Buffers, Tangara, and Japan

I released the buffers recently, despite not being 100% happy with them. I had thought about releasing a scripted buffer that would allow the placement of the light (left, right, center, none) via surveyor, but it seemed too hard for what it was. I also wasnt happy with the textures, but they had been sitting around for a while, so I thought they were better out there, than on my hard drive.

I hope to update them soon, fixing the textures, and adding a parameter which should make them actually stop slow moving trains. I have to admit, Ive read the CCG many times, but this hadnt stood out. It makes sense, since without such a parameter, Trainz has no way of telling a buffer from any other trackside object. For the moment, this feature is broken in TRS2K6, so it wont matter until after SP1 is released (unless you have 2K4).

I spent last weekend mainly researching other projects which have caught my attention. I wasnt making much progress with the Tangara texturing, so it was a welcome break. Above is a screenshot I grabbed a couple of weeks ago, and meant to post here at some point. Today is as good a day as any.

There has been some discussion on the Trainz forums recently about Japanese trains and routes, with a few new items being worked on. This is something close to my heart, since my wife is Japanese, and we have close ties to Japan. Much like my reasons for building NSW trains, I'd love to build some Japanese ones too, since there is virtually nothing available to date.

Yes, I know about the two Shinkansen (Bullet Trains) on TrainzLuvr, but those are a few cars short of a train set, and have other problems as well. There are also two 500 Series Shinkansen on the DLS by Tesla and Votkov. The one by Votkov looks promising but I havnt tried it yet. If I can repair the faults reported by 2K6, it may be the only one which is complete.

Japan has a rich variety of trains, from steam to single car diesel railcars, to freight, to the latest and most sophisticated EMU sets (There are around 14 different series of Shinkansen alone, since the original Bullet Train started in 1964). Add to that the awesome and wildly varying scenery, and its a no-brainer. It has to be one of the best countries for railfans to model - hands down. Japan is built on rail. There are rail lines everywhere! Do yourself a favour and take a look.

So why is there nothing available for Trainz?? Well, I thought about that while I was looking for somewhere to run the Shinkansen I was testing. There arent a lot of routes to run a 320 meter train which travels at 300km/hour. There certainly arent any Japanese routes or Shikansen lines on the DLS. I think the biggest obstacle to route builders is the lack of Japanese buildings, scenery, and textures. Regardless of whether Auran thought about marketing Trainz to Japan or not, it would be pretty difficult to do so without Japanese content and without a lot of Japanese creators on board, the content hasnt appeared. Its a catch 22.

Well, the flow of content is starting to trickle in the form of rollingstock, but that still leaves us without any routes to run it on. There have been a few attempts at a Japanese route, but these havnt looked the part, since every building, sign, signal, and station has had to be substituted with an existing US, European, or Australian model. Unfortunately, if it doesnt look the part, its not much different to whats already available, but Its a good effort, and we have to start somewhere.

We have to give our route builders a leg-up. They need scenery to work with, so while I have my hands full modelling local content, Ive started to collect photos and other useful research material from the web, including some really good finds. I have SRTM data from Tokyo to Osaka, (and more on the way) and have thought about building the Tokaido Shinkansen line, but its a huge project (500km from end to end, including that classic scene of Mt Fuji) and unfortunately its not something I have time for right now. I estimate it would be over 1000 base boards, but it would be SO worth it. (Yes, 1000+ its possible - check the forums).

For now, the research and data is here, but this will have to wait. I may knock out a traditional house, or a Japanese advertising sign, a prefecture castle, or a temple occasionally. I'd love to see a group form who could focus on Japanese content, but I have a few local things to do first before I can start one - any takers?