Iron Horse trains - releases

[andythenorth]

I didn't post the pros and cons of split grfs previously, I wanted to get some initial ideas without influencing them. Thanks to those who posted.

So the pros and con of split grfs.

Pros
- faster compile time (big benefit to me when developing)
- faster uploads to bananas and Amazon S3 (docs)
- faster downloads for players
- more efficient on bananas bandwidth, saving OpenTTD costs
- players can activate more than one roster in a game
- potential to have grf parameters that are specific to 1 roster if needed (not possible with single grf)
- docs might be simpler, publish a different grf.farm url for each grf, instead of trying to put content for all 3 rosters on a single url

Cons
- confusing names, there will multiple grfs named "Iron Horse - XYZ", also with different version numbers
- confusing split changelog, or having to maintain 3 separate changelogs
- rosters are not and will not be designed to work together
- lots of magical features like passenger car sprite choices etc won't work reliably cross-roster, but may partially work in a slightly-broken accidental way that will be confusing
- no cross-roster balancing of costs, speeds, intro dates or other stats
- potentially confusing or conflicting railtypes across different rosters
- compile needs refactored to generate 3 separate grfs
- there will be huge overlap of freight wagon types and sprites, particularly for UK / Euro rosters

Names are the biggest question.

My preference is:
"Iron Horse - Pony Edition"
"Iron Horse - Mustang Edition"
etc.

This will require renaming existing "Iron Horse" which will inevitably confuse some players.

It also gives no obvious clue as to the differences. Unlike, for example "NARS" and "UKRS"

But I don't want to put specific country names into the names.

"Iron Horse - UK edition" might be highly logical, but it's also blah blah. Country names and regional names also change over time.

[kamnet]

I would have preferred one NewGRF where you could enable one/other/both, but reading your cons that seems like a near impossible, demoralizing task.

Countries and regions do change, but not often.

Keep it simple. It's fun being cute with names but sometimes being descriptive is much better in the long run.

[WolfRamXx]

Id prefer to have 2/3 separate GRFs that are 100% compatible and not demanding on each other. When it comes to wagons not specific to certain train, it might be good to keep those separated as well. Yes its more work, but than again, you dont have to make wagons for specific region, and both american and european wagons are similar, technically speaking there might not really be any difference between them in terms of sprites. At least not all of them...

[paulicus25]

Not sure if the right place to post bugs, or whether there's a bug reporter I should use. If this is the wrong place, sorry about that.

Currently playing with Iron Horse 2.49.1. Just build some flatbed cargo wagon randomised, the first 45mph version. Refit to wood. The straps holding the wood down are not CC, they are blue. Could be intended I guess but they look odd?

Also how do you make the image clickable to open rather than embedded image. Tried but couldn't seem to get it to work, so apologies for the huge image being posted!

[andythenorth]

Currently playing with Iron Horse 2.49.1. Just build some flatbed cargo wagon randomised, the first 45mph version. Refit to wood. The straps holding the wood down are not CC, they are blue. Could be intended I guess but they look odd?

Intended

Ratchet straps IRL tend to blue or orange, maybe for visibility.

But in Horse, they're not CC because CC can merge with the CC wagon body (the same wood sprites are used on e.g. open wagons). So the blue creates some contrast.

[andythenorth]

Iron Horse 2.50.0 now on Bananas (in-game content).

2.50.0 Release

Not savegame compatible with Iron Horse releases before 2.50.0.

Changes

• reworked Brake Vans
  • removed Goods Brake Van
  • increased randomisation of Brake Vans
  • will now show different body types (symmetric, asymmetric, enclosed porch, open porch etc)
  • additional liveries
  • some variants are dedicated to specific engines
  • improved buy menu sprites to indicate random behaviour
  • a randomised, date appropriate sprite now shown when in depot and not attached to an engine (previously showed 1860 sprite)
• improved buy menu sprites for randomised wagons
• for Xerxes and Yillen engines, each unit will now randomly reverse when built
• set running cost same for Mail Vans, Express Vans and Express Container Cars
• added support for woodchip and flour cargos (2TallTyler)
• label ELRL railtype explicitly as 'AC Electric', as Iron Ibex is likely to add 'DC Electric' in future, and the two railtypes need distinct names
• improved railtype sort order in construction menu
• removed 'roster' parameter - rosters will be provided as separate grfs

Docs

• show both speeds for vehicles that travel faster on Dedicated High Speed Railway (Brenner and similar)
• show power for trailer cars of trains that provide distributed power (Brenner and similar)
• show both power values for electro-diesels
• add 'Ultra Heavy Freight' and 'Ultra Heavy Express' role groups
• improved Code Reference page
• note that Python 3.10 is recommended (version of argparse used requires a specific 3.9 rev or newer, so easier to recommend 3.10)

Codechanges

• refactored many vehicle numeric IDs
  • max ID for articulated vehicles is ~8192
  • IDs have been freed below 8192 by moving non-articulated vehicles to IDs above 8192
  • compile-time guards are provided to enforce articulated vehicles below 8192 and non-articulated above 8192
• reworked Makefile and compile
  • added support for compiling multiple grfs (Horse, Ibex, Moose), simultaneously or individually
  • improved some aspects of prerequisite detection and general flow of make steps
  • updated the approach to providing args to python entry points, using argparse to manage and validate parameters
  • fix some irksome failures with graphics generation '.new.png' handling
• added railtype and roster managers to Iron Horse, simplifying global / cross-roster lookups
• refactored approach to vehicles with multiple power sources, adding support for an arbitrary number of power sources
• refactored approach to managing vehicle intro date synchronisation / de-synchronisation (includes minor visible differences in gameplay)

Improved buy menu sprites for randomised wagons

horse-2-50-0.png (58.51 KiB) Viewed 3961 times

[andythenorth]

Iron Horse 2.51.0 now on Bananas.

2.51.0 Release

Changes

• added Doubletide freight engine as later-game upgrade for Yillen, 2500 hp, available around 1999
• increased Zest speed to 87 mph to match later-game wagon speeds
• added large gen 4 randomised chemicals tanker
• extended individual vehicle life of certain vehicle models which are available to buy for a long time
• improved display of randomised vehicle names in buy menu:
  • now shows the wagon size before '- Randomised' suffix, not after, as that's more useful to see
• improved appearance of multiple brake vans

[andythenorth]

Iron Horse 2.52.0 released on Bananas.

The grf is unchanged, 2.52.0 is just a docs change, improving the display of engine power in pages such as the Tech Tree: https://grf.farm/iron-horse/2.52.0/html ... e_red.html

[audigex]

Yay

[Brickblock1]

Iron Horse 2.52.0 released on Bananas.

The grf is unchanged, 2.52.0 is just a docs change, improving the display of engine power in pages such as the Tech Tree: https://grf.farm/iron-horse/2.52.0/html ... e_red.html

New horse hype

[andythenorth]

Iron Horse 2.60.0 now on Bananas.

2.60.0 Release

Changes

• added 'Wagons-only mode' setting, which hides all engines, snowploughs etc.
  • can also be used with 'Simplified gameplay' to reduce the range of wagons if desired
  • note that this option only makes sense if at least one other grf with engines is used in the game
  • wagons will not appear in the game if there are no engines matching their railtype

----

Wagons-only mode is quite untested, but seems to basically work.
Brake vans might show incorrect sprites for game year when used with engines from other grfs.
Mode is activated using last parameter in list.

horse-2-60-0.png (116.58 KiB) Viewed 3458 times

[Auge]

Hello

Iron Horse 2.60.0 now on Bananas.

• added 'Wagons-only mode' setting, which hides all engines, snowploughs etc.
  • can also be used with 'Simplified gameplay' to reduce the range of wagons if desired
  • note that this option only makes sense if at least one other grf with engines is used in the game
  • wagons will not appear in the game if there are no engines matching their railtype

Yesss! That's a really nice idea.

Tschö, Auge

[Brickblock1]

Brake vans might show incorrect sprites for game year when used with engines from other grfs.

Would this not be the case if the whole roster was used too?

[andythenorth]

Brake vans might show incorrect sprites for game year when used with engines from other grfs.

Would this not be the case if the whole roster was used too?

Yes, the same issue applies, and it could be addressed in the grf.

[andythenorth]

Iron Horse 2.61.0 now on Bananas.

2.61.0 Release

Changes

• added Super Stentor, 4550 hp, available around 2022
• tweaked Relentless
  • increased power to 4250 hp
  • improved appearance
• adjusted Onslaught
  • now continues indefinitely, not replaced by Relentless
  • speed increased to 125 mph
• adjusted Avenger
  • now continues indefinitely, not replaced by Sizzler
  • speed increased to 125 mph

Docs

• note the 'Wagons only mode' parameter in Get Started page

Translations

• deleted outdated and very incomplete US-English translation

[arikover]

Nice recent additions (I lost track of all of them)!

I noticed a weird thing:
Early Jokers (Grub, Lamia) seem quite expensive compared to, say, the Buffalo, which is more powerful and cheaper to operate.
I like the fact that the Jokers/Shunters have similar properties, and instead tend to get cheaper over time, but in general I find them a bit expensive, especially the early ones.
Question: Is this intended? Could they be a bit cheaper?

Code: Select all

Buffalo 72km/h 659hp 135kN 4688£/y
Grub    56km/h 355hp 132kN 4792£/y
Lamia   56km/h 355hp 128kN 4829£/y

[andythenorth]

Early Jokers (Grub, Lamia) seem quite expensive compared to, say, the Buffalo, which is more powerful and cheaper to operate.

Confirmed - will be fixed in next release

[andythenorth]

Iron Horse 2.61.1 now on Bananas.

2.61.1 Release

Fixes

• Very High Speed trains were not showing raised pantographs whilst running on dedicated high speed railway
• running costs were too high for all 'gronk!' engine types, including:
  • Grub
  • Lamia
  • Gronk
  • Chuggypig
  • Magnum 70

[andythenorth]

Iron Horse 2.62.0 now on Bananas.

2.62.0 Release

Changes

• added Chemical Silo Wagons, as a visual variation to standard Silo Wagons
• added Randomised Covered Hoppers
• added narrow gauge Randomised Piece Goods Wagons
• added cleaning agents to refits for Silo Wagons and similar wagon types
• added alloy steel and stainless steel to refits for Ingot Carriers
• added steel pipe cargo support
• renamed "Cold Metal Wagon - Randomised" to more accurate name "Coil Wagon - Randomised";
• improved appearance of dice sprites used in buy menu to indicate randomised wagons

[andythenorth]

2.63.0 Release

Changes

• adjusted power and tech tree positions for Evolution, Resilient, Revolution, Shredder, Vanguard locomotives
• added basic set of wagons for transporting vehicles cargo
  • Vehicle Transporters (single deck wagons)
  • Car Transporters (double-deck wagons)
  • refits for vehicles (car sprites), and also for passengers (motorail)