Railroad Mod

[Doc Martiney]

NPCs as train wagons? That's a rather clever idea, though I have no idea whether or not it could work... my guess is that it would. I can see two mirrored NPCs (front and back) so that the "forward" is in the right direction. Actually, it might even allow for trains to break down, crash or be attacked/derailed...

NPCs can't be animated in diagonals, though, which might be a problem. They would need to turn to face the tracks.

 

If i may correct: the wagon isn't a single NPC. Look at it as a litter, carried by multiple NPCs, each single one follow the terrain individually, while constrained to themselves by the litter itself.

 

4 NPCs are placed as 4 wheels in one carriage - they are followed by the second carriage and are bound together by the wagon.

 

To make the wagon rotate correctly, it's made as a weapon model, which is equipped on one of the invisible wheel NPCs in the back.

 

Technically, it's two NPCs running behind each other/maintaining same speed and path (running in formation). The NPC in the back (back wheel) keeps his "weapon" (the wagon model) trained on the front NPC (front wheel).

 

Unfortunately, i can't develop this idea, because german NewVegas doesn't allow advanced scripting. I could deliver the graphic materials, like models, though, if someone want to script it.

 

It also could be applied to every other vehicle, which is supposed to follow the terrain correctly. (car) Then, the car could have 5 NPC, 4 on the edges for collisions and one in the middle to train its weapon with a model of a car on a imaginary point somewhere between the front wheels.

Edited December 26, 2011 by Doc Martiney

[Skyviper086]

Man I wish they allow advanced scripting for the German because that would be awesome!! To blow up a competitors train and derail their business **evil laugh**.

[Doc Martiney]

There's also a more cheaper, easier method to add trains in-game, which however lacks realistic train animations.

 

One adds several trains all around the Mojave, each one with a door that leads to the train interior space where you can store your items. So there's still a problem of switching doors in G.E.C.K., that should "teleport" you to different places (places where the train is supposed to be) and, if you don't want the train suspiciously following you around Mojave, make the train only visible where you left him.

[devinpatterson]

I probably shouldn't say anything since I'm clueless in this area, but it never stopped me before (apparently), so here goes....I think your heading down the wrong way with the idea of trains as npc's. Nif's have blocks that allow animation. We see that example mostly in stuff like vault doors. But in skyrim and probably other tes games (don't know havn't even started my morrowind game yet) there are rotating wheels. Saw one last night on a overturned cart. Pair that with a script (use Illyism's Rideable Creatures script if you want the player to be able to "drive" the train forward or backward) to make it travel to it's destination and you'v got yourself a train.

 

I like the idea of a railroad, it's a well established aspect of westerns. Heck even firefly had a train caper. I'm stretched a little thin with various projects, but if you guys want me to check it out I can hop on the mod author forums. I bet Ghogiel, Q or some other master and lord of nifs could give some pointers.

[Skyviper086]

I probably shouldn't say anything since I'm clueless in this area, but it never stopped me before (apparently), so here goes....I think your heading down the wrong way with the idea of trains as npc's. Nif's have blocks that allow animation. We see that example mostly in stuff like vault doors. But in skyrim and probably other tes games (don't know havn't even started my morrowind game yet) there are rotating wheels. Saw one last night on a overturned cart. Pair that with a script (use Illyism's Rideable Creatures script if you want the player to be able to "drive" the train forward or backward) to make it travel to it's destination and you'v got yourself a train.

 

I like the idea of a railroad, it's a well established aspect of westerns. Heck even firefly had a train caper. I'm stretched a little thin with various projects, but if you guys want me to check it out I can hop on the mod author forums. I bet Ghogiel, Q or some other master and lord of nifs could give some pointers.

 

 

That would great. I'm not good at modding myself. I'm tinkering around with a weapons store. I have the building and a crappy interior (that I made from scratch) I know modding is hard so I thank you for asking the experts on how to this. I'm not saying that I can do it I'm just saying that I'm going to save all the notes and maybe when I get to that point with my skills I could put them to use. The last thing I honestly "modded" was a custom map for the first Starcraft. Once again I thank you for looking into this.

 

I don't know why Obsidian didn't do this already the railroads helped out back then. They should be able to help out a society that's rebuilding.

[xxcomrad3xx]

personally i think if the biggest concern is getting the train to legitly move, the ncr monorail is gunna be your best bet for finding out if possible, how it exactly would work.

[kibblesticks]

Love this idea, sounds great. I think the best thing for you to do is write the quests/dialouge etc.. for the mod. After that worry about making the trains move because you'll get more interest with a well-developed idea. =]

[DuSable]

Well who says you have to show the train in motion?

 

Why not simply have it as a spawnable entity in certain locations at certain times. It will 'arrive' or 'depart' when you're not in the immediate area (like inside of a building or far enough away from the train station area)

 

The only time the trains themselves are in motion is when you enter one. Then it's like having one very long Vault with frosted or shuttered windows.

[xxcomrad3xx]

 

Why not simply have it as a spawnable entity in certain locations at certain times. It will 'arrive' or 'depart' when you're not in the immediate area (like inside of a building or far enough away from the train station area)

 

i think this is another possible route...this then turns into another fast travel option. which isnt bad but i think the OP was going for actual moving trainnn throughout the wastleland... but i could see some problems with that..with animations, terrain manueverablitity and such ..so maybe fast traveling train is the only possible option.. in which case i like your idea :) simple is often times better

[Draconicone]

I love the idea of getting the trains working! I was actually considering how this might work myself. Here's my 2 cent thoughts!

 

You could have it begin as a series of quests, where you capture the escaped powders and put them back to work clearing the tracks. Or maybe you could convince some of those lazy workers at Sloan to help, since they never actually go back to work even after you clear momma deathclaw and her family out.

 

Sloan actually does say in the dialog that the NCR have working trains, and that they are how the concrete is being transported once its mined. I think he speculates they are using it at the Dam and Fort McCaran to reinforce defenses.

 

There's a scene in Fallout 3 Broken Steel where a subway train comes through and runs over some feral ghouls. It seems to run along the tracks. Maybe you could explore that in the GECK. How awesome would it be to see a train run over that annoying pack of Legionary Assassins that hound you every 10 steps!

Edit: It happens at 0:55 timestamp in the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7S4HkhvZKw

 

Also F3, but this guy designed a passenger car for the subway, with repeating graphics to simulate movement while inside. FNV would require a longer playing image, because its above ground so you'd probably need mountains going by, but it seems like it could work.

Edited February 10, 2012 by Draconicone