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asamtrak911
08-23-2002, 05:09 AM
Hi all,

I'm very new to the world of MSTS (just bought it last week) but not to railfanning or computer graphics. A few years ago I remember finding Matt Harter's Virtual Streetcar site, and I greatly admired the models. Last night while trying to think of how to start familiarizing myself with Gmax so I can make some of my own models, I hit upon the idea of finding those models again and loading them into Gmax so I could see what a finished model was supposed to be like. Imagine my surprise to find Matt's new site and see that he's already started to convert his stuff to MSTS form! I downloaded the PCC immediately.

This afternoon I did a quick re-skin of the generic PCC into Boston's Metropolitan Transit Authority scheme with the robin-egg logos. The unique left-side door is simply painted on, not a recessed part of the shape like the right-side doors, but the effect is good. The paint job isn't perfect, because I was working from memory not a photo, and obviously I need a better video card or something because the texture is blurry even close up in the game. I created a couple different consists that allow me to run a single car, two, or three, but I'll need to tweak some bounding-box and/or length settings in the .eng file because there's space between the couplers. I want to scale back the power settings a bit too, because I've hardly even notched my controller past 20% and still exceed the speed limit on the Tokyo route sometimes. I tried to do that and to add a bright state to the headlights (as it was they were fully bright on the dim setting and off in the full setting), but now MSTS refuses to read the .eng file properly. Says that the error is in the very last line, which is simply the closing ). Oh well, I'll fiddle with that later.

Matt, your non-MSTS models are incredible. As I said, I'm trying to get to understand how Gmax works by loading up your models, but what I'd really like to do is to add the proper wheel and pantograph animations and export those to MSTS format. I assume you're planning to do that, and I'd love to go cruising around in a Type 7. I'm tempted to go out and start working on recording the distinctive whine of the LRVs. At any rate I want to learn Gmax ASAP so that I can do some other MBTA models of my own. Next repaint will be this same car in the green MBTA scheme.

Alex Stroshane

Amtrak Prototype & Model
Photos, Train Gifs, and more!
http://www.trainweb.org/asamtrak911

Nhtrain2
08-23-2002, 08:27 AM
Hey, It's Alex Stroshane! The master of Train giffs! I love you site! I have your most sacred Metro North M-2 in my sig! I have book marked your page and I visit every(almost)Day. So, Welcome to the Train-sim forum. with a history like yours you should gain almost instant respect. Have Fun!

-NHtrain



http://www.trainsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3ce6905047123955.jpg

http://www.trainsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3c9bb201276d8a3a.gif

richb
08-23-2002, 12:42 PM
Hey Alex, really nice repaints! Regarding your question about speed (or over speed) You could make the following changes in your .eng file to the throttle:



EngineControllers (
Throttle ( 0 1 0.2 0
NumNotches ( 6
Notch ( 0 0 Dummy )
Notch ( 0.1 0 Dummy )
Notch ( 0.2 0 Dummy )
Notch ( 0.3 0 Dummy )
Notch ( 0.4 0 Dummy )
Notch ( 1 0 Dummy )

The changes I made made were in the notch area, also you could reduce the maximum speed to say 40mph also in the .eng file. This I found kept the PCC from running away from you like a dragster! :)

Rich

asamtrak911
08-23-2002, 09:53 PM
Rich,

That's a great idea! I was trying to reduce the max amount of power the car could produce (it's currently at 45Kn) but I never thought of just scaling back the controller notches for finer control. I'll definitely try that. Still trying to get my light fixes to work, though. I'm going to have to resort to adding just one at a time to see which one's causing problems.

NHTrain,

Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm flattered that my reputation precedes me. Yes, it's a big transition from tiny Train Gifs to much larger, more detailed MSTS skins, but at least it's familiar territory. Glad you like the MNRR M-2s, I spent a while trying to get them and the M-1s/M-3s to look "right." That reminds me, I should get around to updating my small collection of ConnDOT gifs. They were lost in the works after I redrew all my NJT, MNRR, and LIRR gifs.

Alex

Amtrak Prototype & Model
Photos, Train Gifs, and more!
http://www.trainweb.org/asamtrak911

mharter
08-25-2002, 08:05 PM
Nice job on the repaint!

I can't wait to see more, I plan to make a lefty door version at some point soon since the MBTA is my locan transit system. Maybe we can work together on it once you get up and running full speed with GMAX. I created the PCC in Lightwave and then finalized the MSTS attributes in 3DCanvas, now I have downloaded GMAX, but it's a bit crashy on my machine.

As far as texturing the PCC, I decided to set it up so that the UVmaps would be versitile (not very many parts reuse parts of the image), unfortunately that causes the texture maps to be a little chunkier that some other cars/locos. The good side is that you can do virtualy any paint scheme including those beautiful Pittsburg PCCs of the '70s!

A better video card, or higher quality settings if it can do it, will help the PCC textures look sharper.

Matt H

asamtrak911
08-26-2002, 02:09 AM
Matt,

Thanks! I actually finalized the texture today, correcting a couple of flaws and darkening the orange to the "tangerine" color that went along with the blue oval "MTA" logos. I'm still messing around with the .eng file to try to get rid of the gap between coupled cars. I tried re-doing the throttle controller notches like Rich suggested but although I now have finer control, the car still seems too powerful. Next I'll experiment with the Max Power settings. Still trying to get the revised lights to work too.

I figured that you'd eventually do the left-hand model, considering you already have the 3d model of the Picture Window car with the lefty doors. But I noticed that the gradient you applied to the doors on the texture gave enough of a shading effect that the lack of an actual opening isn't very noticeable for now.

What I'd really like to see, though, are MSTS versions of the various LRV cars. Since it might take me a while to get used to Gmax, and since you're the resident expert on 3D modeling, what I think might work better as a partnership would be for you to export the shapes and basic texture templates, then I could take care of painting the textures to perfection and getting the .eng files squared away. I'm already thinking of the best way to record and incorporate the traction-motor whine of the Boeings when they're starting up...

Alex

Amtrak Prototype & Model
Photos, Train Gifs, and more!
http://www.trainweb.org/asamtrak911

dvdhoven
08-27-2002, 12:45 PM
>I'm still messing around with the .eng file to try to get rid of
>the gap between coupled cars.

I have experienced that possible causes are:
1. Too great length
Size ( 2.728m 5.143745m 14.33555m )
The last number is the length of the car

2. The r0 parameter:
Coupling (
Type ( Automatic )
Spring (
Stiffness ( 5e6N/m 0 )
Damping ( 1e6N/m/s 0)
Break ( 2e7N 0 )
r0 ( 15cm 1e9 )
)
CouplingHasRigidConnection ( 0 )
Velocity ( 0.1m/s )
)


3. The InertiaTensor
InertiaTensor ( Box (3m 4.5m 20m) )

The length is the most possible trouble maker. Not the Bounding Box! Bounding boxes can overlap when the length is too small.

Dick van den Hoven
http://www.trainsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3c3739ad2f412aac.gif

mharter
08-27-2002, 09:53 PM
Yeah, the type 7 would be a great project to start, it has to be done. Then the old LRVs so that everyone can hear the slow buzz and the creaky articulation.

Before I do those, I want to make sure the PCC is working properly. We need to fix the .eng (thanks for everyones help so far), then make a lefty MBTA car, then a passenger view model.

Would anyone be interested in working on the PCC interior?

Matt H