Hills

[sully617]

How the heck do i make hills that my train can actually go up without looking really stupid

[john259]

I'm tempted to say: practice :)

Try creating some very gentle hills. Railway gradients are always very slight.

There are options in Surveyor to make plateaus, to bring the terrain to the same level as the track, and to bring the track to the same level as the terrain. Try to get yourself on friendly terms with how those work.

If you have a specific problem, post again with details and in all likelihood someone here will be able to help.

John

[pkelly]

In track advanced section you can select Adjust Spline height. Then just click on a spline and move mouse forward or backward to raise or lower spline height. Then you can select Smooth Spline Height and then left-click on a section of rail between splines and it will smooth the track and terrain between the two splines.

You can lay track over a hill and then use the above techniques to get nice cutouts in the hill with a much shallower grade.

[nicky9499]

For a constant grade, you can use the gradient function. Many people (including me) find it difficult to use initially. Look here: http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=19569&highlight=gradient+how+to+use

As you get more comfortable with Surveyor and start making prototypical routes, you could make use of programs called HOG and DEM.

Straightening splines not only affects their positioning on the ground, but the way it's immediate neighbouring track splines behave (height) as well. Assuming spline points ABCD are connected, straightening spline BC will cause A and D's heights to go slightly up/down. Beware.

[ppalfrey]

I thought the spline points don't move when you straighten track. Did you mean AB and CD's heights?

[Tokkyu40]

I think the spline points stay the same, but it takes the curve out of the straightened track vertically as well as well as sideways, so the track below the straightened section will dip into the ground and the track above will float over the ground. Don't forget to adjust and resmooth to get the proper effect.

:cool: Claude

[axe1970]

Hi there, I did a pretty good tutorial on building Hillshttp://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=12365&highlight=displacement on this page.

[nicky9499]

I'm sorry for the mistake. Yes, the track between AB and CD will change elevation.