23.4.01 A New Approach to Timescales ....

Our estimates for a demo release date have been misleading to say the least.

After lengthy discussion, and also the kind advice of several individuals on Verns Forum (see the links page) we have decided to bite the bullet and say that the demo will be 'ready when its ready'.

I cannot emphasise enough how much we appreciate the kind comments, and continued encouragement of the rail community, despite our continually misleading time estimates.

We hope you understand this 'sea change' and, with luck, perhaps the freedom of not applying self induced pressure will speed the job up!

Please check back regularly, it shouldn't be too long before the demo is available(!)

Offers of Help ....

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of the people who have kindly offered their time and effort towards helping with the project. We will be in touch with you individually and intend taking you up on your offers.

This should make the final program a Rail Simulation by enthusiasts for enthusiasts.

Thank-you for sticking with us, and a huge thank-you to Vern and Barney for their never flinching support and coverage (even when 'no news' is 'some news'!)

Mark Judd

On target for April (we could do with a fourteen month calendar!) ....

Another two week wait between updates - don't panic everything is still progressing!

Just to let you know it's still looking good for the demo to be available on or around the first weekend in April as mentioned before.

Development has continued at pace, and we have been lucky enough to gain the help of an ex - Class 5 driver with over 35 years experience to act as our 'test pilot'.

It would seem our first efforts at modelling the loco's responses were a bit too 'keen', and as a result of further discussions the simulation has been slowed down in all areas.
(By this we mean the acceleration, braking and steam pressure calculations were all working too fast, so we have slowed these to give a more accurate feel.)

Also, just to let you know, look out for a (dare we say it) non-steam powered locomotive in the demo version of the program, just to illustrate the flexibility of the Black 5 package when it comes to adding rolling stock.

Anyway, back to the coding, hope you enjoy the final product.

Demo delayed slightly ....

Sorry for the long wait between site updates, we've been busy people!

With regret it would seem that the demonstration copy of Black 5 will not be ready as soon as we would like. At the moment we are hoping to have it complete for around three weeks time (weekend 7th/8th of April).
This is for a number of reasons:-

1. Further testing has revealed a couple of bugs in the code which had slipped past our initial look, the worst of which is the tendancy of the locomotive to 'wander' from the rails on very long, large radius, shallow curves. We've found a solution to the problem and are busy coding the corrected program.

2.At present the sound effects within the game are 'generic' (i.e. not those of a class 5 steam locomotive!) but, unexpectedly, a local heritage site is taking delivery of a running Black 5 in the next fews days, so we hope to gain footplate access to record some actual, accurate, sounds.

This of course will take a week or so to sort out, i.e. to implement the new sounds within the game, so we felt a slight delay was worth the improvement in the final product. Hopefully you'll feel the wait was worthwhile when you see (and hear!) the finished demo. Thank you for your continued patience.

New partnership ....

We're pleased to say that, after some discussion, we have managed to secure the help and experience of the guys from '3DTrainstuff' during the production of Black 5.
They specialise in top quality 3D models, suitable for use in a number of programs.
We hope that the collaboration will benefit both of us in the long run, and the quality results will be easy to see in the Black 5 game itself!

You can take a look at their excellent site by clicking the link below.



Web site updated ....

You've probably noticed (or at least we hope you have !) that we've had a long overdue tidy up of the web site.
Essentially there are now separate pages for all of the sections as well as a new FAQ section which should address some of the issues raised recently.
We'd also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their messages of encouragement. They are all gratefully accepted and spur us on despite reading how good it seems MSTS is going to be!

Smoke and mirrors ....

One aspect which was causing some problems to us was the realistic representation of the locomotives smoke. Pleasingly, we seem to have cracked it and, as is usually the case the solution was surprisingly straightforward. Check out the images section for some gratuitous smoke shots.

Verns report on MSTS ....

Take a look on Verns Rail Pages (link below, in links section) for his in-depth preview of Microsoft's Train Simulator, due out late spring of this year.
Our interests are obviously torn, on the one hand very excited about this upcoming package, on the other, struggling for motivation in light of just how good it sounds!
However we feel there is space for a Freeware effort such as ours, and who knows, maybe the work we are putting into our models will not all be in vain, since they may be of use in the Microsoft package. Here's hoping ! ........

Demo work continues ....

Just to let you know we are still going!
The work towards the demo is progressing well, the maths for the loco steam model is more or less complete (subject to testing). Some world objects have been created to test the placement code (see bridge in screenshot below, and in new screenshots in section below) and two sample scenarios have been set up, an easy one and a tough one, to give a taste of the variety of possible playing styles.
Should have a playable version ready in about 3 weeks time .........

Junction control screen update ....

After some consultation (thanks Vern!) its been decided that for the time being there will be no junction control screen, rather the points and so on will be controlled by a 'virtual signalman', and the user will simply have a choice of in built pre-programmed routes or scenarios. You could choose for example a long route, with steep gradients, poor coal quality and a heavy train for a challenge, or perhaps a shorter, flatter route with a couple of passenger cars.

Fine tuning locomotive responses ....

Sorry there are no new screenshots to look at this update, but much of our time has been spent poring over equations and the like in an effort to get the locomotive to behave as accurately as possible. We're sure you'll let us know if we've got it right when the demo is released in about 4 weeks time!

Junction control screen ....

The subject of junctions has been at the forefront recently, the problem being how to manage them from within the game.
At the moment we are looking at introducing a second 'Signal Box' type screen (which you will be able to toggle to from the driving views).
This second screen will mimic the line layout diagram to be found in signal boxes, and it is proposed to use the mouse to click and change the junctions shown.
This is still very much at the 'try it and see' stage, so let us know what YOU think.

Black 5 goes Widescreen ...

After some experimentation, a new widescreen format has been introduced for the external camera views. This seems to nicely show off the more detailed models and gives some added variation.

Sine and Cosine ...

Currently work is progressing on a number of fronts, one of which is the accurate movement of the running gear.

External model ....

Thanks to some excellent technical info. from Alan, the dimensionally accurate external wireframe model is coming on. We are using a combination of AutoCAD and 3DStudio MAX to create the models for the rolling stock and scenery, so future additions (either by ourselves or by third parties) should be quite simple.

Real world textures ....

To try and get as realistic a look as possible we have started using a package called 'Terragen' to generate the textures for the landscape and horizons.
With a minimum of effort you can achieve quite amazing results. The landscape textures are all stored as bitmaps, so again plenty of scope for customization!

Black 5 added to enthusiast sites ....

Very kindly both Barney's Crotrainz and Verns Rail Pages have added details of the Black 5 project to their respective web-sites. Links to their pages can be found below.
If you know of any steam enthusiast sites that might be interested in being associated with the project please let us know.

Coding work continues ......

The majority of train behaviour programming is complete i.e following the track, behaving correctly at switches, accelerating and braking properly.
The software now uses a text based file to create the track and place scenery objects and textures automatically.
This should make life easier when we come to create the stand alone track and scenery editor.
The next job is to fine tune the control responses and to place and test the 'virtual controls'.

3D Modelling Progresses .........

Currently work is concentrating on the 3D model of the loco itself.
There are two copies of the model, a high detail version used to produce the pre-rendered textures which are in turn applied to the second, low detail model.
This (hopefully!) will give the impression that the loco is very detailed, whilst maintaining a high frame rate and compatibility with lower specification computers.