Grid size (yellow square) appears to be 1 m by 1 m only, not 5 or 10 m

MartindeGroot

New member
A newly created route with SD instead of HD should have a grid size of 5 m or 20 m.

But when I measure the width of 5 yellow squares by adding a ruler the length is only 5 m, not 25 m or 50 m.

I placed a track on the board and placed a steam locomotive on the track. Then I measured the length of the locomotive with another ruler. The result was approx. 8 m and and approx 8 yellow squares were between the ends of the ruler.

So it definitely looks like the grid size is 1 m not 10 m. Am I doing something wrong? On video tutorials about building a route I see that the grid is 10 m.
Any answers to this question / problem will be much appreciated. I am still a beginner.
 
looks like the grid size is 1 m not 10 m
That, I suspect, is your answer.

One factor is that the distances on the screen are dependent on the scale used - real scale, G scale, HO scale, etc. Check the Working Scale setting in your Edit Route controls (press Ctrl E). Is it showing "Real Scale"? Real Scale will give you 10m grid squares regardless of the resolution (HD, 10m, 5m) you are using.

Another factor is that the bare baseboard grid pattern you see on the screen is a texture not a hard-wired grid. It is a visual guide and not intended as an accurate measurement tool. When I need a measurement I always use a ruler, I never count grid squares.
 
I suspect you are in HD Terrain mode. On the opening of a new route in Surveyor Classic, you are presented with a dialog which offers you a choice of Route Edit Detail as SD and HD. These choices do not refer to the resolution of the baseboard but instead refer to available brush size for doing detail work on a HD resolution baseboard. That is very confusing to even us old timers. In Surveyor 2.0, you need go under the Edit menu to Edit Route to see the above mentioned dialog.

Move the compass to the edge of the baseboard where you can see below the surface. If it appears to be just a flat ground surface with nothing underneath then you are in HD Terrain mode. The 5/10 meter mode will show layers like a cake.

As Peter said the grid texture is a texture image assigned by the region you choose. When N3V introduced the default region, the baseboard had a grass texture. Some users wanted the grid back so they created new regions that used the old built in grid texture which is sized for the 5/10m grid. So it is possible to choose a region with the old grid pattern overlaid on an HD Terrain baseboard which is confusing.

Now in Surveyor under the Display menu there is a menu item of Ground and it offers the choices of Textured, Transparent and Grid. Choosing Grid here when you have an HD Terrain baseboard will display a grid pattern that is based on the yellow squares being 1m in size. You can verify this by setting the radius of the brush to 1 m and moving it over the grid where it covers a 2x2 area showing the diameter of the brush to be 2m so the radius is 1m.

If you convert the resolution of the baseboard to 5/10 m with the Display>Ground set to Grid then the grid will change to the old grid texture appropriate for 5/10m baseboard.

One of the shortcomings of using this built in grid is that you can't apply ground textures to it. Doing so pops you back into Textured mode and the grass surface reappears. So you can choose the builtin Grid Region which has the old 10 m grid pattern as the Textured choice to paint ground textures. But going back to Ground>Grid mode returns you to the 1m grid. As I said it can be confusing.
 
Last edited:
To go further on the Route Edit Detail setting. This control has two settings, SD and HD. The settings control the effective radius of the brush tool in Surveyor 2.0. In HD mode, you can set the radius of the brush down to 0.125 and shape terrain and paint textures at that size. In SD mode the effective radius is limited to about 4m. If you set the radius smaller than that it still acts as a 4m brush. In the most recent version of Trainz Plus, the setting can be changed at any time on the Edit Route dialog.
 
Back
Top