OR Steam Smoke

[justlooking]

Look over here, look over there, there is no problem.
Well there is.
Hundreds of users, and thousands of models should not have to change.

A change to the OR program should change the way it displays smoke readings that are in all the current engine files.
Sounds logical to me.

[CSRX]

Open Rails = Open Source. That's the best part of this simulator. We the people can change things the way we please instead of whine and cry for others to do the work for us.

I will never understand why no one wants to LEARN.

[qballbandit]

Errr, if you are including my picture, both trains were idling, so not sure what the point was?

[ossie]

Open Rails = Open Source. That's the best part of this simulator.

Absolutely Shawn. I love being able to "get under the hood" and make changes to things to suit the way I like them. Clearly ORTS still has some limitations, but its a work in progress and who knows what it might be capable of doing in a couple of years time? Until then, I'm happy to keep tinkering, and while I'm not a fan of the almost "all or nothing" aspect of the smoke, there might well be users that like seeing it billowing out of their locos. Each to their own and ORTS allows that flexibility.

You are correct Peter, the newer Tier3/4 engines are pretty clean in terms of exhaust output.

Does anyone use DPU, by Markus Gelbmann?

It would be nice to get to a point where we could have that "heat haze" (what's the technical term??) effect from modern locos, but after a couple of attempts to alter dieselsmoke.ace I've had to admit it's way beyond my capabilities. Perhaps in time.

I hadn't heard of DPU by Markus Gelbmann. I'll have to check it out.

[MMSS]

Absolutely Shawn. I love being able to "get under the hood" and make changes to things to suit the way I like them. Clearly ORTS still has some limitations, but its a work in progress and who knows what it might be capable of doing in a couple of years time? Until then, I'm happy to keep tinkering, and while I'm not a fan of the almost "all or nothing" aspect of the smoke, there might well be users that like seeing it billowing out of their locos. Each to their own and ORTS allows that flexibility.



It would be nice to get to a point where we could have that "heat haze" (what's the technical term??) effect from modern locos, but after a couple of attempts to alter dieselsmoke.ace I've had to admit it's way beyond my capabilities. Perhaps in time.

I hadn't heard of DPU by Markus Gelbmann. I'll have to check it out.

I use the DPU program by Markus Gelbmann along with the smoke enhancements by 3D Trains & Diesels West. The enhancements were installed before I used DPU so I don't know if the program gives a different effect with the others installed. But anyway DPU is great, for me at least. Does a great job on ALCO units that sometimes belch those "Smoke Globs" sometimes & on the GE units too that are way to smoky. For steam I suggest what Robert posted earlier in this thread.

But I do agree with you, Shawn & Barrie. ORTS is "Free" and a "Work In Progress". That is what a lot of the town criers forget about. They think something they notice should be addressed first all the time. And these are the people that never submit a report to the ORTS team so they would have a heads up on the issue they have. And why not get your feet wet and learn a little along the way too .

One thing they can do is use the vast resources of the forum here and search for their issues. 99% of the time, my questions are answer with just a simple search on here. And most of the answers are greatly outline for you to do it yourself with ease. The tricks & tips just might help you until the fix is implemented.

It boggles the imagination why no one will try to learn it a little as least.

[ossie]

Sounds like I have some homework to do Mark. Aside from not having heard of DPU prior to this thread, I'm not even sure if I have those "smoke enhancements" a couple of you have mentioned. A new entry for the to-do list...

[wcl]

Is their a fix on some of the diesel exhaust that makes it look more real than like a tornado coming outta the stack??

[ebnertra000]

There's a program called Diesel Power Updater or omething like that here in the F/L. It takes a little time to figure out, but it works wonderfully. I had some alcos that would bring OR to its knees with their smoke, so I ran them through DPU, and not only do they look excellent, the sirens don't sound when I pull into town

[wcl]

[wcl]

I just thought it would be just to replace the dieselsmoke.ace and that was all that needed to be done..But I guess not

[Rick-MONON]

The DPU program name is: MSTS Diesel Power Updater (DPU) VX3.0
Search for filename: downloaddpu_vx3_0.zip

Here are the items in the engine file that effect the smoke, these settings are for my F3's :

Effects
(
DieselSpecialEffects
(
comment
(
the format of these little blocks is as follow:

offset.x offset.y offset.z
normal.x normal.y normal.z
width in metres

defining the offset from the shape pivot point where steam / smoke should appear 0.0 4.55 -0.726
the direction it should go 0 1 0
width of the nozzle 0.2
)

Exhaust1
(
0.0 4.55 -0.726
0 1 0
0.2
)
Exhaust2
(
0.0 4.55 -2.93
0 1 0
0.2
)
)
)

further down the eng file you will see these also

DieselSmokeEffectInitialMagnitude( 1.0 )
DieselSmokeEffectMaxMagnitude( 3.0 )
DieselSmokeEffectInitialSmokeRate( 0.8 )
DieselSmokeEffectMaxSmokeRate( 2.5 )

[R. Steele]

If anyone cares to see what exhaust looks like with ORTS parameters written into the engine file ( by using OR include files) download any of Tyler Bundy's most recent engines - starting with the IC/ICG SW1400's or the IC GP10's.

Other than incorporating the ORTS diesel engine parameters (as a block) into an include file, you're left with setting the width of the stack to around 0.3 and tinkering with the diesel smoke effects as shown in Ricks post #26, either manually or with the program Rick suggests.

You can make up an include file for the engine (which resides in an OpenRails folder [see manual pg.116, 8.14.1 Modifications to .eng and .wag Files] ). Put the correct full power in kW or Hp, the complete 4 line diesel smoke parameter section, and the complete effects block in the appropriate section of the include file (for a loco there are two sections wagon and engine). Make adjustments as needed to the include file.
Leave the default engine file unchanged...then you will be able to run in both OR and MSTS with exhaust and power settings that are appropriate for each simulator.

[CSRX]

DieselSmokeEffectInitialMagnitude( 1.0 )
DieselSmokeEffectMaxMagnitude( 3.0 )
DieselSmokeEffectInitialSmokeRate( 0.8 )
DieselSmokeEffectMaxSmokeRate( 2.5 )

This is the only section I edit manually, NOT using that DPU program, to result in what I prefer for smoke. I say this because DPU will make everything look exactly the same, when in reality, nothing looks the same.

[R. Steele]

This is the only section I edit manually, NOT using that DPU program, to result in what I prefer for smoke. I say this because DPU will make everything look exactly the same, when in reality, nothing looks the same.

Shawn, in reality there are 3 smoke options for Alco, EMD, and GE. [See screenshot]
I don't use it much either...preferring to make include files or editing the parameters manually as you do. But it's a convenience for those who do not wish to work with the files.
bandicam 2017-09-18 11-36-07-890.jpg

[daniellouwrens]

Not sure if this has been posted already.
This is a TUT from India "diesel_effect_reduce_tutorial.zip"
in our F/L

Cheers

daniel