July 31st, 2007

If I've done my homework, you should be reading this from a new location. Not yours, mind you, but the website. Kelticsylk.com has a new home, one with enough space to let the site expand without the maintenance headaches of the multiple websites I use on Comcast. This means that all the Agony Eastern models and images and God knows what else all have a permanent home independent of the Comcast server. The download section will still include the BETA versions of models under development, but it will also host the entire line of models that are currently stored on the Train-Sim server. Don't worry, this isn't a move to the payware realm, the models will still be available at Train-Sim. I'm just more comfortable having my stuff in my own place. All new models and revised versions of older ones, however, will be released from this site. This probably means they won't have the exposure they would have at Train-Sim, but I'm in this for the fun of it.

I've finally gotten a handle on MSTSbin, or at least I've created a fresh installation that works like it should. I haven't experimented to any great degree with all the possibilities. I did fool around with the multiple passenger views for the City of Salina. It was pretty cool being able to sit in the coach or the cafe car at whim. Because the "motor" unit has a baggage and mail compartment I'm working on that too. Preliminary testing seems to indicate you can't have a cab view and a "passenger" view in the same unit. not sure how I'll get around that yet.

I was reading thru Train-Sim forum threads and came across a comment by Lukas (aka Swissie) concerning high resolution texture processing in MSTS. He mentions a railroad depot with a horrendous amount of oversize textures. I take it Lukas thinks it should have been done differently.

I couldn't help but think about my own model of the Pennsylvania Railroad station in Harrisburg, PA. The thing uses about a half dozen 512x512 textures. Lukas has me thinking hard about how I use textures on models. Especially now that I'm starting to use 2048x2048 ace files. I have a rather unique way of laying out my textures and it probably isn't the most efficient technique performance wise. The short story is I'm thinking of optimizing my textures for how MSTS handles them.

Looking at Harrisburg again, I'm pretty sure the textures might have been done differently. In fact I tried a different technique on some later structures, including Logan House, a hotel next to the Pennsylvania depot in Altoona, PA.

Instead of doing full side textures I used small textures of brick and tiled the model. Only the detail parts were on the large texture. The model was constructed very differently too. Each window, door, etc was a separate part.

In some ways, this technique was carried forward on my locomotives. They use a combination of detail views and small squares of color. This is especially true on the "City of Salina". I'm not sure it will stay this way. It doesn't lend itself to the kind of rivet detail required for this model.

If there is a classic example of how not to texture a model, the 6 Ton Jimmy heads the list. This tiny model uses nine separate ace files. Fortunately most of them are 256x256. Someday, perhaps after all these old models are in their new home, I'll do it the right way.

Well I think that's about it for now...Thanks for listening.