UE5 and Open Rails

[BrandonS261]

Hey everyone,

There has been a little bit of discussion over at Elvastower about this but not much traction with it so far! I have given it some thought and I would really like to get a team together and just see what it would take to get Open Rails implemented into UE5. The screens shots that were posted over at Elvastower of some of the equipment in a UE5 environment gives me some hope!

All I want to do is some research and see how much interest there is in this concept along with seeing if it would be possible for this to even happen.

I know there is interest in this idea but I would need help from others who are interested in this concept to help with at least research on UE5, ones who are familiar with the program and hopefully some backing from the community and ORMT.

It would be great to at least start by getting some more screen shots of equipment in UE5 to see how it looks before we go any farther.

I may be fighting an uphill battle with this but it's worth a shot I figured to at least try and see what comes of it.

Brandon

[crstagg]

What is United Europe Five?

[BrandonS261]

This is also an open source program that would bring Open Rails to a whole new level of realism if it is possible that is! There were a few screen shots of MSTS equipment imported into a UE5 environment over at Elvastower and it is stunning how different and more realistic it makes them look.

https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/unreal-engine-5

[crstagg]

The screens shots that were posted over at Elvastower of some of the equipment in a UE5 environment gives me some hope!

WHERE at ET?

[BrandonS261]

The post was #84 on The Future of Open Rails but the photos have sense been deleted! I did save them to my PC and Wayne has given me permission to re-post the images over at Elvastower and said everything except for the vegetation are from the MSTS/OR era. If you are on Elvastower go over and take a look. It just goes to show what UE5 can do with OR.

Brandon

[ngc427]

I feel like UE5 might be a bit too modern and overkill for a sim like Open Rails, but I have a good secondary suggestion. I wonder if it would be possible to (essentially) develop Open Rails into something like Unity, that has very flexible graphical options? Obviously, easier said than done, but it's food for thought.

[Strawberry Yogurt]

I feel like UE5 might be a bit too modern and overkill for a sim like Open Rails, but I have a good secondary suggestion. I wonder if it would be possible to (essentially) develop Open Rails into something like Unity, that has very flexible graphical options? Obviously, easier said than done, but it's food for thought.

Unreal is great for some games and awful for others, but integrating Open Rails into a better looking graphics environment, and allowing content creators to take advantage of new texturing and modelling methods, is the only way Open Rails is going to retain relevance beyond a tiny niche of people who grew up with MSTS.

Content creators won't spend time developing for a sim that is 20 years behind in graphics tech, no matter how good the physics are. I really hope Open Rails can make some much needed changes and push into the next generation.

[eric]

Far be it from me to rain on anyone's parade, as I've listened to all this talk of new graphics engines, I have to ask who is going to create the content?...

We have methods and tools to build content for ORTS, and there's a steady stream of it... It's one thing to discuss improvements to the existing platform, but if you're talking about Unity and all these other platforms, you're no longer talking about ORTS. You're talking about a new platform.

Sure, the source meshes for models built in Blender can be reused, but I doubt any of the routes are going to carry over.

Without routes, there's really not much point to a train simulator. Unlike a flight simulator or a scenario game with a very limited world, rail is at ground level and stretches for 50+ kilometers....

Try to keep all that in perspective in your quest for more eye candy....

[superheatedsteam]

The unstable version of OR supports PBR materials applied to glTF or glb file format models.

If you are modeller that wants better graphics then maybe apply PBR materials to one of your existing models, export as glTF or glb and see if the current OR graphics engine is going to satisfy your graphical needs.

It's a skill set you are going to have to learn no matter which modern graphics engine you create content for.

[BrandonS261]

Thanks guys for your input, I appreciate it! Eric and superheatedsteam do bring up some good valid points.

I have actually been learning how to use Blender and was planning on re releasing my Milwaukee Road 261 model in gITF or glb file format and putting the better texture format files on the model as well to see the difference.

I guess what I should have been asking is would there be a way to improve the graphics we already currently have instead of going to a whole new graphics that would end up taking a lot more time and effort to achieve?

UE5 does look outstanding and is the most modern graphics out there but it may not be the best fit for Open Rails. Yes Open Rails does need an upgrade in that department and maybe it will come over time but it also needs a lot of other aspects as well. One I know Eric and I have been wanting is a new Route Editor and the only thing that we currently have is TSRE5.

Not every Train Simulator game is going to be perfect and they will all have there own separate flaws as I have come to learn over the years. I guess I kind of just got ahead of myself but I would still like to see what the best solution for Open Rails in the graphics department may be for the future.

The ORMT and coders have there hands full I know and maybe its time some of us who are wanting this stuff teach ourselves to do coding and other aspects to help out more instead of asking for others to do it. Like the old saying goes. If you want something done you need to do it yourself. I have learned that in modeling over the years and maybe I will have to do the same when it comes to coding as well.

Brandon

[TrainSimJack]

Now you're talking brandon!!!!

[BrandonS261]

I got to thinking and its not about what we don't have but what we do have and how we can improve it for future development.

Now this may take some coding but I have been doing research about Blender and there are ways to not only make realistic models but also smoke, steam, fire, water and other aspects that would come very handy in Open Rails.

Just not sure how we can make them work in Open Rails. If we were able to make new smoke and steam for steam locomotives, water, and even fire for firebox glow instead of just using light glows for the game I think it would greatly enhance the experience of Open Rails since we are still using the old ways of doing things from MSTS era.

Brandon

[CSRX]

Personally, I feel like ORTS will be stuck where it's at when it comes to anything remotely close to getting additional eye candy such as better overall graphics, via UE5, or even more lighting in the game such as street lights, passing trains, etc.
it's unfortunate, but I feel like it's clear that ORTS will not be going further than what they are now.

[BrandonS261]

I feel the same way Shawn and wish the ORMT would have thought about this and asked for the communities opinion on the this matter before going forward but that being said I guess we are stuck with what we have and I will say Open Rails is better then MSTS days but it could have been so much more if more thought would have been put into it. I understand why the ORMT went to MonoGame but its practically just what took over for the old system we had already.

[CSRX]

I feel the same way Shawn and wish the ORMT would have thought about this and asked for the communities opinion on the this matter before going forward but that being said I guess we are stuck with what we have and I will say Open Rails is better then MSTS days but it could have been so much more if more thought would have been put into it. I understand why the ORMT went to MonoGame but its practically just what took over for the old system we had already.

I never liked monogame, as that version never worked right for me. I believe 1.5.1 doesn't feature it, which is why I've stuck with that.

However, as I'm sure you can tell, I've drifted away from orts and have been enjoying TSW a lot more. Just wish the physics were on par with what TS has produced for ORTS.. oh well.