NIMBY Rails News

Public beta development of 1.6 is wrapping up soon so it was time to look back at the new features and changes implemented in December: improvements to track validation, speedup to station rebuild and bulk train editing. December also saw the continuation of the technical work on improving multiplayer, with two new options for game hosters: private sim and direct connections. 1.6 has been a smaller release to compensate for the huge effort of 1.5, but this also means that 1.7 will start development sooner than later, and in this devblog I am announcing its two headline features: save sharing and freeform train compositions.

Have a nice new year 2023!

https://carloscarrasco.com/nimby-rails-december-2022/

Version 1.6 is ready to begin public beta testing, and it is available to download in the beta branch. Unlike past major versions, 1.6 is a smaller release with shorter development time. Here are the main new features and changes:

[h3]Multiplayer optimizations[/h3]
A big focus of the 1.6 private development has been to optimize multiplayer for better scalability. Not all goals have been achieved in 1.6, but it should still be more capable than older versions of playing larger saves in MP.

[h3]Track curve weight[/h3]
It is now possible to manually select the halfway point between two tracks, allowing to alter the curvature of tracks without moving their control points. This feature in turns makes split and tape tools possible.

[h3]Track split and tape tools[/h3]
The track editor gains five new tools: split track, track tape, promote tracks into platforms
(demoting platforms into tracks is also available in the track properties panel), building tape and parallel track tape. These tools have a different interaction mode compared to older tools, always working on top of existing tracks.

[h3]Track editor "hold" mode for keybindings[/h3]
This game option changes the way the track editor tool keybindings work. In this mode the track editor is always in selection mode. When pressing a tool keybind the editor switches to the corresponding tool, but only while the key is pressed. On releasing the key the selection mode is enabled again. Experienced players might find this mode a more efficient way to interact with the track editor.

[h3]Track editor optimizations[/h3]
Manipulating track selections involving parallel tracks and/or multiple stations should be noticeably faster in v1.6.

[h3]Path trace options in train window[/h3]
Two new options (accessed from two new buttons in the train window) make it possible to visualize the projected path of a train to its current destination, or to any point in any track.

Check out the October and November devblogs for more in depth information:
https://carloscarrasco.com/nimby-rails-october-2022/
https://carloscarrasco.com/nimby-rails-november-2022/

(NOTE: the "platform tape" and "station tape" tools have been discarded, replaced with the 1.6 "platform promotion" tool. You can get the exact same results as the "platform tape" tool combining the "track tape" and "platform promotion" tools. The original station tool remains in the game).




I'm now hosting a MediaWiki for the NIMBY Rails player community:

https://wiki.nimbyrails.com/

It's only a few days old and it has been mostly private until now, so it's very empty, but it will grow with time.

With 1.5 having been wrapped up in October, November was fully devoted to private development of v1.6. This version has the single goal of analyzing the current state of multiplayer, and trying to fix it up as much as possible. I did not succeed in applying the full set of fixes I wanted, but nonetheless it should be improved and after the betas give it a pass of bug fixing, it should be the best MP experience so far.

Additionally the tape tools started in October got more polished and two new ones were added. Tape tools will be the only user visible change in 1.6 when it releases, which I hope will be "soon" :). 1.6 will thus be a smaller release compared to the huge 1.5 changes, for a more manageable beta series later on.

https://carloscarrasco.com/nimby-rails-november-2022/

The second beta series for version 1.5 is now finished, and it is now the default game version. It includes a lot of fixes and some new features:

- Custom leg timing: set the exact time a train should take between two line stations.
- Better late train estimation: late trains are now capable of detecting they are late much sooner in their trip, accelerating earlier to make up for it.
- Conflict visualization in the platform table: highlights when two or more line stops happen at the same time in the same platform.
- Line services: create a new version of an existing line with private timings, which remains synchronized to the original line.

For more details on these new features check the October devblog:

https://carloscarrasco.com/nimby-rails-october-2022/

And for the full, detailed version changelog check the beta thread in the forum:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1134710/discussions/0/3321988498660991049/

October is ending so it's time for a new devblog. Most of October was devoted to the second beta series of 1.5. Important new features and UX was added to the 1.5 beta branch: custom leg timings, late train estimation, stop conflict visualization and most importantly, line services. With line services it is now possible to create multiple synchronized versions of the same line, with optionally disabled stops, but with custom timing in all line and stop aspects. 1.5 is ending very soon and this second beta will be made the default game version in the coming days.

1.6 has started private development. While there is only one major theme confirmed for 1.6 (a multiplayer review to try to make it possible to play larger builds in MP), I wanted to start 1.6 with some smaller items which were too risky for the already mature 1.5 betas. 1.6 now features track curve weights, track split and track tape tools. Read the post to see how these tools will make some track building tasks easier in 1.6:

https://carloscarrasco.com/nimby-rails-october-2022/