The standard ballast texture, if it could be made to tile better
The idea of grades of ballast and the stained ballast node
An attempt at modular overhead line equipment
The mast truss
The idea of cable troughs
However I find the art a bit inconsistent and there are a few assets for signs that may have been copywronged from railsigns.uk, despite being attributed (the author should recall that in the absence of a licence statement, copyright remains all rights reserved). I also think the author missed a big opportunity to use display_modpack for the plethora of 'Stop \<color> of \<x> cars' signs - simply allow writing two numbers in a formspec attached to the sign. Then only one sign node definition is needed per colour. A consistent font or small set of fonts and texture resolutions should also be used instead of a mix of pixel and smooth fonts. Some signs also have a very tiny size in the world, which makes them illegible from more than about half a metre away, yet they still have the same size selection box. Others have a very high resolution which causes a big framerate drop whenever they are wielded in-hand; a separate in-inventory image can address this.
The overhead line equipment, or as it's referred to in-game "OLE" without explanation: I like the idea of modularity in height and flexibility of track spacing. However, the lack of any wire at 30 and 45 degrees to match the track is a bit dissapointing, even if it would take a lot more to implement. Also, this is not actually the first attempt at OLE for Advtrains - MBB actually made a more basic system back in 2017. Although the britsignals OLE is more complicated and a bit thinner on the wires (which is usaully more desirable), the MBB mod actually manages to get a better colour contrast including darker cables and has a separate messenger/return wire .
Just like overhead wires, cable troughs (the name in the mod is 'wirebox' but this is the real world term) should be available in more shapes and with junctions. The author could copy ideas from mesecons wire or even advtrains track.
The ballast is conceptually good, as is ballastless trackbed, but I would like to see the standard ballast texture used as a basis for the other types, which currently look like a blend of gravel and stone instead. However the defnitions of ballast are clearly wrong as they don't fall like gravel or sound like gravel. If the author intends for the ballast not to fall, which is a good anti-griefer measure, there should be nodes provided similar to the LinuxForks 'gravel on stonebrick' set of nodes.
There a number of 'useless' nodes present: The mast truss and the cylinder mast. I would expect these to be useful perhaps for future semaphores or colour light signals, and not just for the current set of signs. If the intent is for Overhead Line Equipment poles to have signs placed on them, it would also look better if the signs would not float. It's possible to cheat a bit and use what display_modpack does where it registers a separate 'sign on a fence' node where placing a sign onto a fence will create a new special node to avoid the floating problem.
The inclusion of a 'ghost trains' sign also gives it a personalised touch to advtrains (advbugs)
I hope to see a fuller set of active semaphore and colour light signals in future, within the limitations of advtrains of course such as lack of distant signalling support; and for the author to work out the rough edges mentioned above. Then I could definitely recommend the mod.
First a list of things I quite appreciate:
However I find the art a bit inconsistent and there are a few assets for signs that may have been copywronged from railsigns.uk, despite being attributed (the author should recall that in the absence of a licence statement, copyright remains all rights reserved). I also think the author missed a big opportunity to use display_modpack for the plethora of 'Stop \<color> of \<x> cars' signs - simply allow writing two numbers in a formspec attached to the sign. Then only one sign node definition is needed per colour. A consistent font or small set of fonts and texture resolutions should also be used instead of a mix of pixel and smooth fonts. Some signs also have a very tiny size in the world, which makes them illegible from more than about half a metre away, yet they still have the same size selection box. Others have a very high resolution which causes a big framerate drop whenever they are wielded in-hand; a separate in-inventory image can address this.
The overhead line equipment, or as it's referred to in-game "OLE" without explanation: I like the idea of modularity in height and flexibility of track spacing. However, the lack of any wire at 30 and 45 degrees to match the track is a bit dissapointing, even if it would take a lot more to implement. Also, this is not actually the first attempt at OLE for Advtrains - MBB actually made a more basic system back in 2017. Although the britsignals OLE is more complicated and a bit thinner on the wires (which is usaully more desirable), the MBB mod actually manages to get a better colour contrast including darker cables and has a separate messenger/return wire .
Continues in a comment
Just like overhead wires, cable troughs (the name in the mod is 'wirebox' but this is the real world term) should be available in more shapes and with junctions. The author could copy ideas from mesecons wire or even advtrains track.
The ballast is conceptually good, as is ballastless trackbed, but I would like to see the standard ballast texture used as a basis for the other types, which currently look like a blend of gravel and stone instead. However the defnitions of ballast are clearly wrong as they don't fall like gravel or sound like gravel. If the author intends for the ballast not to fall, which is a good anti-griefer measure, there should be nodes provided similar to the LinuxForks 'gravel on stonebrick' set of nodes.
There a number of 'useless' nodes present: The mast truss and the cylinder mast. I would expect these to be useful perhaps for future semaphores or colour light signals, and not just for the current set of signs. If the intent is for Overhead Line Equipment poles to have signs placed on them, it would also look better if the signs would not float. It's possible to cheat a bit and use what display_modpack does where it registers a separate 'sign on a fence' node where placing a sign onto a fence will create a new special node to avoid the floating problem.
The inclusion of a 'ghost trains' sign also gives it a personalised touch to advtrains (advbugs)
I hope to see a fuller set of active semaphore and colour light signals in future, within the limitations of advtrains of course such as lack of distant signalling support; and for the author to work out the rough edges mentioned above. Then I could definitely recommend the mod.