With several new items added to the site recently, I’ve decided it’s time to write a short-ish piece about the history of this site, the Plymouth Route, and why things have gone the way they’ve gone!
As always, development is ongoing, and I’ll also try and explain some of the reasoning behind the current developmental direction.
So, I’m incredibly pleased to announce that BVE Cornwall is the new ‘official’ home of the Somerset & Dorset route by Richard Scott.
Way back in 2001, this was one of BVE2’s crown jewels, and it’s now available again for all to enjoy!
I’ve repaired all the errors for OpenBVE, and reposted it here:
http://www.bvecornwall.co.uk/wordpress/the-somerset-dorset/
So, readers of the BVE Worldwide & BVE Terminus forums will have seen this all before, but I’ve decided it’s good to post it on the blog too 🙂
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been doing a considerable amount of work on TrackGen, to implement Platform generation as a replacement for a utility that has recently been withdrawn from the community.
I’m pleased to announce that as of v1.3 Alpha 6, Platform generation is now included.
At present, no fences are generated, but otherwise any objects generated from this utility should be 100% compatible with any from the withdrawn utility.
Texture picking for all main components (Ballast, sleepers, embankment & platforms) has been implemented, although you should be aware that the embankment texture will be being modified shortly, and that development is ongoing in this regard.
The main screen for TrackGen v1.3 Alpha 6
Please note that the German translation is currently incomplete for this version.
Download:
http://www.bvecornwall.co.uk/downloads/beta/TrackGen_alpha136.7z
The principle development thread for TrackGen Alpha versions may be found here:
http://bveworldwide.unlimitedboard.com/t970p15-site-redesign-a-new-release
So, I’m pleased to announce that V1.2.0.0 of the Plymouth Route has now been uploaded. This release contains a complete re-write of the trackwork between Keyham & Saltash, as well as many other significant updates. As part of this refurbishment project, approximately 1.2km of track length has been added between Keyham & Saltash, bringing the total drivable length to 21km.
For practical reasons, track layouts are generally based upon the 1971 rationalised layouts- This allows most of the same work to apply to all eras, with a change from semaphore to color-light signalling, and the addition/ demolition of certain buildings. Whilst some buildings are (still) missing, this release should represent a quantum leap forwards in quality between Keyham & the Royal Albert Bridge.
Changelog:
V1.2.0.0:
Readers of the BVE Worldwide forum will already have noticed that there’s been a couple of new objects added to the Objects Page.
This pair of buses has been released into the public domain as at least partial replacements for some objects withdrawn from the community recently. Feel free to use and for that matter abuse them, and whilst credit would be nice, I promise I don’t bite!
As an approximate timescale, this pair of objects took around several hours each to build in full 3-D. Custom normals have been added to both objects where appropriate, as well as the base mesh.
To build an object like this, first you need to get your hands on photos, and very preferably measurements. Whilst it’s possible to use a ‘spotters’ photograph as a texture with judicious editing, you’ll normally find it easier to find an example of the vehicle you wish to model in the flesh, and take *lots* of pictures.These two now join the other objects available from BVE Cornwall, and I hope you find them of some use!
TrackGen v1.22 is now up. Two releases within a day (Sorry!), but I’ve found and fixed several critical bugs with these two releases. Namely-
So, I’m very pleased to announce that Nils Busch has kindly given permission for BVE Cornwall to host a version of TrackGen which has been fixed in order to work correctly on Windows 8.
I’ve additionally made a couple of small improvements, to optionally allow the use of PNG format textures, and to allow for untextured rails for use in highly intensive route situations.
If you can see this, then you’re viewing what represents a much newer and shiner WordPress site.
A lot of things have changed with this site redevelopment, but in general everything should look a lot cleaner. Image slideshows have been implemented as opposed to rows upon rows of images, there are new fancy popout menus, and for that matter a blog- I don’t know exactly where this will end up going, but the current plan is to stick some stuff other than OpenBVE up there too.
