Version 1.10 is now in the default game version. The focus of 1.10 is an updated OpenStreetMap layer, plus updates to some of the other map layers. This means a full redownload of the game is required when updating to version 1.10.
In addition to the new map data, a new map rendering engine has also been implemented, This new engine is improved in all aspects. For example it has much higher hillsahding quality:
A new style has been implemented for OSM data, with better colors and less noisy textures:
It is also enabled for map style mods, and you can already find some community provided mods in the Steam Workshop to both modify the base map and to display new information in the underlying OSM database. Read the devblogs for August, September and October for all the details:
Version 1.10 is now the beta branch. The focus of this version is a complete rebuild of the game map data, to update and fix it, so it needs to download it all again, resulting in large 25GB download. See the September devblog for more details:
There should be no gameplay changes other than new or moved roads and waterways creating a conflict on existing tracks, including built tracks. These tracks still function normally.
Devblog for September 2023
All the data gathering and processing tasks for the new map in 1.10 are now done, along with most of the work required to display them. Game size has increased a little, but I think it's worth it given the extra quality and map features. The new map rendering fixes several long standing glitches and bugs, so say goodbye to visible tile seams and spiky road corners. OSM ways are now rendered with correct layering. The new population layer has increased in resolution, almost down to single buildings. There's still some work left to do, specifically to enable OSM style mods, but 1.10 is way past the halfway point at this moment. https://carloscarrasco.com/nimby-rails-september-2023/
Devblog for August 2023
Work on optimizing rendering continued. The new map might have more data to display, so it was important to prepare the game for it. Then the long process of importing the new map data started. The code that will perform the conversion from OSM and other data sources is being rewritten from scratch, to improve the compression, quality and amount of data. But it will be awhile before 1.10 is ready. Read more in the devblog: https://carloscarrasco.com/nimby-rails-august-2023/
Devblog for July 2023
July has come to an end, and after the 1.9 beta series was finished, work started on the next version. 1.10 requires huge amount of work and it will be awhile before it's ready, and even before its main project is started (updating the world map), other tasks need to be completed. One of them is a new map line rendering system, which will replace both the map lines and track line renderers with a faster system which uses less memory. Also in the case of map lines it will bring new capabilities. Read more about it in the devblog:
https://carloscarrasco.com/nimby-rails-july-2023/
Version 1.9.20
- Speedup track editing in situations involving many parallel and branched tracks - Fix: branch-track-branch constructions should not create and invalid inner track. The resulting inner node now behaves like a point mode track but can be parented to tangent mode tracks - Fix: some complex track builds involving many parallel tracks and branches were not loading properly - Fix: branch tips should not be eligible as parallel parent nodes
Version 1.9.18
- Fix: possible crash when splitting platform tracks - Fix: when clicking built one node stations the track editor opened instead of the station window - Fix: built one node stations had 0 capacity, with various negative consequences
Version 1.9
Version 1.9 is now the default game version! After an intense initial period of beta testing and mechanics review, 1.9 entered a quieter beta series of QoL improvements, and it's now ready to be the default version. As always, a legacy branch for 1.8 has been created for players who wish to continue playing the older version.
New track system
The way tracks are edited and specially shaped hasn't changed in 3 years. Some new tools have appeared, some new capabilities were added like splitting and boundaries, but it's still the same system implemented back when the game was a prototype and I was focused on releasing with a deadline. It has been long overdue to review this system but it's such a core piece of the game, it had to be done carefully. I spend most of June researching computer curve design to find a new system, and this is the result:
Up until 1.8, railways in the game have always been composed out of circle arcs and line segments. While this produces pleasant results to the eye, in the real world such a railway would only be valid for very slow vehicles like older tram systems. The 1.8 curves have first degree continuity (position), but are second degree discontinuous (curvature).
In 1.9 the new track system is based on the Hobby spline, which is capable of approximating both circle arcs and clothoids, and gives good results when trying to approximate how railways look like. Clothoids are short segments of the Euler spiral and are used in CAD drafting to transition between curvatures, so for example, to link two circle arcs with a straight section in the middle:
The limited track mode emulates the 1.8 behavior, and the full mode allows the spline to express the arc-straight connections with a clothoid-like segment. Players can choose between the two modes. If you don't like the new mode, set the track creation mode to Limited and you will never have to deal with Full mode again. All 1.8 imported games have their non-branch tracks set to Limited mode.
An additional new mode, Point, is also available (but not at creation time). Point tracks behave very differently than limited of full tracks. A Point mode track node is always part of the track, and there is no tangent polygon or arc fitting. Instead the player has direct control of the tangent angle for every point mode track node. Point mode allows to do things like curved dead end tracks. It is also the mode all track branch tips use, since it is capable of linking any point in the map with any possible tangent, unlike the Limited/Full system.
Late train boarding for pax
I always wanted to enable strict pax boarding for trains, so pax only board the exact train in their schedule, a not any train which happens to be on the same line+stop, but this breaks player saves which depend on pax being able to board late trains. So the solution to have both things is to make it official for pax to board (some) late trains, with a specific set of rules.
Basically pax will board late trains if the predicted train arrival is still before the departure time of their next train. If the next stop is the final stop, pax will accept late trains up to 3h.
N-track platforms
A very old limitation of the game has been lifted in 1.9: station platforms can now be composed of any number of tracks, starting at just 1:
Track+point line stops
And to completing the previous new feature, line stops are now always based on a exact point on the track, rather than some general direction on half of the platform. This means players now have full control on where trains stop on platforms on a per line per stop basis.
As always, check the devblogs for more in depth descriptions of these new features:
https://carloscarrasco.com/nimby-rails-may-2023/
https://carloscarrasco.com/nimby-rails-june-2023/
Version 1.9 is now in the beta branch
Version 1.9 is now ready for beta testing! Following the theme set in 1.7 and 1.8, this release focuses on a few core aspects of the game which haven't evolved in a long time and rebuilds them to be more capable, to give the game a better foundation.
New track system
The way tracks are edited and specially shaped hasn't changed in 3 years. Some new tools have appeared, some new capabilities were added like splitting and boundaries, but it's still the same system implemented back when the game was a prototype and I was focused on releasing with a deadline. It has been long overdue to review this system but it's such a core piece of the game, it had to be done carefully. I spend most of June researching computer curve design to find a new system, and this is the result:
The new track system is based on the Hobby spline, which is capable of approximating both circle arcs and clothoids, and gives good results when trying to approximate how railways look like. It brings a host of new features too: custom tangents on any track node, zero node branches, zero straight segment branches, track nodes are now part of the track, etc. And some more will be added in time.
Since every track of every save is changed by this new system, your track max speeds and line leg timings have changed too. Like I mentioned in the past, assume every new version of the game will change line timings, until the game is out of Early Access.
Late train boarding for pax
I always wanted to enable strict pax boarding for trains, so pax only board the exact train in their schedule, a not any train which happens to be on the same line+stop, but this breaks player saves which depend on pax being able to board late trains. So the solution to have both things is to make it official for pax to board (some) late trains, with a specific set of rules.
Basically pax will board late trains if the predicted train arrival is still before the departure time of their next train. If the next stop is the final stop, pax will accept late trains up to 3h.
N-track platforms
A very old limitation of the game has been lifted in 1.9: station platforms can now be composed of any number of tracks, starting at just 1:
Track+point line stops
And to completing the previous new feature, line stops are now always based on a exact point on the track, rather than some general direction on half of the platform. This means players now have full control on where trains stop on platforms on a per line per stop basis.
As always, check the devblogs for more in depth descriptions of these new features:
https://carloscarrasco.com/nimby-rails-may-2023/
https://carloscarrasco.com/nimby-rails-june-2023/
Version 1.8.28
- New company option: pax train matching. Defaults to line and stop. The train, run, line and stop is the more correct option but some saves depend on the simpler behavior, despite it leading to bugs (like pax being in trains going to depot) - Immediately move pax to their next station stop when a train line changes into depot mode (same behavior as automatic interventions due to stale train) - Enable intervention respawn in secondary platforms for pax service lines - Display a circle around secondary platform signals when line is being edited in line editor - Assume some minimal tractive power if a train has at least 1W of power (not visible in UI) - When clicking on an unspawned train in the asset list, open the train editor - Fix: refresh all track reservations on the first sim frame after loading a saved game - Fix: in parallel append track mode, if the track editor is proposing a track merge, changing the track type only changes the parent track - Fix: intervention respawn was ignoring the last secondary platform - Fix: do not allow to create a branch whose immediate sibling is a "keep straight" platform - Fix: do not allow to set a "keep straight" platform if its immediate sibling is the immediate sibling of a track branch tip - Fix: train acceleration displayed in the "Dynamics" line of the train editor was not always correct when train is running a line with an overrode max acceleration - Fix: Line max acceleration did not always correctly apply to train AI - Fix: do not reposition trains stopping at secondary platforms for stacked orders
