With multiplayer officially released, it's time to really make the most of it!

When you experience a map with multiple people it really changes how you view it, and lots of different design ideas suddenly become more important. So a map designed from the beginning to be played in multiplayer is quite different from one that isn't.

So the goal of this map jam is simply to make maps themed around being played in multiplayer!

• This map making event runs from now until December 15th! (26 days)

• There are no restrictions on theme. It just needs to be in the spirit of being played in multiplayer

• You can work with other people, or solo

• You can make as many entries as you like

• You can upgrade old maps to design them for multiplayer. It doesn't need to be a brand new save file

• You can use as many mods (trains/props/terrain/etc) as you like

• You can host your maps in multiplayer servers at any time, including during the event, in fact I encourage you to test your work-in-progress maps out in multiplayer!

• When uploading a map/mod to the Steam Workshop in-game, check the "Multiplayer map jam entry" toggle, that's all you need to do!
  (This is in the "Pause menu -> Workshop -> Upload current map" menu)

  

• You can also view all entries on the Steam Workshop by choosing the "Multiplayer map jam" tag under the "Competitions" category:

  

• "Operations" are amazing in multiplayer! This means players taking on roles and driving trains around the map in an organized way, like communicating with each other about when a train is leaving one station and arriving at the next

• Maps designed to be played in miniature scale, like adventure maps

• Using circuitry and automation tools to make maps interactive

• Puzzles/mini games, something like a maze for players to complete in miniature scale

• Underground subway tunnels where players need to read signals to know if trains are coming down the tunnel ahead of them

• Stormy weather/natural disaster themed maps, where players can role-play a disaster response situation

• Shunting puzzles

• Platforming maps, with jumping and climbing challenges to be played in miniature

• Abandoned mine exploring/urban exploring with torches in miniature scale

• Freight train hopping (hiding on freight wagons, staying out of sight of other players)

• Or something completely different!

Playing a map with other people adds a whole new world of design possibilities, and I'm quite excited to see what people will be able to come up with!

As with a lot of these map making events, I've made my own example map too!
After seeing how other players were running such amazing operation sessions in multiplayer, I've had my own go at making a map designed for simple operations.

It's a minimalist version of the "top of the south" route from the official map (you'll recognize some features like the Picton ferry terminal and Kaikoura station). But I've included some of the other towns along the way to make for a more interesting operations setup.

This map is designed to have a "yard master" at each location. This person gives clearance to trains arriving and departing, and keeps track of turnouts to make sure trains pass through correctly.

Along with the yard masters, there are several other roles you can take on, like driving various trains (passenger trains and freight trains heading between destinations) and even some shunting jobs, like moving freight wagons and cars on to the ferry.

When you join the map you will see some instructions on how to play, and even some pre-designed roles you can choose for yourself (they are ranked by difficulty). This map is designed for around 6-10 people to play at once, but you can keep adding more trains to involve more people.

There are also varying levels of complexity, depending on how detailed you want the operations to be.

There's even some circuitry involved if you want to make things even more organized!

At each station you can press buttons to communicate between different destinations to let them know a train is waiting, They can then communicate back to you and give you the green light to proceed:

This map is deliberately very minimalist in terms of scenery, so it can easily be run on low-end PCs and laptops. It can also transfer over the network very quickly for people joining the server.

You can find this map here on the workshop, and anyone is welcome to run an operations session with it!
If you want you can try hosting it on a public server and see what happens, but a better way would be to run it with a small group of friends and give the operations a go in a smaller setting where you can all communicate with each other with voice chat.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3608814031

As well as the map jam event, this update also includes some fixes and features. Since the last update I've released a few patches which included:

• servers now have a custom max player count, which you will see in the server browser

• the host can now control whether players are able to change the time/weather/skybox on a server, or if only the host can

• the host can set a max speed for trains, so even if joining players have faster mods/speed settings, the speed can't go above the server max

• blocked the "remove all trains" buttons from being used when the edit tool is force enabled, except for the server host

• You are now prompted when starting a server as to whether your want it to be private or public (which will automatically setup some basic server settings).

• Server hosts can set whether people joining are required to have the map already downloaded or not

• Add a horn spam filter (so you can't honk the horn non stop) this is an optional setting when creating a server

• Fixed bug where some official built-in maps would require save data transfer over the network when they shouldn't

• Fixed a bug where loading screens could get stuck when loading missing mods

• Fixed the context help text position being wrong alongside multiplayer chat

• Added a setting for the server host to force block ALL use of the edit tool, regardless of the person joining and their own settings. But of course you can still disable this, and allow the edit tool on a per-server basis.

• Fixes the audio layering bug, the audio should no longer cut out on busy servers

• Fixes the "engine can't stop when train is moving" message being visible to everyone on the server

• Fixes the magazine reading UI from getting stuck if using while joining a server or entering the chat menu

• Fixed some shimmering effect on the message box popup in miniature mode

• The floor now no longer moves higher when in multiplayer (this was originally a fix to make the players not look like they are floating, since the actual floor location is lower than zero. But several maps rely on the original incorrect floor position, so ill keep it the way it was)

• Waybills are now hidden in miniature mode

• Extended the view distance for waybills

Taerom, Trainiac 21, Codebag Playz, Joey Drysdale, Clae, The_President, Teapop311, Chloe Surett, Rowan Mackenzie, Matt, Ábris Pataki, NESecretWeapon, JohnR, ItzAerozic, Matthew Johnson, Microcosmologist, Blake Prevett, TrainTiny, Thomas Merolla, Don Willis, Jayton Hawkins, Helga Nordgren, Leto Gloas, TheAmazingRyry, Outertoaster, Nathan Perez, TrainMann, Railraider, Garst, Richard Prior, Joblogh, Detroit_, CAMOGUY54321, Ben Burch, Michelle chan, Jack Fruh, Jonathan Ginsburg, Lynk_Wyland, SmokeStream, KathalLasagna, Rivet, HuskyDynamics, Trackmeister, Lutz

You can join the Patreon to help support me to keep making free updates![patreon.com]

The release of multiplayer has been amazing! I'm loving seeing all the stuff that people are up to (like this screenshot above by Trainmann!), it really is a dream come true to finally see Rolling Line multiplayer in action.

One of the top requested features right away was some form of public server browser, so people can easily make their multiplayer sessions joinable by anyone. So I made this an immediate priority! (alongside various bug fixes and such).

The core feature of this update is the new server browser!

When you host a multiplayer server you now have the option of adding it to the public server list. To do this simply open the "Hosting options" when creating a new server:

Then enable the "Show on public server browser" toggle.
From here you can set the server name, and also supply an optional download link for any Steam Workshop content your map requires.

For example, say you wanted to host the Bog Pit Railroad map, you could include the link to the Steam Workshop collection for all of it's required mods (plus the map itself included):

https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2119554155

So when your game appears on the server browser, players will see a "Workshop" download button. When they click this button it will redirect them to the Steam Workshop download page for your collection!

Make sure to click the "Refresh workshop downloads" button after the workshop items have finished downloading. This will load them into the game.

Using the server browser to find a public server is easy!
Just open the "Pause menu -> Multiplayer -> Server browser" menu:

And then you can view a list of all publicly listed servers being hosted by people!
You can click the "join" button to enter the server. If there's a key icon on the join button then that means the server requires a password.

This update also includes a bunch of stuff that I've been working on since releasing multiplayer:

• Fixed bug where lead locomotives pulling long trains would start to merge into each other

• Fixed various server joining structure bugs to prevent being stuck "waiting in queue"

• Fixed bug with modded track styles which was causing issues in maps (scenery failing to load)

• Blocked various props from being used as wagon loads (things like drawers, switchboards, etc. Props that would cause errors when loaded)

• Fixed incorrectly scaling collision hitbox on turntables

• There is now a difference between the "Game version number" and "Server version number" which means that different game versions can still join servers as long as the server version stays the same. I will only change the server version number when changes are made to multiplayer code that would make older versions break.

• Fixed bug where the item slots for loaders/unloaders would break when switching between 2D and 3D menus

• Switchboard turnout levers are now interactable in miniature mode

• In-game multiplayer chat now has a profanity filter. This filter is also used for server names and map names when adding them to the public server browser.

• There is now a "hide player models in large scale" setting where you can disable large scale player models entirely, or just hide them when you yourself are in miniature.

And that's everything!

The multiplayer launch has been amazing, and surprisingly stable. Remember if you run into any bugs please let me know in the Multiplayer bug reporting thread here on Steam:

I'm looking forward to seeing what kinds of servers start popping up on the server browser!
Especially over the weekend, which is when most people jump on to multiplayer.

Enjoy!

As I've mentioned in previous update posts, I've recently started a Patreon! This Patreon page allows you to donate directly towards me developing the game. I want to always keep update like this complete free, and if multiplayer is something you really enjoy then please consider showing your support through a Patreon donation!

I've also recently made a new devlog video which goes into a bit more detail about the specific features of multiplayer and how they work (like train driving, player chat, circuitry, etc). You can find that video here, along with lots of other devlog videos:

Devlog - Multiplayer features preview[www.patreon.com]

Taerom, Trainiac 21, Codebag Playz, Joey Drysdale, Clae, The_President, Teapop311, Chloe Surett, Rowan Mackenzie, Matt, Ábris Pataki, NESecretWeapon, JohnR, ItzAerozic, Matthew Johnson, Microcosmologist, Blake Prevett, TrainTiny, Thomas Merolla, Don Willis, Jayton Hawkins, Helga Nordgren, Leto Gloas, TheAmazingRyry, Outertoaster, Nathan Perez, TrainMann, Railraider, Garst, Richard Prior, Joblogh, Detroit_, CAMOGUY54321, Ben Burch, Michelle chan, Jack Fruh, Jonathan Ginsburg, Lynk_Wyland, SmokeStream, KathalLasagna, Rivet, HuskyDynamics, Trackmeister, Lutz

You can join the Patreon to help support me to keep making free updates![patreon.com]