(I know it doesn't show up, so let me just specify first, this is in TRS2006)
I apologize for my novel, just recounting what I've managed to pull off in the course of 12 hours sitting in front of Trainz...
So I've built a couple routes for kicks in the past but I always ended up going overboard and somehow ending up very unrealistic despite my best attempts, so I finally decided to bite the bullet and try a proto route instead. I figured I'd try something small first, even if the finished product wouldn't be very "exciting", so I'm building the Arcade & Attica, a shortline nearby where I grew up. My first hurdle was getting the DEM/TIGER into Trainz.
I found two tutorials, one at Virtual Railroader (http://www.virtualrailroader.com/DEM-Trainz.pdf) and the Wewain tutorial (http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.ance...rrainGeneration/Computer-generatedTerrain.htm)
They were both very helpful in conjunction with each other, but there were things I wouldn't have known from just reading one. (VR only mentions HOG, nothing about getting it, WW only shows 2004, etc...)
After a little searching I was able to find the three DEM maps I needed on GIS Data Depot and get them merged and exported (exported the entire image per WW, no cropping as VR showed). Then, after about an hour of searching and pulling my hair out trying to get the TIGER data into an image for export, I finally figured out that you need to "rebuild" the TIGER database in MicroDEM in order to get newly download data to show up (using the new MicroDEM, not one of the older versions where it was apparently easier).
That part done, it was fairly easy going about using HOG to get the ground file and then using CMP to replace the file on the route. Opening up the route again in Trainz, First thing I noticed was that the tiger data was only showing up on the minimap, not on the actual baseboards. No biggie I think to myself, I can make this work.
So I set about removing some of the extra baseboards (HOG's "filter" picked up a second railroad off to the side that is unrelated, and actually not there anymore, but that's not what counts)... Oops, with every baseboard I delete, a board's worth of TIGER image disappears elsewhere... Oh shoot, there's the autosave, so I close, replace the ground file with the other copy that I fortunately I had left backed up in the HOG folder, and reopen. OK, try this again, I start by laying down the railroad splines first. A bit rough, since there was only imagery on the minimap... Zoom way in on the minimap - Right click in map to center on a line, click to set a track spline, right click a little farther on the map, set another spline point, repeat... Some things need a little smoothing out, but I wanted to get them down. Done. Same with the roads, done. I'm beginning to understand Carpel Tunnel.
Then I decided to start painting the areas where the water is according to the TIGER data... No go, painting the ground has the same effect - my minimap's tiger imagery starts disappearing. Oops, fortunately it was in an area away from the RR... use a water spline instead just to get it down before I lose anymore imagery.
So that's roughly where I'm at right now before I decided it was time to let go of them mouse and get some food.
Hopefully some of these observations are still helpful to people nowadays that 2006 is slowly going away...
Couple questions too:
I apologize for my novel, just recounting what I've managed to pull off in the course of 12 hours sitting in front of Trainz...
So I've built a couple routes for kicks in the past but I always ended up going overboard and somehow ending up very unrealistic despite my best attempts, so I finally decided to bite the bullet and try a proto route instead. I figured I'd try something small first, even if the finished product wouldn't be very "exciting", so I'm building the Arcade & Attica, a shortline nearby where I grew up. My first hurdle was getting the DEM/TIGER into Trainz.
I found two tutorials, one at Virtual Railroader (http://www.virtualrailroader.com/DEM-Trainz.pdf) and the Wewain tutorial (http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.ance...rrainGeneration/Computer-generatedTerrain.htm)
They were both very helpful in conjunction with each other, but there were things I wouldn't have known from just reading one. (VR only mentions HOG, nothing about getting it, WW only shows 2004, etc...)
After a little searching I was able to find the three DEM maps I needed on GIS Data Depot and get them merged and exported (exported the entire image per WW, no cropping as VR showed). Then, after about an hour of searching and pulling my hair out trying to get the TIGER data into an image for export, I finally figured out that you need to "rebuild" the TIGER database in MicroDEM in order to get newly download data to show up (using the new MicroDEM, not one of the older versions where it was apparently easier).
That part done, it was fairly easy going about using HOG to get the ground file and then using CMP to replace the file on the route. Opening up the route again in Trainz, First thing I noticed was that the tiger data was only showing up on the minimap, not on the actual baseboards. No biggie I think to myself, I can make this work.
So I set about removing some of the extra baseboards (HOG's "filter" picked up a second railroad off to the side that is unrelated, and actually not there anymore, but that's not what counts)... Oops, with every baseboard I delete, a board's worth of TIGER image disappears elsewhere... Oh shoot, there's the autosave, so I close, replace the ground file with the other copy that I fortunately I had left backed up in the HOG folder, and reopen. OK, try this again, I start by laying down the railroad splines first. A bit rough, since there was only imagery on the minimap... Zoom way in on the minimap - Right click in map to center on a line, click to set a track spline, right click a little farther on the map, set another spline point, repeat... Some things need a little smoothing out, but I wanted to get them down. Done. Same with the roads, done. I'm beginning to understand Carpel Tunnel.
Then I decided to start painting the areas where the water is according to the TIGER data... No go, painting the ground has the same effect - my minimap's tiger imagery starts disappearing. Oops, fortunately it was in an area away from the RR... use a water spline instead just to get it down before I lose anymore imagery.
So that's roughly where I'm at right now before I decided it was time to let go of them mouse and get some food.
Hopefully some of these observations are still helpful to people nowadays that 2006 is slowly going away...
Couple questions too:
- Was there something I should've done differently to get the baseboards to show the TIGER data?
- Obviously TIGER and DEM data isn't perfect, so there are some very odd rises and dips in my current trackage. Some of them are easily explained by underpasses and bridges over water... How do you experienced surveyors go about determining proper grading of the track along the proto route?
- Is there data available for MicroDEM that I can use in the future if I can get the baseboards to show that is more along the lines of satellite imagery for building placement, etc? (I know there's a method on DLS that has 9 baseboards, but my understanding is that take a lot of time, I'm not that patient.
)