New Open Rail Skydomes

[dreamcatcher1962]

Hallo fellow OR simmers .

I just want to tell you, that a couple of OR Skydomes will be added to the F/L in the next couple of weeks.
One of the Skydomes is a remake/improved version of an already released dome.
The other dome is a new one, but I have used it in screenshots, so you might have seen it before. It's based on HD textures, and the version to be released, is a scaled down version. I managed to reduce the size to about half of the original dome texture, without sacrificing much in image quality.
Nothing beats resolution, and these dome textures are huge in resolution and size (20-25MB).
At the moment Neil (qballbandit) is beta testing the domes (I would'nt want the sky to fall down on someone), to check the overall quality of the textures, and to see, if the file size does have a negative impact on performance/fps.

A few scenes with the Skydomes..

To view at full resolution, right click and show picture.

The old one:









The new one:







Regards Claus

[Timbit]

Claus,
really nice looking foward to them, thanks for taking the time to do them .
Tim

[tie]

It's looking great Claus! I'll be using those for sure.

[conductorchris]

Thank you for sharing these. They really do make things look so much better. I especially like the moody clouds. I think that might be right for the Buffalo route. The other one looks like "big sky" country out west.
Christopher

[dreamcatcher1962]

Thank you so much Tim, Rory and Christopher, much appreciated .

I like to fiddle around with textures, and if the textures can be enjoyed by others too, it would be pretty pointless to keep them to myself.

Regards Claus

[PennCentral1970]

Looks amazing. Can't wait to try them out.

[dreamcatcher1962]

Thank you PennCentral1970 .

I consider these domes to be the best I made so far, and I hope you will enjoy the new HD look.

Regards Claus

[MackDaddy]

Looking sharp Claus! Thank you very much for sharing your excellent craftsmanship with us.

Jeff M.

[MMSS]

Incredible Claus !! Your skydomes are a big part of my OR experience & enjoyment ! In fact I have a couple of upcoming activities based on using #3 which I believe is the old one you reworked (And may I say WOW !!) that you show here. They are activities based during storms & hurricanes for the Blue Comet, PRR-ER, NEC v4 & MNRR routes. I tell in the readme text file to download it & which cloud color to use with the install to get the full experience. It is perfect for them !

I am loving that new one to with the "High Pressure Puffies" look. They remind me of the clouds when I lived in Tucson, AZ on those 110 degree days. These skydomes are the best thing since Pizza & Beer ! Keep up the great work & thanks for sharing your art with all of us on here !

[scottb613]

Hi Claus,

Another fantastic addition - thanks so much for sharing !

Regards,
Scott

[Rick-MONON]

Cannot wait to try them, looks awesome.............

[dreamcatcher1962]

Thanks guys .

I only need to write the Read Me's, Win Zip the files and the domes should be on their way to the F/L.

Regards Claus

[dreamcatcher1962]

Howdy folks

I have uploaded the first two HD skydomes to the F/L, and if everything is going according to the plan, they should be available later today.
The next in line is still being worked on, but within the next few days, I expect it to be done/finished.
The texture has been reduced in size, but still just shy of 30 MB.

Some scenes with the next HD dome..

For full resolution, right click and show picture.















Regards Claus

[qballbandit]

That's insane, I can almost feel the barometer dropping as the storm approaches. Excellent!

[scottb613]

Hi Claus,

Riders on the storm...


Regards,
Scott