

[spiffy101]

sounds cool. Did you get your fuel problem solved?

 

[tbryson2]

sounds cool. Did you get your fuel problem solved?

Still waiting on a reply to see if I can get the script. Other than that, it is completed. Just finished the sounds today.

Terry

 

[spiffy101]

Still waiting on a reply to see if I can get the script. Other than that, it is completed. Just finished the sounds today.

Terry

Wait, were you driving the engine in Cab mode or DCC when you noticed it really consumed fuel?

 

[RPearson]

Thanks Cowboy!
... Interestingly enough, there IS a difference in DCC and cab mode when it comes to direct-drive tag. DCC could care less, but cab mode was whacked.
...Terry

DCC and cab mode are handled differently by the game. In DCC the animdist tag value is used for the bogey with the direct-drive 1 tag. In cab mode the animdist tag value for the same bogey is ignored and replaced with 2pi by the game. I've run the direct-drive 1 tag on other bogeys and it appears to work but appeareances can be deceiving in Trainz. The trick in dcc is to use the invisible bogey with an animdist equal to 1/2 the actual driver value and thereby get 4 cuffs per rev. Sounds pretty messed up after a while as the cuffs start to overlap because they're fixed length wav files but some people use it. With only 2 per rev it's a little better but still ...

Bob Pearson

 

[tbryson2]

Wait, were you driving the engine in Cab mode or DCC when you noticed it really consumed fuel?

Cab mode. It wasn't the "fuel" it consumed fast, but the pressure in the boiler was going fast. BUT that is due to it's realistic characteristics. I DID have it full bore and hauling a heavy load. Had to hit the space bar to "restock" the firebox quite a bit. In reading about the history of the engine, the lack of firewood is one of the things that caused the Raiders to screw up the day they stole the engine. Couldn't keep her "fed" enough!

I would think that the engine has a realistic "feel" to it thanks to RPearson for setting up the heart, soul, and emotional side of the engine! I think he did an awesome job!

Terry

 

[tbryson2]

DCC and cab mode are handled differently by the game. In DCC the animdist tag value is used for the bogey with the direct-drive 1 tag. In cab mode the animdist tag value for the same bogey is ignored and replaced with 2pi by the game. I've run the direct-drive 1 tag on other bogeys and it appears to work but appeareances can be deceiving in Trainz. The trick in dcc is to use the invisible bogey with an animdist equal to 1/2 the actual driver value and thereby get 4 cuffs per rev. Sounds pretty messed up after a while as the cuffs start to overlap because they're fixed length wav files but some people use it. With only 2 per rev it's a little better but still ...

Bob Pearson

Thanks for the info. It's difficult for "first timers" like me to get everything right when there is so much that can go wrong. This is where experienced people like you are a Godsend. Without your help, and others like you, I personally wouldn't have got as far as I have. Hope I can pass down some helpful hints someday and wish I could "pay you back" somehow.

By the way, have you recieved any of my emails about the oil burning script? Just curious. If it isn't something you want to let go, let me know and I'll work on something else. This is the last thing that the General needs to be accurate. If I'm being a pest, let me know.

I'll contact you by email tomorrow about my plans that we discussed earlier. May modify them a bit.

Terry

 

[tbryson2]

Thanks for the info. It's difficult for "first timers" like me to get everything right when there is so much that can go wrong. This is where experienced people like you are a Godsend. Without your help, and others like you, I personally wouldn't have got as far as I have. Hope I can pass down some helpful hints someday and wish I could "pay you back" somehow.

By the way, have you recieved any of my emails about the oil burning script? Just curious. If it isn't something you want to let go, let me know and I'll work on something else. This is the last thing that the General needs to be accurate. If I'm being a pest, let me know.

I'll contact you by email tomorrow about my plans that we discussed earlier. May modify them a bit.

Terry

Just re-read your comments above. Little confused. You said the "animidst tag gets ignored because of the "direct-drive 1" tag. Then you imply that you use "animdist" on the invisible bogey. If that is true, WHICH bogey gets the "direct-drive 1" tag? Because you can't use both on the invisible bogey and you really don't want to use the "direct-drive" tag on the visible bogeys because that will screw up their relistic revolutions.

Terry

 

[spiffy101]

When you make her oil burning, what type of oil? Hopefully it it an oil easy to access (Industry that produces it).

 

[spiffy101]

Cab mode. It wasn't the "fuel" it consumed fast, but the pressure in the boiler was going fast. BUT that is due to it's realistic characteristics. I DID have it full bore and hauling a heavy load. Had to hit the space bar to "restock" the firebox quite a bit. In reading about the history of the engine, the lack of firewood is one of the things that caused the Raiders to screw up the day they stole the engine. Couldn't keep her "fed" enough!

I would think that the engine has a realistic "feel" to it thanks to RPearson for setting up the heart, soul, and emotional side of the engine! I think he did an awesome job!

Terry

Did you pull the cutoff back? That would explain the large consumption of fuel too. Also, did you realize this thread ranks number 6 in number of replys?

 

[tbryson2]

Most of the replies are probably my crys for help!

I ran it FULL BORE as an experiment mostly. I was actually working on calibrating the steam gauge and was purposefully letting it bleed down to verify that the gauge read properly. (It does)

I know that if I really "worked" it, I could probably get her to "behave". But I'm on a time crunch and wanted to get that done.

I haven't had time to even play with any of the routes yet! Shame. She looks good on the Murchison layouts. Perhaps when I get her done?

Terry

 

[tbryson2]

When you make her oil burning, what type of oil? Hopefully it it an oil easy to access (Industry that produces it).

I don't know that Trainz differenciates(?) different oils? I'll let you know when I know more.

Terry

 

[spiffy101]

I don't know that Trainz differenciates(?) different oils? I'll let you know when I know more.

Terry

They have quite a few. Not so sure what she burns, or what others burned. I can always change what she carries in surveyor to fit my needs.

 

[tbryson2]

From a 1962 article in Trains magazine about the General's restoration:

"Oil? Yes. No. 1 diesel fuel, in fact, so that the General can fill'er up at the same spout diesel units use."

Hope the script comes out that way! I'll have to let RPearson know a.s.a.p!

Terry

 

[spiffy101]

From a 1962 article in Trains magazine about the General's restoration:

"Oil? Yes. No. 1 diesel fuel, in fact, so that the General can fill'er up at the same spout diesel units use."

Hope the script comes out that way! I'll have to let RPearson know a.s.a.p!

Terry

Awesome. Looks like I'll need to construct a diesel filling yard on ym layout.

 

[Pencil42]

The oil-fired steam locomotives I've seen in Trainz use bunker-c oil; kuid2:[FONT=Verdana, Arial]30671:9271390:1
I did an oil tank that refills smaller steam locos ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial]124060:28008:2), but I'm sure there are others as well.[/FONT]

 

[spiffy101]

Well, since she burns diesel, she can use the Auran Diesel or the Loco Diesel Fuel the built-in World Trainz locos use. I would prefer the latter.