Welcome to the
Canadian Theme Pack ...
Attachment:
Canadian Theme Pack [small].png
OverviewThe Canadian Theme Pack is a fully integrated collection of graphics modules of all things Canadian. It covers (almost) everything a player would ever wish to play with ... a bold statement, but not too far of the mark ...
The Canadian Theme Pack includes the following individual graphic modules (aka GRFs) :
Infrastructure Graphics (CanBase)
Trains (CanRail)
Road Vehicles (CanRV)
Aeroplanes (CanAir)
Ships (CanShip)
Rail Stations (CanStn)
Cities (CanCity)
Industries (CanInd)
Only for technical reasons is it necessary to have a number of individual modules. Everything could go into one single set, if only possible; however such a set would be unwieldy, extremely large and cumbersome to handle, especially during development and maintenance, let alone hosting them.
Only features that are part of the Canadian Theme are included; e.g. it excludes monorail and maglev support. The theme pack includes its own Canadian Road System (aka NARoads in the past), therefore support for any other road system, such as TTD 'original', has been excluded too. All this will result in a much shorter development time for many a feature, e.g. we don't have to worry about bridges or railway crossings other than normal and narrow gauge rail, dirt/brick and bitumen roads.
It does support the 3 climates of arctic, temperate and sub-tropical and it is fully snow aware in both arctic and temperate climates. Behaviour in a sub-tropical game will be the same or similar as in a temperate game; it has been included for completeness, but hasn't really anything in common with the theme. Landscape will be TTD 'original' respectively; we do plan to include support for OpenGfx Base (Landscape) Graphics (8-bit only); provided, we get permission to do so and finding some artists to help with the conversion.
This theme pack will be guaranteed to work with TTDPatch v2.6 alpha (revision r2300 or higher) as well as stable versions of the OpenTTD variety (v1.0 or higher).
What does each module contain ?
Canadian Infrastructure Graphics (CanBase)
This module includes everything infrastructure, it has absolutely no use on its own; for starters at least CanRail, CanStn and CanCity have to be activated too. This module handles all player parameters too; further, it includes a management system for all other modules. Consider this to be the Master GRF.
The following features have already been included :
» Foreign language support for English, French and German.
» Choice of rail fences (as already available in CanStn v1.0 and higher)
» Fully revised 256 character ASCII Font; normal font is one pixel less high and wide, plus the large font, the small one has been left untouched.
» Canadian Town Names (CANames by wallyweb).
» Ultimate snow line feature, seasonally variable and static for every level of altitude; giving players the choice of variable and static snow-lines by defining the level for January and July (works for southern hemisphere too). There are 256 variants.
» Narrow gauge rail tracks (as already available in CanSet/CanRail v1.0 and higher), but excluding TTD 'original, monorail and maglev road/rail crossings and bridges).
» Dirt/Brick and Bitumen two era road system including tram tracks and full support for left and right traffic side (as already available in NARoads v1.0 and higher, but excluding street cars/trams, they can be found in CanRV, see further below).
» Minor infrastructure features, such as street lights, one way road arrows, roadworks and bulldozers, drive through bus and truck stops and custom company headquarters (as already available in NARoads v1.0 and higher).
» A full set of temperate and arctic trees, including snowy variants (fully snow aware). They come courtesy of SAC and George and are commonly known as 'borrowed' trees.
» Custom tunnel entrances for rail and road; rail tunnels will be BK Tunnels (courtesy of Ben Kings [Ben_K]). Road tunnels are part of the road system.
Planned (or not yet fully implemented) features include :
» Brand new rail signalling system, covering all signal types, including PBS, Restricted, Programmed and Through signals.
» Full set of road and rail bridges, covering normal (including electrified) and narrow gauge rail, as well as the two era roads [brick/bitumen] to match the road system.
» Waterways, covering rivers, lakes, canals, dikes and dams.
Canadian Trains (CanRail)
Just trains; replacing the current CanSet/CanRail v1.0 and higher sets. Everything infrastructure, that was part of the earlier sets, has been moved into CanBase. This module contains rail vehicles only and will require CanBase to function. Currently, this module is finished; however, AI support needs to be rewritten. Some testing has revealed, that due to the many more vehicles available, the AI selects the most advanced vehicle and many less advanced ones are left behind. A finer more detailed system needs to be worked out, so that all vehicles get a chance to appear. This module is back in the workshop for an upgrade.
Canadian Road Vehicles (CanRV)
Just road vehicles, including trams; it is a new module, with trams from NARoads v1.0 or higher. Further, all TTD 'original' road vehicles have been recoded (without graphics) to be compatible with all supported industry sets. At a later date, these RVs will be replaced with our own. It will require CanBase to function.
Canadian Aeroplanes (CanAir)
Just planes, another new module, all TTD 'original' planes will be recoded (without graphics) to be compatible with all supported industry sets. At a later date, we may add our own.
Canadian Ships (CanShip)
Again, as with CanAir, another new module with just ships, all TTD 'original' ships will be recoded (without graphics) to be compatible with all supported industry sets. At a later date, we may add our own.
Canadian Rail Stations (CanStn)
Just rail stations; replacing the current CanStn v1.0 and higher sets, it has been recoded from scratch and is almost complete, with many more stations added. It has doubled in size, but halved in number of sprites used. Waiting passengers (and cargo boxes) are back again. However, this module now only supports normal (including electrified) and narrow gauge rail; there is no monorail or maglev support. It will require CanBase as well as CanRail to function.
Canadian Cities (CanCity)
Just city buildings; replacing the current NACity v1.0 set. Currently this module is more or less a carbon-copy of NACity, with additional buildings and a complete rewrite planned for a later date. There will also be a fair number of town industries implemented as 'Houses'; thus being able to have more out-of-town industry types (mainly to support FIRS Industries). It requires CanBase to function.
Canadian Industries (CanInd)
Just industries and cargo types; at the moment it includes the TTD 'original' extended industries that were available in CanSet/CanRail v1.0 and higher sets an option. This module will be inactive, if any ECS Industry set by George or FIRS has been activated. In future this set will be enhanced as FIRS clone for TTDPatch players and may even contain Canadian Industries (formerly planned as North American Industry Set or NAIS).
Other Supported Third-Party Graphic Sets
There are a number of third-party graphic sets that have been considered and will be compatible with the Canadian Theme Pack; they are :
» Industrial Stations Renewal Set (ISR) v8.0
» ECS Industry Sets by George
» FIRS Industry Set by andythenorth (OpenTTD release only)
» Pikka's Basic Industries, including Bricks Chain by Pikkabird
If you, as a player, believe, we should also support that 'whizzbang' GRF, you want to use definitely with this theme pack, then get in touch with us.
If you, as graphic set developer, believe your hard work should be supported by this theme pack too, then get in touch with us and we see what we can do for you. Infrastructure wise you could have your graphics included in our Canadian Base Graphics module, provided it suits the Canadian theme.
Further, players can consider the following :
In the absence of CanRV, CanAir or CanShip, players can consider other road, air or sea transportation sets; provided they support the industry option chosen; i.e. ECS, FIRS or our own industry module.
Other ConsiderationsAs a consequence of playing the Canadian Theme Pack, there will be a large number of graphic sets, that have become obsolete or are not compatible any more. Further, there is no save game or scenario compatibility at all, unless produced with the Canadian Theme Pack activated. Please note : the Canadian Theme Pack does not prevent players from activating unsupported third-party graphic sets, however, they have to live with the consequences. If issues or problems arise, we cannot be held responsible.
The following sets are not obsolete as such and can still be used 'standalone'; however, not in conjunction with this theme pack. Graphic sets considered obsolete are :
CanSet/CanRail (Canadian Trains) all versions v1.1 earlier; everything ever contained in these sets has been moved to CanRail or CanBase.
CanStn (Canadian Stations) all versions ever released. Anything, that was part of the 'old' CanStn has been implemented in the new module.
Canadian Town Names; this set has been included in CanBase. It will always be there, just choose your favourite town name option when starting a game.
NARoads (North American Roads) all versions; Anything that was in NARoads has been transferred to CanBase (road system) and CanRV (street cars/trams).
NACity (North American Cities) all versions; CanCity is the replacement for the Canadian Theme Pack.
BK Tunnels; this set has been incorporated into CanBase.
Incompatible third-party graphics sets are :
Total Bridge Replacement Set (any version, including clones); The Canadian Theme Pack contains its own bridges, that are fully compatible with normal and narrow gauge rail, as well as dirt/brick and bitumen roads. Some TBRS bridges will be recoded and modified with permission to suit our road system and included in this theme pack though.
What does it all mean ?This approach makes sure, that each Canadian module has all the required resources available. Currently, we need to tell players, that they, too, need NA Roads, if they want stations to match the road system. We have to tell them, they need the Canadian Town Names, if they want to play a scenario, that has been created with it. Today, bridges and rail/road crossings are of most concern. They need to match the rail tracks in use, as well as the road system. With all the infrastructure included in the Canadian Infrastructure Graphics (CanBase) module, and Canadian Trains (CanRail) and Stations (CanStn) requiring the Base Graphics (CanBase) many requirements are met without fuss and most importantly without player intervention. This will most certainly aid novice players to enjoy a trouble free game.
DisadvantagesSome players may complain that they just want to use Canadian trains or just North American Roads or just the Canadian Stations etc. and that the Canadian Theme Pack no longer allows this. The 'old' sets, such as NA Roads v1.0 or CanStn v1.0 (or higher) will not have the latest revisions or additions, but they are still available for 'standalone' use. See the
Canadian/North American Graphics Archive for further information.
There are many new features included in the Canadian Theme Pack that have never been released elsewhere. Unfortunately the structure and integration of the Canadian Theme Pack makes it impossible to release these features separately. There is a good reason for the integration; it eliminates a lot of feature duplication and repetitive coding thus allowing for the many new features to be added.
In conclusion, let us say this, you wouldn't want to play with anything else anyway; it is the
Canadian Theme Pack you want ...
This introductory post was first published by OzTrans at the tt-fourm back in March 2010; however, some parts have been updated to reflect current progress, while ramblings have been omitted.
