Hello,
Today I will bring a train tutorial to everyone.
■ Preface
▲ Figure 1.0: A train I drew with a gray background.
▲ Figure 1.1: the in-game train
First,
trains are based on car system in now version.
So, you should make them into the form of cars.
After that, frames will be needed if you want to make trains.
The examples below shows the specific four directions:
▲ Figure 1.2: A blue white electrical train I drew.
▲ Figure 1.3: the frames index order
■ Frames alignment
Note that the frames directions should be as strict as this index:
north, east, south, west.
Each carriage needs four directions like above to ensure in-game visual performance while turning.
The bottoms of trains should be bottomed in frames like the above frames shows.
It makes sure your trains will not drive too low or high on tracks while they are turning.
Note that the neighbor pixels' distance and size will heavily influence the visual performance of your trains.
■ JSON
As usual,
We use JSON to describe the contents of plugins.
So we need code at least as simple as below one:
[code]
{
"id": "$EMU_500_mid_1",
"price":0,
"type":"car",
"directional":true,
"flag train": true,
"flag normal": false,
"tram":true,
"length": 24,
"frames": [
{ "bmp": "EMU_500_mid_n.png"},
{ "bmp": "EMU_500_mid_e.png"},
{ "bmp": "EMU_500_mid_s.png"},
{ "bmp": "EMU_500_mid_w.png"}
],
"meta": {
"tags": {
"short_distance_passenger_train": {}
}}
},
{
"id": "$EMU_500_tail",
"price":0,
"type":"car",
"directional":true,
"flag train": true,
"flag normal": false,
"tram":true,
"length": 24,
"frames": [
{ "bmp": "EMU_500_tail_n.png"},
{ "bmp": "EMU_500_tail_e.png"},
{ "bmp": "EMU_500_tail_s.png"},
{ "bmp": "EMU_500_tail_w.png"}
],
"meta": {
"tags": {
"short_distance_passenger_train": {}
}}
},
{
"id": "$EMU_500_head",
"title": "EMU500",
"text": "\nthe blue and white trains that commonly appear in Taiwan railways.",
"price":0,
"capacity":500,
"type": "car",
"speed": 1.0,
"flag train": true,
"flag normal": false,
"tram":true,
"length": 24,
"frames": [
{ "bmp": "EMU_500_head_n.png"},
{ "bmp": "EMU_500_head_e.png"},
{ "bmp": "EMU_500_head_s.png"},
{ "bmp": "EMU_500_head_w.png"}
],
"tail": [
"$EMU_500_mid_1","$car_null00",
"$EMU_500_mid_1","$car_null00",
"$EMU_500_mid_1","$car_null00",
"$EMU_500_mid_1","$car_null00",
"$EMU_500_mid_1","$car_null00",
"$EMU_500_mid_1","$car_null00",
"$EMU_500_tail"
],
"meta": {
"tags": {
"short_distance_passenger_train": {}
}}
}
]
[/code]
The most important attributes are these :
[code=json]
"meta": {
"tags": {
"short_distance_passenger_train": {}
}}
[/code]
meta tags decide which road system can your trains add and can be selected to which routes.
For example,
I use "short_distance_passenger_train",
This refers to flat-surface railway passenger trains in the game.
[code=json]
"tail": [
"$EMU_500_mid_1","$car_null00",
"$EMU_500_mid_1","$car_null00",
"$EMU_500_mid_1","$car_null00",
"$EMU_500_mid_1","$car_null00",
"$EMU_500_mid_1","$car_null00",
"$EMU_500_mid_1",
"$EMU_500_tail"
]
[/code]
This is a tail array.
It is only defined in the train head id.
It makes sure the tail id and carriage ids can connect correctly with the head.
So the order is:
["carriages id","carriages id",......,"tail id"]
Then,
You can add "$car_null00"
,an invisible pre-defined car id,
can make sure no gap or overlay for train connections.
[code=json]
"flag train": true,
"flag normal": false,
"tram":true,
"length": 24,
[code]
"flag train" decides whether the vehicles can drive on tracks.
So,using "flag train true" and "flag normal false" can let your trains only drive on railways rather than roads.
"tram true" make sure it can run on special tram tracks.
“ "length":interger ” is special.
It defines one train carriage's horizontal width.
It doesn't have to be the same width as real car frames.
But if true,it will be more steady on vision.
Others:
The type of train must be
"car" rather than "train" in the current version.
Each id should be unique from others.
title and text describe the name and introduction of your trains that the game needs.
The title is strictly required because the game uses this to recognize each train or bus in the route system.
For the same reason , the price attribute is strictly needed,too.
capacity defines how many passengers can have for your trains.
speed decides how fast your trains can run.
Happy modding mayors!!
