Today's update is a busy one, with new features, bug fixes, quickMod features, and even some new props!
First of all, articulation has finally been added!
"Articulation" is when a locomotive has multiple blocks of wheels that move & rotate independently from the main body, and It's always been missing from Rolling Line.
Most obviously seen on the Big Boy, which has quite a unique style of articulation, where the whole front of the train pivots separately from the boiler.
The V8 also has this same effect, which makes the wheels curve around turns much nicer!
The other steam engines (the Berkshire and Flyer) have also been updated to include these new smoothed wheels!
You can also make full use of this feature in QuickMods!
Be warned though: it gets pretty complicated, so this is more a feature for advanced modders.
I've updated the official steam guide to include new information on how to use articulation (and custom pivot behavior) and you can find that guide here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1789707835
"Twisting trains" bug fix!
Arguably the main highlight of this update is that I've finally fixed a major bug that has plagued Rolling Line for over a year!
This is the "twisting trains" you may have noticed when running trains for a long time.
This bug was actually caused by the wheel sets of wagons straying apart over time, which resulted in the wagon "twisting" to compensate for the difference.
The reason the wheels seemed to still be in position is because the wheel position was being automatically smoothed, so the trains seemed to be twisting off the tracks instead.
But this bug has been 100% fixed! along with a ton of background programming improvements to how trains move along track. Twisting wagons are now a thing of the past.
Another bug (with similar roots) which has also been fixed thanks to this is how trains would sometimes slow down when passing over flexytrack, or even completely derail. This has been 100% fixed too, and flexytrack behaves exactly the same as any other track.
New props!
A bunch of miscellaneous new props have been added (mostly ones ive made for the Brazil map that are hard to fit into categories) and these are:
- dumpsters with lids
- barrels
- concrete retaining walls
- rows of bushes
- engine shed with empty interior
- a new metal barrier
- station props
- Brazil style pedestrian overhead bridge
QuickMod features
As well as articulation, quickMods have also gotten a few new features:
- a "6_6" wheel preset (two sets of 6)
- the V8 horn
- the option to flip the front pantograph (as well as the second pantograph, if used)
- fixed bugs relating to paint colors not being applied correctly when cloning quickMods
Check the official steam guide (mentioned previously) to see all the up-to-date quickMod features.
Miscellaneous features & fixes
- the PC tutorial has been fixed to show the correct "add left/right" button controls
- the V8 now has working doors on the front of the cab! you can open/close the doors by clicking the door handle
- addons (plows and pantographs) now disable rendering at a distance
- small mesh fix on the door of the v8 and a minor detail on the cab
- the red V8's pantographs have been flipped to match the real-world design
- wagon wheel LOD is now tied to the "object view distance" setting, so increasing this setting will make the low-detail wheels show up further away.
And that's everything!
This update was suppose to be about v8 liveries but bug fixes and articulation ended up taking the spotlight, so V8 liveries will instead be coming in the next update.
Though im sure that finally fixing the infamous "twisting" bug is well worth it!
Enjoy!