Creating Custom Track
- Thread starter srude
- Start date
Shortline2
Joined: 28th Oct. 2002
Hello,
For track, this is what is needed of important info:
* The top of the rail Has to be at exact 30cm above the 0 level (Z value)in your 3D creating program of choice.
* Make all pieces start at Y=0 and go down toward the negative Y direction.
* Center it around the X axis, so the rail pieces has the same number just one is positive X value and the other is negative X value.
There are some more info scattered around this forum so just search a little, but the above is the Important parts.
Good luck, and have fun.
Linda
For track, this is what is needed of important info:
* The top of the rail Has to be at exact 30cm above the 0 level (Z value)in your 3D creating program of choice.
* Make all pieces start at Y=0 and go down toward the negative Y direction.
* Center it around the X axis, so the rail pieces has the same number just one is positive X value and the other is negative X value.
There are some more info scattered around this forum so just search a little, but the above is the Important parts.
Good luck, and have fun.
Linda
Shortline2
Joined: 28th Oct. 2002
Hello again,
First, sorry if that post of mine was a little short and not very full of info - I did not have lot of time to type it up, so it become very short.
I did a little more info for a general spline in another post of mine in another thread, to be found here - but that deals with a general spline and not one for running trains on.
Mention the chunky-mesh track is not something I would normally do, as I never personally liked that track and when people ask how to make a custom track I tend to think they mean a mesh based one.
Sorry for giving out not so good advice as people might have though about me.
Now, to try answer the post even better, let us look at the config part which might also be a problem. So, I've copied over my post from the Spline thread, and rebuild it a little to fit a track config.
But, first, some other info not related to the config but the creating part:
I guess any 3D program operates along the same lines, you have a coordinate system where X are left to right, Y are from you and into the screen, while Z are from your desk up to your roof.
For Trainz this means X coordinates involves the part going left to right when looking at the front of an object, while the Y is the part from you into the scene, and the Z goes from the ground up to the sky.
With this knowledge on hand, a spline is for Trainz a mesh that repeats it self by attaching it's Y=0 end of the mesh into it's negative Y end thus making a unbroken looking longer mesh repeating for ever.
Hence, it is important for the look that those two ends fit into each other exactly so you don't end up seeing a seam/tear/border there.
Make sure that each segment vertex has the same X & Z value of the mesh while the Y is either 0 or for instance -4 (for a 4m long mesh).
With the mesh in order, time to look at the config:
Below is a config file made for TRS2004.
kuid <kuid2:77573:26008:1> This is your asset number, first part '77573' is your creator number, given by Auran - and used on all your creations. Second part is your own unique number, can't never be used again unless you need to update this asset. Third part is a version number, 1 means it's first version in this case.
kind "track" This is an important part, this tag tells Trainz that this asset is a "repeater type", namely a track - which is the kind used for all splines, whether they are tracks or just splines like roads, fences and so on. You also has a kind called Bridge, which is also a repeating type of asset, but which it self reference a kind track so it's a little special and not covered here.
region "USA - Cripple Creek" This info used to be important for TRS2004 and below as it was only one of two category places in the choose item window.
type "Mining" This was the second important TRS2004 category part, I think it has been dropped ever since TRS2006 but this config is for TRS2004, but should work later too.
rgb 0,0,0 This used to tell Trainz which color the track was to have on the minimap, ever since TRS2006 this has not worked that way anymore.
asset-filename "18inch_track" This is the name of your *.im file from your 3D program, except you leave out the file end of the name.
length 4 This is an important tag, as it tells the length of your asset, if you made a asset end at negative Y=4 the number would be like it is here, 4. Is your asset ending at Y=-6,096m you would type 6.096 instead of 4. Always use a metric number here!
width 1.24 How important this tag is I don't know, it was used when I started creating, and seem to be still in use, so I have it included always. It just tells the width of your asset - which is the full distance from your negative X info to your positive X info, in meters of course.
istrack 1 This is the part that tells Trainz that you can either run a train on this spline or not run trains on it. If it is 0 it acts as a normal spline and no trains can run on it, set it to 1 like here and you can run trains on it, even if it looks like a bunch of houses or whatever.
bendy 1 This used to be important to tell Trainz to either bend a asset at each segment making a more rounded curve or to just leave it at angled curves/corners by using 0 instead of the 1 as used here.
kuid-table
{
} This tag is a list of the kuid's you have used in your asset, in this case the list should be blank as you don't reference any other kuids due to the kind being Track.
Had the kind been a non spline type you might have had a use for this tag.
obsolete-table
{
} This is the place you put in any of your kuid numbers this asset is suppose to be an update to, not sure how important this tag is after we got the kuid2 system.
username "18inch mine rail" This is the name you see inside of Trainz, in the list of assets to use in a map.
description "18-inch gauge track.
Polygons: 24" This is the description part, where you can describe your asset in a few words so others downloading it can get a idea what it is for other then just looking at a small picture or the name of the asset.
trainz-build 2 This just tells Trainz that this is a TRS2004 asset, pre service packs.
category-class "TR" This is an important tag as it helps Trainz to category the type, what each code stands for I used to get from a pdf file called CCG (Content Creation Guide)
category-region-0 "US"
category-region-1 "AU"
category-region-2 "NZ" This is the old TRS2004 and below way of writing which region this asset sort of belong under, as your list of asset grows longer and Trainz evolves into a better program, like TS2009 - this info will help in narrowing down stuff that can be used for a certain region based map. This type of writing is still working in TS2009, even if the way of writing it changes a little from TRS2006 onward. To use this writing style, make sure your tag trainz-build is set to 2, telling Trainz that this is a TRS2004 asset.
category-era-0 "1860s"
category-era-1 "1870s"
category-era-2 "1880s"
category-era-3 "1890s"
category-era-4 "1900s"
category-era-5 "1910s"
category-era-6 "1920s"
category-era-7 "1930s"
category-era-8 "1940s"
category-era-9 "1950s"
category-era-10 "1960s"
category-era-11 "1970s"
category-era-12 "1980s"
category-era-13 "1990s"
category-era-14 "2000s" This is the old TRS2004 and below way of writing which era this asset sort of belong under, as your list of asset grows longer and Trainz evolves into a better program, like TS2009 - this info will help in narrowing down stuff that can be used for a certain time based map. This type of writing is still working in TS2009, even if the way of writing it changes a little from TRS2006 onward. To use this writing style, make sure your tag trainz-build is set to 2, telling Trainz that this is a TRS2004 asset.
thumbnails
{
0
{
image "$screenshot$.jpg"
width 240
height 180
}
} This is tag where you put in the filename of a screen shot of your item, inside the same folder as your asset it. Make it 240 pixel wide and 180 pixel high to show in the preview window on both the DLS and in CMP if you have TRS2006 or later. You can name it anything, but if you use the naming way as I did above it will also show up in TrainzObjects if you use TRS2004 and below.
------- end config -------
I hope the above make some sense, if not, just ask and I try to help.
Best of luck
Linda
First, sorry if that post of mine was a little short and not very full of info - I did not have lot of time to type it up, so it become very short.
I did a little more info for a general spline in another post of mine in another thread, to be found here - but that deals with a general spline and not one for running trains on.
Mention the chunky-mesh track is not something I would normally do, as I never personally liked that track and when people ask how to make a custom track I tend to think they mean a mesh based one.
Sorry for giving out not so good advice as people might have though about me.
Now, to try answer the post even better, let us look at the config part which might also be a problem. So, I've copied over my post from the Spline thread, and rebuild it a little to fit a track config.
But, first, some other info not related to the config but the creating part:
I guess any 3D program operates along the same lines, you have a coordinate system where X are left to right, Y are from you and into the screen, while Z are from your desk up to your roof.
For Trainz this means X coordinates involves the part going left to right when looking at the front of an object, while the Y is the part from you into the scene, and the Z goes from the ground up to the sky.
With this knowledge on hand, a spline is for Trainz a mesh that repeats it self by attaching it's Y=0 end of the mesh into it's negative Y end thus making a unbroken looking longer mesh repeating for ever.
Hence, it is important for the look that those two ends fit into each other exactly so you don't end up seeing a seam/tear/border there.
Make sure that each segment vertex has the same X & Z value of the mesh while the Y is either 0 or for instance -4 (for a 4m long mesh).
With the mesh in order, time to look at the config:
Below is a config file made for TRS2004.
kuid <kuid2:77573:26008:1> This is your asset number, first part '77573' is your creator number, given by Auran - and used on all your creations. Second part is your own unique number, can't never be used again unless you need to update this asset. Third part is a version number, 1 means it's first version in this case.
kind "track" This is an important part, this tag tells Trainz that this asset is a "repeater type", namely a track - which is the kind used for all splines, whether they are tracks or just splines like roads, fences and so on. You also has a kind called Bridge, which is also a repeating type of asset, but which it self reference a kind track so it's a little special and not covered here.
region "USA - Cripple Creek" This info used to be important for TRS2004 and below as it was only one of two category places in the choose item window.
type "Mining" This was the second important TRS2004 category part, I think it has been dropped ever since TRS2006 but this config is for TRS2004, but should work later too.
rgb 0,0,0 This used to tell Trainz which color the track was to have on the minimap, ever since TRS2006 this has not worked that way anymore.
asset-filename "18inch_track" This is the name of your *.im file from your 3D program, except you leave out the file end of the name.
length 4 This is an important tag, as it tells the length of your asset, if you made a asset end at negative Y=4 the number would be like it is here, 4. Is your asset ending at Y=-6,096m you would type 6.096 instead of 4. Always use a metric number here!
width 1.24 How important this tag is I don't know, it was used when I started creating, and seem to be still in use, so I have it included always. It just tells the width of your asset - which is the full distance from your negative X info to your positive X info, in meters of course.
istrack 1 This is the part that tells Trainz that you can either run a train on this spline or not run trains on it. If it is 0 it acts as a normal spline and no trains can run on it, set it to 1 like here and you can run trains on it, even if it looks like a bunch of houses or whatever.
bendy 1 This used to be important to tell Trainz to either bend a asset at each segment making a more rounded curve or to just leave it at angled curves/corners by using 0 instead of the 1 as used here.
kuid-table
{
} This tag is a list of the kuid's you have used in your asset, in this case the list should be blank as you don't reference any other kuids due to the kind being Track.
Had the kind been a non spline type you might have had a use for this tag.
obsolete-table
{
} This is the place you put in any of your kuid numbers this asset is suppose to be an update to, not sure how important this tag is after we got the kuid2 system.
username "18inch mine rail" This is the name you see inside of Trainz, in the list of assets to use in a map.
description "18-inch gauge track.
Polygons: 24" This is the description part, where you can describe your asset in a few words so others downloading it can get a idea what it is for other then just looking at a small picture or the name of the asset.
trainz-build 2 This just tells Trainz that this is a TRS2004 asset, pre service packs.
category-class "TR" This is an important tag as it helps Trainz to category the type, what each code stands for I used to get from a pdf file called CCG (Content Creation Guide)
category-region-0 "US"
category-region-1 "AU"
category-region-2 "NZ" This is the old TRS2004 and below way of writing which region this asset sort of belong under, as your list of asset grows longer and Trainz evolves into a better program, like TS2009 - this info will help in narrowing down stuff that can be used for a certain region based map. This type of writing is still working in TS2009, even if the way of writing it changes a little from TRS2006 onward. To use this writing style, make sure your tag trainz-build is set to 2, telling Trainz that this is a TRS2004 asset.
category-era-0 "1860s"
category-era-1 "1870s"
category-era-2 "1880s"
category-era-3 "1890s"
category-era-4 "1900s"
category-era-5 "1910s"
category-era-6 "1920s"
category-era-7 "1930s"
category-era-8 "1940s"
category-era-9 "1950s"
category-era-10 "1960s"
category-era-11 "1970s"
category-era-12 "1980s"
category-era-13 "1990s"
category-era-14 "2000s" This is the old TRS2004 and below way of writing which era this asset sort of belong under, as your list of asset grows longer and Trainz evolves into a better program, like TS2009 - this info will help in narrowing down stuff that can be used for a certain time based map. This type of writing is still working in TS2009, even if the way of writing it changes a little from TRS2006 onward. To use this writing style, make sure your tag trainz-build is set to 2, telling Trainz that this is a TRS2004 asset.
thumbnails
{
0
{
image "$screenshot$.jpg"
width 240
height 180
}
} This is tag where you put in the filename of a screen shot of your item, inside the same folder as your asset it. Make it 240 pixel wide and 180 pixel high to show in the preview window on both the DLS and in CMP if you have TRS2006 or later. You can name it anything, but if you use the naming way as I did above it will also show up in TrainzObjects if you use TRS2004 and below.
------- end config -------
I hope the above make some sense, if not, just ask and I try to help.
Best of luck
Linda
Last edited:
steamdrivre
Narrow gauge or nothing
Wonderful information, Linda. I'll use it myself and thanks.
Now, as far as the Chunky Mesh version goes, it's an easy way to do it without a 3D program. The detail is lacking because of the principal used per the CCG but it is very easy to do.
As Josef_Pav has said, it's all texturing work doing it this way.
I've just released 3 versions of chunky mesh track and anyone is welcomed to use any of the information within my files.
Help yourself to my track and modify it anyway you want to. Use my texture file for a guide and maybe you can make better looking track then I did. Keep in mind that my track is 3' ng and you will have to gauge yours accordingly.
Search the DLS for, steamdrivre or go to, thegrindre's web site. HERE
Have fun!
Rick
Now, as far as the Chunky Mesh version goes, it's an easy way to do it without a 3D program. The detail is lacking because of the principal used per the CCG but it is very easy to do.
As Josef_Pav has said, it's all texturing work doing it this way.
I've just released 3 versions of chunky mesh track and anyone is welcomed to use any of the information within my files.
Help yourself to my track and modify it anyway you want to. Use my texture file for a guide and maybe you can make better looking track then I did. Keep in mind that my track is 3' ng and you will have to gauge yours accordingly.
Search the DLS for, steamdrivre or go to, thegrindre's web site. HERE
Have fun!
Rick
Last edited: