Change surveyor pbr grass/grid default??? Imported trs19 route is a mess.

[marv999]

Is there a way to change the S22 surveyor default grass to remain at the grid setting and then paint on the grid, without changing to a new region. I mention the region cause I read it is possible with a different region but you must start a new map, which I am hoping I don't have to. I have already invested time in this new route trying to learn the new surveyor and wasted alot more with attempted fixes to my old route.

I imported my TRS19 route to TRS22 and what a big mess with the textures. I spent over 2 days importing my TRS19 route over to TRS22 and another 2 days trying to fix the textures, but I gave up. Something with textures drastically changed. I had kept pbr textures away from track and roads. I have always been successful with mixing or blending pbr and 2d textures. No matter what some people have said about not mixing. When done right, it adds a nice realistic view of the terrain without seeing a lot of patterns. Texture patterns really throw a big kink in the environment view, and I spend many extra hours painting to minimize those patterns.

A good example: I use mostly SAM Trk-II/B v6 (kuid2:132952:151544:9) and matching SAM Ballast-9a (kuid2:132952:80000:6) which looks and works great in TRS19. The same track and ballast in TRS22 is a total mess, mainly the ballast texture. The ballast is now very PBR over taking the tracks and really making a bigger mess where the tracks cross the roads. I have two large yards that are now a total wreck. I had randomly lowered some track height into the ground at various height with spotted ballast and other textures to give a messy yard look. That took lots and lots of work over a long period of time to get it to my satisfaction. :'(

One thing I have not figured out yet, is laying track without the yellow vertices to help gauge the track spacing. Thank god N3V made it easy and quick to switch editing between classic and S2.0.

 

[stagecoach]

Look in the drop-down menus in surveyor. One has ground = textured/grid/transparent.

 

[marv999]

"Is there a way to change the S22 surveyor default grass to remain at the grid setting and then paint on the grid, without...." I guess I was not clear enough. That is the menu I am referring to. When I add baseboards or sometimes other things, I am back at that damn PBR grass baseboards that I DO NOT WANT.

 

[Tony_Hilliam]

The default is grass for a new route. Just change to Grid in the Ground dropdown.

 

[macka]

Tony, wouldn't it be easier if the grid was the original and if you wanted grass that would be the default?
Macka

 

[pware]

Tony, wouldn't it be easier if the grid was the original and if you wanted grass that would be the default?

An easy solution is to download and install from the DLS one of the TRS19 Region files that have the original TRS19 grid as the default. When you create a new route and the New Route dialogue window appears select the new region from the Geographic Region drop down box and instantly the ground will change to the grid pattern.

The region you select will then become the default for all new routes you create - until you change it again.

There are a few on the DLS. Here are some examples:-

<kuid:647907:102314> CDE USA Grid Region Tampa Florida
<kuid:647907:102162> CDE UK Grid Region
<kuid:647907:102143> CDE USA Grid Region
<kuid:45176:100362> United Kingdom with TRS19 Grid
<kuid:45176:100490> Australia with TRS19 Grid
<kuid:45176:100481> France with TRS19 Grid
<kuid:45176:100488> Germany with TRS19 Grid
<kuid:45176:100499> Switzerland with TRS19 Grid
<kuid:45176:100437> United States with TRS19 Grid

 

[boleyd]

First thing I did this morning. The "love/hate" relationship with PBR may be lessened.
Thanks for the tip. I expect N3V to make this a standard option when you first load 2022.

 

[marv999]

Guys, I really appreciate all the responses, but I don't think I have made myself very clear or no one really understands or is seeing the problem. I started a new route using TRS22+, and I have been switching the Tool Menu between Edit in Surveyor 2.0 and Edit in Surveyor Classic as I learn to use the new tools and build my new route. One of the first things you do in laying out a new route is placing track. I don't know about the rest of you, but I use the grid a lot to help gauge and lay parallel track and center texture under the track. I set the Display Menu/Ground to "Grid". I switch the Edit mode to Edit in Surveyor Classic to get the yellow circle vertices. I have grown up using those vertices to judge my distances between parallel tracks. Since I am already in that edit mode, I continue using classic edit to manipulate the track. I have used the Surveyor 2.0 also to manipulate the track, like height, straighten, etc. And yes, it is faster when using Surveyor 2.0 when dealing with the parallel tracks since you can edit multiple tracks at the same time. The problem that shows up is that the "Grid" is not a set default and will not stay when switching between the classic and S2.0 edit modes. In addition, you cannot paint on the grid, or I should say, you can't see the paint/texture in the "Grid" mode. I found you can lay/paint textures on the grid, you just cannot see it as you do it. When you switch the ground back to textured then you can see what you painted in the grid mode. A useless feature in my book. I like the feature of turning the grid on and off when needed. I could have used that feature often in TRS19 where I had to erase texture to lay track.

It would be nice to make the yellow vertices an option to turn on/off or maybe something like a ruler that shows spacing between tracks. However, switching between surveyor/classic edit modes is fast and efficient. My compliments to N3V for that.

I would like to know what made my track ballast PBR. The bottom line, I DO NOT LIKE PBR under my tracks. I learned lessons from TRS19 with that.

 

[Tony_Hilliam]

You've raised some valid points, some of which I was not aware of - I will investigate and raise tasks to improve things.

The first thought is that if you select Region = "Grid Region" for your route, then any new boards you add will be using the Grid by default.
Then for the existing boards, in Classic use Bulk Replace and replace the grass texture with Grid.
This will convert any area you haven't textured to Grid.
That resolves any need to use the Ground > Grid option (unless you want to edit track in a textured area).

I would like to know what made my track ballast PBR.

This is a content issue. If the material has height data, it is used (when Ultra Shaders is selected). The solution is to switch shaders off or don't use PBR textures (or don't use a mixture of old and new).