Whatever Happened To VMD

[Kris94]

I remember a few years back when I was looking at their site and they had a lot of trains mostly payware I wanted and the Marias Pass on HP Trainz required their locos. I just wanted to know what happened to them?

 

[bl4882]

A couple or few years ago their North American loco site went down. Since then there have been announcements from time to time that it was to return. The latest, if I remember right, is that their line of North American locos was to be updated with the help of Jointed Rail and the older versions released as freeware.

Unfortunately, none of these announcements have come to pass, although when last I checked some of their North American equipment is back as well as some European material. But, patience is often rewarded and perhaps soon their excellent work will be available again in some form.

Bernie

 

[Carfreak4]

Some of VMD's content is in TS12 for use primarily with Jointed Rail's Mojave Sub route. I believe I read a post Justin wrote a while back saying he had updated almost every US VMD loco for use with TS2009+, although I'm not sure if this is true or not.

 

[Kris94]

Yeah hopefully.

 

[bl4882]

Well, what I am most anxiously waiting for is their line of first generation SDs and GPs in Espee and Rio Grande livery. Right now there is a big hole in this area. For example, the only SP GP9 is a torpedo boat in Black Widow paint. While it is an excellent model of a beautifully restored engine here in the SF Bay Area, it is of a type of which the SP owned a grand total of four out of a total GP9 fleet of well over three hundred. The only SD9s are the oversized one from an earlier version of Trainz and and Ben Neal's superb model, both in Bloody Nose paint. Neither of these have the classic SP light package with the ashcan headlight. VMD's model has the headlight features and is in Black Widow.

There is no doubt that the unavailability of these models must be sorely felt by a lot of Trainzers.

Bernie

 

[jbanetman]

Yeah, when I came back to Trainz with 2010 EE, I was disappointed that these fine locos have seemed to languish. Isn't anyone still making American freight locos for the new Trainz versions? I realize creators make locos for fun and because they want to see them in the game, and they kindly let us use them too for free mostly. But in looking at the DLS recently there's not much new american locos being put up it seems. Is is because most of the loco types, like SD-40, SD-60, SD70, and all, have been already made for previous versions, and no creators are interested in doing new versions? I've been reading about incompatibility already for a lot of these older locos, that still look good, but won't run in native 2010 or 2012.

 

[meatloaf747]

http://www.virtual-motive-division.com/html/us_loco.html

Cheers, Mac...

 

[bl4882]

Hello Jbanetman,

Funny you should mention that, because I was thinking to myself this morning as I scanned the DLS for new material, that British Trainzers, God Bless 'em, are flooding the DLS with new versions of their locos and rolling stock, but not as much in the way of new North American material is showing up there.

But let's not forget to be thankful for the excellent material that has been created, including the payware. Remember when American steam pretty much meant some of the glamor girls like the Daylight and the Pennsy duplex, a switcher, and a few models from Ben Neal. Even if it is not perfect there is now a good selection of steam and diesel that will allow for a credible representation of a railroad.

Your comment about freeware creators making what they want to see hits the nail right on the thumb. We have no right to expect they will create something for us, or for posterity, as opposed to for their own enjoyment. When I finally finish the phase of this hobby I am working in now, I intend to learn how to create the models I think are needed. If I live that long :hehe: , I may fill some of these gaps with acceptable creations. Isn't that what this hobby is about? Taking time to do one step at a time? And if a VMD is exhumed, so much the better in the meantime.

I also think that some content creators are finding that Auran/N3V is now committed to changing versions faster than a body of work can be created. This may raise issues that have really not been considered yet, i.e., why spend a year creating a beautiful loco for TS12 if TS14 is to be announced a few months after the loco is released?

Bernie

 

[sawyer811]

The new VMD site went up a while ago, but i can't remember the site adress (Mac's is the old one). last i checked the N&W GP-9s(?) were back up as freeware, and a demo SD70Ace. But again, i can't remember the site. It was in one of those GP-7/9 threads. I'll have a look and go see if i can dig it up.

Be back in a sec.

EDIT: well, found it, but it's busted; blast...PIPE!

http://www.virtualtrains.com/index.p...d=53&TreeId=12 just in case someone can make it work.

 

[jbanetman]

I did get the SPORBUST locos and am trying to get them to work with 2010 native (most work in compatibility mode ) mode, and have gotten the DRG Heritage one to work, and a Santa Fe bonnet one, but seems any of them with the auto-renumbering I can't get to work. And seems like converting the meshes from progressive mesh to the new mesh breaks them. Thats why I was wondering if anyone had released any newer american freight locos. Maybe I will attempt to learn modeling, and can start out with 2010/2012 standards. I wonder tho if incompatibilities will still happen as Trainz goes forward. I do realize they are upgrading the graphics quality of the sim, and of course the old locos will have problems.

 

[jbanetman]

Re converting old locos, seems that the CCP conversion to the new mesh type is not a good idea. When I reverted the DRG loco(I still had the original download), and just edited the config etc in explorer to get rid of the minor errors and left the mesh alone, 2010 loaded it ok. The DRG Heritage does look nice in 2010, but I wish I had more luck with the other SPORBUST locos. I'll keep trying as I can. What's the rule about eliminating the errors on someone else's loco? I have only edited the config etc and not altered the loco in any way, just enough so it works. Could it be uploaded to the DLS as long as SPORBUST is fully credited for the creation of it and that its just a compatibility change? If not I could help anyone else who wanted to do the same compatibility change for their own enjoyment. Maybe some of us together could work out how to get all the SPORBUST locos to work?

 

[Kris94]

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[Kris94]

Re converting old locos, seems that the CCP conversion to the new mesh type is not a good idea. When I reverted the DRG loco(I still had the original download), and just edited the config etc in explorer to get rid of the minor errors and left the mesh alone, 2010 loaded it ok. The DRG Heritage does look nice in 2010, but I wish I had more luck with the other SPORBUST locos. I'll keep trying as I can. What's the rule about eliminating the errors on someone else's loco? I have only edited the config etc and not altered the loco in any way, just enough so it works. Could it be uploaded to the DLS as long as SPORBUST is fully credited for the creation of it and that its just a compatibility change? If not I could help anyone else who wanted to do the same compatibility change for their own enjoyment. Maybe some of us together could work out how to get all the SPORBUST locos to work?

Please click one of the Quick Reply icons in the posts above to activate Quick Reply.

Good luck with that.

 

[rweber95]

...What's the rule about eliminating the errors on someone else's loco? I have only edited the config etc and not altered the loco in any way, just enough so it works. Could it be uploaded to the DLS as long as SPORBUST is fully credited for the creation of it and that its just a compatibility change?...

The DLS will not let you upload someone elses repaired kuid except thru the Download Station Cleanup function at http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=67945. For private use, each will have to make the necessary corrections to run them in native mode for their own use.

Bob Weber

 

[jbanetman]

Bl4882, well, we have to expect that model configurations, modeling standards, how the special effects like smoke, etc are done, must change at some point as Trainz moves ahead. Thats only to be expected, Auran can't support old content indefinitely, however much that pains us. I noticed someone from Auran has acknowledged that they have been lax on getting examples of the latest modeling standards, etc documented, and will try to do better, so maybe that will encourange new modeling efforts.