NewStations



A new Stations Set for TTDPatch

by Michael Blunck

April 2004

Version 0.4 - Apr 5th, 2005

What is the NewStations set?

Itīs a collection of various new train stations for Transport Tycoon deLuxe (TTD) working under TTDPatch. These are usable in all three major climates (temperate, arctic, sub-tropical).

Bit by bit there will be different kinds of stations implemented into this set: "way points" for better path-finding, passenger stations to allow a more variated approach to the needs of villages and cities and freight stations which will be specific with respect to transported cargo.

Version 0.2 implemented way points (class "waypoints") in the form of signal boxes.

Version 0.3 added individually configurable station facilities like platforms, shelters, halls, etc. (class "platforms").

Version 0.4 adds 16 small station buildings (class "small stations") which are not special for a particular vehicle set or country but should be usable for quite different scenarios. There will be more distinctive station buildings e.g. in the European Scenario resp. in the Alpine Climate.

Further versions will offer large city terminals and a collection of freight stations.

For way points there are 4 different buildings available for each of the 5 time periods (1920-, 1940-, 1960-, 1980-, 2000-), i.e. a total of 20 different buildings are implemented at the time being. Please note that way points have a special use in the game and cannot be used as normal stations, e.g. trains never stop at way points.

While way points are used in a single-building layout, passenger stations are intended to be composed in a mostly free form from the available building blocks ("objects") to make the overall stations more variated. To allow this in a most flexible way, this set provides mechanisms for automatic adjustment of building blocks, i.e. you wonīt always exactly get what youīre putting together.

In addition, since alpha 47, itīs possible to "build over" parts of stations. This is a very useful feature, but take care not to destroy parts of your stations which are composed by multiple tiles, i.e. halls, under- and overpasses or platforms.

How to install the NewStations set?

Preliminaries

The NewStations set is available in a DOS ("newstats.grf") and in a Windows version ("newstatsw.grf"). Just copy the appropriate NewStations .grf file into the "newgrf" directory under your TTD main directory and add the entry "newgrf/newstats.grf" resp. "newgrf/newstatsw.grf" to your "newgrf.cfg" resp. "newgrfw.cfg" file.

Youīll need TTDPatch version 2.0.1 alpha 58 (or higher) to run the NewStations set.

The actual version of the NewStations Set is 0.44 (grf-ID is 6D 62 06 00) and itīs of December 27th, 2005.

Supplying parameters to NewStations set

NewStations v0.4 includes a novel feature: tinted glass for station roofs which has been implemented for the modern "glass roofs" object (ID = 0A).

The actual glass colour has been set to a green tint, however that doesnīt look good with every player colour possible. In case you donīt like the glass colour in conjunction with a special player colour or you donīt like the tinted glass feature at all you may pass a parameter to revert to the original "dirty" glass colour.

Variables to set in ttdpatch.cfg

Youīll need to set following variables in your "ttdpatch.cfg" file:



What Stations make up the NewStations set?

NewStations v0.4 implements way point stations, platforms and small station buildings.

To choose between the different classes ("waypoints", "platforms", "station") use the top pull-down menu in the station building window. To choose between different objects of a class use the lower menu.

All available objects are listed in the table below.

For more information and progress of the project you may check the Patagonia pages.


Class Station
ID
Type Year Number of
platforms
Platform
length
Cargo
animation
remarks
way points 00 Signal-box 1920- 1 - 7 1 no non-stop
01
02
03 Signal-box
(gantry-style)
platforms 04 Roofs n/a 1 - 7 yes  
05 Platforms 2 - 7
06 Benches 1 - 7
07 Car park (front) 1950 Cars only on edge, else roofs
08 Car park (back)
09 Flat roofs 1960 2 - 7 Underpass for lengths > 3
0A Glass roofs 1980 Underpass for lengths > 3,
tinted glass
0B Bridge n/a 1 - 7 1 no  
0C Hall (small) 1 - 4 1 - 7 yes
0D Hall (large) 2, 4
0E Underpass 2 - 7 1 no
0F Free 1 - 7 1 - 7
10 Void
small
stations
11 St. Andrae1 1920 2 1 no  
12 le Brassus
13 Kritzendorf
14 Vacha
15 Whitehorse 2
16 Leba
17 Schaan
18 Forbach
19 Stenar 1930
1A Sitges
1B Taucha 1940
1C Nottingham 3
1D Montelusa 1950
1E Olten 1960 2
1F Kufstein 1970
20 Buir 1980
21 AI station stub 1920 1 - 2 2 - 3 yes n/a for human player
non-track
tiles
22 buffer stop (down) n/a 1 1 no  
23 buffer stop (up)
24 empty platform
25 St. Andrae 1920 n/a
26 le Brassus
27 Kritzendorf
28 Vacha
29 Whitehorse
2A Leba
2B Schaan
2C Forbach
2D Stenar 1930
2E Sitges
2F Taucha 1940
30 Nottingham
31 Montelusa 1950
32 Olten 1960
33 Kufstein 1970
34 Buir 1980

1 These are just "code names" to avoid the hassle of having "station 1", "station 2", etc. pp. The stations have nothing (well, nearly nothing) in common with any stations possibly existing under those names in reality.

Building realistic Stations

The NewStations set allows composing railway stations from pre-defined building blocks (objects) of the same or even different classes. The "platform" class introduced in v0.3 containing various non-station building objects like generic platforms, over- and underpasses, shelter, car parks, halls, etc. is intended to be used for passenger stations.

Most of its objects of this class are animated and provide a mechanism for automatic adjustment with regard to neighbour objects depending on the overall layout of the station.

It is strongly recommended to built up stations with smaller building blocks using whichever objects fit best. This will increase realism: Itīs better to have many different objects making up a station than to use the same element for all of its tracks. For a better understanding of the various possibilities the process of station building is illustrated here.

Using the new feature of "building over" station objects (since a47) will make this task easier and result in even more variation. However, you should avoid to split-up multi-tile objects by overbuilding them only in part which would result in half halls or quarter bridges.

Cargo animation is done on a per-tile basis. However, the total size of the station is considered as well to get a balance between the total amount of cargo available at the station and the number of cargo (passengers) shown for different sized stations. This could result in loosing cargo animation when building a station from too many un-animated tiles or for large stations with small cargo amounts.

Shelter, roofs

This is the most versatile object and although it can be well used as a stand-alone object for smaller stations, it can be combined best with all other objects. Adding "roof" objects adjacently to any other object mostly both of them get adjusted automatically, i.e. their fences get removed and additional roofs are created in the right places.

Generic platforms

This object may display various views. Depending on itīs dimensioning, itīll display objects like shrubs, billboards, benches and underpasses automatically. Shrubs and billboards are changing according to seasons. Note that only edge tiles will be animated, not the center tiles (shrubs and billboards) nor the underpass tiles due to sprite limitations.

Benches

Another versatile object, fully animated.

Parking (front & behind)

Car parks will show parking cars either in front of the station or behind. Because for a single track station it cannot be decided automatically if there should be a car park in front or in the back, youīll have to choose the appropriate object yourself. In addition these objects are showing roofs depending on their neighbourhood and thereīs also a waiting queue shown at the ticket machine.

Modern flat roofs

Slightly more modern style, this object shows company colors and adds an appropriate underpass automatically for lengths > 3.

Modern glass roofs

The most modern station building block shows an elegant design and a creative glass roof. This could be used well for the high-class trains like ICE in the later years. Fully animated, it includes an underpass for lengths > 3. Fitting underpass tiles on neighbour platforms arenīt animated.

Overpass, pedestrianīs bridge

Customizable pedestrians bridge, unanimated.

Halls, small and large

Stations halls (concourse) suited for larger stations, fully animated.

Underpass, pedestrianīs tunnel

Customizable stand-alone underpass object, not animated.

Empty platforms

Platforms without fences and other facilities to be used for the outskirts of a station or for mail or goods services. Not animated.

Void

No platforms or anything at all. Just the bare track. Could be used to break up the rather "monolithic" view of a typical TTD station.

Known Bugs

None so far.

History - bug fixes

V0.44 (Dec 27th, 2005)

V0.43 (Dec 23th, 2005)

V0.42 (Sep 5th, 2005)

V0.41 (Jun 5th, 2005)

V0.40 (May 5th, 2005)

V0.30 (Feb 15th, 2005)

V0.20 (Nov 26th, 2004)

V0.10 (Apr 5th, 2004)



Copyright Notice

NewStations Set - © 2004, 2005 Michael Blunck - All Rights Reserved.

This Software is protected by copyright laws and international copyright treaties, as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties. All copyrights in and to the Software are owned by the aforementioned copyright holder.

Permission to use, copy and distribute this software as it is (consisting of the graphics and its implementation code) and its documentation for non-commercial purposes, without fee and without a signed licensing agreement, is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice, this paragraph and the following four paragraphs appear in all copies and distributions. Contact the above Copyright holder for commercial licensing opportunities.

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES, LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE AND ITS DOCUMENTATION, EVEN IF THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

THE SOFTWARE AND ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTATION, IF ANY, PROVIDED HEREUNDER IS PROVIDED "AS IS". THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER HAS NO OBLIGATION TO PROVIDE MAINTENANCE, SUPPORT, UPDATES, ENHANCEMENTS, OR MODIFICATIONS.

ALL COMMERCIAL USE OF THIS SOFTWARE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

ALL REDISTRIBUTION OF THIS SOFTWARE TO OTHER PARTIES FOR COMMERCIAL USE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

Acknowledgments

The availability of new stations was only made possible by the outstanding work of Josef Drexler and Marcin Grzegorczyk on TTDPatch. In particular Iīd like to express my gratitude to Josef for the fruitful collaboration during further developing the TTDPatch.

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