Share via

Coming Out

  • Article

Well, it certainly is good to be able to talk more about the project after all these long months. I'm finally getting re-aclimated to Seattle time after my trip. My first night home I began to really feel the travel during dinner and lasted no more than 30 seconds after my head hit the pillow.

The team has made great progress in the meantime. We took the first drop of processed rail data for North America from our data team just before I left. Since returning I've enjoyed loading up the sim, going to a random location, and driving along. The hunting and rocking of each car in the consist seems so real--just like I've seen in railfan video. The thing that's not quite real is the contour of the track. The first pass of data processing does not include normalizing the grade or curvature so the ride is more like a roller coaster at times than a rail simulator. Still, with derailment disabled, it makes for a fun tour of the countryside (we have no virtual motion sickness feature--yet). Since we inherited the new camera system from FSX I can create custom cameras attached to nearly any point on the train and experiment with different points of view. I particularly like a spot at the rear of the lead locomotive. It provides a good forward view and I can turn around to see the other locomotives and rolling stock bouncing and jostling as we move along. Good times.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    August 29, 2007
    sounds great, when can we expect a first screenshot/video?

  • Anonymous
    August 29, 2007
    Great, Rick!! I´m excited with the idea of the gradients, the fsx style views, etc. I´m an old flighsimmer from FS3; look for the "Spain Global Scenery" in www.flighsim.com. Have not nails at the present moment. Don´t want to mind about my nails will look like when in the 2008 Chistmas Eve!! Cheers from Madrid

  • Anonymous
    August 29, 2007
    So sorry for the mistake: When I wrote "Rick" I mean "Mike" The excitement with MSTS" inhibit my thinks to work properly ;)

  • Anonymous
    September 01, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    September 01, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    September 01, 2007
    Hi Mike, World Wide rail data can be compared with 24.000 airports designes as in realitty all over the world in FSX? And so on; World Wide Rail data means we´ll be able to ride from, for example, Paris to Moscow over rails though not scenery designed around it? This would be excellent. As a senior Scenery Designer for Microsoft Flight Simulator from FS4, I should be happy to design the sceneries for this routes as long as the rail (main lines) be tended prior for all you, guys, from a real World Wide Rail Data Cheers from Madrid