Menu Birmingham Cross-City South

Birmingham X-City South (Redditch - Birmingham New St.) BVE Route - Downloads Please read through this page carefully; should a problem arise, the answer may be found in here somewhere... Introduction Thank you for downloading the Birmingham Cross-City South BVE route. For information or help with any aspect of the route, or the Class 323 included with the Cross-City route, please drop me an e-mail. Please note, that the Cross-City route is a highly demanding route which includes complex scenery and objects, and features abundant detail. While the route has been made available in several "Detail Levels" in an effort to make the route accessible to more users, to truly enjoy the best experience from the route, a 1 GHz processor and 32 MB graphics card are recommended for running the High Detail version which offers the best visual experience. What's new in the Cross-City South? With the Birmingham Cross-City South route, several new details and/or features are introduced to BVE, which are detailed here. New Features Introduced with the Cross-City South An all new, enhanced catenary system (High Detail route only) offering truly realistic catenary overlaps, booster transformers, "zig-zagging" wires throughout the length of the route, 3D effect cantilevers (GeForce users only), and accurate wiring runs over pointwork. Also introduces new, extended length "point to point" sagging catenary wires (High Detail route only) - regardless of the distance between catenary masts, the wires run straight from support to support without curving with the track as with Watford Junction to Milton Keynes, because the wire objects are longer than 25 metres. Enhanced passing train sound effects, with custom samples individually tailored to different classes of locos which are passed. This feature is a development of the passing train sound effects pioneered in Watford Junction to Milton Keynes Central. Angled "Alpha" Shadows; passing trains now cast shadows across the tracks, and the direction the shadows are being cast corresponds to the time of day. "City Glow" effects; when passing thorugh stations at night, the ambient light levels increase as station lights are passed. "MultiObject" system; combats BVE's 255 Free Object limit by merging separate objects into single files, the visible object being determined by it's rotation and height settings. Enhancements in the Cross-City South compared with Watford Junction to Milton Keynes Central Daytime Summer/Winter, Dawn, Dusk, and Night routes included as standard. Falling Snow in the Winter runs; adapted from the falling snow objects by Robert Glass [http://www.scotrailsim.co.uk], in turn adapted from the original falling rain technique and idea developed by Paul Woozley [http://bve_fan.tripod.com/bvefan/index.html]. Smooth curves throughout; all trackwork is composed of track objects which feature smooth rail curvature, and 3D rails. More informative and useful markers; more advance warning of upcoming speed restrictions and station stops, and landmark markers are included. Wider variety of track sounds, including continuous welded and jointed rails, on both wooden and concrete sleepers, in-tunnel sounds (continuous welded rail and jointed rail), under/over bridge sounds, and so-on. Realistic flange squeal effects, several samples are included. Far greater permanent way infrastructure detail, including detailed point motors, TPWS loops, flange lubricators, rail chairs on sleepers, etc. Detailed TPWS loops; fitted to the track in several locations, making the route "TPWS Ready". New signs, including 3D whistle boards, gradient posts and mileposts, as well as advance speed warning boards, station stop signs, etc. Approach controlled signals, using BVE standard signalling combined with AWS sounds. In-tunnel lighting effects, in appropriate tunnels en-route. Station announcements; the infamous New Street auto-announcer. Greater number of lineside buildings, including houses, factories, warehouses, huts, and so-on. Higher quality 3D train objects, including a wider variety of types, including classes 20, 43, 47, 56, 60, 67, 86, 87, 150, 170, and 323. Amongst others! Note: Classes 150, 170 and 323 courtesy of Steve Green [www.trainsimcentral.co.uk], class 47 courtesy of Robert Glass [http://www.scotrailsim.co.uk]. New Street, and what it may do to your PC! The scene at Birmingham New Street is one of the most complex 3D scenes to be rendered in any UK BVE route, and as such it will cause a drop in framerates due to the tremendous amount of detail required to re-create this busy location. Even on a 1GHz Athlon, the approach and station throat at New Street station will halve your framerate. On a slower PC, don't be at all surprised if your framerate drops to nearer the 5 fps mark. There is really nothing which can be done about this without spoiling the scene, unfortunately! The Detail Levels All the routes are available in 4 separate "Detail Levels", tailored for different ranges of hardware. It is recommended that different detail levels be tried until the best balance between detail and performance is found. The details levels are: High Detail For 1GHz machines and above, with good 3D accelerators such as 32-64MB GeForce3, ATi Radeon, or Voodoo5 cards. Includes all features outlined earlier on this page, namely the new realistic catenary system, permanent way infrastructure detail, high tree density, high detail station structures, etc. Medium Detail For 800MHz machines and above, with good 3D accelerators such as 32-64MB GeForce3, ATi Radeon, or Voodoo5. Retains all of the detail featured within the High Detail route, except for the new catenary details introduced with the Cross-City South High Detail route, namely the "point to point", "zig-zagging" and sagging overhead wires, and catenary overlaps. Standard Detail For PII 500 machines and above. Simple catenary is used, and tree density is lower, however the scenery as a whole retains much of the detail of the High Detail route. Smooth curves and infrastructure detail remain. Low Detail For PII 266 machines and above. Simple catenary is used, very few trees are featured in the terrain, and some objects such as station buildings are simplified to reduce pausing. Smooth curves and infrastructure detail remains however. The Route Variations The Cross-City South is available in five flavours, the Daytime Summer, Daytime Winter, Dawn, Dusk and "Midnight ECS" runs. In the Daytime runs, you're in charge of the 2R46, 09:31 Redditch to Lichfield Trent Valley service, as far as Birmingham New Street. Watch out for icy rail conditions on the Winter run! In the Dawn run, you're in charge of the 2R08, 06:25 Redditch to Blake Street service, as far as Birmingham New Street. Watch the dawn skies become gradually lighter as you approach the city, and keep an eye out for interesting traction en-route! In the Dusk run, you're in charge of the 2R82, 19:31 Redditch to Lichfield Trent Valley service, as far as Birmingham New Street. By this time postal services are running, and watch the sun finally set as you progress along your journey. In the "Midnight ECS" run, you're in charge of the 5R91, 00:17 empty coaching stock turn, non-stop all the way from Redditch to Birmingham New Street. Admire the well lit and deserted stations as you speed along, but watch out for the overnight engineering works! Driving the Route and Class 323 The Class 323 25kV AC EMU included with the Cross-City South route is a joint effort between Steve Green [www.trainsimcentral.co.uk] and myself. I'd recommend pressing the "Q" key while the route loads, so that the power handle is in the "Off" position when the route has finished loading - then you can see the indicator lights and reverser lever switching over when the "EB" brake position is selected. The 323's unique 3 phase AC traction motor sounds are difficult to re-create, however a reasonable approximation can be made if the 323 is driven correctly. To allow the "phase change" sounds to play more realistically, it's recommended that while accelerating from a standing start, the "Z" key is held down continuously until power handle position P4 is reached, thereby speeding up the playback of the traction motor phase changes. The route makes great use of sound as you drive along it, and some of these sounds are played through only the left or right speaker, depending on which side of the train the sound is originating. Therefore, make sure that stereo headphones or speakers are used. I also recommend turning the volume on your speakers/headphones as high as possible - to enjoy the route in all it's glory you have to experience the ambient sounds as loudly as possible. :o) New markers have also been added to the route, to assist in determining the correct stopping position at stations: Station markers with "3 Car Stop" signs, generally indicate that the correct stopping point is half-way along the length of a platform - look for the sign on the platform itself. Station markers with the "S" sign, usually indicate that the correct stopping point is near the end of a platform - look for the sign on the platform itself. Snowfall Effects and Framerates The Winter routes feature falling snow effects, which work well with high end graphics cards such as the GeForce3. On some video cards however, in particular GeForceMX, older ATi cards, and on-board graphics controllers, may not handle these effects very well, causing a drastic reduction in framerates. If you find the framerate becomes unacceptably low during snowfall, then you can disable this effect by following these instructions. Open Windows Explorer, and find your BVE program folder, usually "C:\Program Files\BVE\". Now go into the "Railway\Route\Bham_X-City_South\" folder, from here locate the specific Winter route file you want to edit (it will be named "xxxxxDetail_323_Winter.csv"). Right-click on the Winter route file of your choosing, and open the file using Wordpad. Once the file is open, scroll down until you see the following line: .Rail(22) Bham_X-City_South\Day\Winter\Weather\snow1.csv, Replace this line with the following: .Rail(22) Bham_X-City_South\Day\Winter\null.csv, Now save the route file, and when it's loaded in BVE you should find the snowfall no longer appears, only the visibility will reduce. The Official Guide to the Cross-City South There is an official guide to the Birmingham Cross-City South, prepared and compiled by Matt Starkie. The guide is invaluable as it lists all the mileages of signals and major landmarks, which will increase your route knowledge and also aid realism as you drive! Please visit Matt's Rail By Rail site to download the Official Guide. Copyright Issues and Usage of Cross-City Files The route package is provided as freeware, however if you would like to use any files from the Cross-City folders (including, but not limited to: .B3D, .BMP, .CFG, .CSV, .DAT, .GIF, .WAV, .TXT format files), then please read my Terms and Conditions, and then send me an e-mail to seek permission first -I can be contacted via the Contact page. Permission to use material is granted on a per-file basis, which can be agreed via e-mail. If you wish to modify any CSV object, bitmap, or any other type of file from the Cross-City folders, then you should seek permission to make any changes first, and once the changes are agreed you should ensure the original copyright header is left intact at the start of the file. Your name may also be added to the header to reflect any work you have done with the object. Finally, credit should be clearly given for any individual files or groups of files which are used, in the form of my name and a link back to my website [www.railsimroutes.co.uk], in any "Readme", beside any screenshot or collection of screenshots featuring significant portions of my work, and on any download page. Please also note, that this route and train combination is freeware, however no material contained within the Cross-City South or cl323 folders may be distributed on disk, CD, or any other medium without my prior written permission, and if permission is granted then all Readme HTML, GIF and TXT files should be retained with the route in an unmodified form. The material contained within the Cross-City South and cl323 folders may not be sold at any price or for profit under any circumstances. Not all files contained within the Cross-City South route are my own work - some files have been used with permission from other authors. To use these files permission must be obtained from myself and the original author. Please see the route documentation for details of these specific files. If you want to use any of my work, or the work of other BVE developers in your own add-ons, please read the BVE Developer Guidelines before you start on your own projects. This will hhelp you to avoid any accidental breaches of copyright, or other such trouble. For responsible BVE Development Acknowledgments Thanks in particular goes to the following people, without whom the Cross-City wouldn't have been nearly as detailed, accurate, complete or enjoyable to build: Steve Green [www.trainsimcentral.co.uk]. For supplying invaluable route data, offering useful feedback on the accuracy of the route, for kindly offering to build the class 150, 170 and 323 CSV objects and textures for the Cross-City South, for working with me to bring into existence the new Class 323 EMU, and of course for extensive route testing. Robert Glass [http://www.scotrailsim.co.uk]. For conducting extensive testing the route on several occasions, providing extra inspiration and feedback where various aspects of the route are concerned; for helping with the maths involved in calculating the "smooth curves" used in the trackwork; for giving me the idea for using CSV Cylinder commands to re-create more realistic headlight effects, for allowing me to use and adapt his "Falling Snow" objects from his excellent Sandymill to Invermay Seasonal Special, and for allowing the use of his class 37, 47 and Merry-Go Round coal hopper wagon objects. Dave Barton For supplying some excellent photographs which have enabled a more photo-realistic class 323 cab interior to be created, and also for Beta testing the route and offering advice on enhancing accuracy. Matt Wilson For offering his expert feedback on the accuracy of the route, and for supplying a class 323 cab photo from which the current 323 gauges have been made. Richard Cartmell For his extremely helpful and consctructive feedback and advice, for advising on the accuracy of aspects of the route, and for thoroughly testing the route on more than one occasion. Simon Townsend For helping with various textures used in the route, not least certain station sign bitmaps, the RES liveried textures for the Mk1 and GUV coaching stock, and for working with Robert Glass to create the EWS textures used with the Class 37 CSV object. Also for testing the route and providing feedback on more than one occasion. Alan Lee [www.jubileeline.org.uk]. For being very kind and writing a superb review of the "Pre-Beta" preview of the Cross-City South, and for testing the route and offering helpful and encouraging feedback. Bryan Dudley [http://railtech.topcities.com]. For supplying some superb backdrop images which transformed the visual appearance of the route, and for testing the route on more than one occasion, including Beta testing, and offering helpful feedback. Alex Totney For testing the route on numerous occasions, offering helpful feedback, suggestions and support throught the development of the Cross-City project. Rich Haywood For being extremely helpful during the Beta testing, for taking the time to send thorough feedback, and for his encouragement and support for the Cross-City project. Stephen Cross [http://ozrail.cjb.net] . For originally suggesting I add shadows under the passing trains, which led me to develop my "Alpha Enabled" angled shadow effects. Jason Morgan For supplying a superb sound sample for the tamper featured in the "Midnight ECS" run. John Owen [http://centralsim.tripod.com]. For supplying an excellent sound sample for the class 66 passing train sounds, and for the digital AWS samples. Andy Slater [www.brdw.co.uk]. For kindly allowing one of his sound samples (class 20 passing train sound) to be used in the Cross-City South route. Don Clarke [http://www.gotopcs.net]. For assisting with the route's signalling, and helping to remove signal warning messages from displaying within BVE. And thanks also goes to my dedicated (and extensive!) team of Alpha and Beta testers, who have ensured that nothing less than the highest standards have been maintained. Special thanks goes to my Development/Alpha Testers who have been kind enough to periodically test the route as it developed, and locate problems before they became too difficult to fix! Alpha/Development Testers Surnames A-Z: Matthew Callaghan Andy Martin Richard Cartmell Alastair Ribbands Bryan Dudley Alex Totney Robert Glass Simon Townsend Steve Green Matt Wilson Alan Lee Beta Testers Surnames A-Z: Dave Barton Rich Haywood Alan Perryman Joe Boyd Paul Jobber Barney Matthew Callaghan David Johnson Matt Taylor Richard Cartmell Matt Lacey Simon Townsend Don Clarke Alan Lee Alex Totney Chris Cooper Chris Luff Dominik Tuchowicz Bryan Dudley Ben Martill Matt Wilson Robert Glass Andy Martin Adam Witkowski Steve Green Jason Morgan Keith Hazleton Robert Nicholson If I have inadvertently missed anyone from the credits list, please let me know! Cross-City South Downloads Birmingham Cross-City South Downloads The Birmingham Cross-City South route is split up into six main downloads - Daytime Summer/Winter Objects, Dawn/Dusk/Nightime Objects, Route Files, Sounds1 and 2, and the Class 323. Please note, that with regard to "Replacement Textures" for different video cards, I have done the reverse of what I did with Watford Junction to Milton Keynes, and the "GeForce Textures" are included as standard in the main download, and are ready for use without the use of patches. This is because the route was developed with higher end PC's and GeForce graphics cards in mind. You should also use the default GeForce textures if you use an ATi graphics card. If you use a Voodoo or TNT2 graphics card, you should install the "Voodoo Texture Patch" to obtain better looking catenary and fencing. If you're not sure which textures you should use, then simply try the route twice with the GeForce and Voodoo textures installed, and see which gives the best visual effect - on your PC the route should look as close to the screenshots on this site as possible. Installation: Simply run the self-extracting archives, and choose the folder in which BVE2 is installed ('C:\Program Files\BVE' by default). Click the 'Install' button, and all the files will be extracted to their correct locations within your BVE folder. Note that the directory structure contained within the archives is configured for BVE2. If you haven't done so already, please also install the "UK Signal Textures" from the bottom of the "BVE Routes" page of Steve Green's Train Sim Central. This will cause BVE to display UK style signal aspects and LED matrix banner repeaters, which the Cross-City South uses. And remember - to get the best performance from the route, ensure that BVE is closed and restarted before loading or switching between any X-City routes! Restarting Windows prior to loading the routes might also be wise... BVE Track Sound Standard Compliant Daytime Objects (2.54MB) Daytime objects, textures and markers. Includes Readme. Dusk Objects (1.86MB) Dawn/dusk/nightime objects, textures and markers. Route Files (521KB) Route files (all detail levels and route variations). [Updated 03/06/2002] Sound Files 1 (2.53MB) Sound files (1st part) for use by all route variations. [Updated 03/06/2002] Sound Files 2 (1.27MB) Sound files (2nd part) for use by all route variations. Class 323 EMU (1.1MB) Class 323 25kV AC EMU, by Steve Green and Anthony Bowden. You need at least BVE version 2.03.0008 for the new full height cab to work. The class 323 is also available from Steve's Train Sim Central. [Updated 05/06/2002] If you experience problems with the full height cab graphics, such as reduced framerates, or you're still using an older version of BVE, then you can download a 480x200 panel here. Want to use any of my files in your own work, or modify my routes? Read my Terms and Conditions first, and then read the BVE Developer Guidelines before you start, to avoid getting into trouble over copyright! For responsible BVE Development Don't forget the official WJ-MKC guide, compiled by Matt Starkie, and available from his Rail By Rail site Note - the developer retains the copyright and ownership of the material contained within these downloads (unless otherwise stated in the 'Readme'). If you would like to use any material, please contact me via e-mail. Birmingham Cross-City South Texture Patches Please download the texture patch which is most appropriate for your video card. Please note, the "GeForce/ATi Textures" are already included in the main download, they are merely available seperately for your convenience. If you use a Voodoo or TNT2 graphics card, you should install the "Voodoo Texture Patch" to obtain better looking catenary and fencing. The choice of textures used depends on your video hardware; the way transparent textures are displayed by different cards can affect the way such details as catenary cantilievers and wire fencing are displayed in BVE. If the wrong textures are used, such details as catenary headspans, signal cages, or signal ladders may not appear, or seem invisible. Alternatively, the catenary may appear 'blocky', with the lines appearing much thicker than they should be. Choosing the correct texture patch should solve most of these problems. If you're not sure which textures you should use, then simply try the route twice with the GeForce and Voodoo textures installed, and see which gives the best visual effect - on your PC the route should look as close to the screenshots on this site as possible. GeForce/ATi Textures (457KB) 'Replacement GeForce/ATi Transparency Textures' - for ALL route versions. For use with GeForce and ATi cards. Voodoo/TNT2 Textures (449KB) 'Replacement Voodoo/TNT2 Transparency Textures' - for ALL route versions. For use with Voodoo and TNT2 cards. Want to use any of my files in your own work, or modify my routes? Read my Terms and Conditions first, and then read the BVE Developer Guidelines before you start, to avoid getting into trouble over copyright! For responsible BVE Development Note - the developer retains the copyright and ownership of the material contained within these downloads (unless otherwise stated in the 'Readme'). If you would like to use any material, please contact me via e-mail. Copyright © Anthony Bowden, 2002 unless otherwise stated. Click here for details. No part of this site may be reproduced elsewhere without permission. Contributors to downloads on this site retain ownership and respective copyright of their material. Direct linking to files on this site is prohibited, and the material on this site may not be hosted elsewhere without permission. Please do not use any material in your own add-ons without seeking permission first.

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