Simple Railway mod in development. Kerbtown based.

[NGTOne]

*cough* *cough*, new speed record

http://i.imgur.com/sUlrHLQ.png

..just before the track runs out xD

I guess that colliders are good enough for the "top speed" to be almost unlimited.. The real problem are curves and elevation changes now, we gotta focus on them. For the steep slopes, I think a bigger problem is going from 10% to 0% xD train's gonna fly out. I guess it is possible to make transitions really smooth. But anyway, there MUST be a system of signs that warn the driver like "80 m/s limit in 2 km" "..in 1km" "BRAKE NOW" "..80 m/s limit in 500m", "80 m/s limit!!!" of course you make 100 giant signs in between cause everything will swoop by you really freaking fast.

I am making a bigger multitrack test track now with elevation changes and I'll try camber this time.

Seriously? A supersonic train?

I think Elon Musk is on the line, it's for you...

[Tw1]

*cough* *cough*, new speed record

http://i.imgur.com/sUlrHLQ.png

..just before the track runs out xD

I guess that colliders are good enough for the "top speed" to be almost unlimited.. The real problem are curves and elevation changes now, we gotta focus on them. For the steep slopes, I think a bigger problem is going from 10% to 0% xD train's gonna fly out. I guess it is possible to make transitiot.

Awesome work! That should be plenty fast.

Perhaps changing from box shaped track to at shape would improve the chances of it staying on for curves and inclines. This would need a. Different design though, maybe it can wait.

I completely agree about signs. How they will work may be tricky, as I imagine there will be different doable speeds on different planets.

Maybe a set of standard signs, that correspond to what will eventually be standard curves. Plus ones that warn of a track end.

One thing that could derail the idea, is if track segments can't be. Put together. Have you tried putting two separate models end to end, and getting trains to cross over? Perhaps I could do that test if you upload it.

Also, I did some landscape analysis on your city site. Will post ideas in your thread later.

Also, I might post a drawing of an updated concept for this some time tomorrow evening. (18-20 hours time.)

Edited August 21, 2013 by Tw1

[Tw1]

I have I diagram of the current plan for parts.

For the eventual first release, anyway.

I'm still including a train bogie, as an electricity using way of accelerating, but using other wheels is possible too.

Edit: Derp. Forgot to mention the incline part in the pic. It's with the curves. Inclines haven't been tested yet, so I can't give more details.

(Also, that should say "memorise." Opps.)

I'm thinking a V shape has advantages over both box and T shaped track.

We may need to wait for Kerbtown to add connection nodes, to line up segments accurately.

(This is something they're hoping to do.)

Edited August 22, 2013 by Tw1

[squirtgun1234]

This would look great in the Kerbin City mod being dev'd. How wide is the track?

[Tw1]

This would look great in the Kerbin City mod being dev'd. How wide is the track?

It would! The guy who made the videos earlier in the thread, and added several major ideas is the same guy who's in charge of that mod. (and clearly a better modeler than me).

I hope we can come up with a system that works for both the the city mod, and this modular system, so they could link up at the city's edge.

I'm thinking the total width of the path will be at least 3m, but haven't got a with for the V shape thing yet.

Also, the bogie might be better like this:

Le one minute drawing

This would make it easier to make trains that can come of the track to exchange resources with another object.

Edited August 22, 2013 by Tw1

[Tidus Klein]

*cough* *cough*, new speed record

http://i.imgur.com/sUlrHLQ.png

..just before the track runs out xD

I guess that colliders are good enough for the "top speed" to be almost unlimited.. The real problem are curves and elevation changes now, we gotta focus on them. For the steep slopes, I think a bigger problem is going from 10% to 0% xD train's gonna fly out. I guess it is possible to make transitions really smooth. But anyway, there MUST be a system of signs that warn the driver like "80 m/s limit in 2 km" "..in 1km" "BRAKE NOW" "..80 m/s limit in 500m", "80 m/s limit!!!" of course you make 100 giant signs in between cause everything will swoop by you really freaking fast.

I am making a bigger multitrack test track now with elevation changes and I'll try camber this time.

Haha no keep the 10% to 0% incline! I can see it now in the kerbal newspaper

(Evil Kernevil to jump grand kabion with a train! a must see.) this would also make you drive the train instead of a set it and forget it kind of thing.

[urablahblah]

I was brainstorming a similar idea earlier this month. I was thinking more of a pylon system or something, where you add towers that can connect to other towers via "laserline" or something silly like that. However, I could not imagine a way to have a vehicle be guided along the track in a realistic manner that was inexpensive to the physics engine and allowed pylons to be outside the loading distance from one another. I think that the best way to keep part count low would be procedurally generated parts between nodes, such as stretchy tanks or PWings.

[dukewellignton]

I like the idea of a railway in KSP. Keep it up!

[Tw1]

Went to test a piece of tapered track, looks like I make a mistake somewhere....

But I managed to get a model into Unity, and then into KSP, so not too bad a start.

Some faces were invisible, got to fix that.

Edited August 25, 2013 by Tw1

[Mekan1k]

Little bit of an error there...

[OopsThatNotWork]

lol if the rails are that large, i can imagine the train itself

[Tw1]

V shaped track is glitchy so far. T shape works a bit better, and does seem to stop the thing bouncing of- when it doesn't just clip through.

But look at this:

If you look carefully, you can see the seem where one track model passes through the other. It went straight across without a hitch. Proof of concept

Next time, I'm going to to the same, but faster, and maybe taller.

Aslo, seem to have got the hang of sketchup-unity-KSP. Except for one odd quirk.

Models are all loading sideways at first, despite what I do. Must be something wrong still.

Edited August 25, 2013 by Tw1

[nothke]

Nice sketches, I guess the slanted track sidewalls could contain the vehicle in the turn. You should use modular multiwheels cause they are sturdier and have proper suspension.

Here you can compare it to my test track seen in the video

http://www./download/g6jd20fx9vx0zjl/KerbinCity_railwaytest.rar

You can spawn on it directly. The track is about 7 meter wide so you need a 8 meter platform with wheels below.

[Grijze Pilion]

We need this, we want this, now what i'd like to see is proper rolling stock, say, a 2-part passenger unit (top speed: 80 m/s?)

[Tw1]

The track is about 7 meter wide so you need a 8 meter platform with wheels below.

7 meters? Somehow, that's wider than I expected. I use multiwheels, but not those panels. I'll have to have a go.

Wider track would give greater stability...

Speaking of track with, we ought to come up with a common standard, it would be cool to be able to join these track parts on to the city's rails, and make an extended network.

T shape has been working best for me. I've been using one that's 1.3m wide at the top, 0.9m wide at the stem, and 3 meters wide at the base. The top bit is 15cm, the stem 60cm. I'd be happy to double the with, at least. This was refined to work best with stock wheels and stock panels. However, the planned bogie part makes these proportions less important, so I'd be happy to change them, if it doesn't work for you.

I propose T shaped track, with a 5.2 meter top. That should be pretty generous, and not look to bad with standard fuel tanks being used as cargo. Other dimensions could either be the same as my first track, allowing stock wheels to be used, or slightly exaggerated.

I noticed as the amount of wheels on my train car progressively decreased during testing, I got more clipping problems.

Might lager track reduce this problem?

(Also, I managed to get textures working! (In unity at least.))

We need this, we want this, now what i'd like to see is proper rolling stock, say, a 2-part passenger unit (top speed: 80 m/s?)

Not planning rolling stock with this, (just a bogie/truck, the wheel base) but that's no reason someone couldn't make train bodies to go with it!

I better go sleep..

Edited August 26, 2013 by Tw1

[Maikie_G]

Speaking of track with, we ought to come up with a common standard, it would be cool to be able to join these track parts on to the city's rails, and make an extended network.

The international standard track gauge is 1435 mm. (for the imperials among us that's 4 ft and 8.5 in)

If you made your rails somewhere around there (maybe a little bigger) you could have a bogie that's almost as wide as a 2 by 2 structural panel, which seems to be a very good width for a train car IMO.

[squirtgun1234]

V shaped track is glitchy so far. T shape works a bit better, and does seem to stop the thing bouncing of- when it doesn't just clip through.

But look at this:

If you look carefully, you can see the seem where one track model passes through the other. It went straight across without a hitch. Proof of concept

Next time, I'm going to to the same, but faster, and maybe taller.

Aslo, seem to have got the hang of sketchup-unity-KSP. Except for one odd quirk.

Models are all loading sideways at first, despite what I do. Must be something wrong still.

The answer: SketchUp's Y axis is a horizontal axis, and unitys is vertical.

[Tw1]

The international standard track gauge is 1435 mm. (for the imperials among us that's 4 ft and 8.5 in)

.

True, but wider is going to be better for high speed and low gravity. Don't want our Mun railways to be slow do we? . Or, Gilly railways...

The answer: SketchUp's Y axis is a horizontal axis, and unitys is vertical.

Odd, isn't it? I wonder why the makers of SketchUp did it that way. But it was nice of them to provide a little button to change that when exporting.

[Tw1]

So.. Experiments.

Here, I am testing 5.2M T shape track, with stock parts. As you can see, the sides tend to clip trough a fair bit.

Having the wheels pointed the right way works much better....

Did some experiments using Nothke's experimental track, using multiwheels.

Again, after several experiments, I had the most success when my wheels were mostly perpendicular to the track.

Not blowing up:

T shape and camber should help.

Then I tried small payloads. Two X200-16s, without struts or cheats survived the trip fine.

Next, low gravity.

Using the hack had a strange effect....

No prize for picking why..

Fixed my CoT (mostly) and tried testing it on the Mun, but the track wouldn't save properly.

I came up with a solution to the imprecise CoT- accelerate under gravity, then cut both thrust and gravity the moment I encountered the curve.

The results were surprisingly good, got up to about 80m/s, in micro gravity.

(those spherical tanks are full of rocket parts.)

I didn't have room for more thrusters, so couldn't test it further, but 100m/s is a lot faster than most safe rovers.

I'd still like the final track to be able to be usable with only stock parts, as that would be convenient for the Kerbin City's tracks.

Next time, I'll try and get the track to fit a simple arrangement of aircraft gear, and panels. If that works, I think it will become the track standard.

A bogie part will still be included in this pack.

Edited August 29, 2013 by Tw1

[Nuke]

id just supply an axle part that has the wheels and the bearings in the proper places that already fits the track gauge. or at least a bearing wheel assembly that can be attached to some stock part with the proper spacing, just for the sake of reducing part count for large trains.

[Mekan1k]

Now I need to ask if someone could build a highway through the mountains between KSP's.

[zekes]

Oh this is cool! Looking forward to it when its all done.

[Grijze Pilion]

I see somebody's already modeling a terminal station on the Kerbin City thread...might be helpful to post a final track width there.

[Olympic1]

I see somebody's already modeling a terminal station on the Kerbin City thread...might be helpful to post a final track width there.

It's the same guy that develops this mod

[Grijze Pilion]

It's the same guy that develops this mod

Whoops, that'll make it a lot easier then. Onhandig