Topic: Pak64.Classic

[Spike]

Maybe some of you remember pakHajo, which was assembled and maintained by Frank while I was away from Simutrans. Thanks a lot for that, Frank

pakHajo tried to capture the features and looks of Simutrans 0.84.16, and offer those as a pak set for the current Simutrans versions.

Frank generously offered me the sources of pakHajo 100.0, and I tried to fix some problems carefully improve and exchange some of the graphics. I want to call this "pak.Hajo Evolution" since it is meant as slow and careful evolution of what was once the official pak set of Simutrans, then was kept alive by Frank as "pakHajo" and now get some new development by me again.

Three versions of "pak.Hajo Evolution" have been released so far in my forum:

=> http://www.simugraph.com/smf/index.php?board=20.0 (Edit by IgorEliezer: broken link. The actual download is just below)

All releases should work with Simutrans 100.0 or newer.

I still feel a bit uncertain to announce it in a big forum like this. The pak set works for me, but I have been away so long from Simutrans, I just don't have a feeling anymore how likely it is that it fails on the one or other system. I offer this, since I like this pak and want to share it. I know that other paks are way more developed - this one just lacks all the new things which were introduced in the past four years. But it is a simple and easy to play pak, and Frank did a good job on keeping it up to date with modern Simutrans versions. Maybe you'll like it too.

I want to try to polish it to the best I can - in my opinion it looks pretty nice already.

pak.Hajo Evolution 1.03

Click for full size view

If you want to give me feedback, this will be very welcome. But considering that I gave up on Simutrans because of a kind of nervous breakdown, and I'm just slowly trying to work my way back into a more active position in the Simutrans community, I want to ask for friendly and polite feedback.

If you cannot find anything good in this set, just don't reply. I don't want or need to know that you hate it, think it's old, or just think it looks bad.

But if you have something nice to say, something that gives hope and encourages further work, I'm interested to read that. Thank you very much


Edit by IgorEliezer (February 16, 2012):

pak.Hajo Evolution download
http://sourceforge.net/projects/simutrans/files/pakHAJO/



Edit by IgorEliezer (January 26, 2011):

pak.Hajo Evolution download
http://www.funkelwerk.de/data/simutrans/pak_hajo_evolution/pakHAJO-Evolution_v105.zip

pak.Hajo Evolution discussions
http://www.funkelwerk.de/forum/index.php?board=5.0

I fixed some links.

[Lmallet]

From someone who played 84.16 when it was new, all I have to say is good work!  Very nostalgic pak 

[Spike]

Thank you, I'm glad to hear it makes you feel this way, too

Frank really helped me to get back to Simutrans with this pak, since it felt familiar and looked as I had Simutrans kept in memory. Maybe it can be a starting point for further activities now. Many thanks to Frank again for making this possible!

[Kgm13]

hajo for one its great to see you back with simutrans, and this pack is just awsome!!!!

[Stubbsy]

Simutrans 0.84.16

corr blimey, i still have that version of simutrans on my computer lol.

[Spike]

hajo for one its great to see you back with simutrans, and this pack is just awsome!!!!

Thank you I hope I can be more active around Simutrans, and also stay for a longer while.

[Simutrans 0.84.16]

It's been one of the better versions of those days

I'm currently trying to update the graphics to better ones where better ones exist, but overall want to keep the look and feel of the old times. I hope it will become a nice and easy to play set.

[Stubbsy]

yeah i know, it was so basic in them days, but still really good, i hope it goes well and i'm looking forward to playing it, i still play the really early version now and again.

[PatrickN]

Looking back, the 64 pak set from years ago were probably my favorites.  The simple, clean design was kind of pretty to look at.

[Ormac]

I really enjoyed the toolbar of those earlier versions the coffee cup was just awesome.

The hajo coin [finance]  and the Tron-like underground grid have been good refinements for pak.Hajo Evolved.

Ormac

[wipi35]

Thank you I hope I can be more active around Simutrans, and also stay for a longer while.

That's verrrrrrry good news!

[Spike]

Thank you all for the positive and encouraging feedback

While working on the next evolution step v1.04 I've upgraded the trees with autumn graphics. These give a nice "indian summer" impression. So I've decided to release them as preview, since v1.04 might take a while longer to be released.

Indian Summer Addon for v1.03

Click for large view

You can get the Indian Summer Addon from the Simugraph Feedback Forum:

http://www.simugraph.com/smf/index.php?topic=75.msg158#msg158

Thanks to Frank and Alex for the tip with the 5-season trees!

[Spike]

I moved this thread to "Other paks" since that seemed the right place after the forum structure changes.

The reason to post, though, is that I tried to consolidate the "indian summer addon" and some more changes into a new release of pak.Hajo Evolution, labeled v1.04a:

http://www.simugraph.com/smf/index.php?topic=77.msg173#msg173

[Christiansen]

pakhajo?

Edit by Admin: Topic merged.
- IgorTekton

[Combuijs]

!  :

[DirrrtyDirk]

 : Another one of these (in)famous one liners - and certainly one that doesn't belong in "Pak128 Add-ons and Graphics"  >:(

[VS]

PakHajo: https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=196471&package_id=251094

[Spike]

Maybe also:

http://forum.simutrans.com/index.php?topic=233.0

[Combuijs]

Maybe also:

http://forum.simutrans.com/index.php?topic=233.0

Yes, look at the link in my ultrashort answer to an ultrashort question. 

[Spike]

I definitely need better glasses 

[Roads]

Hajo, after I read how you created Simutrans and then this thread, I feel like I have to post my thoughts.  For several years I did FoxPro applications where I worked for a big electric power maintenance facility.  No doubt many people will think what I did was trivial but my apps did a lot for the shops including taking the paper system of time reporting and the paper system of shop order tracking to a paperless system.  Just for the sake of scope these were not simple time cards being used but a complex time sheet that attached hours to shop order numbers for billing purposes.

I know what it is like to be up at 2:00 AM working on something and finally getting the last bug out; going to bed exhausted but happy, thrilled with my new app and only to be greeted the next day with "but can it do so and so and can we have such and such."  Not one word about how good the app is.  Thank God I did not have to put up with the things people say on message boards!  Well not this one...

It took a long time but I finally understood.  Humans have no sensitivity.  People who would never walk up to a woman holding a young child in her arms and say "Lady, that sure is an ugly baby you have there" will say exactly that to a programmer.  I just want to say I am in awe of what you have accomplished and will certainly be downloading this soon.  Apps even with a high level language are very difficult.  I can only imagine what an insane effort a game must be.  For other people reading this I hope that I am justly chastized if ever in my posts I sound like many ungrateful users because I know better.

[Spike]

I just want to say I am in awe of what you have accomplished and will certainly be downloading this soon.  Apps even with a high level language are very difficult.  I can only imagine what an insane effort a game must be.

Thank you for the encouraging words

It's been a bit too insane, and in the last years of being active with Simutrans I also did it out of the wrong motivations.

I think it was good that time to do the break, but I think I could have done it in a better way. I was burned out, and my life was off balance, some day I just wanted it to be over.

I'm sensitive to negative feedback. People mean it well by pointing out mistakes and asking for more features, but over time it just killed me. It was too much pressure for me, and finally the relation of what I felt to be complaints, to what I felt rewarding from the project was not right for me anymore.

I figured that this is a personal problem of mine though, and I'm looking for ways to deal with that in better ways. Basically I'd still like to program and paint, but I don't want to get into the treadmill again. I'll see what to do. These days I do a bit here and a bit there, but mostly try to stay independent and do projects while they are fun for me, but not on request of others. Work is work, hobbies should be fun.

[Roads]

I believe people only do things because they are rewarded.  When the cost out weighs the reward, they stop the endeavor.  Sometimes.  Here is where the story of the frog and pan of water comes in.  If you put a pan of water on the stove, bring it to a boil and drop a frog in to it, the frog will immediately jump out and survive.  At least I have been told this.  If you put a pan of water on the stove and drop a frog in it, then slowly raise the heat, eventually bringing the water to a boil, the frog will stay until he dies.  For the most part, this story does not apply to people like me who often drop a project at the first difficulty.  It does often apply to people who are very determined.

[KrazyJay]

Welcome back Hajo. Great to see you back here. About being sensitive with comments, no matter what they say, use this "formula" to translate these comments to something useful rather than emotional.

X/10+600s=Y (decrease the intensity of the comment by ten, then let that revised comment sit for 10 minutes, and last but least, judge by after using that formula).

    For example see what happens to this imaginative comment: Mr X comments: "Oh dude, that idea is absolutely not what I am waiting for, I hate it!".
    Decrease: "Dear [name], that idea does not totally match my expectation, it's not what I would have preferred."
    Sit for 10 minutes: "He's trying to give some feedback about how he would have done it himself, but he didn't give advice how he prefers is although we can't make everyone happy, so I respect that opinion but it's not totally useful to me. Next!" 

PS: Do things your way, what you think is best has suited us all. Whatever you'll bring us, we'll like it anyways Remember the fun part of it!

[Spike]

Thanks for the nice words I'm positive that I can get more busy with projects again, and hopefully pakHajo will see another evolution step, then.

[Spike]

Welcome to a new release of pakHajo.Evolution!

This version matches Simutrans 101.0 and newer, and was tested with the official Simutrans 101 release from Sourceforge.

pakHajo.Evolution v1.05, autumn time

Click for large view

Download

http://www.simugraph.com/misc/download/pakHAJO-Evolution_v105.zip

Changes since pakHajo.Evolution v1.04a

The list of changes is again not as big as it was for the former releases. The biggest problems of the early releases are fixed and it's now a time of slower evolution, focusing on minor improvements.

- Updated English translation (en.tab).
- Slightly updated German translation (de.tab).
- Improved some tree shadows and tree winter images.
- Improved some city buildings.
- Improved tree-ground contrast.
- Slightly improved coal mine images.
- Slightly improved iron ore mine images.
- Slightly improved car factory images.
- Slightly improved wooden sleeper railroad images.
- Slightly improved toolbar buttons.
- Removed animated water to conserve memory and disk space.
- Adjusted map/legend colors for some factories:
  - oilrig and oilfield -> pink.
  - refineries -> dark pink.
  - coal power plant -> red.
  - timber plantation -> green.
  - paper mill -> cyan.
  - book seller -> torquoise.
 
There are a lot of things left to do, so I'll be busy with my own todo list for quite some time, but if you have ideas for improvements, please let me know.

Since pakHajo is meant to be small and with a limited set of features, "include everything from pak128" is not really an idea for improvement. But if you find a text that is misleading or just wrong, if you find an outstandingly ugly graphic, if you find a better and more consistent scheme to handle things, I'm very interested in such feedback. I can only cater for the English and German translations though, suggestions for other languages must wait untill those two are of really good quality. Then I'll see how to update the other languages based on the texts of the English and German translation.

Thank you for your attention, and have fun playing pakHajo.Evolution!


Original announcement:
http://www.simugraph.com/smf/index.php?topic=104.msg280#msg280

[Spike]

A little addon, a decorative rock.

Just get the pak file and save/copy it into your pakHajo folder:
-> http://www.simugraph.com/misc/pak_hajo_evolution/ground_obj.deco_rock.pak

Existing games will not be changed, but newly created maps will use the new addon.

Original announcement:
http://www.simugraph.com/smf/index.php?topic=104.msg284#msg284

[Spike]

Another rock as addon:

Just get the pak file and save/copy it into your pakHajo folder:
http://simugraph.gotdns.org/site/misc/simutrans/rock_2/ground_obj.deco_rock_2.pak

Existing games will not be changed, but newly created maps will use the new addon.

Of course this and the former rock addon will work for other sets in 64x64 pixel size, too.

[Spike]

Small white flowers as addon. They bloom all year in almost all climates, just in snowy regions they take a winter break:

Just get the pak file and save/copy it into your pakHajo folder:
-> http://simugraph.gotdns.org/site/misc/simutrans/white_flowers/tree.White_flowers.pak

Existing games will not be changed, but newly created maps will use the new addon.

[jamespetts]

I rather like those flowers!

[Spike]

Thank you I'll try and create more decorative elements for the Simutrans landscape, in the hope to make it even more pleasant to the eye.

[Spike]

Another try at new plants: Bushes, which will bloom during summer. The rest of the year they are just green, unless snow has fallen.

Snowy bushes during winter


Green bushes during spring


Orange blooming bushes during summer

To use the bushes in just download the file and put it into the appropriate PAK folder inside your Simutrans folder:

http://simugraph.gotdns.org/site/misc/simutrans/blooming_bushes/tree.orange_blooming_bushes.pak

This will work with pakHajo.Evolution and other paks in size 64. Existing games will not be changed, but newly created maps will use the new addon.

[Isaac.Eiland-Hall]

This is the sort of stuff I adore... Simutrans terrain keeps getting prettier and prettier. I absolutely love the seasons.

[Spike]

I'm glad that you like the addons I hope I can create more decorative landscape objects in future. I also want to renew some of the city buildings, but that is a rather intimidating task, since there are so many. But I'll just start with some that need updates most.

For the moment I don't any pretty addons, only some corrections to the English user interface texts:

http://simugraph.gotdns.org/site/misc/simutrans/ev106/en.tab

I've tried to streamline and improve some of the texts, particularly in the starting screen (new world and climate settings), and in the display options dialog.

[Spike]

In the German Simutrans forum there was a complaint about the white flowers, so I tried to blend them better into the landscape.

Old:
http://simugraph.gotdns.org/site/misc/simutrans/white_flowers/tree.White_flowers.pak

New:
http://simugraph.gotdns.org/site/misc/simutrans/ev106/tree.White_flowers.pak

I hope to use the new ones in pakHajo.Evolution, but I'll wait for more feedback. Maybe someone can try and give a second opinion on the new and old versions?

[Spike]

A new grid, with a blueish hue:

http://simugraph.gotdns.org/site/misc/simutrans/ev106/ground.Borders.pak

I think that blends better into the landscape and still gives a good idea of the grid.

Bigger news - well, bigger screenshots

A new skin for pakHajo.Evolution.

- Less noisy window background for improved readability of text.
- Slightly improved design of buttons and controls.

Preview

If you like the looks, just get the pak file:
 
http://simugraph.gotdns.org/site/misc/simutrans/ev106/menu.WindowSkin.pak

It should work with pakHajo.Evolution and all sets in size 64, even the other sets (I think UI elements are independent from map tile raster).

PP: In the German forum it was reported that the skin also works with pak192.comic, so there is hope.