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Willy's attempts at railroad retexturing

Started by Swordmaster, October 29, 2012, 06:18:01 PM

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whatevermind

Great work here! I definitely like the evolution of your textures to where they are now, and think it's a pretty good color set. Definitely looking forward to more!

Swordmaster

Thanks for the explanation, Alex. Looks like some of my PNGs are about 45kb, but I assume you were talking about imported FSHs. I wonder what "special care" one can take during importing, though. If you have a moment, please explain.

And thanks whatevermind. They've been tweaked further, though.

Click for larger image. Shown on the Pyrenean terrain, for a change. As you can see, a lot of people came to watch these new textures :D


Avenue intersections and diagonal road still to do, as well as some more work on the diagonal switch and two lesser used pieces not in this image. Street crossing needs some work, too. Actually, they all need some work done, as I'll also add some details to represent the track circuit. But the basic palette should be fixed now.

I still think the ballast could use a widening, though.

I'm particulary pleased with the ortho x diag diamond, which was a bit challenging. Just some final touches to be done.



Cheers
Willy

Simcoug

Bravo Willy, this is looking better and better!  The difference between the old texture and your creation are quite extraordinary when you look at that diagonal road crossing.  I'm not going to say that the old STR texture was flawed, but I definitely think your texture is an improvement for folks looking for a older style rail.  I'm curious what the transition looks like between your STR texture and the standard double track.

I can tell you that I will be using this re-texture in my CJ - it fits perfectly. 

cogeo

The new theme is really nice, however this is an individual modding job, interesting only to a certain number of players. As io_bg said, a SAM-like approach here is the best way. I had asked about this in the past but modders weren't interested very much (unfortunately i don't know how to make those RULs, to make these myself).

There are many more themes that players would really like. Examples:
- Concrete sleepers
- Ballastless track (prefab or blocks)
- Electrified track (third rail)
- Electrified track (overhead wire). I don't know why this hasn't been done yet, but I think that the wire can be modelled, and the model be used as a network model (like in el-rail and monorail), rather than as a "prop" (in T21s); this way the model is bent, following the terrain variations (and would thus look OK).
- Rack railway
- Other retextures
A RUL expert could make the ID allocations, the RULs, copy/renumber the models and textures etc, with the actual texturing work carried-out by other members.

@Swordmaster: There is only one puzzle piece (the Start piece) for each SAM texture, which 3 puzzle pieces are you talking about? The same could be done for the rail texture variations too; there could be a diagonal start piece too, but this can even be skipped (players can start with the straight piece and then turn it to 45° and bulldoze the short straight section).

And Alex is right, better forget the HD thing, little benefit (resolution is higher than the actual screen resolution) and much more resources usage, while the effect on the game speed, esp if the player has laid extensive networks, is actually unknown.

Swordmaster

Quote from: Simcoug on November 03, 2012, 12:20:29 PM
Bravo Willy, this is looking better and better!  The difference between the old texture and your creation are quite extraordinary when you look at that diagonal road crossing.  I'm not going to say that the old STR texture was flawed, but I definitely think your texture is an improvement for folks looking for a older style rail.  I'm curious what the transition looks like between your STR texture and the standard double track.

I can tell you that I will be using this re-texture in my CJ - it fits perfectly. 

Thanks! But I need to reiterate that I'm not trying to make an "old" texture. Just a more rural, American type of track. In fact, I have no idea how old railways looked like (no color pictures), although I expect a strong likeness.

As for a crossing with standard double track, do you mean the standard look? Because I'll also retexture DTR. . .


Quote from: cogeo on November 03, 2012, 12:50:02 PMThe new theme is really nice, however this is an individual modding job,

What do you mean by "individual modding job"? I'd be more than happy if someone would want to work with me on this in any way. Maybe I'll need a few pointers if I ever get to stick my own puzzle pieces together, although I'm reading up on Maarten's tutorial.

Quoteinteresting only to a certain number of players.
Well, if you see a way to make it interesting to more players, let me know.


QuoteAs io_bg said, a SAM-like approach here is the best way. I had asked about this in the past but modders weren't interested very much (unfortunately i don't know how to make those RULs, to make these myself).

There are many more themes that players would really like. Examples:
- Concrete sleepers
- Ballastless track (prefab or blocks)
- Electrified track (third rail)
- Electrified track (overhead wire). I don't know why this hasn't been done yet, but I think that the wire can be modelled, and the model be used as a network model (like in el-rail and monorail), rather than as a "prop" (in T21s); this way the model is bent, following the terrain variations (and would thus look OK).
- Rack railway
- Other retextures
A RUL expert could make the ID allocations, the RULs, copy/renumber the models and textures etc, with the actual texturing work carried-out by other members.

@Swordmaster: There is only one puzzle piece (the Start piece) for each SAM texture, which 3 puzzle pieces are you talking about? The same could be done for the rail texture variations too; there could be a diagonal start piece too, but this can even be skipped (players can start with the straight piece and then turn it to 45° and bulldoze the short straight section).

I was talking about the smooth curves for some of the SAM streets. Once you make the smooth curves and switches for the rail variants you mentioned, wouldn't you need to make a new puzzle piece for every such curve for every different texture?


Cheers
Willy

art128

Just stopping by to say spectacular work on the latest textures Willy. The ortho x diag diamond crossing is indeed really nice!


Also congrats on NAM associate promotion!
I'll take a quiet life... A handshake of carbon monoxide.

Props & Texture Catalog

mave94

Great work on the railroad textures! I currently use a railroad texture MOD by rivit, but I think I like yours even more. If you want to make different textures, you could also upload it as separate downloads or multiple files, so one can choose which one he wants to use.

-Matthijs

Simcoug

Quote from: Swordmaster
Thanks! But I need to reiterate that I'm not trying to make an "old" texture. Just a more rural, American type of track. In fact, I have no idea how old railways looked like (no color pictures), although I expect a strong likeness.

Maybe 'old' wasn't the right word - how about 'used', in any case it definitely looks authentic. 

Quote from: Swordmaster
As for a crossing with standard double track, do you mean the standard look? Because I'll also retexture DTR. . .

Even better!  Count me in as a user of this re-texture.   :thumbsup:

RickD

Quote from: Swordmaster on November 03, 2012, 02:42:37 PM
Thanks! But I need to reiterate that I'm not trying to make an "old" texture. Just a more rural, American type of track. In fact, I have no idea how old railways looked like (no color pictures), although I expect a strong likeness.

Hmm, I also thought you were after an "old" look (which is not a bad thing). Because newer tracks are with concrete sleepers around here.
Take a look and compare how the new track in the middle stands out against the older ones: http://goo.gl/maps/27s4f

That being said, I love the textures from the last picture. It is especially impressive at the Avenue crossing where we can see the comparison between yours and Maxis. If I didn't know those grey texture was supposed to be railtracks I probably wouldn't recognize them next to yours.
My name is Raphael.
Visit my MD: Empire Bay (My old MD: Santa Barbara County)

weixc812

It looks great, Willy
I'm among the guy who has got tired of the original ones too ;D
Welcome to ALFERRID(UPDATE 5-District C)
And my other pics at SimCityChina:click here

ivo_su

I've always been frightened to death by the textures of tracks - they seem so difficult with such small details. I thought this was a terrible job, which requires far more time than in road textures.