Salt Barns - does this already exist?

[Noisemaker]

I could have sworn I saw in the library something that looked very similar to this...

http://www.smithfieldri.com/images/1.jpg

But now I can't seem to find it for the life of me? Was I dreaming, or is this item somewhere? And if not, could it be easily made? I'm no good with the graphics stuff, but would like to have these 'barns' on the outskirts of Brantford, Ont. on MLT's NC so to be a little more 'prototypical'. ;)

Thanks.

[philmoberg]

Salt barns, also known as slate sheds, of this design are common to a lot of highway departments in the northern latitudes. These were originally developed as a means to mitigate runoff from the open piles formerly used. A frozen pile is a real nightmare for a maintenance crew tr ying to keep the roads passable in an extended storm. -Phil

[inflammable]

What does the entrance look like? I've built this, using Ron Picardi's textures. If you have a pic or can describe what the doors look like, then I'll email Mr. Picardi and ask if I can share this shape with you.

James

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/111308.jpg

40 feet tall, 60 feet in diameter. the wooden entrance area is 20 feet tall, with the eaves at 18 feet. The pavement is a 100 foot square.

[philmoberg]

Make that salt sheds, not slate sheds. I was much too overtired when I posted that... -Phil

[rpicardi1]

As long as you are using textures that were uploaded for modeling use, looks like the ones used are standard textures, you can use them so long as you give credit for their use.

The door is tall so that the trucks that bring in the salt during the summer can dump them in the barn. Later, end loaders can work in the barn to bring out salt to load in the plow equipt trucks.

I would suggest that you create a barn with the inside visable through the door. In that barn, make a salt pile using SRV_Snow.tga but use the normal solid material setting.

It is possible to use a seperate shape of two piles, save for Winter setting, and use the TransNorm setting. But, to work correctly, the pile gets smaller in winter, you couldn't use any other snow piles with this setup as they need to show in Winter and not the rest of the seasons.

There is a salt barn in one of my building uploads, but, it is a barn shaped building with the ribs on the outside, open door, and a salt pile inside.

Edit; Forgot to mention that the barn probably doesn't have a door that can be closed. The purpose of the barn is to protect the salt pile from rain and snow.

SRV Ron

[Noisemaker]

Hey, thanks a bunch guys! Looks fantastic inflammable! And the great Ron Picardi is here giving his blessings and insights as well. :)
Really am a fan of ALL your work Ron, and believe I have your whole collection. Your farmhouses and 'residential' houses are superb for north eastern railroads I find, and are pretty dominant now on my Niagara Corridor. Nothing against MLT's structures, they're fine too. But your detail and attributes are so architecturally saavy, I just think they're all much more suitable for my 'prototypical dream'. :D

Speaking of 'the dream', I think your proportions are great inflammable - and I agree with Ron in that they'd probably have just a open entrance for the salt spreader trucks to back into and load.
At best - maybe long rubber slats inside to block blowing rain and snow somewhat. But I think just a black wall, or open interior - and users can go for Ron's idea if close to the cab windows et al. BTW, and I maybe corrected on this, but the archway should be of wood texture. I know up here in Ontario they're primarily wood entrance ways if I recall. Cheaper to construct and replace, and not as vulnerable as metal is to salt and the elements. Unless a county had pictures of the mayor doing a lude act - THEN they might get the budget for a stone archway. ;)

Great job and support guys, thanks a bunch! ;)

[inflammable]

After a rebuild or three:


http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/111386.jpg


http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/111387.jpg


http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/111388.jpg


http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/111389.jpg

I altered the alpha channel (and renamed) on the SRV_snow, to allow the tire tracks/foot prints.

And decided to use the shutters texture to make a set of doors. I made a few attempts at building the inside, but realized that I would have to cut into the roof polys at the door framing, then that suddenly became too much to try for right now.

I need to try to sort out the snow and roof poly's so that they know which one to show, and which to hide, and then maybe this week I'll upload it.

I'm planning on throwing in the gmax file, just in case someone wants to use it as a starting point for something else. Or, merge in vehicles that they may have, and make it into a better scene.

I did rename and modify the alpha on the snow texture, and will give appropriate credit if I'm allowed to upload it.

James

[Noisemaker]

Fantastic James! Really nice job! :) Just a bit worried about the base width myself. On the 'prototypical NC', the salt barns are kinda on the edge of an embankment right beside the tracks nearly. But if worst comes to worst, I'll try to cover the base edge with weeds or something if it protrudes on me. ;)

Great job done, can't wait to try them out! :D

[inflammable]

I'll rip it off the base, and give you 80 and 100 ft square parking lots, so that you can do what you want with them. I'll still leave the snow texture on the base, but I'll make it the real SRV snow file, and not the one with the tire tracks.

James

[Noisemaker]

Just downloaded and installed them last night. They're simply fantastic! And thanks so much for making the bases 'detachable' and selectable et al. :) I even got mentioned in the READ ME, thank you very much for that.

Now my new dilemma is - and I'm not that up on MSTS/Windows doo-hicky's... But this 'Batch Runner' thingy? I just copied .S and .SD to the Shapes folder, and the .ACE's to Textures, and updated the .REF file of course. But I notice after placing the sheds where I wanted them, I can't access or move them after? Usually things show up a wire frame during placing, and solidify when one clicks on another object or terrain, but these models didn't do that? So is it a matter of these 'Batch Processors' needing to be inacted?

But thank you for all your hard work and help for these. I really appreciate the lengths you have gone to James. :D

[inflammable]

When I put the textures into the texture folder, and the snow ace into the snow folder, it gave me an error about not seeing the other textures in the snow folder.

Give it a shot, running it in snow, and see if you need to move all the textures to the snow folder. If you don't move them, and it is happy with that, then thats good. I wrote the batch file to copy the required textures from the texture folder, to the snow folder, and then erase itself.

I'm not sure why some things go to wire frame, and some don't, but I was able to click on the center of the shape, and it would be 'editable' for lack of a better word, but it just wouldn't be wireframe.

If you keep an eye on the Object window in the RE, then it will bring up the coordinates when it is 'editable'. Then, to be sure, you can right click, and it will open the Properties menu for the object.

James