Rolling Line News

Guess what, time for a livery jam!

Have you ever wanted to think up a fictional railway with its own unique logo, colors and history? Well then this is the perfect opportunity to do so!

It's easy to get caught up in all the little accuracies and details of realism when it comes to making liveries, but why not make something completely new? Personally I absolutely love designing logos and color schemes, so when you combine that with trains what's not to love.

The goal of this jam is to be creative and design your own fantasy (fictional) railway line, along with as many different kinds of liveries as you want to go with it. You can even make a layout based on the locations your railway takes place in!
You can even think up a backstory and history to your railway if you want!
And of course you can upload as many designs as you want, even multiple different railroads too! There is no limit on how much you can make.

This is a "jam" not a competition, so dont worry about making the largest, most detailed railway in the world, just have fun with it. Even a single wagon with a special color scheme is a worthy entry!

There won't be any specific prizes for this jam, but I'll of course be posting screenshots and giving shoutouts to peoples entries along the way, and at the end of the jam I'll do a nice roundup of some of the most interesting ones!

This jam will last for 2 weeks, and ill post some early-bird shoutouts at the half-way point too!

To include your livery/layout in the jam, all you need to do is tick the "Fantasy livery jam entry" option when you are uploading to the Steam workshop.




And that's all! Simple as that.
Just have a go at designing your own fictional railway, make some liveries for it, and include a layout and/or backstory if your feeling adventurous.
And try out other peoples entries along the way for inspiration!

To get things started, I've already made my own example:
The "Bog Pit Railroad"

It's a coal railway for a fictional mine in the outback of Australia, and it has a range of liveries which all serve a different role in the railways activity (and history).

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2119554155

You can also read a quick story about the railways history in the description for the layout:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2119545415

I can't wait to see what kind of things people can come up with!
Designing fantasy railways can be a lot of fun, and I hope you enjoy it ːsteamhappyː



If you've never made a livery before then is actually a lot easier than you think!
All you need is very basic image editing software (even Paint is fine!)

There is a full guide here on Steam which explains step-by-step all that you need to make a livery:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1405658466

Aside from announcing this livery jam, this update also includes a few other features:

• Track can now be stored in custom drawers.
  
  
  
  
  
• Painter props (like color painters, track detail painters, pantographs, plows, etc) can now be placed in custom drawers.
  
  
  
  
  
• Custom drawers now have multiple pages! If you make lots of drawers they will now be stored over multiple pages which can be switched between.
  
  
  
  
  
• Rolling Line now has a rainbow prop! you can find it in the "Misc -> Unlocks" drawer.
  
  
  
  
  
• There is also a special fantasy livery jam wagon, which you can also find in the "Misc -> Unlocks" drawer.
  
  
  
  
  
• Two new props were added, a beer bottle and a washing machine.
  
  
  
  
  
• Placed shelves now have an "apply" button when you are placing them. this means that you can place a new shelf on your map, then apply edits, without needing to use the "apply all" option on the edit tool.
  
  
  
  
  
• Liveries now have a unique ID as well as their name, which means you can give liveries the same name without conflicts. Please keep in mind that this will not apply to previously uploaded liveries. you need to create a new livery for this new ID system to be used. You should still give your liveries unique names though for good practice!
  
  
• Generic names like "empty" and "new game" are now blocked from being used when uploading items to the workshop. Please give your uploads proper names!
  
  
• You can now open/close the category and page popup windows on drawers by clicking the button again.
  
  
• Deleting a livery no longer refreshes the entire livery list, which means the game no longer freezes when deleting a locally saved livery.
  
  
• Fixed glitch where refreshing the custom livery images would break other liveries that you have saved in the same game session.
  
  
• Fixed issue with quickMod wheel position in custom drawers.
  
  
• You can now use the "Insert" key both in photo mode and in normal gameplay to lock/unlock your cursor.
  
  
• Fixed distance spacing between props when using the biome brush. Also fixed issue with biome brushes not saving their data correctly.
  
  
• If you experience an error when loading props/trains into a custom drawer and error message will be shown and the broken props will be removed (instead of floating around the sky). Please post in the Bug Reporting thread if you experience this issue.
  NOTE: this has been fixed! this should no longer happen
  
  
• Increased the room size limits to 1000x1000x1000 (more than anyone could possibly ever use)
  

And this everything for this update!
On a side note, if you want a high-resolution copy of the "fantasy livery jam" logo (along with the previous competitions) you can download them here:

Fantasy livery jam logo:
https://imgur.com/gallery/TdI7dlW

Compact comp logo:
https://imgur.com/gallery/BWN44oT

Color comp logo:
https://imgur.com/gallery/kovBeBZ


Enjoy!

Here's something useful, customizable drawers!
With this update you can now create your own drawers and fill them with trains & props of any kind, which means quickMods, liveries, official trains, and all props.

You can place them inside these drawers using a sort of "inventory tetris" system following a grid:
(note you can press Q and E to switch direction when placing trains)




As well as trains (liveries, quickMods, etc) these drawers can also store props!
All save data like paint color, material style etc is also saved in these drawers:




Unfortunately you can't store track or "painter" props in these drawers yet, though I plan to add this soon (possibly included in the next update) along with more options for positioning and rotation of items in the drawers.

When you open the new "custom" category in the drawers you can add and remove your own drawers:




The save data for these drawers is stored in plain text (just like a normal Rolling Line save file) in the folder "Modding -> custom drawers"
If you want to copy-paste drawers between friends then you can access and edit these files directly!




I'm working on adding the ability to include custom drawers in workshop saves (so downloading a map would give you access to the drawers the original owner has) and this should be coming in the next update.

Something useful about these custom drawers is that you can use them to store special rare trains like the golden trains and ghost trains:




Along with these new drawers, this update also includes:

• Golden trains can now be cloned.
  
• Individual drawers can no longer be picked up (this use to be a setting, but this feature is very out-dated and is no longer needed since drawers are placeable and moveable now).
  
• Fixed bug where the Brazil freight wagons would disappear from drawers after visiting an easter egg scene.
  
• Pressing Delete on PC use to remove props from drawers that should be un-deleteable, this has been fixed.
  

And that's all for now!

In a matter of days I'm going to be announcing a livery creation jam for everyone to take part in, so keep an eye out for that!

Pine trees?
It's about time!

Today's update adds a simple yet massively requested set of props, classic pointy pine trees! Plus the classic tall poplar tree (a very common sight along the rivers and vineyards where I live!).
As well as these new trees, this update also adds some other stuff surrounding Easter Eggs!

Firstly, pine trees:



You can find a new drawer full of all sorts of pine tree variants.
This includes dead tree trunks as well as some snow-coated versions.

The new poplar trees can be found in the drawers alongside the other trees and scenery props.



Aside from the new tree types, this update also adds a new drawer in the "misc" category called "unlocks"

This draw lets you spawn in any secret props you've unlocked through finding Easter Eggs!
(and yes, Rolling Line has a ton of Easter Eggs)

Once you have accessed a secret prop or train it will show up inside this drawer so you can re-spawn it into your map at any stage.



If you are interested in seeking out the many Easter Eggs of Rolling Line then i recommend having a look at this steam group:
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/RlEasterEggs

There are heaps of Easter Eggs that have been found already, but there are still some yet to be found, in fact... there might just be some brand new ones... ːTinyBunnyː

This update also includes a few small fixes:

• Fixed the Biome Brush values for the jungle trees, they should now space out and layer correctly
  
• Fixed the "near clip plane" of the transform mode camera, it now matches the player camera
  
• Added a couple of small clean ups to the Paranapiacaba map, like a ladder inside the station tower and a new controller holder by the staging yard
  

That's all for now!
I'm currently away from my house but able to work, so updates will still continue, but the timing and topics of the next few updates might be a bit unpredictable. Though i doubt anyone on the player-side is going to notice a difference.

Anyway, enjoy!
I bet some great new scenery styles are going to come from these new pine trees!

Guess what!

I've fixed something that has been plaguing the game since day one, the "merging" trains and general buggy train movement. This has a bit of a trade off though, since there are unique features to the old system that some might prefer to keep.

So now there is an option to switch between the old and new systems.

In this news post ill go into detail about how the two systems are different and the pros and cons of each. But by default you'll automatically be using the new system, so unless you want to deliberately switch back to the old system, then you should see the new changes immediately!

You can find the setting for the two modes in the "pause menu -> gameplay" menu:



The two options are: Simple (new) and Dynamic (old)

[h2]Dynamic (old system) [/h2]
The old train movement system that i made for Rolling Line that has been in use up until now is the cause of the dreaded "merging" bugs, but it also has some more dynamic features that can't be re-created using the new system.

Specifically, this system has a "wagon slack" effect, where wagons will push/pull each other one-by-one when a train starts/stops. This creates the effect on a long freight train that each wagon has a bit of slack between each other, so when a long freight train is stopped it will actually take time for the movement to spread down the whole train.

It's hard to explain what i mean, but this "wagon slack" effect is something that I added to the game right at the very very beginning of development, and personally i really like how it looks.
Here is a visual example of this "wagon slack" in action:



Sadly this wagon slack is the exact thing that leads to the "train merging" mentioned before.
At low frame rates this system starts to really fall apart, with wagons breaking apart, merging together, or just moving along with very messy movement.
If you are running the game with a good frame rate then this isn't an issue, and you can take advantage of the neat physics of this system without the down-sides.

But of course, a train movement system that falls apart when the frame rate drops isn't very stable... hence where this new train movement system comes in!

[h2]Simple (the new system) [/h2]
The new movement system that this update adds is actually much simpler that the "dynamic" old one, since it no longer takes wagon slack into account. Instead, all wagons will copy the movement of connected wagons 100% directly, making things much more stable.

While it's a shame to no longer have the wagon slack effect, the benefits of having completely stable and reliable train movement is worth it. This new system makes merging trains practically impossible, and trains can be be insanely long without any threat of disaster!

To show the difference in train movement, here is the new system in action:



Aside from the lack of wagon slack, the new system doesn't really have any downsides at all. It's a much simpler and more stable system. If you're in doubt, this is definitely the better choice between the two.

[h2]Other features[/h2]
Aside from the new train movement system, this update also adds in a few other things:

• [h3]High speed derails [/h3] Previously, there was an option to make trains derail if they collide with another at a high enough speed. Well this system has been changed a bunch and is now the built-in default.
  Trains will always derail wagons ahead of them if the speed is great enough, which means plowing into a row of wagons at high speed now makes for some great crash scenes:
  
  
  
  
• The "infographs" (images and text on the walls) in the Paranapiacaba map now automatically disable in miniature mode, which means things like the map on the wall are not visible when exploring in miniature.
  
• Fixed shading issues on one of the bridge models.
  
• Fixed the "near clip" distance on the transform mode camera (so it matches the players camera).
  

And that's all for now!
I'm sure people are going to be really relieved to finally see this major issue fixed. I'm interested to hear what you think about the old vs new movement and which you prefer, so let me know in the discussion comments!

There's lots of great things still to come, and now that ive got this huge bug fix off my queue it's time for some more fun stuff! Im thinking of running a new competition soon (similar to the Compact Comp and Color Comp last year) so keep an eye out for that, it might even be what the next update is about.

But anyway, in the meantime go and make some long trains and enjoy the absolute lack of glitching wagons!

Things certainly have been busy over the last few weeks!
New Zealand (where I live) has begun to leave lock-down and things are starting to go back to normal.

During this time I've been making a bunch of additional media for the Paranapiacaba layout, mainly a new video trailer and a 2D track plan image! There is also a bunch of new features added to the in-game photo mode (based around video capture).

[h2]New trailer video[/h2]
Firstly, I've made a new video showing off the Paranapiacaba map!
This is actually the first video I've made for Rolling Line since it's release (aside from the soundtrack videos) so it was great to get my "trailer making" workflow back in to action. You can find the new trailer right on the Rolling Line Steam store page:



Or you can view it on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBQbl56Ng2g

Though since the YouTube version is quite compressed, you can also download a full HD version of the video here:
https://mega.nz/file/C5swGYKJ#P94bCwrsdYa69vF9seFjlCt4cBJkREl2S0BJN91ajQ0

The music used in the video is from the Rolling Line in-game soundtrack, which was actually generated using artificial intelligence! The exact song used is called "Diamond Skies".
I uploaded the full RL soundtrack to YouTube last year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-PxFRlEwvc

[h2]Top-down track plan of Paranapiacaba [/h2]
Just like with the other official maps I've made a proper track plan image for the Paranapiacaba layout:


You can download a full HD copy of the map here:
https://i.imgur.com/mmvY80w.jpg

This map can also be found in-game in the Paranapiacaba layout on the wall:



[h2]New photo-mode features[/h2]
The actual in-game part of this update is all about the photo mode added in the previous update.
In order to film the Paranapiacaba trailer video i added a bunch of camera panning controls, train quickSave/load, and various other small features.



[h3]Panning controls:[/h3]
You can now set an X, Y, Z offset for camera panning. enabling panning will move the camera using the position values you choose. you can also press "V" to enable-disable (start/stop) panning.

You can also set the "reset point" of the camera by pressing "Shift+R". this reset point can be returned to by pressing "R". This means you can set the start of a panning shot to be your "reset point" then continuously repeating the shot by enabling panning and re-setting the camera position back to the beginning.

[h3]Train quickSave/load:[/h3]
A very useful feature for recording shots of moving trains, you can now "quickSave" the position and movement of trains, then "quickLoad" back to that point.
This quickSave/load feature only effects trains and does not require reloading the whole map!
For example, you could set up a moving train, quickSave at the beginning of the shot, then continuously re-load the same position in order to get the shot perfect.

This feature was incredibly useful for setting up shots in the Paranapiacaba trailer that involved multiple moving trains in one shot.

[h2]Steam trading cards[/h2]
Something else to note, Rolling Line now has Steam trading cards, badges, wallpapers and emotes! This is something I've been meaning to add for ages, and it's great to finally have some custom profile backgrounds and such for Rolling Line!



You should start getting these card drops automatically now that they are released.



[h2]Other features:[/h2]
As well as the features mentioned above, this update also includes a few fixes and smaller features.

• Fixed the depth of field "focal length" setting not working correctly.
  
• Added a "press F12 to take screenshot in Steam" help message to photo mode.
  
• Pausing time in photo mode now also freezes pantograph spark effects!
  
• Fixed small white dots showing up in the transform edit mode view
  

I'm also hoping to run a competition soon! Much like the Color Comp and Compact Comp of last year.
More news on that later on!

In the meantime, I hope you like the new trailer video! There's lots of exiting stuff still to come, and now that Brazil is all finished I can move my focus on to new ideas!

Enjoy!