250th Heritage locomotives

[pwillard]

Look, I’ve been here since the beginning, so I’ll offer this from that perspective: I don’t think there was ever
really a “golden age” where people were simply waiting around for specific requests to respond to. In my
experience, the “items wanted” approach has always been a bit hit-or-miss as a way to get new content made.

Most new content shows up because someone is personally motivated or inspired to make it. Sometimes a request can
absolutely be the spark that gets someone started, and that’s great when it happens. But I do think the number of
creators who are primarily motivated by outside requests is probably smaller now than it once was.

From what I’ve seen, the vast majority of content in the file library was made because the creator had a personal
interest in it. If it isn’t payware, then the person making it usually has to want to build it for themselves
first.

That said, I don’t want this to sound discouraging. I started with MSTS not knowing how to do any of this either,
and I’m still very willing to help people learn how to create something from nothing. That’s a big part of why
I’ve made scalable font resources people can reuse, why I maintain the Blender S exporter, and why I put together
the Blender Content Creator Notebook.

Where I personally draw the line is taking on new content-creation projects as a request. Like many others,
I already have more unfinished projects of my own than I can keep up with.

So my original comment in this thread wasn’t meant to be negative or dismissive. I was really trying to set
realistic expectations while still encouraging people who want to learn, build, or get involved. I’m always happy
to support someone who wants to make something — I’m just less able to be the person who makes it for them.

[phydeaux]

Ya know, I would dearly love to repaint, and I would except for one small detail: I DON'T KNOW HOW.I have absolutely no idea of where to even start. I need someone to take me by the hand and say "Okay, here is step one, and this is step two, ..." I have an intermediate skill level of PaintShop Pro, but I know very little about layers and so on. It seems that everybody here is now an expert at doing all the basic that people like me get left behind.

Just my $0.02.

Larry

[scottb613]

Hi Larry,

Half the enjoyment of this hobby is truly creating your own stuff. I've been using Paint Shop Pro - since Jasc owned it - LOL - and it hasn't changed much since.

We're here to help. Make an effort - start a project and post a thread on your project - I'm sure you will receive all the help you need.


My first attempt - still in the FL was a Dick Cowen kit of an SD-40 for WM - when Sandpatch 1 was still the rage. While it looks cheesy by today's standards - it was better than the MLT paints. You never know where the road will lead.

Just my 2 cents.

Regards,
Scott

[eric]

My feeling is that a lot of the 250 celebratory units showed up rather late in the game, i.e. around April at the earliest, some in late June, and one or two that showed up -after- July 4th.

There's always going to be a bit of a lag between release in the real world to showing up here. I mean... we still don't have a decent Olympic unit from Salt Lake City....

[pschlik]

The often repeated 'advice' to "just make it if you want it, skill issue" is unhelpful and ignorant of reality, but at least that seems to be a pretty cold take these days. Sure, "fine, I'll do it myself" is a way to guarantee 'results', but good results? That's not going to happen with anyone working on their own, nobody is excellent at everything. This is a darn open source simulator, it's a team effort and being all individualistic about it is just nonsense people use to inflate their ego. The actual strategy is to just contribute where you can, even if that's making screenshots or videos. That doesn't mean exactly what anyone wants will be created, but that does mean that if it is created it can be better and more people can hear about it (which helps more things be made).

Like, I understand that a B36-7 has dynamic brakes with 1.0 ohms per motor, while a B30-7 or B23-7 has only 0.75 ohms per motor, and can make sense of what that means and the consequences of that for driving (and I imagine this sentence makes no sense to a bunch of people, but that's OK!) and while that has absolutely nothing to do with making a 3D model or textures for a B36-7 it's still an important part of making a B36-7 that is simulated as a B36-7. So, there's more to it than just the art, and plenty of things out there have physics that would be fine by MSTS standards but are completely out of date for OR because the one person involved in the creation doesn't know (and really shouldn't need to know) the absolute latest in physics.

Basically, you should never need to do anything on your own and anyone who implies otherwise is being nonsensical.

[pwillard]

Basically, you should never need to do anything on your own and anyone who implies otherwise is being nonsensical.

Maybe this is you, but it is you who are being unhelpful here.

[SD40-2]

Ya know, I would dearly love to repaint, and I would except for one small detail: I DON'T KNOW HOW.I have absolutely no idea of where to even start. I need someone to take me by the hand and say "Okay, here is step one, and this is step two, ..."
Just my $0.02.

Larry

There is a comprehensive tutorial, just that everyone seems to forget about it.

https://nekocoaster.github.io/steam4me/tutorials/trackdancer/tutorial2a.html

It may be for MSTS, but it applies just as well to Open Rails.

Tutorial on layer specifically.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv0GLa5V-rc

[oper190]

Simple answer reskin some yourself,

I want to clarify this response. First I misread the question, (models to real world ) then realizing I had taken it backwards, ( real world to models ) so it seems as it was a request. wwhall's clarification changed the take on his original question. So I apologize for that.
When I respond with "do it yourself," it's because I see to many asking for specific models who seem to have never made one, or done a reskin on their own. Therefore they have no idea of the time it takes, hours, days, and even weeks or more to make the finished model. It ain't that easy, and you need appropriate software to make them with. You just don't snap your fingers and bam there it is.
The original question should have been clearly directed to model makers as, "is anyone doing these?"