Missing cosmetic detail: moving points at railroad switches
One thing I've appreciated about TF2 has been the realistic detail at railroad switches and diamonds, except for the fact that at switches, the moving parts (the points) are completely absent. When I'm watching a train in cab-view, it's kind of unnerving to approach a switch unable to determine visually which way the train is going to go. Actually, with the points entirely missing, it looks like the train should derail!
I know TF2 uses a track reservation system, so it shouldn't be too hard for Urban Games to implement this visual detail. Each switch should have a set of points that can be lined one way or the other, and whenever a section of track is reserved for a train, the game can simply line any switches appropriately for that reservation.
Of course, there's no need to draw switch points that are more than, say, 100m away from the camera. Then the rendering performance impact should be negligible.
Posted Dec 31, 2023, 6:32 PM UTC
There is a mod that adds switch points as signals. This of course means they only work with set sizes but there's a track pattern mod which fit perfectly.
Adding them has been on UG's list since the start but it's a super low prio. So who knows they'll turn up.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2964398734
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2643419858