Iguodala Metro

[opus722]

Discharging passengers works the same way. Outside of major population centers with large terminals and union stations, such as Chicago and even smaller ones like Cincinnati or Richmond, trains won't be unloading that many people. The train crew will sit passengers based on where they are getting off at so that when the 12 car long distance train arrives at Middle-of-nowhere, UT with a platform that only handle 4 cars the engineer only has to line up the cars where passengers getting off at that stop are seated.

I think what cascaderailroad is getting at is that developments weren't always developments. When the railroad was originally graded out in say, 188-whatever, there was nothing there but a few hundred farmers, if even that many, along the river. Fast forward to the 1950s and now you have 70+ years of development spurred by the rail-link with even more coming with the post-war housing boom. That tranquil stream bed is now covered by commercial district and they didn't realign the railroad to build it. Consider the layers of development then when building - ask what was here first? Topography, waterways, rocks, etc., then trading paths or wagon trails, followed by the railroad, this sparks an economic boom leading to a growing city, then major highways and later interstates will start popping up in the mid-20th century. When Jimbob Pioneer plopped his house in that valley in the 1860s he didn't draw a grid out of what he wanted the city to look like 100 years later.

 

[Kris94]

Well this is still a major population area. Look at the Peninsula Commute. There was San Francisco and numerous other towns that surrounded it with a decent population. As far as what was here first, I never thought of that as no one told me to think of that when planning a route that's in the 1950s or in any time period for that matter. Wish I could've gotten that info a bit earlier but I guess I'll make the necessary changes. Now I might have to think a little bit more on that since it wasn't something that I was considering for this route at all. This is a suburban setting where it's not downtown but there are still plenty of buildings to be placed.

 

[Kris94]

Hallo Kris,

thanks for your personal message.

Well, building a city is always challenging. Just if you have a look onto the Municipal Transit Railway Route inside TS12 you will see the result of about one year of work. It was about building some areas and improving it later on by considering the experiences I made while working at other areas.

If you study that route or even a US city on Google maps, you will see that the density of buildings is as most at the downtown area. There you have the tallest buildings close together and multi lane roads runs between them. As more you get away from downtown the buildings gets smaller. Also you have some areas of small service companies between the residential houses and apartments.

Some of your roads running through large buildings does not have sidewalks, but it should. Roads without sidewalks are untypical inside towns - perhaps between small companies but never in front of office or residential buildings.
Also you need to create some road crossovers from one side of the RR to the other. Just go with a bridge over the tracks or with a tunnel below them. Don't use level crossings for main roads too often. There should be a road going from one side of the RR to the other in a distance of about 800 to 1000 Meters. That means one crossover at nearly each baseboard.

Don't put residential houses too close to the tracks - leave a distance of about 10 Meters. Built a fence between the houses and the tracks so the people cannot just walk into the tracks. Also you need to put some grass, bushes and sometimes a little tree around that fence to create a stripe of vegetation going parallel to the tracks.

You start looks good and I see you are working passionately at your route - everybody likes it if somebody follows his intentions and wants to get something done in a good quality - just like you.
I agree with Hert - and I would recommend that you should just take some time to study some town maps at Google maps or some good example city routes at trainz. This time and such a investigation will help you to create your route even better. Still your screens indicates a very good start.
Keep up your good work and have fun doing so

Your's TUME

Thanks for the tips.

 

[boc61]

Take all the advice offered as just that, advice and suggestions. In the end, it's your route so you can do with it as you please. If you are looking for prototypical realism, then study a bit as you build otherwise your imagination can take you wherever you want to go with it.

 

[Kris94]

Take all the advice offered as just that, advice and suggestions. In the end, it's your route so you can do with it as you please. If you are looking for prototypical realism, then study a bit as you build otherwise your imagination can take you wherever you want to go with it.

My route isn't prototype, I don't do prototype as in real life railroads. This is all fiction, look at my title but I'll still make all the necessary improvements as there's always room for improvement.

 

[Kris94]

I've made some changes as I'm adding sidewalks to the streets since the roads I'm using don't have one already attached to it. I don't know if I'll use tunnels but maybe some underpasses because I don't think tunnels under train tracks were all that common in the 1950s. As for the shopping centers I'll just place the shops, stores, etc. on the main road just to make it simple and easier for me and I'll have them on the side of the road that's closest to the railroad tracks as to create an illusion that was stated earlier. Tume I will for now place the homes 20 meters from the tracks just to error on the side of caution & safety and a fence will be placed 15 meters from the tracks. After I return from class, I'll get started on the rest of this.

 

[Kris94]

Ok neither perfect nor complete but as for Hert and a few others who said my houses were built without a purpose saying I needed restaurants, fire & police stations etc. hopefully this is somewhat what you were talking about. I'm not doing little shopping centers that require parking lots and there own little island but I'll place the buildings on the main road across the street from the neighborhoods if that's ok with y'all. I'm still missing some things but when I get up in the morning I'll take care of them. Hopefully you guys are understanding and are somewhat pleased with this.

 

[nicky9499]

Kris at the end of the day you're building a route for yourself and absolutely anything goes. All the suggestions people have put forth in here are not in the "DO THIS OR I'LL GET MAD" context so it's not about pleasing anybody. On the surface it still appears you post some pictures, ask "how's this guys" and peeps offer suggestions but you reject many of said suggestions and come up with excuses to counter them. For example, in the last post you're still disregarding any form of planning I've said, disregarding any form of variety in buildings or track direction as Cascade has said, disregarding building near the tracks first as Hert has said.

 

[Kris94]

I haven't rejected any of them. I've added numerous variety of buildings just as you said. I've also built buildings near the tracks. So your accusations are false. Tume also suggested that I don't put the houses too close to the tracks and add a fence at least 10 meters from the tracks. I put one down 15 meters from the tracks and the houses are at least 20 meters from the tracks. Haven't you been paying any attention? I see from your comments I have not. If I didn't take anyone's suggestions then look at the shots from page one to page five and compare them from page 6 to page 9 and tell me that I haven't improved. It seems you and Hert are the only ones who aren't acknowledging the progress I've made. The tracks are going to be straight the entire route with the exception of industries because that's how the route is supposed to be and how I envisioned it.

 

[Kris94]

If I didn't make improvements but only made excuses then I wouldn't be going from:

To this:

And you say that I have no variations in the buildings well look again.

A screenshot from a route last year:

To this:

Making undulations and mixing textures and using a ballast that blends in with the tracks.

So I didn't make this kind of progress by rejecting suggestions and making excuses.

 

[Kris94]

You`re getting there! Try the DS house splines, just to make some variety in house design.

I'd suggest bringing the buildings a bit closer to the tracks, and changing that brown ballast to match the grey ballast you have better.

There ya go! Now for that ballast...

Getting there, maybe something a bit lighter?

First one was better, go with it.

I have been following this thread the last few days.
I have been a little negative about your work in the past, so I think I should also say it when there is positive things to say:

I see you are rapidly improving your route building skills. The last few city shots look really promising. Keep up the good work Kris, you are doing really nice .

Never seen such a setup at a level crossing! I look forward for more!

My goodness he's got it! Still a bit too much grass downtown, but otherwise you've got it! Keep it up!

I'm not much of a route builder, but I think it's coming along nicely. You have to start somewhere.

So much for me not using suggestions and improving the realism of my route. Need I say more?

 

[hert]

Thats not really building variation. It is funny how your rebuttals are always you trying to justify things.

 

[Kris94]

Thats not really building variation. It is funny how your rebuttals are always you trying to justify things.

I don't need to justify anything. And if that's not building variation, then I don't know what is. You and Nicky are the only ones making these claims.

 

[hert]

Well first off it looks like your using splines, hence why they dont have much variation. Ok here is a pic for you to dwell on.

As you can see from the pic, the tracks lay in between the city in the background and the suburbs in the foregrounds. As you can see layering the buildings in the background smaller up front and taller in the back closely packed together make it look like a decent size city. As for the suburbs, the roads stem from a few leading paths into the city. There are about 8 different house variations that make up the suburb. You can see that placement makes it look unified but different. Route building takes time and patients, you should try to use the search filter to get more buildings if you cant find any. Many times I use google translate to find assets that are not in English. Your routes have improved from a year ago, true, but you still have lots to learn about making good routes.

hert:wave:

 

[Kris94]

And I thought using the splines was going to do so but it seems that I was only doing myself a disservice. Someone suggested I used those to add variation but I guess that did the exact opposite. Only question is won't using those buildings in a suburban setting make them look out of place. I understand about placing the small buildings close to the tracks and the tall ones at the back. I'm starting to get puzzled a bit. Some more houses I see I wonder what those are. I'm puzzled about having a background city and a foreground suburbs. I thought for downtown all the buildings were supposed to represent that while using suburban buildings were supposed to be used as such. So I'm lost on that part.

 

[boyerm25]

Hert some of us don't exactly have the patience to do that. Splines are best for housing areas and you are only using like 3 different houses in your pic.

 

[Kris94]

And what looks like are factories I could use those. So essentially I need to use tall buildings whether or not I'm the city or suburbs. That includes skyscrapers and office towers if I'm understanding it right.

 

[Eboy87]

Kris, I think you're improving by leaps and bounds, however one thing I think you should consider is ground textures. There are much higher resolution textures out there, and there's just something... off, about that color palette. Again, what you have is vastly improved, but I think you should vary it up a bit. Use darker greens for overgrown areas and lighter for mowed grass. Toss in a patch of brown dead grass and there. I always save texturing for last, partially because I hate doing it, and partially because I try and fit the textures to the tress/grass/shrubs I've already put down.

 

[hert]

Hert some of us don't exactly have the patience to do that. Splines are best for housing areas and you are only using like 3 different houses in your pic.

Then you shouldnt be route building. Any great route builder will tell you it takes time and patience looking through 1000s of assets to find the one you need, they also mostly kit bash areas. That takes even more work, something I usually dont do. There are actually 8 or so different house variations if you look closely. If you have a screenshot you would like to show of your "masterpiece" route then go on ahead. I am just posting what I have learned over the years from experience. I always try to improve too.

And what looks like are factories I could use those. So essentially I need to use tall buildings whether or not I'm the city or suburbs. That includes skyscrapers and office towers if I'm understanding it right.

No you dont just put tall buildings but that was example when you go to redo your downtown area. Also suburbs are always connected somehow to a city. Whether that be off a freeway, main roads or other means. Hopefully with more practice you can get it.

hert:wave:

 

[Kris94]

Then you shouldnt be route building. Any great route builder will tell you it takes time and patience looking through 1000s of assets to find the one you need, they also mostly kit bash areas. That takes even more work, something I usually dont do. There are actually 8 or so different house variations if you look closely. If you have a screenshot you would like to show of your "masterpiece" route then go on ahead. I am just posting what I have learned over the years from experience. I always try to improve too.



No you dont just put tall buildings but that was example when you go to redo your downtown area. Also suburbs are always connected somehow to a city. Whether that be off a freeway, main roads or other means. Hopefully with more practice you can get it.

hert:wave:

Freeways didn't exist until 1956: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aid_Highway_Act_of_1956

The roads connect with the city. I just didn't show them but I have to go back and anyways since there's other parts I need to add as well so I'll fix it once this part is done. Now I see what you are saying, I didn't know where you were going with this.