I suppose it all depends on whether you have been drinking Litres or US Gallons of your favourite brew.
Can you convert height units to something usable?
- Thread starter rick1958
- Start date
stagecoach
75377
If you think metric to imperial has a problem then look at US imperial to UK imperial.
Just shows the limitations of the English language
Why can't someone make a vertical ruler spline?
The asset might need to be T-shaped so that the base sits on the surface and then dragged vertically to a desired height. Something like this can be very useful for placing bridges over roads and rails instead of guessing or using the tallest freight wagon to determine how much headroom is needed.
The asset might need to be T-shaped so that the base sits on the surface and then dragged vertically to a desired height. Something like this can be very useful for placing bridges over roads and rails instead of guessing or using the tallest freight wagon to determine how much headroom is needed.
You mean one of these:
Unfortunately, it uses an obsolete build, yes it's that old. so it will have to be updated to be able to share. Meanwhile,
that was inspired by STW Metric Ruler KUID2: <KUID2:36713:27033:1> which is on the DLS.
PS: keep an eye out for KUID2:70337:23198:10 just uploaded it
Unfortunately, it uses an obsolete build, yes it's that old. so it will have to be updated to be able to share. Meanwhile,
that was inspired by STW Metric Ruler KUID2: <KUID2:36713:27033:1> which is on the DLS.
PS: keep an eye out for KUID2:70337:23198:10 just uploaded it
Last edited:
Excellent idea!
Exactly ! I want the whole 9 yards.
Here in the USA, we freely use both systems of measurement. Because our government doesn't mandate one over the other. For example, our cars can tell you the speed in either kph or mph, some with digital dashboards can report distance in both. Products sold by weight or volume list both ounces or pounds and grams or liters. Soft drinks come in 12 ounce cans or half liter bottles, one liter or two liter bottles. Two liter is just a faction less than a half gallon. I bought gasoline today, $3.06 a gallon. My Walmart peanut butter is 40 ozs, or 2 lbs 8 ozs or 1.13 kgs. Milk is sold by the half pint, pint, quart, half gallon and gallon but are also marked in liters. Half gallon is 1.89L.I suppose it all depends on whether you have been drinking Litres or US Gallons of your favourite brew.
I like it. Hopefully it could be edited into imperial measurements.....or broken down into yard sticksYou mean one of these:
Unfortunately, it uses an obsolete build, yes it's that old. so it will have to be updated to be able to share. Meanwhile,
that was inspired by STW Metric Ruler KUID2: <KUID2:36713:27033:1> which is on the DLS.
PS: keep an eye out for KUID2:70337:23198:10 just uploaded it
which lie within the boundaries of nothingness and eternity
That's a great point however the price of a can of tune just went up another 25 cents. The money I had saved is worth about 50% of what it was just a few years ago...but anyway, back to our regular scheduled programing.....
Haven't had this much fun since the (in)famous "Ignore this post" thread.
Serious mode back on again (boring I know) but the problem with the vertical ruler objects, of which there are several available (and thanks to Martinvk another has just been added), is that they do not measure altitude unless of course they are placed on a baseboard at a height of 0 (metres/yards) and then they usually do not extend vertically beyond a few tens of metres/yards. Certainly not tall enough to measure the height of a reasonable hill.
My main reason for needing to know the height/altitude of the terrain would be to determine the grade of a slope and there it does not matter if the measurements are metric or imperial, as long as the same units are used for both the height and the length - even cubits would work. Fortunately, the Tool Options Palette in S2.0 contains a Grade control which can be used to both measure and set the grade of a spline or track independent of the units used.
There are many places in Trainz that I can think of where the altitude is "hard-wired in" as metres - the "altitude tag" in a Region asset, the "Snow Altitude" in the environmental settings, all scenery objects and of course the terrain itself. Modifying these to allow an Imperial unit (e.g. feet) to be used instead would likely break many assets, including routes and sessions. So another solution would be required - such as a conversion step at the point of height entry and display that would allow the use of metres to continue internally. The Height control in the Tool Options Palette is one such place but I am not a programmer so I would never claim that it would be a simple and easy step (nothing in programming ever is).
Of course, we all have our own lists of "must have improvements" that we would like to see implemented immediately. The option of using Imperial measurement units is not on my list but I am in a country that is 100% metric.
Serious mode back on again (boring I know) but the problem with the vertical ruler objects, of which there are several available (and thanks to Martinvk another has just been added), is that they do not measure altitude unless of course they are placed on a baseboard at a height of 0 (metres/yards) and then they usually do not extend vertically beyond a few tens of metres/yards. Certainly not tall enough to measure the height of a reasonable hill.
My main reason for needing to know the height/altitude of the terrain would be to determine the grade of a slope and there it does not matter if the measurements are metric or imperial, as long as the same units are used for both the height and the length - even cubits would work. Fortunately, the Tool Options Palette in S2.0 contains a Grade control which can be used to both measure and set the grade of a spline or track independent of the units used.
There are many places in Trainz that I can think of where the altitude is "hard-wired in" as metres - the "altitude tag" in a Region asset, the "Snow Altitude" in the environmental settings, all scenery objects and of course the terrain itself. Modifying these to allow an Imperial unit (e.g. feet) to be used instead would likely break many assets, including routes and sessions. So another solution would be required - such as a conversion step at the point of height entry and display that would allow the use of metres to continue internally. The Height control in the Tool Options Palette is one such place but I am not a programmer so I would never claim that it would be a simple and easy step (nothing in programming ever is).
Of course, we all have our own lists of "must have improvements" that we would like to see implemented immediately. The option of using Imperial measurement units is not on my list but I am in a country that is 100% metric.
Careful ...
@pware
Terrain height and a little bit of maths can determine a slope as you know. A simple vertical height tool off the terrain for objects is a great asset, no pun intended, for route builders. There are probably plenty of these, but I never encountered them in all the years I've Trainzed. With that said, I'll press Martin's useful tool into use right away as I'm working on a route with lots of road bridges over the tracks in one particular area.
Terrain height and a little bit of maths can determine a slope as you know. A simple vertical height tool off the terrain for objects is a great asset, no pun intended, for route builders. There are probably plenty of these, but I never encountered them in all the years I've Trainzed. With that said, I'll press Martin's useful tool into use right away as I'm working on a route with lots of road bridges over the tracks in one particular area.
I only know of 5 assets that act like a vertical ruler and they have issues. The main problem is what Peter points out that they measure from the baseboard surface in most cases and they are on the real world scale of around 100 feet. However, if they are height adjustable then you can measure relative height such as the clearance under a rail bridge. If you model real scale then you might not need to know relative heights but many model railroad plans have heights measured relative to the low point or to the floor. Trying to get the heights correct so that the grades are correct can mean a lot of fidgeting.
How does that metric time and metric calendar work? The last time I was there there were 12 months in a year and 24 hours in a day.
Unfortunately, this irrational and metric-hostile planet runs around the sun in 365,244 days (it would have been so nice if it did so in 1000 days 
). As a consequence, the metric calendar had to make some heavy compromises:
en.wikipedia.org
In my opinion, its best feature was that all months were 30 days long... no need to learn "Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November...."
Metric time worked much better (there were 10 100-minutes hours in a day) but unfortunately failed to gain acceptance and was discontinued earlier than the calendar:
en.wikipedia.org
). As a consequence, the metric calendar had to make some heavy compromises:
French Republican calendar - Wikipedia
In my opinion, its best feature was that all months were 30 days long... no need to learn "Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November...."
Metric time worked much better (there were 10 100-minutes hours in a day) but unfortunately failed to gain acceptance and was discontinued earlier than the calendar:
