Train, Rail and Roller Coaster System

anonymous_user_bab8c077 · October 31, 2017, 3:30am

anonymous_user_f1fc950d:

@anonymous_user_bab8c077
You can set up a seperate piece of track with a different mesh that would be the road intersection. So you’d have the normal track with the track mesh, then the intersection track with the intersection mesh and just join them together like and pieces of track.
If that’s what you mean, let me know if we didn’t answer your question.

To do this, you need to reparent the bp_train_carriage blueprint to a pawn.
If you run into issues, let us know.

You have full control over the bogies, how many there are and how they are setup.
Check out the Setup Bogies function that’s called when the carriage is constructed. Here you can add bogies and set the distance on the carriage, it’s an array so you can add as many as you like.

@anonymous_user_22bbde31
There are two demo tracks provided, one standard train track model with sleeprs and one roller coaster track. The mesh is easy to change since it’s just repeated along the splines used for tracks.

You’re free to change the physics setup for the trains to meet the needs of your project.
This is designed to be used as a building block for any project. All the blueprints are documented and laid out in a way that makes it easy to change.
So if you find that the mass, acceleration or any other parameter or setup isn’t doing what you need, you can easily change them.

hey, why i didn’t think that way.
thx man.

tarzancoe · November 10, 2017, 4:33am

New user here, this looks great. I am trying to replicate an existing rollercoaster.

I have a spline of it already. Can I import an existing spline, instead of having to replicate it?
I have custom models of cars as well: How to replace the default ones with the ones I have modeled?
On many coasters, when the car goes up, it is pulled from a chain… and when it gets to the top then it goes down to gain enough speed. How do you suggest I reproduce the “chain” going up and then the cart keeps moving?
Can I stop the car at loading station, have it wait a minute… and loop starting the whole process again? basically in an endless loop of start/going around the track/stop… and start again.

Thanks for your feedback.

anonymous_user_f1fc950d · November 10, 2017, 5:26pm

For the spline; Unfortunately you can’t import an existing spline since. We did look at offering this, but it would have required releasing it as a C++ plugin instead of a Blueprint system.

For the models; Just replace them, take a look at the demo blueprints, you can set the mesh there.

For the chain and the loading station; check out the example maps, the trigger map specifically. There’s already a trigger there to stop the train. You can copy the jump trigger and change that to be a chain trigger that will push the train up the tracks until the first carriage hits another trigger at the top and tells it to stop pushing.

Hope that, let us know if you have any more questions or feedback.

Cheers,

anonymous_user_e986fddf · November 10, 2017, 5:38pm

Hi , unfortunately the documentation http://polygonjelly.com/products/unreal/trainandrail/docs/TrainAndRail.pdf is unavailable. Could you please update the link or check your server.

anonymous_user_f1fc950d · November 10, 2017, 5:51pm

Should be back online in the next hour or so, apologies for the inconvenience.

anonymous_user_f1fc950d · November 10, 2017, 8:15pm

The documentation is now back online.

We have submitted an update to Epic with the following changes:
Option to set a constant delta time update - Use this if you don’t want the delta time supplied from the engine to be used for speed calculations.
Updated the up direction for the track so it can be used to create cable cars or other special types of ‘trains’.

We’ll update this thread with any more news. Until then, if there are any questions, feedback or feature requests, please let us know.

Thanks,

tarzancoe · November 11, 2017, 2:10am

Thanks for your feedback.
For the spline; Unfortunately you can’t import an existing spline since. We did look at offering this, but it would have required releasing it as a C++ plugin instead of a Blueprint system.

For the models; Just replace them, take a look at the demo blueprints, you can set the mesh there.

For the chain and the loading station; check out the example maps, the trigger map specifically. There’s already a trigger there to stop the train. You can copy the jump trigger and change that to be a chain trigger that will push the train up the tracks until the first carriage hits another trigger at the top and tells it to stop pushing.

Hope that, let us know if you have any more questions or feedback.

IT DOES, THANKS!

thadkinsjr · November 18, 2017, 5:05am

No longer any issues. Great fun playing with this system.
Looking forward to more from you.

anonymous_user_f1fc950d · November 20, 2017, 9:45pm

We have updated the marketplace files. If anyone has any issues, please let us know but everything is up and running to support 4.15 on.

Thanks,
PJ

czoog · November 21, 2017, 7:30pm

Great pack! Really liking it. However I have a problem using my own mesh. I need a mesh where every fourth sleeper is longer. I did a quick test by exporting the standard track mesh, and modified in 2dsmax to be exactly twice as long, and extended the 4th sleeper. But when I try to use it, the mesh spacing does not adjust as I would have expected. I tried messing around the build track mesh function, but it seems to be using the Y bounds dimension for calculating spacing, would it not make more sense to use the X? Any tips to how to make my mesh work? I am including a picture so you can see what I mean:

Thanks.

anonymous_user_f1fc950d · November 21, 2017, 8:47pm

Makes sense.
I just added some options to control the mesh size calculations (which axis gets used) and an option to disable the always adding a mesh to match the spline size (no more extra squished one at the end).
I’ll send you a PM with the download link so you can test it out, if it works as you expect and you like it, we’ll push an update out to everyone.

Cheers,
PJ

czoog · November 22, 2017, 1:33pm

Thanks for the quick response. Not sure if my PMreply went through, this forum’s messaging seems buggy to me. Let me know if you did not get it. Thanks!

lalala312 · November 24, 2017, 4:17pm

Would it be possible to pm that to mee too, am interrested in trying that out too.

anonymous_user_f1fc950d · November 24, 2017, 5:36pm

@czoog - I did indeed and just replied to you with an updated version based on your feedback

You can indeed, I’ll PM you now

This is excellent, nice to see people engaged and getting use out of the system, thanks!

blackhawk71 · December 1, 2017, 6:21am

Hi I just bought your product, and I really like It but when I bring in a custom track it becomes distorted ,if I scale it, it just becomes a longer version of it and its a squashed
version of it still ,is it possible to leave it at the length of what it is ,or do I have to make the track a certain way so this wont happen.

I am sorry If this is a newbie question ,so If you can point me in the right direction that would be helpfull to me, I purchased the track so its not an optimal situation for me if I cant use it like it is
can I change the blueprints so I dont have to model it differently?

Thanks.

tarzancoe · December 2, 2017, 5:23pm

How do I export/migrate from one map to another? Two people working on a map, one is doing the train system and needs to export/migrate to the main map. When I choose to migrate for a track, for example, it makes me migrate the track bp always the same one, and also wants to migrate all assets used all the time, which is all the plugin essentially.

anonymous_user_f1fc950d · December 4, 2017, 8:20pm

Hi tarzancoe,
That I don’t have an answer for since that’s more of an engine feature related to migration for all blueprint assets and not something that’s controllable by the train system.
I’ll do some testing and see if I can find something that might help you.

PJ

anonymous_user_f1fc950d · December 4, 2017, 8:37pm

We have just pushed an update to the marketplace to help build better track meshes and give more control over spacing and size calculations.

Thanks to czoog, *lalala312 *and *blackhawk71 *for testing out the update before it went live and providing feedback.

Three new options have been added to the tracks to control the mesh layout.
**ForceMeshToMatchSplineLength **- Force the mesh to always match the length of the spline
**MeshSpacingAxis **- Select the axis to base the size off, X, Y or Z
**MeshSpacingMultiplier **- Multiply the mesh spacing

http://www.polygonjelly.com/products/unreal/trainandrail/screenshots/forum/thumbs/mesh_match_spline.png

http://www.polygonjelly.com/products/unreal/trainandrail/screenshots/forum/thumbs/mesh_spacing.png

Documentation is fully updated and can be found: Polygon Jelly

The update is available via the launcher now, if anyone has any issues, feedback or requires any assistance, please ask.

Thanks,

PJ

anonymous_user_f1fc950d · December 6, 2017, 7:00pm

Hi Accso,

The wheels / bogies are just a simple skeletal mesh with 4 bones, one for each wheeel that do a full rotation over 30 frames.
The animation blueprint is very light weight and just plays that animation on a loop. The wheel speed variable is just the playback speed (forward, reveres or stop).

I’ve uploaded the FBX files I used to make the animation, you can grab them here: http://www.polygonjelly.com/products/unreal/trainandrail/downloads/fbx_source_animations.zip

To replace the animation you’d import your own animation, using the existing skeleton and then in the anim blueprint just set the animation that’s playing to your new one.
If you’'re fully replacing the wheels / bogies then you’d need to import the new skeleton, setup the anim blueprint and make sure it’s using the new skeleton and then set those in the carraige / mine cart as needed.

Hopefully that and gets you what you need. If not, let me know and I can do up a more detailed response.

Thanks,
PJ

anonymous_user_47be972d · December 22, 2017, 7:18am

Thanks for your great project.
I’ve extend the BT_TT_Junction Switch. With a new variable in editor, it will be possible to count the trains before switch the junction.
Maybe someone find this useful.