PSC Physics Overhauls for TrainSimulations Routes - Out now!

[pschlik]

Happy 4th everybody!

As a bit of a birthday present for the US, I have just uploaded my physics overhaul mods for each of the routes TrainSimulations have made for Open Rails. That is, for the BNSF Seligman Route, CN Ruel Subdivision, Mullan Pass Route and Mullan Expansion Pack (the expansion pack is optional, the mod will work without it), and, of course, the SP Shasta Route (click the hyperlinks, or click on the images below, to find these in the file library).
For those who want to try this physics set on a free route, I am considering doing a pack for the Starter Route (Scenic Subdivision), but that is complicated by the fact that there are 4 versions of the Starter Route (7 versions, if you also include the payware releases of the Scenic Sub) so that might not happen anytime soon.

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This release of each mod will work with Open Rails stable version 1.6, and any newer version (including testing, unstable, and NewYear MG releases). No default files are replaced, and the installation is as simple as copy-pasting a folder. The only external requirements are the NAVS Car Sounds (rolling stock will be silent otherwise) and the Digital Display TFB font (used by some cab views). Also, in the options for Open Rails, make sure to set "Adhesion factor correction" to 100% (I have built everything with realistic adhesion, so the default value of 130% would give too much adhesion) and disable "Correct questionable braking parameters" (this breaks some of the special, but realistic, air bake behavior), both of these options are in the "Experimental" tab.

Every new feature that made sense to use is utilized to the fullest extent to get things working as close to reality as possible. That means things like load/empty brakes and dynamic fuel + sand weight (where appropriate), which are things you probably won't see anyone else doing in OR. There's also new lighting code, including automatic flashing ditch lights where realistic, and custom light textures (provided by NAVS and ETLW, thanks Erick and Nash!), plus some tweaks to the original cab views and sounds (you will need to edit some of the included files if you want to re-alias custom cabs and sounds). Not that there's anything secret here; all the files are there to be inspected for anyone to learn more about how this stuff works, and you can even make your own mods. The only "secret" is the years of research it takes to learn how both the real thing and the simulator work.


Now, I won't plug this often since self-promotion isn't polite, but I have opened up a Patreon page: Pschlik Simulator Creations, which will be the community hub for everything I do in simulation (which, right now, means Open Rails). Over there I'll give explainers on how things work and some special perks to paying members. In fact, all these mods were already up on the Patreon 2 weeks early for paid members! I have also put up a couple of special downloads for files that I otherwise didn't have a place or reason to share. As for me, membership fees go towards buying things that help with simulation too, like real-life manuals or computer parts. Nonetheless, the main mod releases will always be free (if you want my physics in a payware project, that has to be discussed separately) and there are ways to support my work without spending money (I'm always looking to share manuals and data!)

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Thanks to everyone in the community for making Open Rails a thing, and the TrainSimulations team for making great routes that convince me to push the limits. I hope everyone enjoys driving with this approach to doing physics, just know that this still isn't the endgame and there's more to look forward to in future versions of OR. Hopefully for 1.7 I'll have updated mods ready right away, instead of taking 10 months to get something out.

[c44d9w]

Many thanks for offering this to the community.

It would be great if you could also do an update for the Starter Route (Scenic Subdivision),

[derekmorton]

In the past, that subject revealed that the starter route has 3 versions, doing 3 versions of PSC would be very time consuming.
And the next problem would be how to tell the difference between versions.

[c44d9w]

I was thinking of the version that is installed using the content button in Open Rails.

I see that this version is hosted by TrainSimilations. They could update it without notification. Unfortunately neither the ZIP file nor the route folder identifies the version.

[pschlik]

Whenever I do get something put together with the Starter Route, it would probably be one package for every version of the Scenic Subdivision route. I can't imagine many people still have the ancient version with the B40-8s, but a nice quirk of the 'OpenRails' subfolder method is that OR just ignores the OpenRails replacement if you lack the original, so there's no actual penalty to having 'too many' trains included (hence how the Mullan pack includes all the data for the expansion too, but it works just fine even if you have just the original route).

The current holdup with such a thing is not that I haven't set anything up, I do have a decent amount that functions, but that I foolishly set up my entire collection to use a feature that is only in the Unstable versions, has been in the Unstable versions only for more than a year, and completely breaks things when run in the stable version. I'm not really comfortable making something that requires Unstable, a few years back I released versions that at least required Testing, but for the Starter Route especially that shouldn't be running on any special version. (The reason I was able to release these 4 mods without this being a problem is because I had the old versions to serve as a 'backup' of sorts, before I really messed it all up.)

Though considering it's been a year of waiting on that, and it's likely to only be longer, I should probably take the time to undo implementing that feature. That would be incredibly tedious, if not for the fact it could probably be automated. Just not a very high priority when my objective has only been to update the mods I already made. And since that's done and I can move on to something new, I will probably just be forced to undo my mess first. It will be a lot easier to produce these mods after that's cleaned up. (Which is ironic, as this feature was supposed to make things easier to set up!)

[SD40-2]

Phil,

I don't know if something has changed between the original release of Ruel and the version of Ruel I got yesterday, but the font you specify in the readme, Digital Display TFB, ships with Ruel. It's a bit of a "blink and you'll miss it" sort of thing, but if you look in the default CVF files, that font is specified.

Not a huge complaint, just a observation for what may be an unnecessary step. Regardless, I very appreciate your fine work, and I have you physics installed for both Ruel and Shasta. Have had no major issues so far.

[pschlik]

Ruel does include Digital Display TFB, which is the only reason I know it's a thing, but I don't think the other routes do, which is unfortunate since it's a nice fit for all sorts of digital instruments and I chose to use it on the other routes too. My only disappointment is that it's not a monospace font, when a 7-segment display should be monospace (maybe cab views need a monospace/fixed-pitch mode?)

Point being, it's not guaranteed that everyone has the font, and it's free, so might as well make sure folks grab it so they get to see the beauty of 7-segment display. I only noticed I didn't have it after reinstalling windows (SSD died a little while back, thank goodness that was before the chip squeeze and I got a free replacement), so it's best to double check even if you think you have Ruel installed.

[pwillard]

Edited to be monospaced. digitaldisplaytfb.zip