Building a Map/ Copy of our world.

[minernut]

Hello,
Since I Bought my Trainz 2009: World Builder Edition I have been in the idea of copying the united states as is, of course with adding all the other abandoned railroads. I first started building the CIRY line in the City of Chicago. Around November 13th I discover that my measurements were off. I got too frustrated and started over again building my hometown: Westmont, IL. The way I build it using rulers and Google earth. I first started with the BNSF rails going exactly west and east following the grid lines on the simulator and measuring with the ruler. I would love things to be exact but I can't get it that way. I have seen on photos that others build using red and blue paint. I don't know the first thing on how to build correctly. Can anyone help me?

 

[JCitron]

Well... Building the complete US would be quite impossible because neither you, nor your computer could handle the task. If you are looking for accurate track laying and topology, I highly suggest investing in TransDEM

http://www.rolandziegler.de/StreckeUndLandschaft/startseiteTransDEMEngl.htm

At about $33 US, it's a worthy investment as this will allow you to download, import, and convert actual DEM data from the National Geological Survey National Map Server complete with the topographic maps in place. You can go as far as importing historical maps if you choose to do that.

But, as I said the complete US is a bit of a lot to chew on, a route such as the one you mentioned is a good one to work on and expand your world from there.

John

 

[Falcus]

Honestly, if you want to build the U.S. and you enjoy it, knock yourself out..... I wish you all the luck.

That said, I would follow Jcitron's advice, and add that you might do well to start with a smaller piece of the world then 1/3 (or less, I think Canada alone makes up over half of NA?) of an entire continent.

The Red and Blue Paint is a convention of 2 programs, TransDem and Hogz. Trans dem means we import topology directly from Google Maps, and Hogz takes google Maps imagines, delineates between roads, rails, rivers, and a couple other things, and paints them on the topo-map. Hogz is falling out of favor as Transdem now has the ability to just directly import Google Maps, USGS Maps, and any number of other options, and overlay the map of your choice over the Topo, but there ya go....

Falcus

 

[mjolnir]

BB, in another thread (reply 27) I calculated that it would take about 21,000,000 baseboards to do the entire contiguous 48 states. I also estimated that if one omitted boards with no rail content, the number could be cut to about 3 to 4 million. But even that is a huge undertaking, and ignores creation creep (but that round barn in the next board is just sooooo interesting, one more board won't be an issue....).

I don't claim to be an expert on Trainz routes, but Marias Pass and the Mojave route are two of the longest, but I don't know how big they are in terms of boares.

My advice is to start with a much smaller project.

ns

 

[cascaderailroad]

You have to keep a route under some limit of baseboards, once you get @10,000 baseboards, or even half of that is too much, and your PC still see's all your assets 20 -100 miles distant, and struggles to decipher whether each and every railcar and loco is moving or not ... and a huge route will lag with single digit framerates, and crash.

Even if you started at he age of 3 ... You would be nowhere done by the age of 106, even if you worked 12 hour days, 7, 365 :hehe:

 

[belgian46]

Hello,

By using Transdem I have made the Belgian Railway network. Of every line I have at least 1 single track. In some cases, I have multiple tracks. No other features are present, just track.

You will probably have difficulties with your versions of Trainz .

I started with Trainz 2009 and could not import the Belgian railway net. I went to Trainz 2010 and had the same problem.

My version of the Belgian railway net = 1,2 Gb large ( only track ), and Trainz 2009 and Trainz 2010 presented me a taddeamon error when trying to import the route.

Every time when I tried to import a route larger than 500Mb, I received the taddeamon error in Trainz.

With Trainz 2012 no taddeamon error was received.

Best regards

Kurt

 

[Falcus]

Outstanding job to do all that. One issue though thats gonna cause the OP problems that you didn't have to deal with though....

Size of Belgium:11,787 sq miles
Size of the continental United States: 3,119,884.69 million sq miles

Hes gonna have a bit more work cut out for him....

Falcus

 

[JCitron]

Hello,

By using Transdem I have made the Belgian Railway network. Of every line I have at least 1 single track. In some cases, I have multiple tracks. No other features are present, just track.

You will probably have difficulties with your versions of Trainz .

I started with Trainz 2009 and could not import the Belgian railway net. I went to Trainz 2010 and had the same problem.

My version of the Belgian railway net = 1,2 Gb large ( only track ), and Trainz 2009 and Trainz 2010 presented me a taddeamon error when trying to import the route.

Every time when I tried to import a route larger than 500Mb, I received the taddeamon error in Trainz.

With Trainz 2012 no taddeamon error was received.

Best regards

Kurt

The 500MB file size is the issue and had that problem as well. Try splitting and then merging the route back together. I had to do that with one I was working on, and then later scrapped, due to the shear size of the route. Have you ever felt like you are biting off more than you can deal with? I scrapped 90% of this and kept only a small portion to work on for now. If I have the energy, I'll add a bit more and continue, one or two small sections at a time. It's more fun that way, and far less overpowering. Just thinking about doing a very, very large route makes me tired!

John

 

[judahGrice]

Advice: try a smaller country like latvia or belize first

 

[cascaderailroad]

Or a really small Country, like the Ubetcha'Stan - Duchy of Grand Fenwick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYMuJDajujc

 

[judahGrice]

Yes! (Tencharacters)

 

[belgian46]

Hello Falcus,

Creating the complete USA and Belgium route will only be possible if several Trainzers start working together. First challenge will be, finding enough Trainzers willing to spend their time into a large project.

Best regards

Kurt

 

[mikeaust]

You can cover a long distance quite simply. By merging a number of different routes into 1 map I am able to travel nonstop from Los Angelos to Chicago, with BNSF and UP.
By using portals on each route I just move from one area to another. This is much simpler than using Iportals and swapping routes all the time.
I am using Clovis 2, Wyoming Coal, Mojave Subdivision, Cajon Extreme, Montana Rail Link, A custom route for the Long Beach and Los Angelos area, the BNSF Lincoln yards.
I have a Chicago and Kansas City maps by John Keenan. I am in the process of creating the Barstow Railyards.
The only downside for me was that I had to install SP1 to be able to use the merge facility.
I run all this on a laptop with no problems, just a bit of a wait whenever I do save.
So it is possible to do just need to think outside the box.
Cheers,
Mike

 

[Vern]

Or use the basis of the trucking sims and compress the area into a much smaller area. However still a daunting task and just maintaining interest would be a challenge. After just 5 weeks I've found interest waning in a route I started which came in at a mind boggling 190km linear. Even copying and pasting mile after mile of forest and tundra gets tedious after a while and needs a break to do something shorter and sweeter in the meantime.

 

[belgian46]

The 500MB file size is the issue and had that problem as well. Try splitting and then merging the route back together. I had to do that with one I was working on, and then later scrapped, due to the shear size of the route. Have you ever felt like you are biting off more than you can deal with? I scrapped 90% of this and kept only a small portion to work on for now. If I have the energy, I'll add a bit more and continue, one or two small sections at a time. It's more fun that way, and far less overpowering. Just thinking about doing a very, very large route makes me tired!

John

Hello John,

When I started with Trainz in 2008, I thought I would find enough Belgians to start a complete Belgium route. That was mainly the reason to start collecting information about the Belgian railway net, travelling by train through Belgium and buying Transdem to make it myself easier with the track laying. Unfortunately the early Belgian Trainzers have stopped or have lost interest. Creating the complete Belgian railway route has been placed in a non-active area. Perhaps one day, if a feature within Trainz becomes available, the creation may become a possibility.

So, in 2009/2010 I started with the Belgian Tram Coastal route and as soon as I get the route/session problem fixed, I will start a new thread about the Belgian Tram Coastal route ( De Panne to Knokke ).

Best regards

Kurt