Tunnel Building

[steve123]

Can someone point me in the right direction please, how do i make the landscap sit over a tunnel rather than fill it, what software do i use to make that happen.
thanks

 

[JCitron]

Hi Steve,

I have been tunneling lately so hopefully you'll find this useful.

I drag my tunnel where I want it to go even adding in spline points along the way if I have to assist with the curves and height.

When I get to the end, I drag it out past the hill first and attach the track and ensure it's level. Once everything is all set, I push the end back into the hill and adjust the land over and around the entrance.

Now, the tunnels look good, but there are some track issues lately. For some reason I get little terrain blips that stick up right at the tunnel mouths where the track and the tunnels join. This only started with TS12 and I've never seen this before. Perhaps this coincides with the track I'm using or something else which I'm troubleshooting at the moment.

John

 

[frogpipe]

For tunnels that don't automatically make a hole in the terrain, you need to use an asset called a "dighole" There should be a few to choose from. AJS Dighole and 1x1 Dighole are the ones I use. (try them both and you'll see the difference in where they make a hole).

 

[cascaderailroad]

I love building tunnels: http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?99112-Digholes-and-their-use&p=1116857#post1116857

 

[steve123]

Sorry maybe i have not explained it right, i don't mean in Trainz it's self i mean in creating the tunnel spline before it is exported into Trainz to be an asset.
steve

 

[AntonyVW]

Oh in that case you need something like blender or gmax or Max3d

 

[steve123]

AntonyVW Thanks for your reply, I understand that the tunnel itself is built in a 3d modeling program, but is the process of making the area around the tunnel to stop the land filling the tunnel done in the same program or another program.

this is what i am trying to find out, as i already have the tunnels.
thanks

 

[Shortline2]

Hi,

The 3D modeling program used to create the tunnel would normally also be used to make the part to fill in the land around the opening, but, that normally only works well if the tunnel is built for a particular project/model/map. All the other uses would be for a more generic use, and then normally a larger tunnel portal is built, like the built in fixed to a grid point tunnel in Trainz.

If using a tunnel made by someone else, often they would - I presume - have also modeled portals to go with it, either as various grass type of splines or other ways to put around the opening.

All would have to be modeled in a 3D creating program, as in Trainz, the smallest hole one can make is a huge 10m square, and it can be very hard to know how big a portal area one needs to make unless one has a specific area in mind when creating the tunnel in the first place.

Hope this helps some?

Linda

 

[steve123]

Thanks for all the replys, however I don't mean the tunnel entry, I mean the area of the tunnel that the land mass in Trainz will not fill if a mountain is placed over the tunnel, how do I place an invisible barrier areound the tunnel so the land mass in Trains will not fill the tunnel .....steve

 

[justinroth]

There is no land mass, use a dighole and you'll see the sky underneath the ground. Try to think if it this way..the grid is just a thin sheet, when you pull the ground above the tunnel you have to pierce a hole in the sheet, the tunnel simply provides something there hanging in "space" preventing you from seeing the sky beneath you(depending upon time of day the sun can be seen through a dighole.

 

[mjolnir]

Frogpipe had the answer to this: you use a dighole asset. After determining the location of the places where the tunnel "pierces" the landscape, you use a "dighole" asset on the squares of the grid where the tunnel pierces the surface. This removes the landscape surface at that point. If this leaves a visible hole in your terrain, then one solution is to go back to your 3D modeling program, and create a cover for the hole, and place that as a scenery asset.

ns

 

[steve123]

Thanks for all your help everyone, but still at a lose, im not talking about the dighole asset, im talking about creating a tunnel spline and the process of retaining the dirt from within that spline, all the tunnels splines in Trainz don't need dighole to work, so what is the process of retaining the dirt, maybe i forgot to tell you people it is a spline tunnel not fixed tunnel

regards steve

 

[Shortline2]

In the config of the spline there is a tag that tells Trainz that this spline is to act like a tunnel and cut holes in the ground where the spline ends. It also forces the spline to snap to the nearest 10 meter grid point and only at 90 or 45 degree angles to the grid.

This again forces the creator of the tunnel spline to make a huge portal that will be used at the ends of the spline to cover up the massive 20 meter wide by 10 meter deep hole the tunnel creates in the ground, hence all those large bulky portal types I guess we all scene and often hated with Trainz.

If this is what you talk about, then the tag needed I think has changed recently so it depends on which Trainz version you talk about, it used to be a height tag, where a positive number made it a tunnel and a negative made it a kind bridge and not snap to the grid.
Hopefully someone with a better memory then me can help with the tag name.

Linda

 

[steve123]

Thank you Linda, yes this is what i am talking about, i am talking about all 3 versions 2009 2010 TS12, so if you or anyone else can point me in the right direction as far as writting these config's or the correct tags for them it would help greatly,
or is it possible to edit an already written config for a tunnel and place my tunnel straight in it
regards steve

 

[BuilderBob]

... is it possible to edit an already written config for a tunnel and place my tunnel straight in it
regards steve

That would work, but you need to be careful about what existing asset you choose.
For the current build version, the full description is here:
http://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php5/KIND_Track
mainly under IsTunnel and Tunnel-Roof-Height

Make sure the asset you choose complies with that description. Then work through each element in the config and make sure it matches what you need for your tunnel.

If that proves difficult, you can build to an earlier version. Choose a tunnel that works the way you want - for instance:
Tunnel_1track-TRS2010,<kuid2:439337:100544:1>

and follow that pattern including the build number.

 

[steve123]

Ok thank you everybody, if anyone has any more info please feel free to confuse me even more, it's all part of learning, are there any tutorials on this?
thank you again
steve123

 

[jrfolco]

Hi Steve

I have several dig hole tunnels on my web page, under 'My Content', that are designed to be used with my collection of portals. They are spline type tunnels, and will be found in Surveyor under 'Objects-Add Spline' There is also a tutorial on installing these tunnels and portals on my Tutorial page. Click on my sig below. The tunnels and portals are on the DLS. This might be what you're looking for.

Joe