My Run8 Journal

[Ezra]

Plastic Pellet Cars

More rolling stock for the collector. ;-)

[Ezra]

Single Player Experience

Few pics winding down at the office. I still get lots of enjoyment in the single player experience at my convenience. I can pull over and dispatch whenever I like regardless of prototypical doctrine. It is my train sim world. It is my experience.

[Ezra]

Revisit Tehachapi

For those of you who wondered what happened to me. I was away for a few years due to other life commitments. Anyway, I`m back. Here are some pics on the down hill side at Walong (351.8) marker.

Note: The pics were taken in 4K resolution. If you want to run in higher resolution while maintaining accetable FPS go for a better CPU, rather than a new GPU. Run8 is CPU dependent. Furthermore, with the latest Nvidea drivers (441.66) you can now cheat resolution, and "sharpen" the image (with new feature) called "Image Sharpening." This new feature works with lower resolution monitors as well.

Run8 has never looked better. Try not to prematurely inoculate yourself from the potential of Run8 with silly games like Train Sim World. It is amazing how good you can get this sim to look with tweaking, hardware upgrades, etc.

I can only upload to a maximum size due to the pixel count. I will try to expand them larger, although the sharpness is lost when I do so. As you see the pics are as it looks on a 30" monitor. Run8 looks fantastic in 4K despite many other pics and videos which do not do it justice. Imagine what (V3) will look like when it is released.

[Ezra]

Random Cajon and Needles

These are some random pics in the Mojave and Needles Sub.

Single Player is totally doable in Run8 once you get familiar with the program while being creative with the AI.

I was dispatching at Barstow and working a switch job in Needles with the Arizona California Eastern interchange. I was doing this all at the same time. Just put the time in and it will all come together. Be patient, make mistakes, and have fun.

Insights: When you learn the tracks and yards you can "AI" road switchers successfully as well with turnouts because the AI won`t "split" the switches unless you personally drive the train through the points. Learn to use the external view with Shift-F12, then "E and "Q"" and fly down the tracks (while holding "Shift" or "CTRL") coupled with the W,A,S,D keys.

If you want to ride an AI train while dispatching, just use F11 (close to the front steps) and you will jump aboard. Use Shift-F11 to move to different stations. Then go dispatch for awhile.

Some Additional Notes: Ignore those who lament single player and dispatch cannot be done. It is your sandbox and it gets easier with time. Just be selective and focus in on a small region. Use the AI to run bridge traffic on the dual trackage ( e.g. Silligman to Fresno, or L.A.) for added immersion. This way you will always have random traffic keeping you company.

If you have issues with AI stalls or incorrect routing, delete them (with two simple clicks) and re-spawn whenever you want while focusing on your industries etc. Don`t sweat the mistakes. It`s taken me years to learn Run8 and run with confidence.

Furthermore, save your world often.

Tip: Try setting the clock two hours after sunrise or a few hours before sunset. Don`t be afraid to "freeze" time as well, now and again, to hold the aformentioned lighting. Everything looks better this way in the desert.

Cheers

[dejoh]

Very nice shots. Texture and shadows seem greatly improved.

[Ezra]

Very nice shots. Texture and shadows seem greatly improved.

Thank You. All of the pics are vanilla Run8. No post effects or shader mods.

Cheers

[SurvivorSean]

Yep ignore people that have a different opinion of their own. How about let people ignore what they want to ignore? People can think for themselves. The tips however and the screenshots are very nice.

Thanks

Sean

[Ezra]

Trona Railway

Here are some pics of the Trona Railway Fleet.

The Trona Railway SD45-2`s come in the Run8 SD45-2 Pack 2. They are very nice. Notice the vertical twin (Canadian Style) "short hood" lights on the nose minus the bell. On the other hand, most Canadian SD40-2`s (like the CN units) had these nose lights, plus a unique bell where the plate is above the centre cab windows, where the vertical twin is omitted.

I wish the SD40-2 CN versions had the bell as well, but . . .oh. . . well. Although, it still has the unique "brake wheel" on the left side of the short hood and the "air-filter" box shields behind the cab.

Cheers

[WesternDivision]

Hi Ezra! - Some thoughts on your comments and great pictures, thanks for sharing .

Originally Posted by Ezra

Single Player is totally doable in Run8 once you get familiar with the program while being creative with the AI.

Some Additional Notes: Ignore those who lament single player and dispatch cannot be done. It is your sandbox and it gets easier with time. Just be selective and focus in on a small region. Use the AI to run bridge traffic on the dual trackage ( e.g. Silligman to Fresno, or L.A.) for added immersion. This way you will always have random traffic keeping you company.

I agree with your comments that Single Player Run 8 is possible and the key point being "creative" as you say, but also not just with the AI but also recognizing which part of a region and the industries it has that interest you the most and focusing on those areas of operation and possibly limiting it down to specific time and not a broad range of years that the default world file does by trying to include every industry that ever existed on a route.

The random AI spawn is not my idea of realism since trains are built to order and usually run to a timetable, even the lowly wayside manifest usually departs a yard at certain time on certain days of the week. so therefore I prefer to build a timetable spreed sheet and spawn my trains in manually. My interest is yard classification, industry switching etc at Bakersfield and I find that it can occupy me so much some times that I have forgotten to spawn a train in which kind of gives the appearance of running late or being delayed etc. Yes thanks to Run8's sandbox ability it's possible to build a single player world that keeps you interested, and allows you to run most of it in a prototypical way, even if the bridge traffic is not running at prototypical levels.

Cheers

James

[Ezra]

To WesternDivision,

Respectfully, I don`t recall indicating "random spawns" as being realistic. Prototypical operation is something that people learn as they mature in the hobby, etc.

In the meantime, I just want to encourage those who are intimidated with the stuff you or I might find easy or protoypical. But then railroads are changing and evolving all the time anyway. Therefore, no one can stay relevant or current. I respect what you say, but I would rather not burden the average user with the heavy load of protypical realism, so lets have fun.

The key is to help those enjoy it now while stimulating a larger user base. The latter benefits us all, foremost the developers. This is the secondary purpose of the "Journal." The primary purpose of the Journal is about my own experiences and opinions. I think this might explain it`s popularity. Not to mention the superb quality of the sim itself and all it`s passionate followers like yourself.

Anyway, I appreciate your input.

Cheers

[WesternDivision]

Ezra, - I found your comments on single player and that it can be done very interesting and I realize that you did not mention anything about "random spawns" that's just my thoughts, because years ago when I discovered Run 8 I was one who was intimidated with it's steep learning curve and as a newbie I used to think that the AI random spawner and bridge traffic etc had to go together as part of creating a realistic session.

Thankfully through these forums and enjoying your screenshots, comments and hints in your journal and combined with some instructional YouTube videos and they have helped me reach the point where I am at today with the sim and my ability to discuss prototype realism.

Thanks and keep posting .

[Ezra]

Ezra, - I found your comments on single player and that it can be done very interesting and I realize that you did not mention anything about "random spawns" that's just my thoughts, because years ago when I discovered Run 8 I was one who was intimidated with it's steep learning curve and as a newbie I used to think that the AI random spawner and bridge traffic etc had to go together as part of creating a realistic session.

Thankfully through these forums and enjoying your screenshots, comments and hints in your journal and combined with some instructional YouTube videos and they have helped me reach the point where I am at today with the sim and my ability to discuss prototype realism.

Thanks and keep posting .

I appreciate your insights and the encouraging words. Fortunately as one cultivates prototypical realism, while learning the technicalities of the sim, it takes Run8 to a whole new level. I hope the screen shots encourage both.

Cheers

[Ezra]

Fading Light of Mojave

I must confess there are times when Run8 appears to be an ugly duckling.

Times like this occur when one hovers three hundred feet above the trains at high noon in a flat rural area. Run8 is not a flight sim. It is designed to be run from the cab and slightly above, like watching as a train spotter would do. I must also assume, version 3 will take things to another level as well.

On the other hand, version 2 coupled with some adjustments in the "Graphics" option tab , with some creative tweaking, Run8 becomes a stunning swan if the user searches for it.

Note: Try jumping on the front of an AI train, (fly ahead of train, hold down F11, click on the lead locomotive when it passes you, use the movement keys, or "Shift" F11 to position in cab), during the run up Mojave to Tehachapi. Set the time around (19:30). Stage a few trains for oncomming traffic, if there are not some already, and enjoy the trip up in the fading light of Mojave. Kick back and relax. Wow!

[Ezra]

Mojave Operations

In this next series I am going to record some pics from one of my operations I find to be quite manageable and challenging, along with some dispatching as well. The traffic will be low, therefore I can bounce around while managing the ops in single player.

On the other hand, this operation lends itself to multi-player as well if one desires. I actually learned to switch this yard in multi-player back in the day. Thank goodness no one was around when I lost a string of cement cars down through Ansel when no one was around. It was rather embarassing.

In some ways Mojave Yard really doubles as an interchange for many other operations in the area including the new Lone Pine Branch as well. If one owned only the base program ("Run8 BNSF Cajon Sub"), along with the two aformentioned branches, there would be more than plenty of SoCal operations for the average user. Especially, in multi-player. Besides, Mojave Sub is beautiful in the fading desert light.

THE OPERATION:

This particular operation will begin in Yermo (UYRMJ) and concludes at the Oak Creek Branch about eight miles west of Mojave. The tags on the cars will be "MJ" for Mojave. They can also be "OC" for Oak Creek if you desire. I don`t have the "Oak Creek Branch" DLC yet, but this does not matter because if you have the default base program you can still deliver the coal and switch out the (imaginary) "Oak Creek Branch" main which is the tail of the wye at Mojave. This way you can still plan ahead and set up the ops until you are ready to pick up the expansion and have fun with the real branch as well.

Note: Both DLC branch line expansions have excellent right-ups on the Run8 site under "Learn More" on the (Routes) page.

THE DEPARTURE

The consist includes: 6 UP SD70`s and 63 loaded open hoppers. I set this up through the "AI Traffic Generation" menu with "Utter Peon" Train Priority out of Yermo. This way you can auto spawn if you like. You can tweak your AI trains to your hearts content when you get a feel for things after running the operation a few times. Prototypically, the coal drag would normally go through "Cajon Sub" to West Colton and then up through Highland. However, you can run up Mojave Sub (through Hinkley on the BNSF trackage) as a "Special" if you like.

THE ARRIVAL

Pull into Mojave Yard, lock down the coal train, and cut the power loose. You can park the power overnight or haul back empties. A word of caution here. Mojave Yard can be one of the most challenging yards to switch due to the descending North to South grade. I cut the power from the rear first. Then the front. You can reverse the lead locomotive on the wye or just couple with a siding shift. I cut my teeth here a few years back and had one train get away on me when I switching loaded cement hoppers. Very scary stuff if you don`t stay on top of things. Especially with heavy coal and cement drags. On the other hand, Mojave can also be very rewarding as well.

Note: These pics record the Arrival at Mojave Yard and the power cut. When you really get into it, Run8 is hands down the best railroad simulator to date. It will only get better. Have fun.

Cheers

[Ezra]

Mojave Locals

MOJAVE LOCALS

In the last Journal entry, I made a mistake on the Train prefix for the Yermo "Special." It should be CYRMJ, not UYRMJ. “C” is the correct pre-fix for UP coal loads. My brain was still in BNSF mode.

Anyway, just a few notes on the Yermo CYRMJ.

It`s up to you how many cars or the period type equipment you want to use. You don`t have to use SD70`s. I have a soft spot for SP/UP in SoCal ops. I only tend to use SD70`s for coal drags in the modern sphere of operations. I prefer the SD40-2`s, 45-2`s, and 45-2T`s for local work and road switching. I enjoy BNSF as well (they run here in Canada not far from where I live). Not to mention, my favorite. . .Canadian National Dash 8-9`s. In this particular Run8 world, BNSF 44`s and 70`s are the background actors for the SP/UP operations.