What else is being implemented, changed or added across Canadian graphic files ?
North American [Canadian] Roads (NA[Can]Roads)This GRF will see a major upgrade and double in size. This upgrade will come to you courtesy of BauerME, who very kindly works graphics wise on NA[Can]Roads.
What will be new ?
We will move to a three era road system. Currently we have a two era system; i.e. 'dirt/brick' and 'bitumen'. We will add a 'dirt/cobblestone' road surface, which will become era one, with the others shifting one up to become era two and era three respectively. They will be available by default as follows : 'dirt/cobblestone' - start of game until 1920, 'dirt/brick' – 1921 until 1945, 'bitumen' – 1946 onwards. However, players will be able to select the changeover years of 1921 and 1946 via parameter. Further, it will still be possible to choose any of the 3 surfaces for an entire game, or even change from one surface to another any time throughout a game (OpenTTD game permitting, i.e. all parameters are fully save game compatible, but OpenTTD may prevent players from changing them).
It will, too, be possible to skip an era altogether; i.e. if a parameter is set to before the start of the game, then the relevant road system will be skipped. An example : Start of game set to 1900, parameter 1 set to 1899 and parameter 2 to 1946 = 'dirt/brick' from 1900 until 1945, then switch to 'bitumen' in 1946 (this would be the old behaviour). If both parameters are set to the same year, then era two 'dirt/brick' would be skipped. Further, if that year is set to before start of game, then era three 'bitumen' would be available from start of game.
NA[Can]Roads will move international too; i.e. the 'bitumen' road surface with yellow road markings (for North America/Canada) will receive newly painted white road markings for Europe (UK/EU). By default, 'bitumen' road surface will be with yellow road markings, but players will be able to choose the white road markings via parameter. With the white road markings, a few features will be updated to give players a more European feel.
The street cars, currently available in NARoads, will be moved to Canadian Road Vehicles (CanRV) [see below]. However, the tram tracks will remain as part of the road systems.
Finally, the name of the graphics file will be changed to reflect all the changes and new additions. This GRF will remain part of the 'All Things Canadian' suite of graphic files, including the forthcoming Canadian Theme Pack; thus it will simply be known as 'Canadian Roads (CanRoads)'; although it has gone international.
We hope, you'll appreciate the hard work done by BauerME and continue to enjoy Canadian Roads (CanRoads) in its new set up. As soon as we have something to showcase, we will present the new and updated road systems for comments ...
Canadian Road Vehicles (CanRV)Canadian Road Vehicles will be a brand new graphics file, containing for starters the entire fleet of street cars from NA[Can]Roads. In addition, it is planned to add articulated light rail in 2-, 4- and 6-car sets in order to move larger number of passengers from inner city locations, where it has become impracticable to construct and provide normal rail services.
Otherwise, this vehicle GRF will be a full road vehicle set with buses, mail vans, trucks and lorries.
Buses : We will implement 12 buses (by DanMacK) across 4 vehicle IDs, livery refittable within a vehicle ID. There will be 3 categories of buses, i.e. 3 Early Buses (1890-1950), 3 City Transit Buses (1935+) and 6 Intercity Buses (1938+).
Mail Vans : wallyweb has kindly recoloured the 3 TTD 'original' mail vans to Canadian Postal Livery.
Trucks and Lorries : The entire fleet of TTD 'original' trucks and lorries will be re-coded without graphics. These will be made fully compatible with ECS and FIRS industry GRFs, as well as made available as early as 1890.
There are also plans (permission permitting) to include, for TTDPatch players, a few non-articulated Heavy Equipment trucks and machinery from HEQS by andythenorth.The Canadian Road Vehicles will complement Canadian Trains and Railways (CanRail) in particular suitable for low volume services.
More to come later …
Note: for comments and discussion go to
Canadian/North American Graphics [Discussion]