To any of you reg'lar hoggers on the StL&NA you'll be well aware of my ongoing attempts to reforest the area, followin' on from all that hard activity by the loggers.
Well I had gotten as far as Tunnel (Junction side) from Berryville, and had forested from Eureky to Junction, then I ground to a halt, sometimes literally when I drove a train. Too much detail and too many poly's. Also, too much of the one forest tree with a lot of pine clumps thrown in for good measure.
Looked alright, but I started thinking that it was taking too long, and there had to be an easier way - so a second forest tree was located, this time deciduous, and, with a sinking heart I set about re-reforesting from Berryville - wiping out superfluous clumps of pines and some of the hundreds of individual trees I had planted.
Net result, not much different to what it looked like before (except that there is now a bare tree in amongst the evergreens) and the frame rates are up.
It takes time though, and I am only as far as Grandview (from Berryville), have done some of the Eureky line almost as far as Junction and, I have to admit that (in the meantime) I've been more than a bit excited by the A&O (the best, simply the best).
After a breather though, I have gone back to the other end, and picked up the planting tool at Seligman, have worked out a new strategy, and am (sort of) sticking to it.
Alongside this, though, and this may be of interest if you have stayed the course so far, I have been extending the snow textures for buildings and objects. Have done most of the buildings (but not the depots and one or two other items, they were done by Mike in the early days of the StL&NA), and have only a few left to do - also objects that would gather snow (see below). If Andre was happy, I would be pleased to make these available (when finished) the way how to be decided.
Some of the objects are impossible to retexture, as the ace file might be used in a way that would defy gravity (for snow, that is), and I haven't been able to work out the trestles yet, maybe Andre could help me with that.
What I have also not done is more advanced snow for most of the trees (although that would be possible) - maybe someone else could pick up the paintbrush, or if you were willing to wait......? The textures I am using for the deciduous ones come from another route, so couldn't be distributed.
Ref Mike's textures, i don't know if they are still available - they were good, and included nightime ones. If not, then I could redo these if necessary.
Anyways - enough of my gabbin' - here's some recent photos - no particular order.
Rod