Trans-Pennine Express (Amiga) - Prototype FMV train sim.

Introduction

Welcome to Tranz Pen Nine Express.  Train Simulator! V1.0

The idea for this game came before Jari-Matti Rally, but at that time, I did not know how to make it. Then a breakthrough, when I discovered how to make the footage run at one frame every 5 seconds, and also a way to speed up the footage to double speed., but I never found a way to slow down the train in increments. I also cant display any controls on the screen, so I decided to make the sound effects do the job of the HUD, to tell the players which gear they are in.  The video has the speed limits already on the screen, and listening for the gear changes made it possible.

At first I wanted to cover several different railways, but in the end, I found a nice video of the Trans-Pennine Express, from Burnley, through my home town of Accrington; over the world famous Nori (Nor Eye) red brick built 21 arch viaduct;  and on to Blackburn through Blackburn tunnel.

This game took most of a year to make, because I wanted to get this running smoothly, and as close as posible to the likes of Train Simuator on the PS2 (you can find my footage of those games on youtube here and here).

Aims:

1. To make a 4 stop train sim, covering three sections of Lancashire Railway; Burnley, Rose Grove, Accrington and Blackburn.

2. To make it so that the player can get some stats and score.

Requirements

• Any PAL Amiga with Kickstart 3.0+  (does NOT work with KS2 roms).
• 0.5MB chip, 1MB other memory.
• 030 is recommended.
• 840MB free disk space (if installing on HDD).
• Optional: A way to copy the files onto a real Amiga hard drive.
• Optional Emulation: Filter Tab: Auto-scaling.

Features:

• 3 Complete Stages! Each with a rating and score!
• 3 Digitised FMV 320x216 videos.
• 5 Digitised HAM-6 images.
• 3 Difficulty Modes - Easy, Medium, and HARD!
• Voice feedback and digitised sound effects
• Speed up and slow down the train!
• Final Game Complete Score and Ratings
• Some kind of introduction.

Install and Loading

TBA
Just use the HDF for now.

Playing The Game Instructions

Select your difficulty mode from the title menu, and press fire. Then fire again to start the game itself.

Starting Up:

• Pull Back to release the brakes. Wait. Then Push Up to go into Gear 1 at high revs.

Normal Running:

• On Easy mode, listen out for the suggested gear from the left speaker. When you hear it, or when you think it is time to gear up (on the other modes), to go up one gear.  The game will speak the selected gear in the right speaker, except on Hard mode, where you will hear a notch sound instead.
• If the train is moving slower then the ideal gear up point, it will make some engine misfire noises, and the video will stutter.  A voice prompt will also ask you to go faster.
• If you go too many gears above normal, the video wil move faster. But if you reduce the gear back to the ideal gear, the video will return to normal speed.
• Pulling the gear down below 1 will stop the train. You will have to follow the Starting Up proceedure again to start up. You can also be stopped by the train itself - See AWS.

Stopping:

• Pull back to drop gears down to gear #1 before the station. On approach, you should aways be in gear 1.
• Pull back to stop just as the STOP sign is about to disappear - so count to 4, and then Pull Back Once to stop.
• Then Press Fire to access the station, and then fire again to start the next section of line.

AWS:

• At certain points along the journey, the Auto Warning System buzzer will start to beep. The duration of this beep will depend on the game mode. You have a few seconds to react to this quick-time event.
• Pull the controller to the Right to abort the AWS. If you dont do this quickly enough, the train will begin to slow down and stop. See Starting Up.

Assets Used:

CanDo V3.0 from INOVAtronics (Dallas,TX) - from EAB file server.

HAMVIEW - by DANGER_X/TJ Edmister
http://aminet.net/package/gfx/show/hamview

Video:
Manchester Victoria to Blackburn via Todmorden.

Images:

https://pixabay.com/photos/railway-rocks-sunset-sun-sunlight-1555348/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/stuart166axe/27253426970

https://www.3dgifmaker.com

Music:
A Train to Circus.mod by JazzCat in 1996.

Bugs list

• Using the keyboard Enter key as fire button is broken!
• Scores with decimals might break the ratings??
• Do not press fire unless you arrive at the very end of a platform, otherwise the game will display a blank next platform screen, and then bugs out. (AMIA BILL LIVE STREAM BUG)

To Do???

• FMV movie intro sequence?
• Weighted Scores for Easy, Medium and Hard modes?
• Ending Music?

Development Diary

V0.1 - 13 March 2024 - Initial Demo. Plays one section of line.

V0.2 - 21 March 2024 - Video now stops, and stutters, with the joystick.

V0.3 - 29 March 2024 - Added variables and Time routine.

V0.4 - V0.4C - 30 March 2024 - Added Gear voice speech effects. Added the second and third section of line, and images of the 4 stops/stations. Some very basic track mapping for track 1.

V0.4D to G - 1 April 2024 - Timer now fixed to be closer to accurate seconds. Added some station info, and a quit button. Developed a way to move to the next station with Stop and Fire, when close to the end of the line. Some Debugging.

V0.5-E - 3 April 2024 - More debugging. Fixed the stop routine. Fixed the 'end of line' checker to avoid using the Fire button, and moved it to a different routine; may have to re-write it? Stage End stats now working better. 'Press Fire' text and Title Music added.

V0.5F - 4 April 2024 - Rewrote time, now uses system clock. Partly working.

V0.5G-H - 5 April 2024 - More Debugging. Reactivated the fire button to move the train to the next station. Accidentally discovered a way to play the footage at X2 speed, but no idea why it does it, or how to trigger it.

V0.5I-J - 10 April - Success! I can now make the footage play X2 speed on demand. Now the issue of putting that into the game somehow, as it alters the track timings. Title page image now zooms out, and title music now includes a whistle sound.

V0.5K - 15 April 2024 - Another bug fix update. The old clock timer routine is back in as well as the new one; so one is real time, and the other is track time for the gear maps.

V0.5K-L - 16 April - Endless bug fixing. Train still not stopping at all stops!

V0.5M-N - 17 April - Some bugs fixed. The train finally stops at all stations.

V0.5O - 19 April - Added arrival time info to stations, and made a nice pretty colour routine, so I can see the HAM palette I can choose from. Time routine fixed (again!) (I took a new screenshot which shows the time is still broken).

V0.6-A - 4 May - Fixed colours of the platform info text with my colour list tool. Train now auto-creeps forwards at the end of each section. 3rd Gear fixed.

V0.6B - 12 May - Fixed backgrounds of stations 2 and 3 to true black. Fixed 6th Gear voice.

V0.6C - 18 May - Added seconds Early or Late to the station info. Fixed score and ratings.

V0.6D - 19 May - Copied the new station stats to station 2.

V0.6E - 20 May - Copied new stats to station 3, and finished ratings and scores routines. Moved high scores to the title page.

V0.6F - 21 May - Added scrolling text on title screen. Fixed being able to pull back and forward during menus. Updated the line-end text to show what the game is waiting for from the player, to continue.

V0.6G - 24 May - Added a delay between gears to slow down gearing up, and a sound effect of the engine for each gear. 1st Gear now spoken on startup.

V0.6H->V0.7 - 25 May - Finished track speed data for section 1.

V0.7A->V0.7C - 26 May - Added a main title and instructions page. Also three difficulty modes.

V0.7D - 31 May - Tried to program in line 2 map data, but the gear delays are causing mayhem with the track timings.

V0.7E->F - 9 June - Moved the gear map timer to the timer built-in to CanDo. Track Map for section 1 redone. Removed all of the engine rev up noises, and gear selection pauses.

V0.7G->0.7I - 3 Sept - Returned to game. Converted all file paths to the install directory, so they no longer need direct assigned paths. AWS now working.

V0.7J - 4 Sept - New line map for section 3. Added a delay when starting train.

V0.7K - 5 Sept - Added scroll sign on 1st platform. Cleaned up intro text.

V0.7L - 6 Sept - Fixed being able to slow the train down, with wheel screech.

V0.7M - 9 Sept - Added various buttons to menu, and AWS duration increased.

V0.7N - 10 Sept - Debug menu, escape. Speak gear before ideal gear line 1.

V0.7P - 11 Sept - New intro. Help button. Instructions page. Sign on 2nd stop.

V0.8A - 16 Sept - Speaks gears before ideal gear, lines 2 and 3. Intro Images fix.

V0.8D - 17 Sept - Train runs smoother. Linemaps 1 and 2 fix. Gears now spoken most of the time. Pointer changed.

V0.8E-E3 - 21 Sept - Trying to make a new system for starting the train.

V0.8F - 27 Sept - Train now needs gear 1 selected. Notch sounds (Hard mode).

V0.8G-H - 30 Sept - Scroll signs platforms 3/4. Voice on arrival. Restart/Quit fix.

V0.8I-J - 1 Oct - Fixed broken gears when starting. Train announcer speech.

V0.8K - 2 Oct - Controls and timers are now as stable as V0.8D (Finally!!)

V0.8L-M - 3 Oct - Main Menu updated. Options page started.

V0.8N - 6 Oct - Options page finished. Fixed blank screens at end of videos.

V0.8O - 8 Oct - Medium mode now Orange. 'Starting At' stations working.

V0.9 - 9 Oct - Line 2 track length, scores and ratings fixed. Station 2 info tweak.

V0.9A - 11 Oct - Line 3 length, scores and ratings fixed. New rev up sound.

V0.9B - 15 Oct - 'Press Fire' button works with mouse. Ratings tweaked.

V0.9C - 17 Oct - High rev after rev up. Timer tweak when moving too quickly.

V0.9D - 29 Oct - Added Cursor Keyboard controls (limited success)

V0.9E - 17 Dec - Timer integer fix, "Speed Up" voice added, Track Map 3 redone.

V0.9F - 18 Dec - Scores for each stage expanded, and Global Ratings updated.

V0.9G - 19 Dec - Global ratings expanded again. End of Game looping bug fix.

V1.00 - 20 Dec 2024 - Menu layout tweek, red boxes added to Options page.

V1.0A - 23 Dec 2024 - Fixed time display update bug on main menu.

....."...... - 11 Jan 2025 - Added a new HDD installer tool to the HDD pack.

FAQ:

The game is too slow and unplayable

The game wont play well on an old laptop, and needs a modern desktop machine to run the game at normal speeds.

Why is the footage stuttering?

The footage should run at normal speed with an 030 Amiga. If the video seems to crawl, perhaps you are in a gear which is too low for the current ideal track speed limit? The first section of line was rendered at 20 FPS but has poor audio. The second and third sections of line were rendered at 15 FPS to save disk space, but have better audio.

The train wont move!
Try pulling back to release the brakes.

When do I stop at the stations?
Wait until the STOP sign is about to disappear off the screen, then pull back to stop, and press fire. As soon as you press fire, the time stops, and the platform screen appears. If you stop too early, the game will auto crawl to the end of the platform. If you stop the train too late, a message will appear with instructions on how to stop.

How do I use Hard Mode??
You will have to rely on the audio. The driver will make a sound when changing gear, and if you are quick, you can match it. You'll just have to remember which gear you are in. Usually it will match the current speed limit of the track, so 50mph is the top speed of 5th gear etc. You will hear the driver apply the brakes before gearing down.

What is that beeping sound?
That's the AWS, Auto Warning System. Pull Right to stop the AWS quickly, or the train will stop.

The keys dont work
The keyboard controls seem to be broken, so best to avoid using them.

Do I HAVE to use a JOYSTICK!
The controls are meant to simulate pulling back on the brake handle, and pushing the power up one notch at a time. Mouse will work on menus, but in the game itself, it needs a joystick. You can remap the joystick controls to the keyboard in WinUAE and maybe do it that way.

Why no High Score saving??
Thats a good point, but I ran out of space on the main menu for the P.B high score. I didn't really want to distract the player by having a rolling high score table over the main menu.

I STILL CAN'T play the GAME!!
The only thing you missed in easy mode was to listen for the prompts to gear up every quarter mile (from the left speaker). The game will tell you when you can gear up, and if you dont gear up one notch, the game will tell you to go faster. So it requires very few movements to move through the appropriate gears when prompted. When you hear a buzzer, like DO DO DO DO, on the 2nd and 3rd line, just spam the controller to the right until the sound goes away, otherwise ignoring it will stop the train.

Why are the scores to tight?
I decided not to update the scoring, because it is meant to be an accurate simulator after all, so any time difference lower than maybe 20 seconds is deemed slow. I know in real life things are different, but in real life thay have to drive at the most ecconomical speed to save diesel, hence the ideal gears spoken by the game.

Is there a cheat mode?
Unlike Crysis, I didn't bother to add a cheat mode for the player. However, when playing in Hard mode, listen out for the notch clicks from the driver in the cab. If you delay gearing up, the game will twitch, so if you react to this, you can gear up even on hard. Gearing down comes at the end of most braking phases in the footage. Learn them in easy mode, and then guess when to gear down based on the sights and sounds of the footage.

Are there any Easter Eggs
Sort of. If you use the mouse to click the traffic lights on the station screens, you get a list of the colours used on that screen. Pretty huh?  There is also a debug menu, which showns some ingame variables on the platform screens.  Click in the top left corner of the screen to enable, and always disable this before starting (or continuing) a game. Clicking the top right corner takes you to Workbench without quitting.

Consumer Log

; Consumer Log - 12/21/24

14:08:51   1.82M Chip, 7.34M Fast
14:09:11   0M Chip, 0M Fast

AUTO LOG STARTED
14:09:21   0M Chip, 0M Fast
14:09:23   0M Chip, 0.43M Fast
14:09:24   0.19M Chip, 0.51M Fast
14:09:26   0.19M Chip, 0.51M Fast   (Difficulty Menu)
14:09:27   0.18M Chip, 0.51M Fast
14:09:29   0.18M Chip, 0.51M Fast
14:09:30   0.18M Chip, 0.51M Fast
14:09:32   0.23M Chip, 0.55M Fast
14:09:34   0.23M Chip, 0.57M Fast   (Main menu)
14:09:35   0.18M Chip, 0.60M Fast
14:09:37   0.19M Chip, 0.60M Fast
14:09:38   0.21M Chip, 0.60M Fast
14:09:40   0.21M Chip, 0.61M Fast
14:09:42   0.21M Chip, 0.61M Fast
14:09:43   0.23M Chip, 0.61M Fast
14:09:45   0.40M Chip, 0.64M Fast    (Options page)
14:09:47   0.40M Chip, 0.64M Fast

14:10:50   0.45M Chip, 0.85M Fast    (line 3 video playing)
14:10:52   0.45M Chip, 0.85M Fast
14:10:54   0.41M Chip, 0.83M Fast

14:11:07   0.28M Chip, 0.86M Fast
14:11:08   0.28M Chip, 0.87M Fast
14:11:10   0.28M Chip, 0.87M Fast
14:11:12   0.13M Chip, 0.30M Fast    (quit the game)
AUTO LOG STOPPED

lifeschool @ lemonamiga.com