Baseboard limit in TS2010?

[Approach_Medium]

Hi;
Is there a limit to the number of baseboards I can use in TS2010? While I realize that such a large route would be impossible for DLS, I am thinking of building a route that encompasses the entire states of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, and at least part of Mass.
Then, I would like to create another route for eastern NY, and link that through iPortals to the New England route, and to my existing southern NY/NJ route.

These will not be truly prototypical routes, but I will be using DEMs for the terrain, and Google Earth to place the tracks. This is a dream right now, but if it is physically possible in TS2010, I might give it a try.
Eventually, I would have to break up the route to upload to DLS, or I could just put it on another website for DL.

On my slower system (P4, 3.4Ghz single core, 3GB GeForce 9800 GTX+) I would need to keep the draw distance down to 2K or lower, so when I create the route in TransDem, I wouldn't go more than 1 baseboard on each side of the track.

FW

 

[martinvk]

You will run out of processing power long before you run into a baseboard limit. There have been routes with 1000's of baseboards as far back as TRS2004. My own All Netherlands route was only at the bare track stage and it was already getting unwieldy.

Not to rain on your parade but ...
As grand and exciting as it sounds, creating massive routes is a lot of work which can quickly become boring and repetitive.

Even with the draw distance down to 2km, Trainz still has to keep track of what is happening in all parts of the route in order for the AI to know what to do.

Breaking up a large map into smaller sections is not easy. Since there is no split function, you would have to duplicate the map and then delete the unwanted baseboards one at a time.

Good luck

 

[Deano5]

The only restriction is the hardware you own and the time and patience you have. Good luck

 

[GP30Fan]

Take a look at these two routes...

UMR2010,<kuid:95512:1095>

WM & B&O Mega Route,<kuid:73500:1040>

I have both these routes. Both work just fine but do
put a bit of a load on the computer. They will give
you some appriciation of what a large route requires
in the way of computer power.

Neither of these routes worked very well on my old computer.
Haveing upgraded the hardware a year ago made a world of
difference.

Currently running I7-920 with 6g memory. Video is ATI 5850.

Good luck!

 

[Approach_Medium]

Thanks guys;
Considering the 6yr old equipment I am running on, I should not be tempting fate, and my patience. It was really a bad idea.
That said, I already have the bare bones of a large Vermont route, which extends from Bennington in the south, to Burlington, and even all the way up to St. Albans, and St. Johnsbury. That route, despite its total lack of content takes longer than my CSX River sub (150 miles long, but not very wide) takes to load with lots of content.

I had also forgotten about the fact that AI needs to consider trains on all parts of the route. That would slow my system to a crawl, and probably even crash it.

I think what I'll do is create many smaller routes, connecting them with iPortals.

Thanks for your input

FW

 

[kamran]

just upgrade your processor to dual core r quad core rest is fine

 

[patchy]

hi,
if you got marias pass full version and you machine can handle it
you should be able build a decent size route
consdering a lot of baseboards could of been trimmed from this route

cheers,
patchy

 

[JCitron]

FW - You realize that this is quite a large area. Probably much bigger than your currrent River Line project. There were and still are quite a few lines left in norhern New England that cover quite a lot of the area.

My current route, which is representative of the region, is probably several hundred baseboards now, and it takes 3 minutes to load. I can't imagine one as big as you've planned able to load without being so unwieldly that it could kill your system completely.

I like your idea of dividing it up and using iPortals to connect the pieces. This has a two-fold factor. First it'll make the route more enjoyable to work on. Painting baseboards and scenicking the area can become tiresome after awhile. I usually do about 6 or 8 boards at a stretch before I run out of ideas and become bord with the process.

The factor will of course be the performance. Running the smaller routes will load faster and also make the operating sessions more enjoyable because they won't appear to be as long as the long continuous landscape.

John

 

[jrfolco]

The WM & B&O Mega Route has over 4000 baseboards. If you'd like to try it, it's available here:http://trainzproroutes.com/downloads/index.php?act=view&id=1610. It was designed for TS2010, but will also work in TS2009 if you have SP-4.

Regards, Joe

 

[Approach_Medium]

The Vermont route I have just started is 7130 baseboards (after applying filter in TransDem).
It takes only about 30 seconds to load, but there is no scenery yet. I am afraid that I went way too far with this one. AI will never run on my system with such a large route, and I don't think I could ever upload it to DLS.

What is the limit for uploads? I seem to have lost that information I once had.

In any case, I am going to start a new route that is much smaller, and will be able to upload. I just want to choose an area (in the Northeast) that has lots of activity, such as northern New Jersey, Reading PA, or maybe Boston.

My problem is that I have always favored long mainline running over short industrial, but now realize that long mainline routes will usually put me to sleep. So my next route will be something different. Perhaps not even a prototype, but use real DEMs so that I don't have to do the terrain manually.

FW