Rolling Line News

There's a whole bunch of stuff in this update, like advanced weather customization, new livery templates, new locomotive sound features and a bunch of new settings & options.

[h2]New weather types[/h2]
To start with, the weather system has undergone a few changes and new additions!
The previous "weather presets" are now displayed in a list with preview pictures, and there are some new weather types added.



You can now use a "no clouds" weather option which has perfectly clear skies, which is perfect for desert layouts:



And fog has also been added!
Heavy fog even has 3D clouds that blow along the ground:



[h2]Weather customization[/h2]
Instead of using the weather presets, you can now fully adjust each weather value individually!
This means you can change things like rain/snow/fog intensity, thunder storm intensity, wind strength etc. You can even create strange combinations like rain and snow at the same time if you choose.

To make use of the custom weather values, simply change the weather type to "custom" and go in to the "custom values" menu to change each value:





[h2]Freight wagon liveries[/h2]
All of the 4 freight wagons added in the previous update now have custom livery templates!



You can already find player-made liveries of these new freight wagons on the Steam Workshop, but here are my own examples for each of the new templates:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2045606006&searchtext=
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2045606887&searchtext=
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2045606539&searchtext=
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2045607157&searchtext=

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

[h2]New locomotive sound features[/h2]
A minor feature added in this update is that locomotives are now silent (engine off) when you place them on track. Once you enter the cab (or take control with a hand-held controller) The engine will start up.
Diesel engines even have a new sound effect for starting up the engine!
The engine sound will be disabled again if you re-place the locomotive on track.

Wagons and locomotives also now have a derail sound effect. They will make a crash sound when derailing off the tracks.

[h2]New settings[/h2]
This update also adds a bunch of new settings, these are:

• Shift-click prop painting is now disabled by default, you can re-enable this in the "PC options" menu. Shift-click painting will paint all editable props within a radius, which many people disliked since it was easy to do this by accident. You can still shift-click paint track without needing to enable the setting though!
  
  
  
  
• There is now a setting to exclude missing quickMods when loading workshop maps. Seeing the "missing quickMod" placeholder all over the place can be annoying, so you can now choose to load maps with them removed. This option is found in the "workshop -> downloaded layouts" menu.
  
  
  
  
• You can disable planes in the sky. There is now a setting to toggle whether planes flying around in the sky are visible.
  
  
  
  
• You can now adjust the distance at which items are selectable in VR (the radius around your hand). This option can be found in the "VR options -> interaction" menu.
  
  

[h2]Other features and fixes[/h2]
Lastly, this update includes a bunch of bug fixes and small changes:

• The text shown on the hand-held controller has had a few unnecessary messages removed e.g. "new train selected", "driving: ..." the text shown on the controller is now much more direct and to-the-point.
  
• The issue with the transform mode edit tool not moving to the newly selected prop has been fixed.
  
• Fixed issue where moving an object into the rubbish bin using the transform edit tool would lock you in the transform edit mode.
  
• Fixed the "none" sound preset for quickMods. all engine sounds are now properly muted.
  
• Added the new U20c horn sound to quickMods "diesel_u20c".
  
• Fixed the wagon hover text saying "push left" on both sides, instead of "push left" and "push right".
  
• All Easter egg scenes were broken thanks to the recent SteamVR update (the player was not set up properly with the new system) this has been fixed.
  
• Fixed mesh bug on the U20c horn.
  
• Fixed mesh bug on the concrete wall prop.
  
• Fixed hover effect on the new freight wagons not highlighting the rust model.
  
• Fixed issue in VR where you could teleport onto the coupler of a held train (which would cause the game to freeze).
  

And that's everything!
Heaps of stuff in this update for sure.
I'm getting everything organized for the Brazil layouts release, and there is still a bit more left to do before then. Next up im going to be adding some new post-processing options to the game! as well as finally making improvements to the photo-mode (which has been a messy developer-style feature for a while).

Progress on the Brazil layout is going great, and It's going to be officially released within the next couple of weeks!!



In the meantime, enjoy these new livery templates and weather features!

Time for a bunch of new wagons, but these wagons come with something special, rusty variants!

This update adds 4 new types of freight wagons, all of which have a "half rust" and "full rust" variation.
As well as these wagons, this update also includes a version of the classic DX locomotive with a Brazilian livery (for the Paranapiacaba layout) which has a few changes to make it more like a U20c locomotive. This new locomotive also comes with rusty variants!

Here are all the new wagons:

• Curved roof boxcar:
  
  
  
  
• Tanker car:
  
  
  
  
• Ore gondola:
  
  
  
  
• Long gondola:
  
  
  
  
• And of course, the U20c:
  
  

Thank you to Long, who made the base models for the two gondolas, and Joa who made the base model for the curved-roof boxcar!

You can find all these new wagons & loco in the "freight 2" drawer:



Custom liveries will be coming for these freight wagons at a later stage.
The U20c though will not be getting a custom livery template, since I am planning to make an improved version of the model later on (as part of the Weka Pass, which will include several historic New Zealand Rail locos!)

Along with these additions, this update also includes various fixes:

• Added "add left/right" ability on custom track! this feature was usually limited to the main layout, but you can now build trains using this system everywhere! Hold shift while hovering over a wagon to use the Q and E add left/right options.
  
  
• I've made a bunch of changes to decoupling, so issues like not being able to decouple from a moving locomotive, incorrect "decouple/push" button prompts, random situations where decoupling wouldn't work, etc, have all been fixed!
  
  
• Fixed issue where trains couldn't be pushed after loading a save.
  keep in mind you still cannot push a moving train, but any uncontrolled stationary train can be pushed now.
  
  
• Fixed bug where wagons could have incorrect wheel positions when placed on track (usually occurred with small wagons, like the flyer tender).
  
  
• Fixed plow positioning on the Side-rod loco.
  
  
• Fixed issue where very small props would have their position data rounded down in saves, resulting in small changes in position.
  

And that's all for now!

As you may have heard, most of the world is going into lock-down thanks to the covid-19 virus, and as of a couple of days ago New Zealand also went into a full lock-down.

Considering i work from home, this hopefully wont effect my work on Rolling Line much, but we are living in crazy times, so who knows whats going to happen.
Regardless, I'm continuing work on the Brazil layout and i plan to be releasing it in a matter of weeks! unless I catch the coronavirus of course.

Anyway, in the meantime, enjoy these new freight wagons!

If you're in lock-down then this is the perfect time to work on your dream layout project!

Here's something VR players have been wanting for a very long time, an upgrade to the new SteamVR input system!

There are also a few other minor changes, but the vast majority of this update is focused on VR.

The main benefit of the new SteamVR upgrade is that controls can now be fully customized!
All OpenVR based headsets and controllers are now supported too, including:

• HTC Vive
  
• Valve Index
  
• Oculus Rift
  
• Rift S
  
• Windows Mixed Reality
  

And any other headsets that use OpenVR and can be set up with the SteamVR input binding system.

To go into full detail, here are all the features and changes of this new system:



For players who have a VR headset but want to run the PC mode, you can now do this without needing to open SteamVR. If you use the second launch option (when running the game from your game library) SteamVR will not be launched, and the game will run in PC mode with zero connection to your VR headset.

You can also manually add the launch tag "-playpc" to force this option without needing to use the specific launch option from your game library.





You can now use the SteamVR input binding system to completely customize your inputs for all controllers. I've written a proper guide here on Steam that goes into detail on how to change your bindings, and what each binding option is used for:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2029205314



If you have the Valve Index controllers (aka "knuckles" controllers) you can make use of full finger tracking.





Both tutorials have been updated to include instructions for the Valve Index.
The floating instructions UI has also been moved to the top of your view instead of the bottom, which makes interacting with items during the tutorial much easier.





Directional locomotion (with the joystick/track-pad) is now smoothly controlled, so a slight shift of the joystick will make you move slowly, while a larger shift on the joystick will result in faster movement.

The same smooth control is also applied to player rotation now too (if you have your rotation locomotion option set to "smooth")





WMR controllers now have proper bindings, which can also be customized further using the SteamVR input binding system.

Please note: the tutorials still do not show WMR button icons.



You can now choose between "hold to pickup" and "toggle to pickup" when picking up items. By default this will be automatically set by the controllers you are using.
Controllers like the Valve Index and Oculus Rift are generally nicer to use with "hold to pickup" so that the item will be dropped when you stop gripping the item.

Meanwhile the Vive controllers (with clicky grab buttons) are better suited to "toggle to pickup" where you pick up an item by clicking grip, the click grip again to drop it.

You can leave this option automatic, or you can change it to use either system as you please.





Both PC and VR control options have been organized into their own menus, so all the settings you need to adjust for VR are all in one place.





hands no longer collide with dropped props (which would knock things around constantly). You can still push trains if the "push trains with hands" setting is enabled, but general collision has been removed.



The hand models in VR have been completely replaced, and now animate based on your input.
The pointer UI and selector UI are now aligned properly for all VR controllers.



Certain items/objects have adjusted inputs, like menu buttons can now only be used with the trigger, not other buttons. Props can also now only be spawned from drawers using the trigger or context-up action.



The "hover UI" (which shows up/down/left/right actions for VR and PC) is now shown for items in draws. This means controls for things like multi-painting are visible in drawers when they previously weren't.



If you are experiencing issues with the new VR system, report the problem ASAP.
But in the meantime you can switch to a beta branch called "legacy_steamvr" which will still have the old VR system, so you can at least still play the game while I try and solve the problem.



And there we go! that was a hell of a list of features.

This update has been requested for a long time, so i hope people are happy to see it happen. I'll be back to work on the last parts of the Brazil update after this, but it was certainly worth it to get this VR upgrade sorted.

Enjoy!

It's time for a new locomotive!
This is a pretty unique one, and it's used in Brazil on the incline at Paranapiacaba. It uses a toothed gear to hook on to the toothed rail to climb up the steep incline.
It also makes use of the electric overhead wires, so its a pretty special little shunter.
And a huge thank you to Long for making the base model for the new loco!

This loco is known as the Hitachi side-rod (or Hitachi Cremalheira).
The "side rod" name comes from the unique gear powered wheels:



The side-rod comes in two different default liveries, one for the modern MRS Logistica, and one for the historic RFFSA (both or which were used at Paranapiacaba)

You can find the new loco in the "electric trains" drawer:



To fit with the RFFSA livery, I also added a new RFFSA livery for the V8 as well:



[h2]Custom liveries[/h2]
Along with the default official liveries, I've also set up custom liveries for the side-rod as part of the same update!
You can make your own custom liveries and upload them to the Steam workshop right away!



You can find the templates in the "Rolling Line -> modding -> templates" folder, or you can get them right here:



[h2]Props[/h2]
As well as the new locomotive, this update also includes some new props!



This includes:

• A whole bunch of various scrap props, like pallets, wood planks, wood piles, a tool bench and a small chair:
  
  
  
  
• A pylon:
  
  
  
  
• A couple of thin pole shapes:
  
  
  
  
• Some more variations of the modular shed walls:
  
  

And that's all for now!
I'm still working on the big Brazil layout, and its coming along nicely! There's still a few more updates to release before finally finishing the map, but its all going very smoothly.

I hope you enjoy the new locomotive, and making liveries!

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:



[h2]Props [/h2]
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!