Welcome to 2021!

To start the year off, here’s a whole bunch of much-awaited custom livery templates!
These are:

• Steam Ka
  
• Steam Ka tender
  
• Diesel Da
  
• Diesel U20C

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year and has high hopes for the year to come!
I certainly have big plans for Rolling Line, and there are a ton of great updates already panned.
But getting things started with some new livery templates gives everyone some new variety for liveries to start the year off with!

Lots of people have already started making liveries with these new templates, and you can find a bunch of them on the Steam Workshop.
You can find them simply by going to the Steam Workshop and using the “livery type” drop-down list:





Just as with all the other liveries, you can find the templates in the "Rolling Line -> Modding -> templates" folder.



Plus there's a guide here on Steam which explains how to make your own liveries!
All you need to make liveries is basic image editing software (even MS Paint is fine):

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1405658466

Anyway, that’s all for now!
This update is a nice creative one to start the year off with, but the next one will likely be a bit more “feature” oriented.

Enjoy!

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Snow Globe Jam!!
There were over 140+ entries and I played through every single one of them ːsteamthumbsupː

So many creative ideas, excellent detailing and really clever use of props (and even mods!). Some people re-created cities and railways in miniature, while others made abstract dioramas. Some even hid smaller railways and additional tiny snow globes inside theirs!



To celebrate the event I've made a collection of my personal favorite snow globes and packed them all into one map! Keep in mind there were many more I wanted to include but the map was getting pretty dense already (so there were still some more excellent entries that aren't included in this collection)

Here's a view of the snow globe collection from above:
(HD version here: https://imgur.com/gallery/ibI36zH)



You can access this map simply by starting a new game and choosing the "Snow Globe Jam" map:



I highly recommend you go and have a look at all the entries for yourself!
There were so many amazing ones, far more than i could have packed into one map.
You can view them all on the Steam Workshop here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/754150/workshop/



And that's all for now!
I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, and 2021 is right around the corner!
There will be more news coming in the future as to what updates I've got planned, so keep an eye out for that. There's tons of important stuff on the horizon.

Congratulations again to everyone who took part in the Snow Globe Jam!
It was a hell of a lot of fun!

Wow, 2020 sure went by quickly... It's already nearly Christmas!
And that means it's time for a Christmas event.

So here's something creative, why not try making a snow globe!
The goal of this "snow globe jam" is to design your own little scene inside a pre-set snow globe and then upload it to the workshop. You can make anything you like, from something really simple to something completely out of this world.
There are truly no limits, other than the literal limits of the inside of the snow globe!

Joining in is simple, just start a new game (from the main menu) and choose the "Snow globe jam" map!



This will give you a map with a snow globe ready to fill, and how you fill it is entirely up to you!



I recommend that you keep the default size of the snow globe, just to keep in the spirit of trying to build within the tiny size it already has.

Technically you can scale it smaller/larger, but if you do then you might loose your chance to get included in an end-of-jam compilation (only snow globes that used the default size will be included).
More info on this "end-of-jam compilation" will come when the event is complete.

But if you have an idea that requires a larger/smaller snow globe then feel free to make it anyway, the more variety the better!

You can also get a copy of the snow globe prop out of the new "Misc -> Christmas 2020" drawer and use this in your layout, you dont have to use the "new game" map option.

Last thing to remember is that you need to tick the "Snow globe jam entry" option when you upload to the workshop!



And that's all!
Let your creativity run wild, and see what you can build in such a tiny space.

For anyone who has been put off previous competitions/jams by the size and challenge of making a submission, this one is a super easy and approachable one.
Give it a go and see what you can make!



Aside from the snow globes, this update also adds Christmas present props!
You can paint them any colors you like, and you can certainly include them in your snow globe.

There's even a special golden one that is full of all kinds of interesting things:



You can find all of these presents, as well as the original snow-globe prop and a bunch of candy/chocolate bars in the new "Misc -> Christmas 2020" drawer:



As well as everything mentioned above, this update also changed a few small things:

• Changed the material of the prop placing 'ghost' effect
  
• Brought back the unique Christmas main menu scene
  
• Fixed the material on the rubbish bin when using "many lights" lighting mode
  
• The item hover UI text is now visible through items in from of it

On another note, I am going to be in Auckland from the 17th to the 21st and hosting a public demo of Rolling Line on the 19th and 20th as part of the "We love VR" event!
You can find more info about the event here:
https://www.weloveaotearoa.co.nz/we-love-vr

If you're in Auckland then you're welcome to come and say hello!


I can't wait to see what kind of snow globe ideas people come up with!
Have fun!
and merry (early) Christmas!

It's here! the 6th issue of the official Rolling Line magazine!

You can read these magazines on the Gaugepunk website:
https://www.gaugepunk.com/magazine/

On that page you can also directly download a PDF version!

And of course you can read these magazines in-game (PC and VR) in the magazine rack:



This magazine issue talks about the Weka Pass, Paranapiacaba, the Miami Shelf layout, the Hallowed Cove comp, and more.
In fact it's the largest magazine so far, with 37 pages! (almost double the length of the next largest)

As well as this new magazine, this update also fixes some SteamVR binding issues (surrounding joystick dead-zones) so if you have made manual adjustments to your VR bindings then make sure to reset them to the default bindings in order to receive the changes!

Remember you can fully customize and rebind your VR controls using the SteamVR input system.
There is a full guide here on how to do this:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2029205314

A few other features to note in this update are:

• Magazines now stay in your hand in VR when loading saves (e.g. clicking "visit this layout" from within a magazine)
  
• Pressing the trigger on the index controllers now no longer spawns the magazine from the magazine rack, only grabbing with your hand does
  
• Inside demo mode there is now a list to load all your downloaded workshop layouts
  
• Fixed issue where selecting a save on the workshop list would change your last selected local save, and vice-versa
  
• If you have manual rotation/grab locomotion disabled then these steps will be skipped in the movement tutorial
  
• Holding shift + 1,2,3,4 in demo mode (for VR) will load the corresponding tutorial

And that's all for now!
It's been OVER A YEAR since the 5th issue of the magazine came out, so I've had a lot of fun finally making another one! I hope everyone enjoys it.



On another note, I am going to be in Auckland from the 17th to the 21st and hosting a public demo of Rolling Line on the 19th and 20th as part of the "We love VR" event!
You can find more info about the event here:
https://www.weloveaotearoa.co.nz/we-love-vr

If you're in Auckland then you're welcome to come and say hello!

This was a big one!

I hoped to split these into individual updates, but each feature relies heavily on the other so the end result was a longer wait and a bigger update.

To summarize, this update includes:

• Changes to the VR control scheme on all platforms (Vive, WMR, Oculus and especially the Valve Index)
  
• A new 'clone toggle mode' interaction style for VR
  
• New item-hover UI for both VR and PC
  
• Big improvements to how the hover UI works for VR controls
  
• A public event 'demo mode' which simplifies the game and makes it easy to show to people in a public demo environment
  
• PC hotkeys to show VR button prompts in-game (also for public demo mode)
  
• A system for blocking all train interaction, which means you can move around your layout without pushing/touching/highlighting/accidentally picking up any trains
  
• A whole new system for tutorials, which uses visual button prompts for VR controllers, help images, and much more descriptive information than before.
  
• 4 new tutorials to replace the old ones, which are: Basic movement, basic train driving, train interaction and using the edit tool. More tutorials (e.g. for track) will be added ASAP.
  
• Access to tutorials from the pause menu (no longer just the main menu)
  
• New teleport restrictions (e.g. walls and locations that would make your eyes stuck underground) to help improve the VR experience
  
• New UI icons for teleporting (e.g red ones for invalid teleport locations)
  
• Plus many other minor visual and control scheme changes for VR and PC

So as you can see a lot of little 'Quality of Life' stuff packed into this update! (especially for VR).
The reason for this is because I am going to be showing Rolling Line in VR at a public event in Auckland here in New Zealand very soon (on the 19th and 20th of December).
So the VR controls have gotten a nice big tidy-up, and a proper 'demo mode' has been added, to streamline the process of showing the game in a public event.


Previously the VR teleporting system worked in such a way that you had two buttons, one for 'teleport in large scale' and one for 'teleport in miniature scale'.
Well this has been changed to a system where one button is 'teleport in current scale' and the other is 'switch between large and miniature scale'

Keep in mind you can still use the old binding system!
Since Rolling Line uses the SteamVR input binding system this means you can re-bind the controls manually yourself.
The 'teleport in large scale' and 'teleport in miniature scale' button bindings are still available to use, they have just been unused in the new default control scheme.

You can learn much more about the SteamVR input binding system in this guide:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2029205314
Also, if you have manually changed your VR bindings in the past, make sure to reset them to default after this update!
If you dont then important bindings will be missing!


The control scheme for the Valve Index controllers has been vastly improved in this update!
Teleporting now uses forward on the joystick (as with most other VR games) and the grab locomotion input is no longer tied to the hand itself, and much more.

Please play the new "basic movement" tutorial to get a full rundown on the new VR control scheme!


The popup UI you see when hovering over an item (e.g. a prop or train) has been changed quite a bit. When playing in VR your joystick will now smoothly display which option you have selected, and swiping the joystick right to the edge will select it.
On the vive controllers touching the touch-pad will show which one you have selected and clicking the D-pad will select it.



This new hover UI also has a line connecting the popup options to the item they are coming from, which makes it easier to see what item you are interacting with.
The height of the hover UI has also been balanced across all items in the game.


There is now a new interaction style called 'Clone toggle mode'
You can turn this on in the VR options menu, but it is on by default for the Index controller.

What this does is replace the "context up" action with an option to toggle 'clone mode' on and off. while clone mode is active picking up the train/prop/track will instead clone a copy in your hand, and the "push left/push right/reverse" options for trains are replaced with "clone left/clone right/remove"



This option was made to solve two problems:

• when using the index controllers, cloning an item (using the trigger) would put a copy in your hand even though you weren't actually "holding" it (with your fingers closed) which was very messy.
  
• switching between "push left/push right" and "clone left/clone right" required changing settings in the menu, which is not ideal at all.

If you would like full instructions on how "clone mode" works, turn it on in the VR options menu, then play through the "train interaction" tutorial. If you have the setting enabled the the tutorial will automatically give you instructions on how to use it (instead of the default cloning system).


Something Rolling Line has needed for a very long time: a re-do of the tutorial system!
The old in-game tutorials were made in a rush before the games release, and were always severely lacking and were very confusing and uncomfortable to use.



The new tutorial system makes use of images to show what you need to do, as well as much more detailed descriptions. When in VR you also get visual highlights of the buttons you need to press on the controllers!



These newly made tutorials are also much easier to follow and are split into easier to understand steps. At the moment there are only 4 tutorials:

• Basic movement
  
• train driving
  
• train interaction
  
• using the edit tool

But it is now a high priority for me to add more for other much-needed topics like track editing and the painting system.

These new tutorials can also now be accessed from both the main menu and the pause menu, as well as from directly within demo mode.


Another major part of this update is a 'demo mode'
What this means is a simplified game mode which is designed for doing public showings of the game at events (or even just showing your friends the game for the first time).
Inside this 'demo mode' the menus are all simplified down, controls are limited and you can easily switch between all of the official maps and access tutorials.

Train interaction is also disabled (which means you cannot pickup or push trains) but you can re-enable this from within the demo mode menu.



You can enable demo mode directly from the pause menu at any time by clicking the "enter demo mode" button on the left.
Once in demo mode, simply go to "options -> exit demo mode" to disable it again.

While inside demo mode in VR you can also make use of a feature where pressing the number keys (1-6) on your PC's keyboard will give a button hint in-game.
e.g. pressing '1' on your keyboard will make the "interact" action highlight on the VR players controllers.

This is incredibly useful for showing other people how to play in VR!
The button options are:

• 1 - interact/use
  
• 2 - pickup/drop
  
• 3 - grab locomotion
  
• 4 - teleport: current scale
  
• 5 - teleport: switch scale
  
• 6 - menu button
  
• 0 - manually restart game

Something simple but actually very useful that has also been added is a setting for "block interaction".

When this is enabled, you cannot highlight or interact with any trains. This is especially nice on PC if you just want to view your layout in large scale without editing trains.
You can still drive trains in this mode (both with the controller and in the cab).

This new setting is in the "Pause menu -> gameplay -> Block train interaction" menu.




As well as all of this, here is all the other loose-ends which were not mentioned above:

• If you drop a train/prop/track piece while holding the trigger (placing it) then it will be placed, instead of dropping out of your hand
  
• Teleporting is now blocked in vertical surfaces and locations that will cause you to be stuck inside the terrain
  
• Invalid teleports now have a unique red icon
  
• If you are holding teleport with both hands, then once one hand teleports then the other teleport is automatically cancelled so you dont accidentally teleport twice
  
• If you are missing crucial SteamVR input bindings then the game will give you a warning message. Remember to reset your input bindings to default after this update if you have manually changed them yourself!
  
• the "map colors" drawer has been removed, since new features (like cloning colors directly off props, and custom drawers) have made it redundant. If you still wish to use it then you can add the launch tag "-showsavefilepaints" manually in steam
  
• Fixed some Z-fighting graphic bugs in the magazines
  
• Adjusted the distance of interaction for VR hands
  
• Fixed the "grab locomotion" SteamVR input binding which was previously incorrectly used
  
• Fixed a bug with snow plow particles being stuck active when trains go off-screen
  
• Adjusted menu spawn locations
  
• Color correction and AO are automatically reset to defaults (this only happens once)
  
• Taking a screenshot now auto-enables "block interaction" mode, so no more highlighting trains in thumbnails!

And that's everything!

What a long and dense news post. There's tons of great quality of life features in this update, so regardless of whether you play on VR or PC im sure there will be something useful. This update managed to address lots of long-requested fixes and improvements.

If you play in VR i highly recommend giving the new tutorials a try since the control scheme will be different to what you remember.

The next update will hopefully be something a bit more fun and less technical!

Enjoy!

I wouldn't be surprised if this rapidly becomes the most popular livery template on the workshop!
There are so many different livery designs for this kind of loco, and it looks like people have already uploaded a ton of them before this update even left testing!



There's a guide here on Steam which explains how to make your own liveries.
It's easier than you think!
All you need to make liveries is basic image editing software (even MS Paint is fine):

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1405658466

As with all the other liveries, you can find the templates in the "Rolling Line -> Modding -> templates" folder.






And that's all for now!

I'm sure people are going to making a ton of liveries with this new template, as the response from the previous update (adding the AC4400CW) was amazing, and it's clear that this train is a real favorite for a lot of people!

There's still a bunch of stuff coming through the end of the year, including a new Magazine which is already in the works!

(here's a bit of a tease)

Here's something the American audience is going to love!!
The AC4400CW (aka "Dash-9" or "GEVO") is one of the most popular and highly requested trains in the world, and It's finally here in Rolling Line.
This excellent model was made by Stationmaster (massive thank you!) and marks another community-made model that has made it into the game as an official train.

Since it's an "official" train, that means it comes with all the bells and whistles (literally) you would want from any official loco, which includes a working bell and openable doors to the cab.




There are 4 default liveries included in this update and custom livery support will be coming in the next update!



You can find these new trains in the "trains -> Diesel 2" drawer:



As well as the new train, this update also adds a new setting to enable/disable the equip items you get when you load a map (the edit tool and controller).
By default, if you play in VR this is disabled, while in PC it is enabled.



The workshop tags are now organized into drop-down menus, since the tag list was getting pretty crowded:



The PC player lower height limit has also been removed, which means you can go below the floor using the scroll wheel.


And that's all for now!
The next update will be adding custom livery support on the workshop.

And thank you again to Stationmaster for this excellent model!

Congratulations to everybody who took part in the Hallowed Cove Layout Comp! there were so many amazing layouts, more than i could ever list, and so many creative ideas!

In this news post I'll be announcing the winners, but this update also includes a few small fixes & features that will be mentioned at the end of this news post.
Most of these new features are about making flexy-track easier to use and switching between available snap-points when placing flexy-track.

but anyway, without further ado, here are the winners for the Hallowed Cove Layout Comp!






You can find links to all of these layouts here:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2272826440
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2265857715
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2274305080
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2274234038
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2269919201
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2263971180
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2262930212
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2274756293
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2273555499

These were just my personal favorites, but there were still so many more layouts I loved!
But the list would get way too long if i tried to shout-out them all.
I highly recommend that you go and have a play of all of the maps yourself! There are so many great ones to go and see:

https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/browse/?appid=754150&browsesort=trend&section=readytouseitems&admin_view=1&requiredtags%5B0%5D=Hallowed+Cove+Comp&actualsort=trend&p=1&days=-1


In addition to announcing the winners, this update also includes a few actual in-game features.
Most of all, flexy-track has become much nicer to use!
There are a few tweaks to how flexy-track works, which make it snap more sensibly.
But best of all you can now press Q or E while placing flexy-track to make it switch between available track ends!
This is incredibly useful and removes all the old frustration of wrestling with the snapping system to get it to snap to the right place.



As well as these new flexy-track features, some other small fixes & features were also added:

• The wheel/bogey/crane props now snap to track
  
  
• Table styles (wood/black) now copy correctly when cloned
  
  
• There is now a setting to disable/enable random train horns. When you are not driving a train it will randomly sound the horn/whistle, but you can now turn this off.
  
  
• You can now use two new horn presets in QuickMods:
  - steam_sunkenBerk
  - steam_rotary
  
• The "prop mods" drawer has been renamed to "mods"
  
• Disabled the automatic Halloween sky. You can still turn it back on in the "Time & weather -> advanced -> Halloween sky" option

In other news, I've officially moved house!
I now live in Wellington, New Zealand (the capital city of NZ)
Now that the moving process is complete I can finally get back to making updates!
Stay tuned for lots of new exciting stuff still to come.

In the meantime, i hope you enjoyed the Halloween competition, and I highly recommend having a look at all of the entries and playing them for yourself.

Thank you so much to everyone who took part!

Time for the 2020 Rolling Line Halloween event!

The "Hallowed Cove" is a new small map set in a spooky water-logged coastal town, with shipwrecks, fog, barnacle-covered wharfs and old shanty town buildings.
...And a ghostly variant of the Berkshire called the "Sunken Berk"

Plus this update also announces a two week Halloween/horror themed layout competition!
(more info on that later in this news post)

Firstly,

During the Halloween event the main menu is replaced with the Hallowed Cove!
You can also load the map and play it from the main menu (New Game -> Hallowed Cove).



During this event the skybox has also changed from the usual day/night sky to this custom special skybox! You can turn this on/off in the time & weather menu (Time & Weather -> Advanced -> Halloween sky).

The "Halloween sky" will automatically turn back on when you reload the game, but if you want to disable it permanently then you can add a launch tag on steam "-nohalloween".




Part of this update is a new variant of the Berkshire called the "Sunken Berk".
This is a spooky water-logged version with kelp and rope dripping from it, like it was dragged out of the sea. You can find this inside the "Misc -> Unlocks" drawer:



Here is a high-resolution screenshot of the Sunken Berk:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2262020849


To fit the ghostly port town theme of the Hallowed Cove, this update adds some new boats!
Specifically two new large sail ships, as well as some row boats:




In order to make this map, some new props have been added!
These are:

• snappable wharf sections
  
• life buoys
  
• rope
  
• dock bollards
  
• shanty houses

You can find these in the "Props -> Wharf" drawer:






As well as the Hallowed Cove itself, there is a layout competition happening from now till just after Halloween!
You can submit any layout that fits within a horror/Halloween/spooky theme, and you can definitely make other things like mods, liveries or even trains to go with your map!



This competition is open to everyone, and runs from October 20th to November 2nd.
Just make sure to tick the "Hallowed Cove comp entry" tick-box when uploading your workshop item!



At the end of the competition the winner will have their layout featured in the much-awaited 6th issue of the Rolling Line magazine! (which will be coming out before the end of the year!)


While 2020 is all about the Hallowed Cove, you can still access all of the previous years Halloween events (2018 and 2019). They are found within their respective drawers in the "Misc" category:



For example, last year there were these Halloween pumpkins which you can open to get candy and special prizes (like golden trains and ghost trains!)



It's amazing to think that Rolling Line is old enough to have had 3 Halloween events, this game is growing so much!

As mentioned in the last couple of news posts, I am moving house over the next few days (specifically the 22nd) so I'll be incredibly busy while this competition is going on. I'll still be keeping up with the new workshop uploads and trying everything out!
Updates will go back to normal after I'm moved in and the competition is over.

This also means that this update is the last update I'll post from my home in Blenheim, after living there for 3+ years... I'll miss it. Rolling Line's whole development took place while i was in Blenheim.
As a final goodbye the cherry blossoms were all in bloom on my street!


(Full resolution photo here: https://imgur.com/cFPxb3c)

Now I'm off to Wellington city!
A very different place to the quiet suburbs of Blenheim.
It's going to be fun ːsteamhappyː


And that's all for now!

I hope you enjoy the Hallowed Cove, and have a go at making your own layout for the competition!

Much like how the last update added the option to convert QuickMods to a new system and upload them to the workshop, this update makes it possible to create and upload liveries for them!



If you have made QuickMods in the past, then you'll remember that the only way to make liveries for QuickMods was to make duplicate copies of QuickMods and replacing the textures to create different liveries.
Since there was no official livery system for QuickMods, this was the only way to create liveries.

But not any more!
This new system means you can take those old duplicate QuickMods and convert them into a "Legacy Livery" which only contains textures (no 3D models) and instead relies on another mod for its models (the "base model" which the livery is being made for).
This means you can upload a "legacy livery" to the workshop without needing to upload a duplicate copy of the whole mod.

This does means though that players need to download the "base mod" which your livery uses in order to view your livery.

This also means that using liveries (instead of duplicate mods) is much, much more optimized, as once the base mod is loaded, all liveries thereafter are very quick to load!

I highly recommend using this new livery system if you intend on uploading lots of variations!
For example: create one true "Legacy QuickMod" as a base, the set up all the rest of the mods as "Legacy Liveries" that use the original mod. Then you can include them all in one big "Mod Group" and upload them to the workshop!

You can find a full guide on this process of making legacy liveries here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2251053402

There is also a guide here which goes into more detail on the old vs new modding system, and how to convert QuickMods into the new system:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2245149260

Something to note is that any liveries you download will show up alongside all the other QuickMods when looking in the "mods" drawer to make things simple:



If you want to create a livery for a pre-exisiting mod you have downloaded off the workshop you can do this by choosing the "Create livery" option after clicking on the mod in the modding manger (this process is explained in detail in the previously mentioned livery guide!)



There are also now buttons to "refresh QuickMod folder" (which will update the QuickMod list)
And to "Open QuickMod folder" (which will open the folder in a file browser window)
When editing QuickMods and QuickTerrain!



And that's all for now!

If you are simply downloading mods (not creating them) then this update won't effect you at all (aside from making liveries load faster).
If you are a mod creator, then this updates gives you a much more optimized and logical way of creating additional liveries for your mods!

As mentioned in the previous update, I am moving house during the next couple of weeks, so updates are very un-organized and I'll just be adding what I can in the limited time I have. Updates will stabilize again around the end of October.

Also, I am excited to say that we already have 100+ QuickMods on the workshop after even less than a week! Excellent work to all of the modders who have shared their creations!