Just to illustrate the comments about INFRA Bridges brought up by thgergo awhile ago, here are a few examples of some new bridges that are in use - although I'm not entirely happy with some of them. Further more I have a few more that aren't fully completed yet;






And again, if there are coders available, there are graphics ready as well - or at least close to ready...

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Just marvelous as usual Its good to hear there are progress on the projects

I feel, I need go back to code something again


Yes, I like the 8 bpp "original" TTD too. Pikkabird has also just recently moved to the HD world. Also my point of view, the extra zoom doesn't look too good with the current TTD scale. There is too much free space between the two tracks. The typical TTD optical illusions wont work anymore in "HD".


No one stops those patchmakers release their versions. There always been patch-packs here and there, with the most recent ideas, with the tradeoff game stability.

And for the trolls, and bullies they only bite if you feed them... I don't have free time for them, that's reserved for something else

Artists have to dot their tricks to hide scaling issues. But developers have to do their part too. Unfortunately they don't. And they were the only ones that could fix such issues. Granted some issues are considered 'not fixable' with current code but I suppose a good programmer would take this as a challenge.

Yes, you should! I'll showcase more of these things inside our Visual Studio as soon as I'm done with INFRA Trains...



I think this whole 32bpp thing is a matter of taste, and for me personally it wouldn't matter what kind of measures are taken with the purpose to improve this project - it'll never be anything TTDLX. On the contrary, if I would like to play something similar to this 32bpp, I would most certainly grab any of those released 3d-games out there instead...

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What do you think of this? It's rendered (in Blender) and 32 bpp, but I tried to somewhat give it "that TTD look" too, mostly by reducing anti-aliasing. (I just grabbed a model from the Sketchup Warehouse to make this as a test, so it's not distributable.)

They look better than expected. On that scale a render usually doesn't display anything decent. Can you post another zoom (x2, x4)?
-
What's wrong with proper anti-aliasing? Just don't overdo it.

Here's 2x. 4x would look awful because the model has no details at all (yeah, it's not great, but good enough for OpenTTD); I'm not sure whether 4x zoom is worth it anyway. Also, a choo-choo (1x zoom) for your express choo-chooing needs. (Again, the model isn't very good, and is missing some parts.)
Done with tests now, releases, if any, will take a while. As for anti-aliasing, I think I've found the ideal balance right now.

It sucks less than expected?

Well, it doesn't look too bad really - although if using this method I believe a final touch manually to a model is required to make it look superb! But it's a big difference compared to what's usually displayed when it comes to this whole 32bpp feature... Well, at least as far as trains concerns...

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"Good enough" it is then. Manual touchups on such small, anti-aliased sprites would annoy me too much, especially when intermediate turning angles are involved. Appropriate, more or less realistic details/textures on the model itself might work just as well, but I don't have time to get into more 3D stuff now.
As for why it looks so different/much better, two reasons I can think of:
First, the lighting setup is actually correct for TTD, with the sun at 4:30. Somehow, up to now, almost everyone managed to get it wrong.
Second, I'm using Blender's new rendering engine (Cycles), which produces much more realistic (!) and uniform results, as well as giving much finer control of anti-aliasing. Before, you could only choose between too much for TTD and none.

Well, I think they look better than "good enough" in all honesty... One question though, you mentioned it was a test so it's possible that further adjustments are to be implemented, but looking at them at this stage I feel they're a bit "thin" - something which is clear when comparing to the rail...

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All right then. As for width, it's really the rail, and the default OpenTTD trains, that are too wide - the trains by 33-50%, the rails by much more than that. For realistically scaled, more or less OpenTTD-size rails and trains, see Railroad Tycoon 2. (Just by the way, Chris Sawyer had six years to create something better than that, and all he could come up with was Locomotion, or should I say Rollercoaster Tycoon 2.5?)
Graphics and a landscape sort of like that is something I'd very much like to have available in OpenTTD in the long term - it's definitely a more realistic goal than full 3D.

Now you make sense!
Nice work there!

I agree! Still, I do think that they could do with a little less downscaling...

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Hehe. Posting anything like this would result into immediate removal on tt-forums. :p


I remember richk67. This was a classic case. There were other people once involved in development in one form or the other, but I don´t run such a list on my own.

OTOH, there´s no need for "direct bullying" to scare people away. For sure, there´s a "special" atmosphere having developed over time on tt-forums, which results into people once involved lost interest. E.g., both Jacopo and me (and Daniel as well) don´t find much useful on said tt-forums today. That doesn´t mean we lost interest in developing sets for this game (there´s more on our plates that we could finish in 100 years), but a lot of creative and interesting people have already left tt-forums, and the remaining themes have thinned out over time.

And for sure, there´s a closed "leading group", mostly occupied with themselves, and to a much lesser degree caring about the broader audience.

In a parallel development, the once strict and understandable "rules" on tt-forums have (been) deteriorated, with arbitrary removal of user posts, without notification and without being justified by any forum "rule". One reason for this development seems to be the "plurality of offices", i.e. moderators being OTTD developers at the same time, not being able to accept views outside their beaten path. E.g., in the last couple of months, at least three posts of mine have been "censored" away, simply because my views on "programmable signals", "m4nfo", and "32bpp graphics" don´t fit into the quasi-official orientation of some "moderators/OTTD developers", and are uncalled for.

Indeed, nothing uncommon with internet fora. We´ve been there too many times. Some people seem to need that platform for self-affirmation.


With regards to the original question: Yes, this is dying, its heyday is over.

regards
Michael

If someone comes along with an open source clone of Train Fever it will. But it will take a long time till then.

I would assume so, yes! But rather than having people not knowing what goes on behind "closed doors", or having difficulties finding out about things that happens within our community, we here at Simuscape prefer to keep all of that out in the open...

The censorship as you describe with mods also being OpenTTD devs and at the same disapproves anything or anyone having an opposite opinion, isn't good at all. And we've seen the results with posts or threads being removed or bashed over at TT-forums... Again, with them it's "either you're with us, or you're against us"!

I'm sure that has a positive effect on people's overall productivity. Not to mention that welcoming feeling that follows with it...




There are many more that could easily be added to that list. Not to mention all those with potential to become great artists who has left - or decided not to become active at all...




Actually, in my opinion TT-forums has turned from an active and exciting site to a boring and mostly off-topic kind of site - unless counting the 32bpp process which is a complete joke initself, not even close to the heart and soul of TTDLX... Again, as I mentioned previously, a wasted effort of trying to create something similar to any other 3d-game out there. And not even a good attempt might I add. But taste is personal and this is my opinion...




Oh, it's dying alright!

It's quite interesting to see how they try their best to make people leave, such as with OzTrans lately, only to expect afterwards that they should "hand over" all their work for anyone to use as they see fit... I mean, seriously...

I'm sure OzTrans had good reasons for removing or alterring his work, especially knowing that TT-forums embrace people who doesn't have any second thoughts about theft or ignoring licenses. A good example is V453000 who was banned from Simuscape after violating licenses, something that was taken care of after filing a compliant under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, (DMCA)! At this point he is actually doing his best to find a way to bypass OzTrans decision...

But again, TT-forums doesn't have any problems with those breaking rules. In fact, the more the merrier! And while V453000 can't do anything here at Simuscape, he continues to do even more over at TT-forums - heavily encouraged by OpenTTD devs...

As we speak...

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At least we have cirdan's fork and his New Map Features and so far the trolls seem to be keeping their distance.

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Which is indeed very good...

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BTW More Height Levels is a reality. Finally something good into trunk after so long time. But if you follow the latest posts in tt-forums related thread some more stuff is needed:
Real rivers with riverbeds, height levels on sea. Let's hope it won't take another 5 years for them to be implemented.

Wally:

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Don't put ideas into their heads.

SAC: I wouldn't consider Gold Rush a joke. Other stuff I would. Pikka's work is nice too, but he ruined everything by sticking to the TTD engine length limitation. Better to glitch that to ruin artwork of such a quality.

Don't get me wrong Athanasios, I'm not talking about individual artists and their works. Of course people like Bad Brett with his Gold Rush project is outstanding in many ways. It's the entire 32bpp concept I'm talking about seeing as it doesn't fill a void at all...

Even a cursory glance at this concept provides a picture of a lifeless and a dead game without any soul whatsoever. And besides, it reminds more about Thomas the Tank Engine than a TTDLX game - and as mentioned before, not even a good one at that...

But again, taste is a personal thing! However, this entire 32bpp-concept will never be a TTDLX-game in its true sense, not to mention the other problem with even lesser people being able to provide new stuff as it requires 3d modelling skills...

It's a joke alright! With the exception of outstanding artists such as Bad Brett. In that respect Pikka's work isn't even close to that level - although as an artist Pikka is still a very skilled one...

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