how do I replace assets

[45581fred]

Hi Derrmy and Bill69
No problems with that. Though I do quibble with the 99% slower assertion! And removing the "Obsolete" reference does provide a very quick "undo" option.
I do believe in having alternatives, though. (I prefer to be in control!)
30 years in managing in Mechanical Engineering taught me that the devil is in the detail.
Which means it often pays to understand several of the amazing varieties of solutions there always are to any problem.
And yes, I am playing with an 80 mile long Double Track route.

 

[nimec]

30 years of 'managing' in Mechanical Engineering means nothing to me and suggests that as a manager, perhaps you were not good enough to be an engineer per se. I recruited engineers for 38 years for one of my countries largest industries and with that experience would always cast a jundiced eye at someone who tried push a tech point based on 'management' experience. I also find it strange that you dont have the courage to state your country of origin. Normally I would not repond to someone who doesn't have the confidence to state their country of origin, but in your case because of the claim you make, I've made an exception.

l

 

[wylie]

One thing I will add, just for completeness.... As has been pointed out above, there are some assets that you cannot replace this way, however there are also assets you may not WANT to replace this way (even though you can). Items such as signals, levers, and anything else which has had its name or properties adjusted - Trainz will not transfer the properties to the new asset, so even if you use this, be prepared for a lot of manual work as well. There is no simple fix for globally replacing multiple assets in Trainz (such as to convert a route from one style to another, or one region to another).

 

[rwk]

How do you find where an object is on a route? Like a particular track that shows up in the dependencies list that I want to delete? I can't just delete the kuid of the track in the config, can I? It's on a large DEM route that is mostly unfinished, with some track and buildings, but I can't find the track on the route in surveyor that I want to get rid of.

 

[sniper297]

"I can't just delete the kuid of the track in the config, can I?"

No. Surveyor does not read from the KUID table at all, it writes to the KUID table based on what is in the data files. Best method would be to use CTRL M in surveyor to bring up the map, look on the map for stray track sections. Be advised you might not find the track itself - for example I have 1 track wood,<kuid:-1:15> in the dependencies list, where did that come from? I never used that track anywhere! Viewing the dependent assets for that asset I find a bunch listed, including;

Oil Refinery,<kuid:-3:10031>
Portal,<kuid:-3:10192>
PowerHouseNS,<kuid:69695:103>

So if you used a bridge or some other object that uses the mystery track, the reason you can't find it might be because it's part of something else.

 

[wylie]

So if you used a bridge or some other object that uses the mystery track, the reason you can't find it might be because it's part of something else.

Thats a good point. A lot of assets (Industries, bridges, etc) have a "default" track assigned to them, which is auto replaced by your preferred track when you connect to them. The Auran "1 track wood" and its variants are often used for this, and since they are listed as dependencies in the industry asset, they become a dependency of your route, even if they are not visible, or used anywhere due to the replacement. I think this is what sniper297 was saying but it wasnt so clear to me.

To answer rwk's question, the "Find Objects" option on the "main menu" dropdown can be very helpful in finding things on a route - provided they are named properly.

 

[sniper297]

Hmmm, but if you're looking for Auran 2009 jarrah track that you placed somewhere to see what it looked like and forgot to delete it, Find Objects won't help you find that. Single track you could use replace assets, or if it's something that can't be replaced open the 2009 jarrah track and do the Images2TGA on it, then paint the track texture with diagonal pink and neon green stripes then commit it, make it easier to spot.

 

[rwk]

I found the track. It was part of a tunnel. The track would turn faulty if I tried to upgrade it to 2.9, for TS12 and it had warnings in it's earlier build state so I replaced it with Jointed Rail track that I was using by using the replace objects tool. It worked. You can replace default tunnel and bridge track that way, and it won't affect the bridge or tunnel object itself, if you try to place another tunnel or bridge it will still have the default track. This will only work if the bridge or tunnel has track that is readable separately from the object it's attached to and that you know the track's name. You can't find the name of the track by clicking on the object, because it will only tell you the name of the tunnel or bridge. You need to check the dependencies of the tunnel or bridge in CMP to find the name of the track. If you replace track, it will replace all instances of that same track, if you have multiple objects on the route like tunnels, it will replace all of the track in all the tunnels if it's the same.

 

[JCitron]

I found the track. It was part of a tunnel. The track would turn faulty if I tried to upgrade it to 2.9, for TS12 and it had warnings in it's earlier build state so I replaced it with Jointed Rail track that I was using by using the replace objects tool. It worked. You can replace default tunnel and bridge track that way, and it won't affect the bridge or tunnel object itself, if you try to place another tunnel or bridge it will still have the default track. This will only work if the bridge or tunnel has track that is readable separately from the object it's attached to and that you know the track's name. You can't find the name of the track by clicking on the object, because it will only tell you the name of the tunnel or bridge. You need to check the dependencies of the tunnel or bridge in CMP to find the name of the track. If you replace track, it will replace all instances of that same track, if you have multiple objects on the route like tunnels, it will replace all of the track in all the tunnels if it's the same.

I've done this with double-track too where it was used on a route. It's a nice work around for this issue.

Regarding the track direction thing, I think there's still an issue here although some may disagree. I noticed that when placing a train car or locomotive it will face the direction the track is going. Okay, yes, we all know that. In driver we can swap the driving direction around so that going forward is always the same no matter what direction the loco is facing. This I noticed only works in external views. If we were to then climb into the cab, the direction goes back to how the track was placed. I have also observed AI drivers backup and attempt to go a different route only on track that was laid in the "wrong" direction. The use of track direction markers helps solve this issue, so it's good to remember that. This is with all versions I've used including TRS2004 through TS12. So maybe the track direction thing may not appear to affect the trains themselves, but it sure does mess with the AI and the human drivers.

John

 

[blackknight]

Excellent tutorial! And it works as advertised.