Adjusting Route Level

[iain2006]

I have a route section with a fair bit of detail, its only a single km square and I want to merge it into a new route. It's a fishing harbour with a small single track terminus station and I want to add it to a coastal line in a new route however the problem is I have a height mismatch of about 10 metres. The problem exists because I have taken this harbour from an old route in which I had the tracks at 0m height, adjusting the coast terrain downwards whereas in the new route I am using the default 2m water height and the railway lines set 5m or higher throughout the route (with most of the lines being at 10 or 15m elevation)

Is there any way to adjust the heights of all the terrain, objects and splines while keeping them all fixed relative to each other? At the moment I can only see two options:

1. Extend the map and copy and paste everything into a new section. This will set all the heights relative to the default 0m level of the added section which is what I want however the splines are not copied. This means I need to rebuild all the splines.

2. Adjust the heights of all the splines in the section and smooth the ground under them. This will require some very fiddly terrain alteration to keep the topography as it is now though.


On balance I think 1. is the easier option and is probably about an hour to do but I'd like to see if there is a quicker fix first.

(TRS2004)

 

[Euphod]

I think you have both options covered there, height adjustment has always been fiddly in Trainz, when merging routes.

 

[Shortline2]

Hi,

There is a way, but it cost money as you need to buy a program called TramsDEM which really is for adding DEM terrain but has a function that allows all the map, scenery, tracks and all to change height. I've used it to lower a map I had that was reaching the stupid 3000m limit in Trainz...

I could possible try to do it on your route too if you sent it to me, but it needs to have all the dependencies or you loose them in a save. But, I am a little uncertain if I can make this work on a TRS2004 map when I come to think about it, been a long time since I was in that program.
Not sure my TransDEM version can any longer work with the old TRS2004 program.

Best option would possible be to use one of your own options you mention. The newest Trainz allows also splines to be copied, so you could have got all over into the route using the relative height copy/paste method I think.

Possible there is a way to make this work using your TRS2004 when I come to think about it.

I think there is a free utility program by one of the Trainz Narrowgaugers behind the Northbay Route that was working in TRS2004, that allows for lowering or possible raising of splines - his name in here is "Hiballer"
With that program working on a copy of that small part you want to incorporate, raising the tracks only and then use the file holding the splines into a new copy of the small route where you already have made a copy of the ground, objects and so on by the copy/paste method it should be possible to maybe get the transfer your after.

Maybe..

I never done it, I just thought it might be possible, as I done similar stuff when adding cameras after TRS2004 as I lost the way I used to set them in an upgrade and had to find new ways to make it work and changing the ground was working for me when I copy out the ground file and saved it back in after doing a massive flatting of the route to add tracking cameras and then in File Explorer to Windows just copy back the original ground file and voila it looked the way I wanted...

Hope this is of little help, just toughs really

Linda

 

[iain2006]

^^^

Thanks for the offer however I did manage to do it fairly efficiently with method 1. I suggested above. However I've discovered a much quicker and easier way that will retain the section exactly as it is by essentially combining the two methods I suggested.

The steps are listed below for the benefit of anyone else who wants to try it out:

(You'll need a calculator and a pen and paper to hand to calculate height adjustments)

1. Create a duplicate file of your map section to work on - deleting all baseboards other than those you want to retain
2. Open the file and using the merge map - import the same map so you essentially have 2 copies of the same section in the route - merge it so they are a couple of baseboard length away from each other rather than joining them.
3. In one of the duplicate sections delete all of the buildings and scenery objects
4. In the same section adjust all of the set-height spline points to the new elevations you want for them by adding the height difference you are creating to the current value*
5. Remove any water from your map
6. Level the terrain of the entire map to the lowest height you want to have in it (for example in my route I'm changing the railway from an elevation of 0m to 9.14m at the harbour and to get the water to the default 2m while retaining the depth I'm changing the sea bed level from -10.7m to -1.56m - therefore I'm levelling the entire baseboard to -1.56m)

(for steps 3-6 you may find it easier to work in wireframe view as it will make it easier to pick out objects and areas needing levelled, especially if your map has textures)

7. Copy the entire other section making sure it is set to copy all objects and textures and paste relative heights
8 paste over the section you edited and if you've followed all the steps the buildings should line up with roads, rails, etc exactly as they were.


* The spline points without set heights will automatically set to the height of the pasted terrain and you can adjust any you missed after pasting.

Delete the excess baseboard, save the file and you're ready to merge

 

[JCitron]

The easiest method, though a little longer, is to create some 'tween' baseboards between your existing baseboard and the new ones. You can use these to raise up the terrain in small increments, and being only 10m means that the height difference is minimal, so two baseboards would do it very easily. The disadvantage is the route is now 1.44km longer than you need it to be, but this will save you some time of copying and pasting and adjusting your content you've painstakingly placed on your harbor baseboard.

John

 

[netting2010]

Hi folks

I have just played with the merging of two routes and found that the insertion of some joining boards is about the best way to go. However if you are wanting prototypical there is some work to be done to get the spline elevations correct!

One thing I did find is that you cannot rotate the layouts to match North / South alignment so if a track on one layout is running east west and the track you want to match to it on the merged route is 90 degrees to it the only way is to insert a curve. If anyone can give some advice on this issue it would be great.

 

[HiBaller]

Hi there:

The program you are looking for is called TRKAdjust. I wrote it primarily for TRS2004. You can find it here:

http://mapz.trainzroutez.info/trkadjust.html

Take a look at the help pages first and see if it will suffice for what you want to do.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to rotate a route once it has been laid down.

Bill

 

[BeansLLB]

Hi there:

The program you are looking for is called TRKAdjust. I wrote it primarily for TRS2004. You can find it here:

http://mapz.trainzroutez.info/trkadjust.html

Take a look at the help pages first and see if it will suffice for what you want to do.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to rotate a route once it has been laid down.

Bill

Interesting program, as I've been having the same issue with merging - does this program work with TRS2010/12?

 

[HiBaller]

Sorry, no. The file structures changed with TRS2009 and I haven't decoded them as of now. There is far too much going on inside those files now and the slightest change can goof up an entire route badly.

BTW: I think Grande Prairie is one of the most beautiful areas of Canada. I've been up and down the AlCan highway many times since 1950 and loved that portion of it.

Bill