Deleting all grass from route.

[nicky9499]

It has come to my attention that framerates can drop to abysmal on certain parts of my route which (I guess) is due to over-generous amounts of grass and shrubs. Is there a way to delete all grass from the entire route then slowly (and professionally) redo everything?

Cheerio,
Nicholas.

 

[Approach_Medium]

It has come to my attention that framerates can drop to abysmal on certain parts of my route which (I guess) is due to over-generous amounts of grass and shrubs. Is there a way to delete all grass from the entire route then slowly (and professionally) redo everything?

Cheerio,
Nicholas.

I have been experimenting with frame rate, and it seems that trees, buildings, and animated objects cause a significant hit on FPS.
I don't think that ground textures (grass, etc) will hurt you unless you're using a lot of different types.
If you're running TS2009, you can replace ground textures, so that you reduce the number of different ones used.
Word of caution here: If your route is large, click the "Current Section Only" button in the replace assets box to limit replacement to the current baseboard square only.
I have had TS crash on me when I try to replace assets on the entire route at once, but then my route is thousands of boards!

Another method of erasing textures is to use "Erzzor", a small app that will remove all textures from the selected and painted area.
If you're interested in Erazor, check this links
Erazor is a two part process. You need both the .exe (the dl is a zip file), and the mesh file.

location on DLS for getting the Erazor mesh required for use of Erazor.
http://www.auran.com/TRS2004/DLS_viewasset.php?AssetID=82855

website explaining how to download and use the Erazor tool.

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/archive/index.php/t-1471.html

Direct link to Auran Trainz forum where the discussion began

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=1471



FW

 

[nicky9499]

Hi fwassner,

I'm not referring to ground textures, but grass objects which I have populated my tracksides with. They're in the thousands for every mile of track and this I realize is becoming sort of overkill (and unnecessary in a session). I was thinking something like deleting the kuid of the grasses from the routes config file...

Out of curiosity, can Erazor work with selected textures or does it only eraze all textures in the marked region?

Cheerio,
Nicholas.

 

[johnwhelan]

Hi fwassner,

I'm not referring to ground textures, but grass objects which I have populated my tracksides with. They're in the thousands for every mile of track and this I realize is becoming sort of overkill (and unnecessary in a session). I was thinking something like deleting the kuid of the grasses from the routes config file...

Out of curiosity, can Erazor work with selected textures or does it only eraze all textures in the marked region?

Cheerio,
Nicholas.

Which version are you using? TS2009 maybe able to cope with them better. Also it has some sort of thing to show the most demanding resource hogs.

Have a look at your grasses and seeif they use more than one texture file if they do just changing to ones that only use one maybe enough.

Cheerio John

 

[Approach_Medium]

Oh, so you're talking about stuff like the reeds I was using along my track. I placed so many of them I did notice somewhat of a performance hit. I deleted them one at a time, although it would have been easier to just remove them from the KUID table.
You could also temporarily disable the asset in CM, then go into the route and delete missing assets. I would try the config file or use CDP to edit the KUID table.
I have way too many on my route already, and I've only begun to populate it.

As for Erazor, you paint an area of your route for clearing, and Erazor will remove everything under the painted area. It is not at all selective.

FW

 

[JCitron]

There is a way to delete large areas of objects, but not necessarily all at once in TRS2006 and TRS2009.

Very simply select a blank area of the board with the copy paste tool.

1) Uncheck terrain paste

2) Uncheck textures.

3) paste the no object selection in the area where you want to remove the plants, trees and other objects.

I do this all the time when I've pasted too many objects in an area.

This isn't ideal, but it's better than editing config files, or suffering from stiff mouse-button finger caused by deleting one object at a time.

John

 

[Approach_Medium]

Will that method remove unused KUID's from the route?
If not, you may still suffer FPS hits, because the route is going to load these assets as long as they are in the KUID list.

The more I work/play with Trainz, the more I realize that to really take advantage of the features and have the most fun with the game, you need to maintain your assets, which sometimes involves going into CM and opening config or at least opening in CDP to remove unused assets from the KUID table, or to change unusable KUID's in broken assets.

FW

Edit: I am sorry. I was totally wrong about this.
Editing maps (routes) in CM or CDP does nothing. The config.txt file is re-written with each save of the route, and all KUID's that are currently on the map will be written into the config file.
So, your method of pasting a blank texture is the way to go. If you remove the last instance of any KUID, it should then not be re-written into the config.txt file and is gone from your route.

 

[ldowns]

Another way to do this (at least in 2006 on), but time-consuming, is as follows:

In CMP open your grass asset(s) for edit, choose Edit in Explorer, and copy (don't move!) the folder with the asset files to another safe place on your hard disk. Then recommit the grass asset and then delete it in CMP. This removes it from Trainz (note: disabling the asset won't do this, only hide it, but it will still appear in layouts that used it, so you have to delete it to really get rid of it).

Open your layout in Surveyor, and after it's loaded, choose Delete missing assets from the menu. Resave (better to do so under a new name, just in case you change your mind).

Now go back into CMP and choose Install new content (or something similar, I don't have Trainz in front of me), point to the folder where you copied the grass to, and reinstall and commit it. You should have your grass back in your asset list, but it will no longer appear in the modified layout.

This won't work with built-in assets, by the way, only ones that you've installed yourself.

If you have 2009, you can just use the replace asset tool instead, replacing the grass with nothing (it doesn't just work with textures).

Altogether pretty involved, but if you've got a very large layout with a ton of scattered grass splines it may be faster in the long run.

--Lamont

 

[nicky9499]

There is a way to delete large areas of objects, but not necessarily all at once in TRS2006 and TRS2009.

Very simply select a blank area of the board with the copy paste tool.

1) Uncheck terrain paste

2) Uncheck textures.

3) paste the no object selection in the area where you want to remove the plants, trees and other objects.

I do this all the time when I've pasted too many objects in an area.

This isn't ideal, but it's better than editing config files, or suffering from stiff mouse-button finger caused by deleting one object at a time.

Hi John,

The area in question is very dense urban areas, therefore pasting a blank grid will affect surrounding buildings. Which brings us to the next suggestion..

Another way to do this (at least in 2006 on), but time-consuming, is as follows:

In CMP open your grass asset(s) for edit, choose Edit in Explorer, and copy (don't move!) the folder with the asset files to another safe place on your hard disk. Then recommit the grass asset and then delete it in CMP. This removes it from Trainz (note: disabling the asset won't do this, only hide it, but it will still appear in layouts that used it, so you have to delete it to really get rid of it).

Open your layout in Surveyor, and after it's loaded, choose Delete missing assets from the menu. Resave (better to do so under a new name, just in case you change your mind).

Now go back into CMP and choose Install new content (or something similar, I don't have Trainz in front of me), point to the folder where you copied the grass to, and reinstall and commit it. You should have your grass back in your asset list, but it will no longer appear in the modified layout.

This won't work with built-in assets, by the way, only ones that you've installed yourself.

If you have 2009, you can just use the replace asset tool instead, replacing the grass with nothing (it doesn't just work with textures).

The asset replacement tool comes in handy if it can replace grass assets with nothing. This way (by setting current board only), I won't have to redo the wide expanses of not-very-much. If this is unsuccessful, I'll try Lamont's suggestion.

Thanks goes out to all for the help.
Cheerio,
Nicholas.

 

[Approach_Medium]

Another way to do this (at least in 2006 on), but time-consuming, is as follows:

In CMP open your grass asset(s) for edit, choose Edit in Explorer, and copy (don't move!) the folder with the asset files to another safe place on your hard disk. Then recommit the grass asset and then delete it in CMP. This removes it from Trainz (note: disabling the asset won't do this, only hide it, but it will still appear in layouts that used it, so you have to delete it to really get rid of it).

Open your layout in Surveyor, and after it's loaded, choose Delete missing assets from the menu. Resave (better to do so under a new name, just in case you change your mind).

Now go back into CMP and choose Install new content (or something similar, I don't have Trainz in front of me), point to the folder where you copied the grass to, and reinstall and commit it. You should have your grass back in your asset list, but it will no longer appear in the modified layout.

This won't work with built-in assets, by the way, only ones that you've installed yourself.

If you have 2009, you can just use the replace asset tool instead, replacing the grass with nothing (it doesn't just work with textures).

Altogether pretty involved, but if you've got a very large layout with a ton of scattered grass splines it may be faster in the long run.

--Lamont

This will work only for non-built-in assets. Built-in cannot be deleted.

FW

 

[JCitron]

I tried using the asset replacement tool to remove assets, but that doesn't work for me. It would be great if it did.

I've found that you have to fiddle with the size of the selection in order to get it right. Overall it's a bit on the horsey side, but it does the job effectively.

To be honest, I don't don't like fiddling or fuzting whith the assets unless I really have to. Don't get me wrong here. I've fixed config files and even modified textures, but as far as poking in the config files for the routes, I've stayed out of them. So if I can find a way to work on the route within Surveyor, I will go that route first (pun fully intended).

I feel that the integrity of the route is jeopardized every time we open it in some manner other than through Surveyor. I've been working on the same route for a number of years now, with back ups along the way, and I've had very few problems. I've even integrated my original route, which I tossed off to the side thinking it was trashed. I simply updated, removed the older, less attractive, and non-conforming assets, and the operation over these sections is just as good as the rest.

John

 

[aardvark1]

Replacer Tool....

For TS2009..... not tested on other versions.

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=41999&highlight=replacer+tool

Have fun,

 

[nicky9499]

Hi Aardvark. I doubt that would work, as the replacement asset is essentially an object below ground level which I think will still affect framerates. Does the DLS have a 'nothing' asset? As in, I will replace all grass (or any asset for that matter) with this 'nothing' and all the grass (or whatever) will be gone.

Cheerio,
Nicholas.

 

[itareus]

This is just an idea - not tested in any way - but it might work....

***

Create a clone of a suitable asset.

Use the replace tool to replace the unwanted asset(s) with the new clone asset.

Exit the route.

Delete the cloned asset from CM2.

You have now got "missing assets" in the route.

Remove these now "missing" assets.

***

As I said it's just an idea. Definitely do a backup of the route before attempting this!

 

[nicky9499]

Sounds good. I'll try it when I get home. Thank you.

Cheerio,
Nicholas.

 

[Patrick31]

A nothing asset now that is something that would be usefull, would love to have something like that.

 

[aardvark1]

Hi Aardvark. I doubt that would work, as the replacement asset is essentially an object below ground level which I think will still affect framerates. Does the DLS have a 'nothing' asset? As in, I will replace all grass (or any asset for that matter) with this 'nothing' and all the grass (or whatever) will be gone.

Cheerio,
Nicholas.

Hi Nicholas,

Yes, the asset is below ground level, but the yellow box is extremely small and should have minimal impact framerates.

You might try this on one (1) board and see if the framerates in that area are improved or not.

Have fun,

 

[johnwhelan]

Hi Nicholas,

Yes, the asset is below ground level, but the yellow box is extremely small and should have minimal impact framerates.

You might try this on one (1) board and see if the framerates in that area are improved or not.

Have fun,

Any asset has some poly equivalent overhead associated with it. 300 for the mesh and 200 for the texture file on top of how many polys etc it is.