Friday 19 March 2004 1000:
Employing many of the principles espoused by Jakob
Nielsen's Usability Website (even to "borrowing" his layout), the site
has been completely re-written in order to make it easier for you to find the
information and files you need.
Features include:
-
No frames: you can bookmark
pages on the site successfully;
-
Verdana and/or Trebuchet MS
fonts for readability by both human and virtual eyes; high contrast, easy-to-read
text (no red-on-black or dark blue-on-black nonsense);
-
no "crippling" of your ability
to simply change font sizes on the pages according to your preference (whether
in IE or Mozilla);
-
drill-down menu top of each
page showing that page's location;
-
progressively all content will
be dated;
-
removal of images not showing
content;
-
separation of news and permanent
content;
-
indexing of available models.
Another designer makes his debut on these pages: Tim Blythman has released his
Brisbane FM and Phoenix trams on this site. You'll find it in the Electric Trains/Trams section (link at right).
Tim's Melbourne trams will be released here next week.
Thursday 18
March 2004 @ 0930: It's taken me
a while to really understand the two versions of Newroads, but with the help of Newroads co-ordinator Steven Masters,
we've released packages of both the standard and dynamic shadows-enhanced
versions of Newroads 3.0 in ZIP and installer form, along with some images
to demonstrate the differences. Click on the link at right for more information.
Tuesday
16 March 2004 @ 1000: Team-ALCO
members have been hard at work again with this morning's release of Russell
Beer's VBCW large box vans - the "Ford" train vehicles. Allen Martin
has providied a wealth of information that we've included in the readme
files. Of course Richard Lauder's worked up the textures and Ian
Bowles and I have worked over the .WAG files. Find them in the Freight
car section below.
Monday 8
March 2004 @ 2355: Russell Beer's done
it again - with the help of ace texture creator, Richard Lauder, and Ian
Bowles "under the bonnet" working onm the .ENG files, he's recreated the
whole 3rd series X class - 20 models in all covering VR, V/Line, V/Line
Freight and Freight Australia with a stunning array of locomotives in both
"as new" and "faded" livery versions. These sensational locos are now awaiting
your download in the diesel section below.
Friday 5
March 2004 @ 0600: Paul Gausden's completed
his NSWGR C35 4-6-0 to his normal high standard. A magnificent 4-6-0, it's
sure to find a hard-working home on many MSTS routes. Featuring fine
detail, multiple levels of detail, coal load that decreases with use and
realistic physics (slow brake release!), it's a real gem Find
it in the Steam section below.
Thursday
04 March 2004 @ 0700: Joseph
Spinella's tramworks have been busy with several new models for Sydney
and Melbourne approaching completion. First to roll out is the superb
Sydney tramways' R1 class corridor tram. This will make a fine addition
to operations on the La Perouse route. Find it in the
Electric section below.
Monday 01
March 2004 @ 0700: Matt Austin's magnificent
BPL and BCPL carriages will make a fine addition to any Victorian MSTS
route. The famous "Bouncing Passenger Lounge" is presented
in "as-new" and "weathered" forms and even a couple with bent frames, giving
the characteristic banana bend so often seen in the 80s. You'll find
them in the passenger car section below.
Tuesday
24 February 2004 @ 0600: Paul Gausden's
released version 1.1 of his much-acclaimed Shape Viewer: now with sun positions,
animation, frame rates, customisable sky and grass, optional track base,
this release is a ripper. Click on the link at left for the S Viewer
page and download links.
Tuesday
17 February 2004 @ 1800: Brentton
Smith has been working away on his Queensland Railways DH class diesel-hydraulic
loco and it's now ready for release: a great little model, you'll find
it in the Diesels section below.
Wednesday 12 November 2003
@ 1000: Gavin Woolf's latest
model is the NSWGR 73 class diesel-hydraulic shunter available in both
NSWGR and ARHS (preserved) liveries.
Richard Lauder and Team-ALCO
have taken James Brook's wonderful GM and S classes and retextured them
to Great Northern Railway liveries. James worked closely with Richard
to modify the original models to create as accurate a model as possible.
Both now available for download
from the Diesel loco section below.
Monday 20 October 2003
@ 0500: A small error in the
installer version of Xtracks means that a new version of the installer
(version 3.8.1) is now available for download at the Xtracks
page. The ZIP file is correct and therefore unchanged.
Sunday 19 October 2003
@ 0500: The latest version
of Xtracks (now at 3.8) is available at the Xtracks
page. Available in both ZIP file and installer versions.
The route builder's package is unchanged.
You may have noticed that
this page loaded more rapidly. Due to the number of models available
now, I'm going to keep the four or so most recent additions or upgrades
in the passenger, freight and diesel locomotive sections on this page and
then provide a link to a page of all models in this section. Just
moving passenger and freight wagons has more than halved the size of this
page.
Wednesday 15 October 2003
@ 1600: And the models keep rolling
out - Brentton Smith's outstanding models of Queensland Railways
1300 class locomotives - four in the pack. These locos also require
the "English Electric sound set". Click on the
Diesel
link to find the models.
Wednesday 15 October 2003
@ 0500: It might be Russell Beer's birthday,
but you're the ones getting the presents: Russell's long-awaited
route "Melbourne-Ballarat"
is released today and awaits your download. Click on the Routes
link at left to go to the Routes page.
Tuesday 07 October 2003
@ 1030: The log-jam in my "pending" folder
is steadily being cleared with this next round of releases - six
downloads in all this morning.
You may have seen screenshots
of Brentton Smith's Tasrail ZC classlocomotives
- well, they're released here today: outstanding models by any standard
and even more remarkable for a "first model". These locos require
the "English Electric sound set"
to have any sound in the sim. These sound files will install into
a "common.sound" folder.
The next two models come
from the design studios of two of my favourite designers: Michael Thompson
and Joseph Spinella: two artists who quietly beaver away and produce fine
models without any fanfare until they're ready for release.
Out of the blue, Michael
Thompson's sent the results of his latest efforts - the Australian
National Railways' EL
class diesel-electric
locomotive. A CFCLA livery is also included in the package.
Physics and lighting by Team-ALCO. Just the ticket for a TrailerRail
or Indian-Pacific set (ANR) or bulk grain or container trains (CFCLA).
Find all these items in the "Diesel Locomotive" section
below.
Joseph Spinella has forwarded
several models for release, some waiting for other components to be delivered
to Team-ALCO shops before final assembly and release can occur. Here's
a beauty that we can get "out the door" ASAP - the Sydney system Type
U freight motor. This model
has been packaged to use Chuck Zeiler's Brill tramcar sound files for a
superb effect. The Brill tramcar
sound set is also available from this
site and install into a "common.sound" folder. You'll need this sound
set for later models as well. Find the tram and the sound set in
the "Electric Vehicles" section.
Finally, I've decided to
release an AWB grain hopper:
this a US 4-bay hopper rescaled and retextured to appear as the spectacular
bright blue grain hoppers owned by the Australian Wheat Board. Find
these models in the "Freight Cars" section.
Wednesday 9 July 2003
@ 2300: E P Norrell is a new name to these pages, but his three
New South Wales grain silos will immediately be a popular addition for
many Australian add-on routes. You'll find these NSW grain silos
in the Structures page.
Wednesday 9 July 2003
@ 0130: Over at the "Structures"
page, we've got another Michael Thompson station for you - the NSW PC2
country railway station. From California comes Dave Nelson's California
dry grass - it looks "so" inland Australia that I've received permission
to host it here.
Monday 7 July 2003 @ 0600:
Xtracks is back on the Steam4me
site after a brief absence. You have the choice of installers or
ZIP files. Click on the Routes menu at left and scroll down to the
Xtracks link.
I've received permission
from Steve Masters to set up an Australian mirror for Newroads. Newroads
is to roads in MSTS as Xtracks is to rails. I hope to have the Newroads
page set up in the next day as you will need it for a new Australian route
that will be hosted on this site.
I'm holding off new releases
at the moment as Ian Bowles (gallop3) is putting in an incredible number
of hours reworking the "physics" of many of the models on this site.
As we work through the changes to friction, resistance, lighting and braking,
we will be releasing the upgrades. Models containing these improved
models will be marked on this page with a new icon (Click
here to see descriptions of setup icons).These upgrades will be designed
to give your train a more realistic "look and feel"; this will mean you
will not be able to stop from 100km/h in half a train length and that you
will be able to "lose your air" with repeated brake applications on a long
downgrade.
Finally for today, a screenshot
of MSTS's opening menu........
There seems to be a lot more
integration: note that Tools are now part of the main MSTS menu,
not a separate program. You also can see some of the new routes listed
for MSTS2. The "passenger" option may well be the "autopilot" passenger
view in the promotional literature (you take a seat in the passenger car
and the sim drives the train for you {currently you can have a passenger
view but you still have to drive the train}). The "Print Map" option
could be handy (also notice the scroll bars on the map view).
Tuesday 1 July 2003 @
0700: RouteRiter 4.1.03 has
been released and is now available from the Route Riter page (click on
link at left).
Sunday 29June 2003: @
0130: Russell Beer has now released his superb long-awaited
"Overland" cars. These are all-new models (not reskins) and there
are twelve carriages in this set (seven sleepers, four saloons and a guards/baggage
van. The cars are packaged up in an installer and have a consist
included so that you can get out there and run a double B class-hauled
10-car Overland set. You'll find the carriage set in the Passenger
Cars below.
Saturday 28 June 2003:
@ 0100: Russell Beer's created a replica of the
Aftrans LPG tank wagons operated originally by the Victorian Railways.
These were used for the transport of anhydrous ammonia as well. Now
ready for download in the Freight Cars section.
Saturday 14 June 2003
@ 1800: 
Another milestone for the Steam4me
site as the hit counter rolled over 500,000. Thanks to everyone for
their ongoing support. The MSTS community especially owes a debt
of thanks to David Bromage and Brian Evans of Omni and Railpage for their
support of this hobby with the availability of a huge amount of free web
space and bandwidth. The Steam4me
site remains committed to the support of fine Australian models for MSTS.
Tuesday 3 June 2003 @
0711: At long last, the crack WCR express steam
locomotive R711 is now available for download in the Steam
Locomotive section below - the culmination of a superb modeling
effort by Joseph Spinella and the Dream In Vision team.
Tuesday 20 May 2003 @
0100: Routes have now acquired
their own page.
Also just uploaded is Mike Simpson's brilliant
"Blue Mountains" route, a 67MB installer that takes all the guesswork out
of installing this route and getting your trains on the move.
Monday 19 May 2003 @ 2200:
I've discovered a website with eight downloadable videos of MSTS2 - free
as well (unlike Gamepsot's US$5 charge). Click on http://www.trainlink.de/MSTS2download.htm
and click on downloads - moving turntable, menu structure, passengers moving,
in the cab of DB electric loco BR103 and more.......
Monday 19 May 2003 @ 0555:
I've completed a model of the palm tree outside my home and posted it on
the Structures/Vegetation page.
Also a couple of screenshots of R711 in the final
stages of beta testing - click on the R711 number plate below.
Friday 16 May 2003 @ 2355:
A late start this evening after watching the Bombers slaughter the
Hawks!! Ok, on to less serious matters: have a look at this
website - http://pc.ign.com/articles/402/402762p1.html
- MSTS2's WORKING TURNTABLE IS CONFIRMED, full 3D cab, moving people
(passengers and workers by side of road), more realistic signalling, 140GB
of reference material went into making up MSTS2, and their final quote....."
They're
offering backwards compatibility with nearly all aspects of the original
Train Sim. Since there's so much user-created content floating around in
the community already, Train Sim 2 will benefit from a broad base of fan
work. The only thing that won't translate to the new game are the created
activities." I'm actually looking forward to giving MS
some money <g!>.
Paul Gausden has completed his kangaroo
hazard and these bounding beasties are ready for download in
the livestock section over in the Structures/Route
Editor section.
Still in preparation and scheduled for release
this weekend - Mike Simpson's "Blue Mountains" Route. Chris Jennings'
S set in both Comeng and Goninan are also expected later in the week.
Also from today (and progressively backdating installers on this page)
I'll be noting that these models are designed for MSTS1. When MSTS2
models start to appear, they'll likewise be specifically identified to
avoid any long-term confusion.
Saturday 10 May 2003 @
2355: As we enter the "euphoria" phase of anticipation
of MSTS2, have a look at these screenshots at PC
Games' site - the PC Gamespot; looking at the images it
appears that we may have a working turntable (yay!!!), the sim runs in
a window, the track textures are new and look 3D rather than the current
2D, trees look the same (? backward compatibility of structures at least?),
the Pennsy K4 seems to have a lot of detail, the BLS loco implies a Swiss
(mountain?) route as well as the advertised high speed German route.
Have you caught the emus yet at the Structures
page?
Thursday 08 May 2003
@ 1600: It's now official.... MSTS2 is to be released
later this year, making its first appearance at the E3 (Electronic
Entertainment Exposition) 13-16 May 2003 in Los Angeles. I've
been watching the E3 site for a week now as it has stated that Kuju
would be offering a "FirstLook" for something, but this press release came
from MS Games Studio. This press release states:
All Aboard! Microsoft
Train Simulator 2 Rides the Rails to E3
Microsoft Game Studios
today announced that Microsoft Train Simulator 2 will be shown for the
first time at E3, the annual video game convention in Los Angeles, May
14-16. Microsoft Train Simulator 2, the follow-up to the number one best-selling
train simulation PC game, will be available in stores this fall.
With five new, highly
detailed routes, Microsoft Train Simulator 2 provides the opportunity to
command a 200-ton modern diesel locomotive or operate a steam-breathing
behemoth from the past. Virtual engineers will be able to take trains around
the historic Horseshoe Curve on the Pennsylvania Railroad circa 1946, or
on a high-speed romp through Germany on the world-famous Deutsche Bahn
AG. Taking cues from the exacting standards of quality and realism associated
with the Microsoft Flight Simulator product family, this latest edition
of the Microsoft Train Simulator series charges full steam ahead from where
its predecessor left off. Microsoft Train Simulator 2 also adds dynamic
weather in a living-breathing world complete with people, vehicles and
animals roaming the countryside.
The last sentence would imply that there will be
changes to the way routes are assembled, which could mean some conversion
may be required for current add-on routes. MS Flight Simulator has
had conversion utilities available to update previous version models so
one hopes the same will exist for MSTS2.
Exciting times ahead indeed!
Sunday 04 May 2003 @ 0600:
Mike Simpson's released his latest version of Route Riter, version 4.
For information and download of this superb Australian-made utility, click
on the Route Riter link.
In other news: reacting to criticisms that MSTS
contains bugs, Microsoft's new Information spokesman angrily denied the
charge. Click here
for an exclusive view of the press conference (many thanks to Jim "Sniper"
Ward for this invaluable contribution).
Saturday 03 May 2003 @
0600: Well when you plant trees, the animals start to
appear! The kangaroos have moved into the nursery, attracted by the
gum and wattle trees. Paul Gausden, author of the standard-setting
3DC loco tutorial and Shape File Manager, has created models that will
enable you to set up your own mob - you'll find them at the Structures
page.
Friday 02 May 2003 @ 0700:
Russell Beer does it again with a simply splendid model of Gordon railway
station. You'll find it at the Structures
page. The nursery is coming along well with several new plants growing
nicely out the back - we hope to be able to offer them in the next week
or so.
Wed 30 Apr 2003 @ 0600:Gavin
Woolf's Z13
4-4-2 steam tank locomotive has now been completed and awaits your download
in the Steam locomotive section. We've now
opened a nursery at the Structures page:
the first items available are a set of gum trees and a golden wattle tree.
Quite a bit of new material
over in the Tutorials section:
Mike Wilson has written an lucid,
illustrated tutorial on how to animate driving rods in TSM;
Paul Gausden has now completed
his excellent tuorial on building a steam locomotive using 3D Canvas Pro;
For those writing activities,
Greg Coote and Gary Gagnon present a simple solution that enable AI trains
to overtake your player train in an activity - cutting edge stuff;
Alan Heath has written a tutorial
on adjusting Level Of Detail when building a TSM model;
With a lot of interest in model
making, I've compiled an article of user comments on which 3d model software
to choose.
Don't forget that there are
now over 60 tutorials in the tutorial section covering everything from
building a route to making space-saving .ACE files for your locomotives.
Sat 12 Apr 2003 @ 0600:
Two new versions of Victoria's BS passenger carriages have been released:
one a "teacup" Vicrail colour scheme by Craig Walton and the other an interim
WCR carriage: the V/Line carriage with just the WCR logo over the old VC/Line
logo by yours truly. Find them in the "Passenger
carriages" section.
Fri 21 Mar 2003 @ 1400:
Lots of new models uploaded today which should keep all simmers busy with
their downloads:
NSW simmers are in for a treat
with the release of Gavin Woolf's Z12 4-4-0 steam locomotive.
Featuring two road numbers, 1201 and 1210, these lovely locos await your
download in the Steam locomotive section;
Meanwhile Michael Thompson
continues to work his way through the NSW railways plans book with excellent
models of a 1912 elevated signal box and
the G3 goods shed;
Down to Victoria and Matt
Austin's another new designer to grace these pages with his presence:
he's already made a name for himself in producing fine examples of American
traction (or trolleys), and today arrives here delivering his absolutely
superb Victorian Railways "AW" passenger carriages. Find them in
the "Passenger carriages" section;
Russell Beer's been
busy on many fronts lately. His latest structures reproduce the railway
station and goods shed at Carisbrook
on the Victorian Castlemaine-Maryborough line.
Tue 18 Mar 2003 @ 2330:
Mike
Simpson's Route-Riter
has had an .Exe file update. Click on link for latest .EXE only.
18 Mar 2003:
I understand that many of you are frustrated at the repeated delays on
the release of R711 (almost matching the prototype in delays <g!>) and
I understand (but don't enjoy) that the abusive foul-mouthed emails that
I'm currently receiving are mostly written by arrogant, self-centred, pre-pubescent
"gimme pigs" that unfortunately have no other life outside their PCs.
As the person who originally
suggested R711 to Joseph (including supplying plans, CDs of photos and
obtaining the fantastic co-operation of WCR staff), the delays are frustrating
to me as well. But before you get bent out of shape, let's all remember
that MSTS is A HOBBY NOT A WAY OF LIFE,
and unless your name is Bill Gates or Kuju, you make no money at all out
of MSTS, nor does the MSTS hobby assure your future financial security.
Joseph is currently writing
a thesis as part of his final year at university: this important facet
of his studies affects his future as it will substantially assist him along
his career path in his chosen field of employment. There is no way
that Joseph can be expected to neglect his studies for this hobby.
In addition, I am in full-time
employ (not a shift worker nor unemployed nor retired as some have suggested)
and have a growing family that I devote considerable time to: MSTS
would be a nice hobby to have, but then there's a web page that takes up
most of my online time <G!>.
The problem with R711 stems
back to some design changes that were made to R711's tender along the way
over the past few months. This happened while we were awaiting the
production of a cab by Dream In Vision. While DIV's timetables have
also been shot to pieces by other contract work (don't forget R711 is going
to be freeware and thus is worked on on a "when-time-is-available" basis),
they did assist in fine-tuning .S and .ACE files for both loco and tender.
When the files were sent
to me for final packaging, they arrived the day before I went to Tasmania
on holidays and I only briefly looked at them - the loco
looked superb and I (foolishly in retrospect) decided on a release date.
I returned from holidays and set about finishing off and packaging the
loco. It was then that I discovered that the .S and .ACE files no
longer matched: hence the reason for declaring the failure. The screenshot
(reproduced below) was never intended to deceive, rather to "simulate"
(now where have we heard that word before?) a prototype problem.
It was hoped that the textures could be fixed quickly, and most were, but
there remains the problem of the tender wheels: these must wait till Joseph
has time to re-work them (or until there are 48 hours in one day<g!>).
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