There's lots of different features & additions in this update!
Starting off, there are now a whole bunch of new track painters that add a range of special rails and track types:
These include:
standard 3rd rail & electric 3rd rail
dual inner-rails used on bridges
toothed rail & pulley based funicular rail
solid concrete bridge
sleeper-only without gaps
Something special you can do with these new rail variations is create 'fake' wider and thinner gauges! Keep in mind this is NOT an official system for multiple track gauges, but in the meantime im sure modders will have a lot of fun with this!
Along with these new rail types, there is also now some single rail props! This includes a couple of different lengths of a single rail, as well as a bundle of rails.
There are two different versions of these, one set that can be painted with normal colors, and another set which you can paint using the track style painters. this is useful for when you want the rails to match colors with your other track.
The rail end props (like the 3rd rail caps, and the inward-curving bridge end rails) can be painted using the track style painters in the same way,
Anyway, the reason I'm adding these new track features is for the funicular section of the Paranapiacaba (Brazil) layout! There are two different sections of track, one with a modern toothed rail system, and the historic old funicular which uses the pulley system.
Here are some screenshots of my progress on the old abandoned pulley system:
Something else you might notice in those screenshots is the new bridge! This bridge has also been added in this update, and you can find it in the "props -> bridges" drawer:
Props
Speaking of the new bridge, that brings me on to the next part of this update, a bunch of new props!
These new props include:
Industrial wheels (used for the funicular pulleys)
Piles of wooden beams
Metal pipes
Single segment of railing
There's also something which im sure will be VERY useful, a bunch of fruit trees and bushes! Placing apples one-by-one on to trees is a huge job, but there's no need for that any more. These also make for great berry bushes and even flowers!
Lastly, this update also includes a few bug fixes:
Fixed issue where wagons would fail to place on track with capped ends.
Fixed bad collision issue on large track after applying changes.
Fixed bug with bridges and other track addons that would occur when painting multiple times.
Fixed bug where the game would freeze when trying to save a backup of a map with an empty name.
Fixed bug with biome brushes not being deleted properly when falling off the map.
And that's all for now! Lots of useful little things in this update. The next update could either be focused on new freight wagons, or the new Side-rod locomotive, we shall see!
Also on a side note, the last update (the Paranapiacaba preview) got the most likes out of any news post Rolling Line has ever had! Leaving likes & comments really makes a difference. I read every single comment, and it's great to see the community giving so much feedback, thank you all!
Paranapiacaba info + new props! v2.29
It's time to finally post some news on the Brazil layout! As mentioned a while ago, i visited Brazil (Sao Paulo) last year, and since then I've been working on an official layout based on one of the places i visited there called Paranapiacaba!
I originally said that this new Brazil content was going to be paid DLC, but since then I have decided to instead release this all as free updates! Some of the Brazil content has already been released, like the V8 locomotive and lots of props that I made specifically for this map.
But the best part is still to come, the map itself! This map is by far the most detailed and complex layout I've worked on, and the first new layout I've added since the old Santa Fe. So much of Rolling Line has changed since back then, and this layout acts as a showcase of what Rolling Line is capable of now, 2 years after it's release day!
The map is still not finished, but today I would love to show everyone a preview of what has been built so far. The whole map will hopefully be released within the next month or so, and it will be completely 100% free!
Here are a bunch of HD screenshots of the complete parts of the map, you can view a full resolution version on the Imgur links included.
Full resolution: https://imgur.com/KQChBu7
Full resolution: https://imgur.com/bCR3JL7
Full resolution: https://imgur.com/YiDER7a
Full resolution: https://imgur.com/7zU11Rm
Full resolution: https://imgur.com/jM3umfi
Full resolution: https://imgur.com/eKBxGzw
Full resolution: https://imgur.com/mXza9aV
Full resolution: https://imgur.com/2nIGNvl
You can view the full album of screenshots (including a few more!) here: https://imgur.com/gallery/LL6ZF90
Paranapiacaba
Paranapiacaba is an abandoned company town which is now open for the public to explore, and it's at the top of a huge funicular railway which takes freight from the sea at Santos all the way up to the high plateau which Paranapiacaba and Sao Paulo city are on.
This means that the layout features a steep funicular incline with toothed rails and a special geared locomotive to operate on it! This new loco is the Hitachi side-rod, and will be added in it's own update before the full map is released.
Here's some of my photos from my visit, which were used as inspiration when designing the map:
There is also a bunch of freight wagons (like tanker cars, Brazilian style boxcars, hoppers) that will be added in their own update still to come!
But anyway, now on to what is included in this update:
New props
This update adds a bunch of general props which i've used in the Paranapiacaba map.
This includes a whole bunch of new power poles and yard towers:
And a new style of bridge:
A bunch of modular stairs and small stairwells:
The power station prop has now been split into individual modular pieces and is also paintable:
There is also a new station shelter prop:
In addition to these new props, there are also a bunch of bug fixes:
Fixed snow plows, the last update broke dynamic snow (which would no longer be cleared) this has now been fixed.
Fixed the plow position on the Big boy, it now parents to the proper front wheels, not the boiler.
Steam particles are now disabled at a distance, before they still remained visible despite the train being hidden by LOD.
Rotating a prop while placing use to stop working if you toggled snapping while placing. this is now fixed and prop rotating works as is should.
Fixed bug where biome brushes would have problems being deleted when falling off the map, which was causing save file problems.
Fixed minor mesh bug on one of the trees.
And that's all for now! I hope you enjoy the new preview screenshots of the Paranapiacaba map, and that you're just as excited as me to see it finished!
V8 Liveries! v2.28
Custom livery support for the V8 is ready! You can now make your own color-schemes for the V8 and post them to the Steam workshop.
As with all the other liveries, you can find the templates in the "Rolling Line -> Modding -> templates" folder. You can also find a guide on how to make liveries here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1405658466
In addition to V8 liveries, this update also adds a few new props! A whole bunch of new fence designs:
And also this modular concrete bridge:
I made this bridge for the upcoming Brazil layout, it's based on a strange little concrete bridge in Paranapiacaba. And yes, it really does look that odd in real life:
As well as these new props, there's also a few other changes:
The "laser pointer" style of VR interaction is an option again. This allows you to pickup props/trains etc from a distance using a pointer ray, instead of picking things up by touching them. I recently disabled this option since i thought no one was using it, and it might be confusing new players. But turns out there are people who really like it! so ive added the option back again. You can find this setting in the "player -> interaction -> distance interaction" menu.
Sprays now only work when you have "advanced controls" enabled ("misc -> advanced controls"). Sprays were confusing a lot of people who accidentally press T and dont know what they are. the sprays in Rolling Line are just like those in Team Fortress 2, its just a custom image you can spray onto the terrain. they are not included in save files and will disappear if you restart the game. You can edit the spray image using the file "Rolling Line -> Modding -> Spray.png"
Fixed the plow position for the V8
Fixed a glitch with placing trains on track while at the pause menu (time now automatically resumes when a train is placed)
There is now an "update number" on the menu, alongside the version number. Rolling Line has had 72 update since release!
And that's everything for today! Im spending a lot of time working on the Brazil map at the moment, but there's still lots of new props i'm yet to add, so the next update will likely be prop-focused. Aside from that there are also some new freight wagons on the way and even another locomotive.
The Paranapiacaba (Brazil) layout is going to be completely free! (not paid DLC) and will hopefully be ready around late March/early April.
There will be lots more news about the Paranapiacaba layout it in the near future, but in the meantime enjoy making new V8 liveries!
Articulation + massive bug fix! v2.27
Today's update is a busy one, with new features, bug fixes, quickMod features, and even some new props!
First of all, articulation has finally been added! "Articulation" is when a locomotive has multiple blocks of wheels that move & rotate independently from the main body, and It's always been missing from Rolling Line.
Most obviously seen on the Big Boy, which has quite a unique style of articulation, where the whole front of the train pivots separately from the boiler.
The V8 also has this same effect, which makes the wheels curve around turns much nicer!
The other steam engines (the Berkshire and Flyer) have also been updated to include these new smoothed wheels!
You can also make full use of this feature in QuickMods! Be warned though: it gets pretty complicated, so this is more a feature for advanced modders.
I've updated the official steam guide to include new information on how to use articulation (and custom pivot behavior) and you can find that guide here:
Arguably the main highlight of this update is that I've finally fixed a major bug that has plagued Rolling Line for over a year! This is the "twisting trains" you may have noticed when running trains for a long time.
This bug was actually caused by the wheel sets of wagons straying apart over time, which resulted in the wagon "twisting" to compensate for the difference. The reason the wheels seemed to still be in position is because the wheel position was being automatically smoothed, so the trains seemed to be twisting off the tracks instead.
But this bug has been 100% fixed! along with a ton of background programming improvements to how trains move along track. Twisting wagons are now a thing of the past.
Another bug (with similar roots) which has also been fixed thanks to this is how trains would sometimes slow down when passing over flexytrack, or even completely derail. This has been 100% fixed too, and flexytrack behaves exactly the same as any other track.
New props!
A bunch of miscellaneous new props have been added (mostly ones ive made for the Brazil map that are hard to fit into categories) and these are:
dumpsters with lids
barrels
concrete retaining walls
rows of bushes
engine shed with empty interior
a new metal barrier
station props
Brazil style pedestrian overhead bridge
QuickMod features
As well as articulation, quickMods have also gotten a few new features:
a "6_6" wheel preset (two sets of 6)
the V8 horn
the option to flip the front pantograph (as well as the second pantograph, if used)
fixed bugs relating to paint colors not being applied correctly when cloning quickMods
Check the official steam guide (mentioned previously) to see all the up-to-date quickMod features.
Miscellaneous features & fixes
the PC tutorial has been fixed to show the correct "add left/right" button controls
the V8 now has working doors on the front of the cab! you can open/close the doors by clicking the door handle
addons (plows and pantographs) now disable rendering at a distance
small mesh fix on the door of the v8 and a minor detail on the cab
the red V8's pantographs have been flipped to match the real-world design
wagon wheel LOD is now tied to the "object view distance" setting, so increasing this setting will make the low-detail wheels show up further away.
And that's everything! This update was suppose to be about v8 liveries but bug fixes and articulation ended up taking the spotlight, so V8 liveries will instead be coming in the next update.
Though im sure that finally fixing the infamous "twisting" bug is well worth it!
Enjoy!
V8 locomotive & Pantographs! v2.26
The V8
It's finally here, Rolling Line's first ever official electric locomotive! This new loco is called the V8, and its quite a unique one that is rather famous in Brazil. It's incredibly similar to the "Little Joe" in America too!
(Photo by Alexandre Gabriely)
It comes in three different official liveries, and custom liveries will be coming in a future update.
Pantographs
This update also adds the ability to add pantographs on to all the trains in the game! (the things trains use to get electricity from overhead wires).
Pantographs work in the same way as snow plows (added in the Christmas update), you can "paint" them on to trains using the new painters in the electric trains drawer.
Remember you can set the color of pantographs by painting the "painters" in the drawer with colors, just like how you can with snow plows:
You can add pantographs on to any train you want, all the official trains support them!
Pantographs even have a little spark effect every now and then, just for fun: (you can turn this off in the "graphics" menu if you choose)
Each individual pantograph has a small button you can press to raise/lower it, but you can also raise/lower all pantographs by using the button in the cab. If you are playing on PC you can also press "p" while controlling a train to toggle pantographs.
QuickMods
As well as all the official trains, you can also add pantographs to quickMods! QuickMods now also have the option to include addons (plows and pantographs) by default, which means you can set your quickMod to always spawn with a specific type of pantograph. You can also include custom textures for it.
There are several new properties you can edit which are explained in detail in the official steam guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1789707835
Train placement fix
Something else that this update includes is a much needed bug fix to a very old problem!
You may have noticed sometimes that it can be difficult to place trains on certain track, or into small gaps. sometimes placing long locos (like the big boy and NR) is almost impossible for no good reason.
Well I've finally fixed this! Placing trains should now be much, much easier. i'm sure anyone who's played Rolling Line for a while is going to be very happy about this fix.
There are also a couple of small changes & fixes included in this update:
The chimney props now have collision.
Addons are copied when cloning trains (both plows and pantographs)
And that's everything for now! This update completes the "electrification" of Rolling Line, and now you can run electric trains to your heart's content. And im sure all the Brazilian players will be very excited about the addition of the V8! Liveries for the V8 will likely be coming in the next update, along with a few odds & ends, bug fixes and some new props too.
Enjoy!
Overhead wires! v2.25
Today's update is a great one, Rolling line is finally getting overhead wires! This update adds the ability to "paint" overhead wires on to track (in the same way as bridges & tunnels) and place various types of masts to hold the wires up.
The second part of this update (coming next week) is going to add a new electric train along with pantographs to actually make use of these new overhead wires.
But in the meantime you can make electrified layouts in anticipation!
Since the positioning of wires is based on track, I recommend designing your trackwork around how you want the wires organized. Wires will always connect one end of a track segment to the other end, so using smaller segments will result in more joints, and longer segments will result in less:
A very useful new feature that's been added is the ability for certain props to snap on to track!
This means that the new wire masts, tunnel entrances and buffers all now snap on to the ends of track, which makes life much easier:
There are a ton of different variations of wire styles and attachable masts. You can use single standalone masts, or even large gantry's that span multiple tracks. Here are a bunch of great examples of overhead wires in use:
On a side note, I also added a paintable prop version of the new shipping container model used for the double-stack freight wagons:
It's awesome to finally add electrification into Rolling Line, and it's going to be even better once you've got some electric trains to make use of them!
The next update is going to add the Brazilian V8 (very similar to a certain "little joe") along with pantograph support for QuickMods, and I'm sure there will be more electric locos coming to Rolling Line in the future.
In the meantime, enjoy using the new overhead wires!
Jungle scenery! v2.24
Rolling Line is getting some new scenery!
Something I've always wanted to add is some more styles & variations of trees, and since I'm making lots of jungle scenery (for Brazil) I added some new tropical jungle plants and even some vines.
This update includes a whole bunch of new scenery props, starting with a whole lot of new trees:
A bunch of tropical plants and ferns:
Some classic trees (for all around the world) with trunks & branches:
And some more unique variations like droopy swampy trees and larger thick trees with twisting branches:
And some vines too! These new vines are great for decorating jungle & swamp scenery. I recommend using the recently added "transform edit mode" controls (press 'F' when hovering over a placed prop on PC) to manually position the vines on trees.
In fact, if you paint them different colors you could even use them for electrical wiring...
There are also some new tree trunks, stumps, and dead trees:
As well as trees, this update also adds a ton of new rock styles! You can use these for boulders, or scale them up to use as terrain & cliffs:
There are also a few extra things, like some lines of grass. These are great for filling gaps between tracks and placing alongside paths & roads!
And lastly, these new "edge of table" path pieces, which are great for making terrain smoothly line up with the table:
I hope you enjoy all these new scenery props! With all the focus recently being on buildings, freight & industrial stuff its nice to add some more natural elements into the game. These new props should make for some beautiful layouts, and lots of new scenery biomes!
The next couple of updates are going to be pretty exciting ones, because Rolling Line is finally getting electrification!! Overhead wires, pantographs and a new electric train will all be coming in the next few updates, so keep an eye out for that!
Enjoy!
Urban buildings! v2.23
Something Rolling Line has needed for ages is proper modular building props! With these new props you can easily build all sorts of different styles of buildings like barns, sheds, houses, mansions, factories, etc...
You can snap together different shapes and sizes to make the basic structure of the building, then decorate it with windows, doors and chimneys. The main building pieces snap together too, which makes things so much easier!
You can find all this new stuff in the "buildings -> modular" drawer. Here is a full view of all the new props that have been added:
I can't wait to see all the creative things people will be able to build with all this new stuff, making custom buildings just got 10x easier!
Here's a bunch of examples of the kind of things you can make with these new props:
On a side note, these old windows are also now multi-paintable:
QuickMod features
In addition to these new building props, this update also adds some new quickMod features! You can now use multiple 3D models in your train mods, with multiple textures and material types. You can use these new materials to create effects like transparency and emmision!
There is also now the option to finally change the coupler offset distance! (a much requested feature)
You can find more info about the new quickMod features in the Steam guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1789707835 There is also a new example quickMod "NZR red DX" (which uses these new quickMod features) which will be automatically downloaded with this update! It's based on the classic New Zealand Rail "fruit salad" DX locos.
I hope you enjoy these new props, and since houses & buildings are such a major part of model railway building it made perfect sense to finally give them some attention!
have fun!
Double-stacks! v2.22
The Americans are going to love this update! The very popular Double-stack freight car is now officially in the game.
This is the Compact Comp winners choice of freight wagon. Also, let it be known that despite Ze Trackmeister winning first place in both the Color Comp and Compact Comp, he hasn't claimed the actual first prize either time! both times he has generously passed on the first place prize to the runner up, and opted to choose a prop instead.
Also a huge thank you to Long who built the original double-stack quickMod which was modified for this update!!
You can find the new double-stack wagon in the "freight 2" drawer along with a bunch of variations (2 containers, 1 container and empty):
Randomized containers
Just like the old NZ-style container wagons, these new double-stacks have randomized container colors. The colors are randomized every time you clone the wagon, but i have added a new feature where if you hold SHIFT while cloning or placing the wagon, its randomized colors will stay the same. This feature applies to all the wagons that use randomized elements, including the old NZ container wagons.
Custom liveries
These new double-stacks also feature custom liveries of course! In fact you can already find some examples on the Steam workshop.
You can find the new livery template in the "Rolling Line -> modding -> templates" folder, or download it here:
The 2 container, 1 container and empty liveries all use the same template! The container parts of the livery are just ignored depending on what livery type you use. e.g. if you make a single container livery, only the bottom-left container on the livery template is used, and the bottom-right is ignored.
New tunnel
Since the double-stacks are very tall, I've also added a new taller style of tunnel to fit them! You can find this in the track "tools" drawer.
There are also a couple of other small things included:
The text input limit (for naming workshop items, saves etc) has been removed.
The particles from the coffee cup prop have been fixed (they previously had a shader error)
I hope you enjoy the new wagons! Next up is likely to be some new Brazil-themed buildings and urban props. I'm also looking at releasing the Rolling Line soundtrack on steam (for free of course) using Steams new game soundtrack features.
Enjoy!
New crossings and shapes! v2.21
Happy new year everyone! The start of 2020 is going to be a very busy time for Rolling Line, I've got tons of stuff planned and I'm hopefully going to be getting a lot of updates out early this year.
But first things first, here is a big helping of new props! These were based around the Compact Comp winners choices for new props (Japanese level crossings and new shapes) but there are lots of extra additions as well.
To start with here are heaps of new basic shape props, including new letters and characters, symbols, octagons & cones, nuclear cooling tower, compass, half-circles, tons of new variations of old shapes, etc:
And as well as shapes, there are now a bunch of new level crossings, and even a new type of signal. These new Japanese crossings also feature a directional arrow to show which way the train is coming, and even have the proper classic Japanese sound effect!
Also, a huge thank-you to Headshot who built the 3D models for the new Japanese level crossings!
These particular signals & level crossing (below) are actually made for the Brazil update! But I'm releasing them early alongside all the other new level crossings. (they are also multi-paintable)
And as a little bonus, the barrier road sign now faces in both directions:
There are also a couple of other small features:
A new quickMod value "forcePlowSupport" which you can use to add plow support to quickMod wagons (so it no longer needs to be a locomotive). locomotives have plow support by default. Simply add this line into the mod.txt file to allow plows: "forcePlowSupport true"
The signal data edit menu has been moved to the left side (Q instead of E) to allow multi-painting on signals.
Get ready for 2020, next up will be the Compact Comp winners freight wagon! Enjoy!
