Bad track?

A

Approach_Medium

Trainz Addict
Hi;
I was wondering if there is a way to create "bad track", such that the trains bump, rock, and sway over the rails as they often do on little used branch lines.
I know that I can use a lot of splines, and change height up and down for the area I want to have that effect, but it doesn't look right.
What I am looking for is a track that has the dips and mis-jointed rails.

Any ideas?

Thanks

FW
 
I don't know exactly how to add cabinsway and numeral, into the config file of a car or loco.

Un "Smoothed" track, with humps, and dips, is probably about as rocky as you will get to realistic, PennCentral :p track. :hehe:
 
cascaderailroad said:
I don't know exactly how to add cabinsway and numeral, into the config file of a car or loco.

Un "Smoothed" track, with humps, and dips, is probably about as rocky as you will get to realistic, PennCentral :p track. :hehe:
Click to expand...
Funny you should mention Penn Central... I grew up near the Penn Central River Line (West Shore Line) in Teaneck, NJ. For a long time, the speed of trains through this area was 10mph. I used to race the trains from Teaneck to Ridgefield Park (about 2mi) on my bicycle on a road parallel to the tracks, and would usually reach the crossing at Mt. Vernon st in time to get photos of the trains going across the crossing!
I guess not hard to do when we're talkin' PC:D

I guess I'll have to try playing around with various techniques in Trainz. Maybe in the "next version" cab sway and other features will be added:hehe:

FW
 
Some of the russian content, hoppers,box cars do roll. If you could transfer that into your content it might work.
 
Distorted track

Is this the sort of effect you’re after?

If so, do not use the spline tool to raise and lower the track!!!

Lay a piece of track where you want it, then select the topography flyout.

Set the controls for radius and sensitivity to minimum. Select the Adjust height button.

Centre the compass cursor below the bit of track you want to distort and raise/lower it by moving the terrain which will distort the track. Just use the tiniest amount of movement. I've probably used a bit too much here, but it shows the effect. Repeat further along the track as required.

The rolling stock will move over it quite realistically with the bogies pitching nicely under the relatively stable loco or car.

No need for any track splines at all to vary the height. You can still use them for the normal curves, or any miniscule side to side distortion you might want to make. But if you use them to raise and lower, you'll get a smooth rollercoaster type effect which won’t look real.

Remember, don't make those spline circles go yellow, and on no account use the track straightening tool!

Cheers
Casper
:)

distortedtrack.jpg

Imageshack
 
Last edited:
 
Last edited:
mezzoprezzo; Yes, that is exactly the effect I am looking for.
Just tried it, looks good, but find that using the adjust height tool is a bit tricky when my mouse sensitivity is set too low (max resolution). I'm using an Evoluent vertical mouse, and it has very high res, but is switchable.

In the past, I have always kept the option "fixed vertex height" ticked, thinking this would give me best results, and maybe it does for some track, but I've learned something new today. Been working with Surveyor since TS2004, and still I don't know everything there is to know about it:o

Thanks much.

FW
 
Approach_Medium said:
Funny you should mention Penn Central... I grew up near the Penn Central River Line (West Shore Line) in Teaneck, NJ. For a long time, the speed of trains through this area was 10mph. I used to race the trains from Teaneck to Ridgefield Park (about 2mi) on my bicycle on a road parallel to the tracks, and would usually reach the crossing at Mt. Vernon st in time to get photos of the trains going across the crossing!
I guess not hard to do when we're talkin' PC:D

I guess I'll have to try playing around with various techniques in Trainz. Maybe in the "next version" cab sway and other features will be added:hehe:

FW
Click to expand...

I've done the same thing not too long ago with Guilford. This was on their Lowell-Lowell Jct. line. Their top speed on the Ayer-Worcester line was about that as well! In the Lawrence yard, there are many rollovers because the track is so bad. I heard that many of the managers once worked for the PC. :eek:

I like that rolling track; I'll have to try that myself.

John
 
Good to hear it was helpful.

There are a couple of other “dodges” which can help when you’re engaging in this destructive creativity!

Lay a piece of rolling stock on the track. Go back to the Topology flyout and repeat the described method. You will find, unlike when you are using Track tools, that you can adjust the track without having to remove the piece of rolling stock. This has the advantage of seeing how real the final effect will look – too much distortion will lift some of the bogey wheels off the track.

When necessary, go into wireframe mode. This will show where you can get the maximum distortion. Using Left Mouse Button to pull the terrain up and down on the grid intersections will give maximum distortion and effect all adjoining parts of the frame. Doing the same in the centre of one of the grid lines will give a different and somewhat lesser effect.

When in wireframe mode hold Alt and hit the “W” key. This toggles the wireframe mode into a more detailed, finer view. This almost gives too much grid detail in most cases, but it will show where the intersecting diagonal grid lines are located and where the topography “hinges” as you’re shaping the ground. It’s also useful for seeing the grid through objects, rather than lying beneath or behind them. You’ll also notice that the new fine wire grid will show yellow squares where no textures have been laid, and black where they have. The diagonals are black either way. In addition, you will also see through the immediate terrain, and be able to view any topography and objects in the distance. Two shots below illustrate this. Not too helpful for solving the question in this thread, but quite an eye opener and shows why parts of my route can stutter when the game is trying to load so much of what Tranz can see and the Driver can’t!

I find that very gentle mouse movement is necessary for optimum control when making very fine adjustment. I use a standard two button, mousewheel/3rd button optical mouse. In Control Panel/Mouse/Properties I’ve set my Pointer Options to dead centre between Fast and Slow and ticked the “Enhance pointer precision” box. The rest is just practice to achive a very slow, precise movement. I find the best method to minimise movement is to rest the back of the mouse hand on something firm (I use a mouse mat with soft get wrist support), and don’t move the wrist. That gives me the finest control with only a gentle fingertip grip the mouse.

wireframe1.jpg


wireframe2.jpg


wireframe3.jpg

Imageshack
 
Last edited:
mezzoprezzo said:
Good to hear it was helpful.

There are a couple of other “dodges” which can help when you’re engaging in this destructive creativity!

Lay a piece of rolling stock on the track. Go back to the Topology flyout and repeat the described method. You will find, unlike when you are using Track tools, that you can adjust the track without having to remove the piece of rolling stock. This has the advantage of seeing how real the final effect will look – too much distortion will lift some of the bogey wheels off the track.

~snipped~

When in wireframe mode hold Alt and hit the “W” key. This toggles the wireframe mode into a more detailed, finer view. This almost gives too much grid detail in most cases, but it will show where the intersecting diagonal grid lines are located and where the topography “hinges” as you’re shaping the ground. It’s also useful for seeing the grid through objects, rather than lying beneath or behind them. You’ll also notice that the new fine wire grid will show yellow squares where no textures have been laid, and black where they have. The diagonals are black either way. In addition, you will also see through the immediate terrain, and be able to view any topography and objects in the distance. Two shots below illustrate this. Not too helpful for solving the question in this thread, but quite an eye opener and shows why parts of my route can stutter when the game is trying to load so much of what Tranz can see and the Driver can’t!

~snipped~
Click to expand...

Mezzopresso,

Thanks for the excellent tips, especially the one about wireframe view. I just wish this thread had been started about a week ago; then just maybe I'd have a few more vote in SoTW.;):hehe::hehe:

Cheers,

Matt.
 
Mezzoprezzo; Thanks for the great tips. I need to print out the keyboard commands file so I can know what all these keyboard shortcuts do. Mostly, I have gone with what came with TS2006, since I purchased 2009 and 2010 as download, and never printed the manual.

I also use the mouse as you suggested. I am using the Evoluent mouse on a pad, and the imak ergoBeads wrist rest. It works very well.

FW
 
You're very welcome regarding the tips. I'm glad they have proved useful to yourself and hopefully a few others.

With regard to printing your keyboard controls, I very much doubt that you will find reference to the alternative wireframe command. Iv'e never found it in any of the very extensive TRS2004 manuals.

There seem to be a few areas where you can do things which have never been formally recorded. The Alt W in wireframe is just one I have stumbled across by accident.

Thanks for the low down on the Evoluent mouse which I've been researching today. I'd not seen it before. I might well try one. It looks as if it might take some getting used to, but anything that helps keep a steady hand will be an advantage.

Cheers
Casper
:)
 
mezzoprezzo said:
You're very welcome regarding the tips. I'm glad they have proved useful to yourself and hopefully a few others.

With regard to printing your keyboard controls, I very much doubt that you will find reference to the alternative wireframe command. Iv'e never found it in any of the very extensive TRS2004 manuals.

There seem to be a few areas where you can do things which have never been formally recorded. The Alt W in wireframe is just one I have stumbled across by accident.

Thanks for the low down on the Evoluent mouse which I've been researching today. I'd not seen it before. I might well try one. It looks as if it might take some getting used to, but anything that helps keep a steady hand will be an advantage.

Cheers
Casper
:)
Click to expand...
I just tried the Alt W command, and it didn't work for me. Ctrl W does turn on wireframe, but alt W does nothing. The command is there in the keyboard.txt file, and has not been assigned any other commands, but not working in TS2010_SP3. I'm wondering if there is anything else I am running on my system that is capturing alt W. Also, I noticed that these commands are listed under driver in the keyboard.txt file, but when I moved them to surveyor, it did not change anything.

FW
 
You have to be in conventional wireframe first, then press Alt W. The latter won't give a direct link from the Surveyor screen.
 
mezzoprezzo said:
You have to be in conventional wireframe first, then press Alt W. The latter won't give a direct link from the Surveyor screen.
Click to expand...
That is what I have been doing. First get into wireframe, then alt w. Nothing is changing. Maybe it's just that I'm not in an area that has any detail? I'll try it in different areas of the route.

FW
 
I’m using Vista, but guessing that the OS shouldn’t make any difference. It does seem like a change, possibly made when some of the Easter Eggs were altered.

I suppose the main thing is that the distorted track trick is achievable. The alternative wireframe view is handy, but by no means essential for any aspect of route building.

Cheers
Casper
:)
 
mezzoprezzo said:
I’m using Vista, but guessing that the OS shouldn’t make any difference. It does seem like a change, possibly made when some of the Easter Eggs were altered.

I suppose the main thing is that the distorted track trick is achievable. The alternative wireframe view is handy, but by no means essential for any aspect of route building.

Cheers
Casper
:)
Click to expand...

The alternate wireframe view is the only one that I ever use. The regular wireframe view uses a texture on the ground to acheive the wireframe. The alternate view, how ever, draws the wireframe grid using lines, not a texture. The result is a good performance improvement, as the regular/texture wireframe puts a much larger load on the computer than the alternate/line wireframe does. :eek: ;)

Besides improving Trainz's performance, the alternate wireframe view also displays the lines for the two individual faces inside each grid square, unlike the regular view, which can be helpful when you want to determine just how the grid squares will flex when you are adjusting the ground height. ;)

It is a shame if this great and efficient feature has been removed in more recent versions of Trainz. :(

Regards.
 
Auran/N3V has a habit of removing something that was useful to some people and adding something useless they believe is good for most people; ie; SpeedTrees!

FW
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
Gradient vs track profile
Replies
5
Views
311
OddRails
O
R
Trainz Height (Revisited)
Replies
4
Views
729
rick1958
R
R
Tz19 Scenery Splines appearing as Missing Track in Tz22
Replies
3
Views
232
JCitron
J
P
Turntables not functioning in a specific area.
Replies
1
Views
615
JCitron
J
F
Height of the impact zone for end-of-track bumpers
Replies
6
Views
354
Frank_Dean
F
Back
Top