Tutorial 3: Make a Basic Locomotive from Scratch or Nearly...

Part 4

Lights in MSTS can get pretty complicated, so we'll only tackle placement and size in this beginner tutorial. We'll do some more advanced things with lights in the intermediate tutorials later.

If you haven't already, quit the activity, then hit ALT and TAB together. In Wordpad use Find (under Edit) and search for Head light top and scroll that line to the top.

Let's reposition this headlight so it works with our engine - change numbers in the Position line to read : 0.01 3.95 8.01 and hit Save under the File menu in Wordpad.

At the bottom of the screen, click on the Train Simulator button to maximize MSTS again. This time, set the start time to 07:00, then click on the start button in MSTS, then go to the external view and hit the H key once to see the dim headlight.

Let's also fix the bright head light setting too - Quit the activity again, then hit ALT and TAB together. In Wordpad, look down about 8 lines and you will see the light attributes for the bright headlight. If you look 13 lines down, you will see another Position line. Change those numbers to this: 0.01 4.26 8.02 and hit Save under the File menu in Wordpad.

At the bottom of the screen, click on the Train Simulator button to maximize MSTS again. Click on the start button in MSTS, then go to the external view and hit the H key Twice to see the bright headlight.

Let's also fix the rest of the lights now - Quit the activity again, then hit ALT and TAB together. In Wordpad, change the numbers in the Position line of each of these lights listed below:

( Head light bottom bright ) - Position ( 0.01 3.95 8.01 )

( Front right flashing light ) - Position ( -1.12453 1.48 8.74 ) **do this for both position lines in this light

( Front left flashing light ) - Position ( 1.04629 1.48 8.74 ) ** do this for both position lines in this light

( Rear right light ) - Position ( 0.01 3.95 -7.89 )

( Rear left light ) - Position ( 0.01 4.26 -7.9 )

( Rear red light ) - Position ( 0.01 1.5 -8.65 )

Hit Save under the File menu in Wordpad.

At the bottom of the screen, click on the Train Simulator button to maximize MSTS again. Click on the start button in MSTS, then go to the external view and hit the H key Twice to see all of the lights you adjusted.

We'll have some fun with our loco by adjusting one last thing in the .eng file. We'll be completely irresponsible and jack up the speed of the loco just for fun and to show you where all of the loco performance adjustments can be made.

Quit the activity again, then hit ALT and TAB together. In Wordpad, use Find (under Edit) and search for MaxPower and scroll that line to the top. Just add a zero to the end of that number so we'll have a mere 20,000 Horse Power.

Also, add an extra zero to the end of these numbers:

MaxForce ( 300kN )

MaxContinuousForce ( 316kN )

MaxVelocity ( 82mph )

So, now our .eng file should look like this:

MaxForce ( 3000kN )

MaxContinuousForce ( 3160kN )

MaxVelocity ( 820mph )

Hit Save under the File menu in Wordpad.

At the bottom of the screen, click on the Train Simulator button to maximize MSTS again. Click on the start button in MSTS and run your new high speed loco. Be careful though or you'll end up like this.....

I'm glad we built a bottom for our loco....

This loco is trying to hide or nest or something.....

Sometimes it's tough playing Hide-And-Go-Seek when you're a loco - I still see you!!......

Well, now we have a finished loco! Before we close the myloco.eng file, scroll down near the bottom of the file and you should see the Description for the loco. Right now it has the information for the GP38, but you can edit this text to be whatever you want. You can see this text in MSTS when you select your loco and hit the Details button to the right of it.

Go ahead and edit the description if you want, then hit Save and close Wordpad.

Now, that we have our own loco, let's learn how to package it so we can hand it out to other TrainSimmers to use and drive....

On to Packaging your Loco