A way to deal with unsightly tunnel portals
- Thread starter HiBaller
- Start date
NOW THERE'S A NAME I HAVEN'T SEEN IN A LONG TIME!!!!! Glad to see you're still lurking around!
Welcome back Sniper. That was a great tutorial. The idea of saving the .gnd file was excellent. A lot easier than setting up the tunnel in wire frame mode.
Thanks for your input,
Joe
Yeah, I've mostly been playing and modding for OBLIVION and Silent Hunter IV while waiting to see if TANE will finally fix all the performance problems. Biggest problem with Trainz all along is you have to look at the recommended specs, double that, and consider it to be the minimum specs since the developers apparently can't detect severe stuttering.
Welcome back Jim!
Will bookmark that thread at TS, not just for the tunnel tips but for how to restore the terrain. There's been several occasions in surveyor when I've made a faff of things and just want to put the terrain back, but there is no way of rewinding without undoing all the other bits. In MSTS we had the ¬ key to undo the last terrain change (though it doesn't function for me on my current laptop) and RW-TS allows you to re-import a section of DEM, but no such feature in Trainz.
Will bookmark that thread at TS, not just for the tunnel tips but for how to restore the terrain. There's been several occasions in surveyor when I've made a faff of things and just want to put the terrain back, but there is no way of rewinding without undoing all the other bits. In MSTS we had the ¬ key to undo the last terrain change (though it doesn't function for me on my current laptop) and RW-TS allows you to re-import a section of DEM, but no such feature in Trainz.
Welcome back is right. I'm glad you're doing okay...
As A TANE beta tester, I can say that the performance is better, much better in a lot of areas. There is one in-built route, The Hinton Division, which will cause a nuclear meltdown on your desktop computer, or turn a laptop to liquid plastic but the others run fine. People have also reported great performance with their own routes they have imported. hminky (Harold) has some great screen shots over in the Kick Starter forum and seems to be quite pleased.
John
Well, I'm not necessarily "back", in the first place I'm still chugging along with the same Dell systems I bought in 2005, no money to buy new computers at present. Second I'm waiting to see (1) what the recommended specs for TANE will be, and (2) do those specs actually perform as advertised. Silly to shell out $$$$ on a new system then discover it ain't enough horsepower to actually run the sim at acceptable framerates.
Vern, there's a reason why the thread with the links to tutorials is stickied. As for MSTS;
http://msts.steam4me.net/tutorials/how_msts_folders_work.html
Make a backup copy of the TILES folder before flattening terrain, then copy it back in to overwrite after fiddling around with track and bridges. That sort of thing works for many games, if you stop to analyze what does what it's possible to find a lot of shortcuts.
Vern, there's a reason why the thread with the links to tutorials is stickied. As for MSTS;
http://msts.steam4me.net/tutorials/how_msts_folders_work.html
Make a backup copy of the TILES folder before flattening terrain, then copy it back in to overwrite after fiddling around with track and bridges. That sort of thing works for many games, if you stop to analyze what does what it's possible to find a lot of shortcuts.
There's a sticky in the Kickstarter forum regarding hardware requirements...
http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?113153-TANE-Hardware-Discussion
I vaguely remember your system specs, but if they are an old P4 they won't work, sadly for you.
In general ask questions over there as this is where things have been consolidated on TANE-related info.
John
Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. JET was long overdue for replacement with something better, but was all that really necessary? Pentium D 3.4, GT650, 2 gigs RAM, Windows XP. Have to buy a whole new system, buy the new version of the game, and learn a whole new operating system that I'm gonna hate for years (finally got used to XP but I can't ever love it the way I loved 98SE, dreading the day I'm forced into Win7 or Win8) and HOPE the blasted thing is worth all that.
MeowRailroad
CKRail
Sniper297, does your tunnel method work without using a portal object, but kit bashing your own out of splines, etc.?
Never tried it, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. You need some kind of dighole to make a hole in the terrain for the tunnel entrance, then you need to lay track from one tunnel entrance to another - which is easier if it's laid on flat terrain whether you're using a tunnel track or regular track with a tunnel spline. Make mountain, make backup copy of the mapfile.gnd file, flatten hill and lay track (and tunnel spline if not built into the track), align as needed, then copy the backup mapfile.gnd in to restore the hill. Unless you're doing a prototype route where the entrance has to be 236.3 degrees or something it's simplest to use due north south east or west to limit the size of the dighole you need. When all else fails or you run out of patience use trees and/or bushes to hide rough spots. For the subways in Chicago Metro I just laid all the tunnels in trenches and used big concrete walls and slabs to camoflauge the entrances, no digholes at all since none of the subway system is actually underground.
captainkman
You are reading this.
Hello Jim! It's great to see you here again!
Kieran.
Kieran.
cascaderailroad
New member
I never had any problem with tunnels, I look straight down from above, and use wireframe mode, sometimes increasing the trainzoptions file, tag line -surveyorfov=125
Jim's method may work, but I think for most users its a bit more complicated. I think I'm getting old now because I no longer like to fiddle with files like this...
What I use, and have created some myself, are tunnels with Snap-to-grid disabled in the config.txt. This isn't how the tag is labeled; search for the proper one in the config.txt file. You need to set the parameter to zero. With that off you then need to use a dighole which there are plenty and then of course the usual fiddling with splines, grass, trees, and a bit of hill squishing and raising to fill in the pieces. (On a side note, this snap to grid off also works for turntables so you can place them anywhere).
One of the more realistic solutions to this is to use stonewall-lined cuts or retaining walls for the sides and even above the tunnel its self. In real life the railroad usually doesn't want the surrounding terrain to wash into their tunnel portals and use these stone walls to hold back the softer rock and soil.
Here's the West Portal of the Hoosic Tunnel in North Adams, MA
http://www.masshistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Hoosac-Tunnel-West-5.jpg
http://www.masshistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Hoosac-Tunnel-West-8.jpg
http://www.masshistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Hoosac-Tunnel-West-16.jpg
Note the white stones on the left. These are native stones dug out of the tunnel and used to build the retaining wall. Because of the kind of rock found on the other side of the Hoosic Range, there was no need for retaining walls and the area is more natural.
East Portal.
http://rowehistoricalsociety.org/images/515_PanAm_Special_059.jpg
http://www.masshistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Hoosac-Tunnel-East-9.jpg
etc.
John
What I use, and have created some myself, are tunnels with Snap-to-grid disabled in the config.txt. This isn't how the tag is labeled; search for the proper one in the config.txt file. You need to set the parameter to zero. With that off you then need to use a dighole which there are plenty and then of course the usual fiddling with splines, grass, trees, and a bit of hill squishing and raising to fill in the pieces. (On a side note, this snap to grid off also works for turntables so you can place them anywhere).
One of the more realistic solutions to this is to use stonewall-lined cuts or retaining walls for the sides and even above the tunnel its self. In real life the railroad usually doesn't want the surrounding terrain to wash into their tunnel portals and use these stone walls to hold back the softer rock and soil.
Here's the West Portal of the Hoosic Tunnel in North Adams, MA
http://www.masshistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Hoosac-Tunnel-West-5.jpg
http://www.masshistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Hoosac-Tunnel-West-8.jpg
http://www.masshistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Hoosac-Tunnel-West-16.jpg
Note the white stones on the left. These are native stones dug out of the tunnel and used to build the retaining wall. Because of the kind of rock found on the other side of the Hoosic Range, there was no need for retaining walls and the area is more natural.
East Portal.
http://rowehistoricalsociety.org/images/515_PanAm_Special_059.jpg
http://www.masshistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Hoosac-Tunnel-East-9.jpg
etc.
John
The only drawback to amending configs in built in or other items from the DLS, is that it will only work on your personal install. If you upload the route, then the behaviour of the item will presumably revert to its default state and either look wrong or plain not work for anyone else who goes to use the route.
Absolutely correct.
Then again, I rarely upload anything so my tunnels and turntables are mine anyway.
There are some tunnels already on the DLS and elsewhere that are not made as tunnels and work in the fashion I mentioned. These can be found at places such as Trainz Depot, and other European websites.
John