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This document is a guideline how images for Simutrans should be done. Not all of the existing images fit perfectly to this guideline, so if in doubt rather believe this guideline than some example image.

General rules

The general rules apply to all things in the game. Buildings and vehicle painting rules are special rules which apply to buildings and vehicles only.

Simutrans uses an isometric perspective. This means, lines which are parallel in real remain parallel in the game.
The sun shines from south. This is the lower left of the program window. It is raised slightly more than 45 degrees above ground. Keep this in mind when shading things - shadows point towards the top right corner of the program window.
Vehicles are oversized when compared to other things in the game. This is because vehicles are the most important things for the player.
Simutrans can work with different tile sizes from 32x32 to 192x192 pixles. The currently (26-Aug-03) used tile set is 64x64 pixels. A 128x128 pixel size tile set is in work. This document will try to care about both. If no information is given, the document will refer to the 64x64 pixel size tile set.
Scales: the game uses different scales for distances and sizes:
- A square has a length of 1 km (0.65 miles ?) when useded as a distance.
- A square is 20 meters long when useded as a size (buildings, vehicles).
- For heights: 6 pixels height are about 2 meters in the 64x64 image set. In 128x128 12 pixels are about 2 meters.

These are very coarse numbers, but they can be used as a guideline for sizes. Larger things tend to be done in a smaller scale, while smaller things are often done in a larger scale. Important things are done in a larger scale too. Try to use a scale which is makes the thing fitting well into the game. (Beware some of the existing images use wrong scales. Think twice if you use something as an example for new images if it's done in the right scale.)

Simutrans used a colormap of 256 colors until some 0.80.x version. Current Simutrans versions use 16 bit RGB (32768 colors + some special colors)
Current Simutrans versions use chroma keying to detect special colors (transparency, night-mode, player colors) in the images.

Buildings painting rules

A story in 64x64 set is about 7 pixels tall. 6 or 8 pixels may be ok for extremely small or large buildings, too. In 128x128 a story is about 14 pixels tall, a range from 12 to 16 might be ok. Avoid other heights, this looks strange when combined with the existing buildings.
Windows in 64x64 usually have a height of 4 pixels. Story height windows of course use a height of 7 pixels. (Double sizes for 128x128)
Don't use the whole square for your buildings. When a town is build from the buildings it looks better if there are small gaps between the buildings.
Be careful with the special colors. You might be surpirsed to see parts of your building glowing brightly during nights.

Multi tile buildings

Multi tile building get assembled from tile sized building blocks. Ordininary city buildings currently cannot be made of multiple blocks.

City buildings can be made tall by using up to 4 stacked tiles

Animated buildings

Simutrans needs the animation frames as subsequent images. If it's a animated multi tile building, i.e. a industrial building, Simutrans needs a sequence of frames for each split tile.

Vehicle painting rules

New vehicles should not exceed the size of the existing vehicles. The biggest of the existing vehicles already use the maximum allowed size for their type. In general, rail waggons and trucks are about the same size while ships come in double size. Sizes below the maximum size are fine for ships, trucks and engines. Trailers and waggons have a fixed size. This is neccesary to avoid gaps between the loco and waggon or between truck and trailer.
The game uses different colors for different players. The parts of the vehicles which should be recolored in players colors must be drawn in some special shades of blue (see section about special colors.)

For the new 128x128 pixel size tile set, we defined standrad sizes for vehicles:

Busses/Trucks/Engines

30pixels=15m
27pixels=12m
23pixels=10m
20pixels=8m
18pixels=6m

Shorten small engines and trucks them from front, not from back, otherwise there will be gaps between the engine/truck and the waggons/trailers.

Waggons/Trailers

Usually 30 pixels long

Special colors

Simutrans uses chroma keying to find special colors in the images.

Transparency key:

#E7FFFF - Transparent color

Player/vehicle colors - in the game, these colors will be replaced by the actual playewr colors:

#395E7C - Darkest player color
#4C7191
#6084A7
#7497BD
#88ABD3
#9CBEE9
#B0D2FF - Brightest player color

Day and Night colors:

#57656F - Dark windows, lit yellowish at night
#7F9BF1 - Lighter windows, lit blueish at night
#FFFF53 - Yellow light
#FF211D - Red light
#01DD01 - Green light
#6B6B6B - Non-darkening grey 1 (menus)
#9B9B9B - Non-darkening grey 2 (menus)
#B3B3B3 - non-darkening grey 3 (menus)
#C9C9C9 - Non-darkening grey 4 (menus)
#DFDFDF - Non-darkening grey 5 (menus)
#E3E3FF - Nearly white light at day, yellowish light at night
#C1B1D1 - Windows, lit yellow
#4D4D4D - Windows, lit yellow

Reserved color:

#FF00FF? is reserved. Don't use it.

Please note that the chroma keys require 24 bit precision, although Simutrans uses a 16 bit display. If you paint images paint them in 24 bit, or you'll not be able to get the chroma keys to work properly.

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