Steam, Smoke, and Sim - CoS Devlog
Howdy folks! This month, Mark has some fun and exciting features to share related to steam, smoke, and simulation aspects of Century of Steam's locomotives! Don't forget that Customizations Part 2 will still be out later this month!
Comments (69)
... but where does the steam leak from when the loco is upside-down in a ravine? ;-) I am truly blown away by what you've shown so far! Thank you for putting so much effort into this amazing simulator.
Question for Q&A will there be a official controller input for the game. I think it would be cool
Q&A question - Will there be any sort of in-game communication system, like a spatial audio voice chat, or a messaging system? The game looks amazing by the way - I'm in love with the way the 10-26-D looks and sounds :)
Sorry for joining the party late! This looks amazing! Keep up the good work!
is there any possible way that we can play the game in virtual reality? I have this weird fantasy to man a locomotive with my friend in vr, it would be an awesome realistic experience!
Hey guys, I’m am absolutely amazed. I’m not even gonna start on great this game is so far because I’d never stop. Hope it’s not too early to ask but, I was wondering how you guys would handle locomotives that had converted valve gear. For example, the 10-26-d in-game uses Stephenson valve gear, while another one in its class has Walschaert’s.
If I were a betting man…. What Mark described is a simulation of the steam chest, including the valve block (moving and causing a chuff when stationary but moving the Johnson bar)—which means that it would simply be a matter of changing the valve gear itself, and how the valve block moves with regards to the Johnson bar and wheel position.
I'm totally trusting y'all on the realism of the sim. Heck, I'm amazed just watching the way the wind takes the smoke.
awesome job guys the sound and smoke and driving experience in this game will be a first in the gaming scene. cant wait to go up a snowy mountain in a blizzard and work an engine hard going to be awesome. is the weather going to effect traction? and braking distance?
If I were a betting man, I'd bet on it. I'd be shocked if they don't model wheelslip. Assuming they do, it's pretty trivial to vary the coefficient of friction based on weather. What's a more interesting question to me is how that's affected by snow *accumulation*.
Wow, this game is going to be absolutely amazing once it’s fully complete. It’s already looks incredible and I know there is still more to do to it.
Also I hope we can connect the gladhands and open the anglecocks like in Railroader for airbrake equipped locomotives and rolling stock.
Will the headlights and numberboards be able to get numbers? and will the number boards be independant so we can add train numbers rather than just locomotive numbers?
Count on it. More to come with Customizations Pt. 2. :)
The puffs from the snifters with the air compressor is just that lovely little touch I didn't know I truly needed. Thank you <3
This is looking to be the most accurate steam Locomotive simulation i have ever seen, i cant wait for this to come out! Finally smoke that looks fantastic and simulation systems only till now flight simulation has only enjoyed!
Now I'm curious if snow will accumulate on locomotives and rolling stock like it did on the ground.
The legwork put into the presentation is bar none. The realism and weather effects are great, every little bit. (And thanks for using a South Pacific Coast 10 wheeler as your test mule.) I can’t help much, but I hope ever little contribution matters.
Q&A Question: Will you have to sand the flues to keep it operating properly? Also, will there be mail service?
This was a cool one! Desert fauna & foliage looks divine
Will we ever see how this whistle simulation works?
Wow So Impressive it's amazing in so many ways. I see so many awards following this work of art around in time.
This is maybe the most impressive tech demo I’ve seen out of any developer, not just in the railroad sim space, but anywhere.
This is so damn cool!
Mark and team: this is just amazing. I have always loved sitting with a locomotive firing it up, or overnight between running days--because of the way things change as they come up to pressure and stuff. So this is incredibly cool to see.
Everything shown in this video was so impressive!! The weather effects, the steam leaking and how it reacts to the environment, the way the exhaust out of the stack reacts to what's happening with the cylinders, the steam chest simulation and the effect that has, the exhaust visuals and how they move plus being different for different fuel types... the attention to detail is absolutely incredible. So happy to support this game's development :)
Jeez this has been amazing work. Will you try to have smoke shadows on the surrounding terrain if engine is working hard enough, or is that too hard to implement/bogs down the graphics?
outstanding, cant wait to play with my friends... stoped playing RRO now almost a year, because its totally boring and uplayable online... but two little questions i still have unanswered: 1st.: can i interact with the levers, handles, valves ect inside the loco by freewalk in the cab? because i really dont want to be glued on the drivers or hearter seat, i want to have the freedome to walk inside the cab and interact with the loco. 2nd.: can the highlighting elements be disabled?
Nice video about the chuff sim and the effects from weather. Though I am disappointed that all of this work will have *so many* hours poured into it, its source never released (or at minimum, some sort of spec), and trapped forever behind closed doors and closed source. Other train sims and games would highly benefit from what you've learned implementing this system. (Yet another form of "foamer gatekeeping", I guess, to everyone's detriment.) Also, the bitrate is not high enough to capture the smoke and steam detail, especially when you turned on the snow. Could be either Patreon's video player, or the bitrate in your recorder not being set high enough.
You're acting like Dovetail or Trainz can't go to tourist operations and glean this same information then code it. Studio 346 has literally built this vode themselves from the ground up. IMO, yhey have every right to determine what happens to it
Absolutely awsome
No wonder you were so foamy on your Railroader review :P
This is absolutely amazing guys. Awesome work and the immersion looks spot on. Can’t wait to put my hand on this sim 😍👌
With every new video, it makes me want this more and more. It looks amazing, and it also looks like I'm gonna sink *so* many hours into it.
Is Boiler Priming going to be something implemented at some stage, would definitely add to the realism side.
Wow just wow! Amazing work all. Would love to see some coal firing game play aswell
This is the video I wasn't expecting to see for a few months now. I'm floored that steam chest sim has been implemented *this* early on in development. A lot of cool little things that no other game hasn't even bothered looking at. few things, 1. will there be a little UI gauge to indicate what the steam chest and steam gauge is doing while orbiting the train? 2. I can't wait to see how you guys handle wheel slip in this game, switching and snow fighting is going to be quite the challenge with that aspect enabled.
With no "left hand feedback" from a real throttle, a steam chest pressure gauge seems a requirement as far as I'm concerned, regardless of if the locomotives had them. Wheelslip is big on my desires to see as well, it's another one of those fun nuances that doesn't seem to get the right time of day. Cheers!
It's truly incredible how much attenrion to detail the team puts into this game. This video showcases things I never thought I'd seee in a train game. I can't wait for the game to release, this is going to be better than anything I've played before.
I can't tell you how excited I am for this. Y'all have done a fantastic job so far.
This is freakin amazing! I mean wow, wow. You are going to need an engineer academy included with the game to teach people about all these little nuisances. I am foaming over here. Can't wait to play! BRAVO!
this game is going to scratch so many itches that other train games just can't
Great Job!
It's telling that when I saw the thumbnail of the video, I thought for a moment it was a real life image. The amount of work everyone has put in this game is glorious. Here's my little critique this time though - there was a hitch in frames when the locomotive started to move once. With that optimization side, do y'all think you'll be able to get the movement relatively smooth?
There's a few goofy things that are going on in the backend that are being worked on - it's on the list. :)
Omg I love that 5 chime I've been wanting to hear it... did not disappoint 😍
Well shazam! I can't imagine how much of a headache this must have been to put together. So many interdependent variables, and then make it dependent on meteorology too?? So very well done and the locomotive in the snow reminded me rather of some IRL footage I've seen recently!! ;) I also have rather an idea of why someone called it a shotgun stack now..... Two questions: 1) who did the meteorology sim, and 2) are you going to talk about chuff sounds? The second engine sounded positively violent compared to the first. Thank you very much! Just upgraded my support tier. Y'all are killing it.
1) It was a bit of a team effort to get all things weather put together - Tristan, Jake, Tom, Mark all had a bit of a hand in various pieces of it to make the total effect you see. Truly a team effort in that way. 2) Chuffs vary by locomotive for sure; and we're presently limited by what we have access to get samples recorded from. The first set was recorded on the Glenbrook, and the second set is a heavily modified set from RGS 20. 20's an angry little thing, so that's very much the case in her exhaust beat.
The snow accumulation makes me so, so ridiculously giddy to see. The whitewalls on that 10-wheeler is also just... chef's kiss.
Can't wait to haul ass through the snow with ya, sBin
trunktastic videoga, me
good comment
Wow, I never really thought about it before, but going back to other train games and looking at the flat smoke is going to be tough after seeing this.
yeah.... cotton balls and what not ... Studio 346 puts the bar somewhere in space, as usual :)
Ohhhh Keeler Branch goosebumps. *chef's kiss*
this looks really cool and accurate. i can't wait to see how they will solve the track laying system. i really hope that they use a ghost planing step where we can move and adjust the ghost until we are happy with the curve(s), grade and position.
Absolutely! And I hope that track won't just appear instantly, that there will be some time delay while the track is laid. Perhaps even a secondary temporary economy function of bringing supplies to the end-of-track work camp to save money on construction, or being able to assign rolling stock and locomotives to the AI track gangs to assist and thus speed up construction. Something to make tracklaying more interactive and keep it from feeling quite so much like a game of two halves, tracklaying OR train operations, like Railroads Online can be. Or the player could choose to pay a considerable upcharge, perhaps triple or even quadruple the base construction cost, and have the track built instantly.
Fantastic! Love how everything’s coming along Mark. Am I right in guessing that’s the Carson & Colorado Railroad you were running on?
Certainly looks a lot like it, doesn't it? :)
Great video showing the visuals of the game. Also did anyone catch the water dripping from the cylinder cocks?
I was wondering if anyone would... it scales by how "wet" the engine is, and how long it's been sitting, as well. ;)
Fucking incredible! the most impressive technology I have ever seen, amazing job to everyone involved.
Absolutely breathtaking!!
Jesus this is just gonna be so good, I now see Marks irritation at the cotton ball railroader smoke when’s he’s been playing around with this! No shade to RailRoader I love that game this just looks so freaking awesome.
Quite frankly. I am ASTOUNDED. No words. None. Just… wow…
Will there be wheel slip due to heavy loads or Icy rails?
Wheelslip in general is going to be on Jake's radar soon enough - it's a key piece for realistic train operation. We'll be sure to show it off when it's ready. :)
Holy crap. The smoke effects at idle were already impressive! But that massive plume when the engine started away put the biggest stupidest smile on my face!
THEY WERE GREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN