Replacements for MSTS default shapes

[ebnertra000]

This was discussed in more detail in this thread:

http://www.elvastower.com/forums/index.php?/topic/34701-a-complicated-mess

But the basic idea was to build either a direct replacement for the default shapes or an openly available library of some basic shapes to get prospective route builders started. I have started on a replacement of default shapes. Out of about a thousand shapes (or 900 if some duplicates and bridge 'road' pieces are dispensed with) I currently have about 75 shapes done, which includes three of the five signal systems (the Japanese routes were basically the same). I have been creating these shapes with the following ground rules:

• Shapes are to have the same names as the default shapes they are intended to replace. Textures, on the other hand, may be named or used as the object creator sees fit.
• Shapes should be a reasonable representation of the object they are to replace, if consistent with good modeling standards. If a default object is verifiably wrong or way out of scale (see cantilever and yellow flag in the attached image), the replacement should be corrected to match the real-world object it was to represent.

I can't shake the feeling there was another ground rule, but I can't think of it right now.

The goal of all this is to make these shapes public domain, and to be available somewhere OR users will be easily able to find it (hopefully the OR site, but that's not my call. Included in this post is a spreadsheet of what I've got done so far, and an image showing some of the objects and their replacements.

[eric]

We really should consider breaking this up regionally. The US shapes are one monster, the JP and OE/UK shapes other beasts altogether.

[pwillard]

Good point... and it's not so easy for someone in USA to gather EU/UK and JP textures even with access to Google Earth

[ebnertra000]

Those are good points, and with those in mind, I have modified my spreadsheet to separate shapes by route of origin. There are several shapes which appear in several routes which were put into a generic category.

The current completed shapes number about a hundred, but they're mostly simple stuff or things I have parts for already.

[ebnertra000]

This is what I have done so far. Some of the textures aren't all that and will need some work before they're officially released, but they'll do for now.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b0jlpalju0ne156/MSTS_Replacement_Stuff_1.zip?dl=0

[pwillard]

So, I reached into my local default scenery folder for a practice project... and *BARN1* popped out. (Boy, it was ugly...) so I made a new one. Using Blender, 30 minutes (mostly with textures) and a free texture from textures.com. NOTE: Not a good place for barn textures, btw.

[ebnertra000]

Nice! I'll certainly take it. Once all the simple stuff is done, it's gonna be a real grind...

I think barn1.s was built more for the UK route than anything. I'd say it looks more like US2Farm minus the small fenced area (I'm throwing all these names out from memory, isn't that sad?). In either case, it's more than welcome

[pwillard]

Well, if common/mundane things only take a few minutes each... I can certainly do a few.

Barn1 was listed as "generic", but I agree... it certainly looked more EU than USA.

[pwillard]

Hey, it's a start...

Here is what I will try to do.

I will try to share these on Github as public domain.
I will try to use only sources like textures.com or personal photos.
I will try to add the source used to make the models in an up-to-date LTS Blender format file(s).

https://github.com/pwillard/MSTS-replacement.git

[ebnertra000]

Github, huh...never tried it. Maybe I ought to give it a go one of these days. So far I've just uploaded to Dropbox.

My current plan is to finish a few signs and signals for the Japan routes, and then move on to lighting and some of the power poles (just wooden for now), and then take a stab at a few bridges or simpler buildings

[jonpd]

The barn would probably look more American with asphalt shingles than what looks like slate on the roof. Or metal roofing, very common in the snowier parts of the Northeast, like where I live.

Jon

[pwillard]

TBH... those are a scaled image of white Asphalt shingles with some moss added.

Anyone with better texture skills than me is welcome to fix it.

Also... here is my take on Apartments (Again, the KUJU version is 'fugly') Mine is not a huge improvement, but looks a slight bit more real as the Kuju's has the windows dimensions all wrong. They would be tiny slivers of windows in real life

[ebnertra000]

I always thought apartments.s looked more like an older government building than actual apartments, but that's also a good stand-in.

I do have one question, though: how does it compare sizewise to the default shape? I am of the opinion that barring a good reason to re-size a replacement object (glaringly obvious scaling problems being the most likely reason), it should be similar in size to the original.

One of my hopes with this set is that it can breathe some life into routes that aren't terribly old, but still used default scenery

[pwillard]

Right. I'm getting the DIMENSIONS from the original and duplicating it in a fresh shape.

You know, when you see stuff like this... you can't help but think... "You had one job!"

[ebnertra000]

Right. I'm getting the DIMENSIONS from the original and duplicating it in a fresh shape.

You know, when you see stuff like this... you can't help but think... "You had one job!"

Very nice...good to see you thought of that, too.

I think that of a lot of the default models. But judging by some of the shapes that weren't used in the final routes, it could've been a lot worse. On the bright side, I think that basic shape of car was used for three different vehicles