Believe it or not, the whole "track detailing" system in Rolling Line is still based on code I built almost 4 years ago! This system has been a big limitation in the past, so for this update I finally took the time to redesign and fully upgrade the track detailing system.
The new system is far, far more flexible and customizable. You can now use a popup window to freely add and remove "properties" for each piece of track, and customize things like styles and colors (all track is now multi-paintable!).
(Screenshot by Missy)
You can even use different styles on each track of a turnout, or make certain details (like 3rd rails) only apply to one side of the track.
In fact you can even make "invisible" track now, which trains can still run on, which is perfect for making crash scenes and flying trains!
But best of all, this new track detail system is designed from the ground up to be ready for modding!
Track modding is not included in this update, but it's my next major priority. This new track system makes adding new features and options far, far easier.
The new track style editing UI
The main thing you'll notice with this new track detailing system is that you can now press Q (left-context hover option) when pointing at track to open a new popup window:
For a default piece of track like this, you will just see options for ballast, rails and sleepers.
From here you can click the drop down menus to change the style (e.g. wonky track, or wide sleepers)
Or you can paint the color options to customize the colors:
But if you want to add other properties (like tunnels, extra rails, bridges, etc) then click the "Add New" button in the top right corner of the popup window.
From here you can choose from a list of different properties you can add to the track:
For example, if you click on "Inner Rails" then that property will be added to the track, and you will see some inner rails show up:
Some styles (like extra rails and tunnels) also let you choose whether you want them to appear on both sides, or if you just want them on one side.
You can use the "Sides" option to change this:
Tunnels
This feature is especially useful for tunnels, since it means you can now make tunnels only visible on the outside of a turnout, like this:
You can also use the new "Double Track" tunnel option, which adds an extra-wide half tunnel to the track. If you add one of these half-tunnels to both tracks, you will get a full tunnel covering both tracks!
Multiple styles on turnouts
A great new feature of this system is that you can set a different style for each branch of a turnout.
For example, you can make one track normal, while the other track is derelict and broken.
To do this, simply click the "++" icon for the property which you want to split into two different styles, then set each one to only use one track (one should use "Curve" and the other should use "Straight")
You can even make the rails only visible on one track instead of both, to create an effect like this:
Style painters
Even though the new system adds the popup window for editing properties, you can still use the hand-held style painters just like before!
You can find them all in the track tool drawers:
You can also use the three painters in the top-right corner to remove sleepers, rails and ballast.
Remember you can paint multiple times with the same painter on track to add/remove properties (like turnout levers) or to switch tracks/sides for other properties like tunnels and bridges.
Creating custom painters
This update also adds a new feature where you can create your own track style painters.
Simply press Enter (the copy track data button) when pointing at track, or use the "Copy" button inside the track edit popup window, and you will be given a custom painter which will style track in the same way when used:
You can store these painters in custom drawers too!
Invisible track
If you remove all properties (e.g. no sleepers, ballast or track) then you will instead see a blue box in place of the track.
This means the track is invisible, and when you use "Apply changes" on the edit tool, you will no longer be able to see it. If you use "Edit track" again then it will show up:
This means you can create invisible track which trains can still follow, which is great for setting up creative scenes like flying trains or train crashes which follow a pre-set path!
(screenshot by C&BL Fan)
Other features and Fixes
- Bridges and railings are now split into two different detail layers, so you can create different combinations of railings and base-bridge models. All of which are paintable of course!
- All "legacy track" in the game is now automatically converted to the new system, which includes the really really old track from years ago which didn't even support features like overhead wires. This is all done automatically so nothing should appear different on the surface. But this means that super-old maps can now make full use of the new detail customization!
- A bunch of old props which required the track color painters to change colors now use the standard multi-paint system instead (like the piles of rails).
- "cap" pieces of track now no longer have slightly different shading to them compared to normal track.
- The text used by the new track edit UI is stored in a .txt language file. This is not a real language support system yet, but in the future all text in the game will need to be stored this way for translations to be a possibility.
- You can now duplicate particle effects and light data entries in the modding system. This means you can easily make a duplicate with the same properties without needing to set it up from scratch. Simply click on the particle/light in the list and choose "Duplicate".
- Fixed bug where renaming particle and light data entries would not work.
- The "minimal" cab preset now no longer shows the message box.
- Fixed the lights mesh on the DX custom livery template.
And that's everything!
This update took a ton of work, but I'm so happy to finally clean up and upgrade the track detailing system. This really opens up the ability for future updates to easily expand the system with new styles and especially modding!
In fact, this may even make roads possible... Keep an eye out for that in a future update!