Dash 7s seem to be the current rage

[samspade]

John Peterson has made an exceptionally nice C30-7 for everyone to play with.

I understand that they look something like this from the inside:
http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3c5b98dc0886618d.jpg

I am not supposed to be showing you this but after consultation with John, it is possible that HIS C30-7 may look like this also.

Or maybe just like this:
http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3c5b99a70a930578.jpg


-------SamSpade--------
http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3be393470fae6ec7.jpg
---"Power for You"---

[TrirailF40PHL]

Question. Would it work with the B40-8? And is that throttle control the size used on a 1012X1012 cab or 512X512? I need one like that for my NS B40-8 cab...

Kurt

[Claude350]

So when will this new cab design be available to us....Good work on that baby.Keep it up now..

[samspade]

All my work is done on a canvas of 1024x1024. The Independant Brake, Dynamic Brake and Throttle animated controls are basically the default ones. This keeps my cabs' look and feel similar to the original MSTS look and feel.

-------SamSpade--------
http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3be393470fae6ec7.jpg
---"Power for You"---

[Alex]

another fine gift to TSimmers, where would we be if there was no NAWL!!

[yellowdog]

Just out of curiosity, does the NALW have it's own website? I'm guessing that it does not, but, as I said, am just curious. At any rate, can't wait to get home and d/l this thing! Also out of curiosity, how is it that the cab file is ~ 2x larger than the loco file?!? :)

Clayton

[chucksc]

Unfortunately Clay we Don't!
We made a policy decision to concentrate on trains and not get into the Web-Page Design/Maintenance/Web-Hosting Debacle... thus we have an exclusive arraingement with Nels to only host and release our products through Train-Sim... Occasionally there are exceptions as when we allowed CLW to host our SD Sound package on their site to coincide with the release of their SD30... But then we sub-contracted to CLW on several occasions and had a good working relationship with them...

BS.... Actually we wanted to and asked for volunteers internally and every one said either No or H*ll No! LOL!

------Chuck Schneider---------
http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3be393470fae6ec7.jpg
-----"Power for You"-------

[Claude350]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-05-02 AT 04:05PM (EST)[p]Chuck this is really nice.Reminds me of those NS GE I have to ride.I have one question though.Is it possible to widen either the middle window or the engineers window (maybe widden both) so that we can see more of the road ahead?..Also on the airflow meter when the air is pumping the needle should display towards the right side of the gauge and rotate to the left as the air pressure increases.Overall this is a good cab and I love you guys work.When will you release the cabview for the F40 my dear brother....LOL.

[WLE416]

Chuck and Sam.....Claude stole the words from me here. Great work and well done. The realistic GE notch panels on the throttle and dynamic bars are a great touch, as well as the other individual GE charactersistics you've included. Makes me feel the complete atmosphere inside of Mr.Peterson's fine unit. Your GEEP cabs are still my favorite, but I'll be pretty busy putting this new release in all of my toasters today.

Like Claude, the only thing I'd like to comment on is a better view of the right of way. I know I'm obsessed with this in another posting....However I'm only trying to improve the already high quality and increase the realism of these cabs you provide us. Just trying to help with a suggestion. I certainly don't mean to sound a critic, as I'm a fan. Thanks again for all the work you guys put into these free additions.....The sim is so much better with all of the diversity made possible here. Jason.

[chucksc]

Thank you gentlemen! I'm sure "Sam" really appreciates the positive comments... He really had a hard time with the AFM... It seems as though Kuju really screwed the pooch on that.... We understand about Air Flow being the inverse, basically, of train line pressure... The problem is that there is no easy way he could find to do that and also have the meter read from left to right... when he tries that function Kuju tries to move the needle through the bottom quadrant of the gauge... We haven't given up yet just trying to figure out how to fix this.... In the mean time we decided to release the cab for John and since the AFM needle bounces around we felt it was at least a start and added ambiance... we still want it to work correctly however and it is on the list for a version 2 if we can figure it out!

------Chuck Schneider---------
http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3be393470fae6ec7.jpg
-----"Power for You"-------

[KngtRider]

i really like the work NALW has done, however what i can see out of the windows of your cabs is getting less and less !

at 1024 i cant see anything at all out of the front dash7 nalw cab windows , i find i am using the passenger view (key5 on the dash 7) more than view 1


********************************
Dominic Sharoo

Webmaster/Technical Editor
http://www.nitroware.net
********************************

[samspade]

Yes, Dominic, getting the view right is damned hard - there are even fewer references for the view outwards than there are for the interiors themselves and these are not easy to come by! The tools are not even designed to allow you to preview what you are doing.

Improvements can only be made with constructive feedback, particularly from the people who know - engineers who use MSTS. This is the case with the Dash-7. Following good feedback, the cab view has been adjusted and there will be an update released in the near future.

If you cannot wait for the update, you could edit the cvf files yourself and change the Direction code for the front view.

The new settings are " Direction ( 10 -16 0 )".

-------SamSpade--------
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---"Power for You"---

[samspade]

The question on file size almost got overlooked; sorry. The answer is quite simple, though:

The lhs view is a modified real photo - real photos have a high bit count. So even with compression the overall file is quite large.

-------SamSpade--------
http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3be393470fae6ec7.jpg
---"Power for You"---

[yellowdog]

Good answer! FYI, I wasn't complaining, but was just curious. I thought it was rather humurous, myself, considering the great work John did on the locos! :) The stand looks great- -can't wait to try out the new location #'s you gave us. Thanks for those!

Clayton

[gerdp]

Concerning the track view out of the NALW Dash7 Cab, this is not really a problem of the virtual Cab design, because it's rather prototypical. The problem is: The engineer in MSTS can't move his head for sometimes getting a better view of where he's going, especially when he's heading onto a curve.

I played around with several different views, but it was not really satisfying. So I finally got rid of the Left Window View and used the left arrow key for having another front view from a different head position and with different view angle. So now you engineers can "move your head". I took this idea from the "High Nose Cabs", originally designed by Svante Wendel.

Of course, there's one big disadvantage: For the second front view, you won't see any controls or neddles in the instruments. I assume, there's no way of having this, though it would be ideal. So I do not propose this as a solution, but it may be an option for some of you riding the Dash7 engine. For those who want, here's the head section of the cvf-file that I used:

(Remember always to back up your original file, in case you don't like this modification).


SIMISA@@@@@@@@@@JINX0h0t______

Tr_CabViewFile (
CabViewType ( 2 )
CabViewFile ( "..\\..\\Common.Cab\\Dash7\\C30-Front-NALW.ace" )
CabViewWindow ( 0 0 630 435 )
CabViewWindowFile ( "..\\..\\GP38\\Cabview\\AcWndFrn.ace" )
Position ( 0.5 3.7 6 )
Direction ( 10 10 0 )
CabViewFile ( "..\\..\\Common.Cab\\Dash7\\C30-Front-NALW.ace" )
CabViewWindow ( 0 0 630 435 )
CabViewWindowFile ( "..\\..\\GP38\\Cabview\\AcWndFrn.ace" )
Position ( 1 3.7 6 )
Direction ( 10 -10 0 )
CabViewFile ( "..\\..\\Common.Cab\\Dash7\\C30-RHS-NALW.ace" )
CabViewWindow ( 20 0 589 430 )
CabViewWindowFile ( "..\\..\\GP38\\Cabview\\AcWndRgt.ace" )
Position ( 1 3.7 6 )
Direction ( 10 84.22 0 )
EngineData ( C30-7 )
.
.
.
.


That's it

Gerd

[samspade]

Gerd, that is a good suggestion which may be satisfactory for a lot of people. Everyone seems to have a different opinion about what they want to see in the left hand view - forward looking as in the geeps, sideways or my favourite for dual cab units, rear facing.

For the rear facing cabs I create an image from a screenshot with the gauges zeroed out... Your suggestion is quite viable using the same technique. Even so, the quages will not be reding 'correctly'. If you think is important, I can add a left hand view with this arrangement (forward, dials set to zero) at some stage.

-------SamSpade--------
http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3be393470fae6ec7.jpg
---"Power for You"---

[gerdp]

Sam,

first of all thanks for your great work for the MSTS community.

Normally I like to have LHS and RHS Views in the Cabs, because I like to run trains through a pretty scenery, looking "around" from the engine's cab. In case of the Dash7, the LHS View, however, is in direction "backwards" and the window size is even small. So I felt, I do not loose much, giving up this view.

May be we will have response from other simmers on this issue, before you decide if it is "important" to bring this in.

Gerd