Loosing ground textures when merging

[big_b]

Have been trying to build up a route from modules but some of them are loosing textures when merged. Tried a few variations in the order there added but eventually some loose textures not all but patches from that module.It usually happens at about the 5th or 6th module added then each module from then on has missing texture.CMP shows nothing missing & shows the route to be ok.
Any ideas as to the cause?

Dave

 

[geophil]

Yes. There is a limit of 250 different KUIDs for all the ground textures in your entire route

 

[big_b]

Is this number the total of all textures counted once or if a texture is used in say five modules is that a count of 1 or 5 towards the total.

The number looks like it would exceed 250 but allot of the textures are the same in each module so I think the same texture may be being counted more than once.

Dave

 

[manjoe]

Yes. There is a limit of 250 different KUIDs for all the ground textures in your entire route

Very interesting. I was looking at an old thread ( search on "BIGGEST TRAINZ FILE" on the title line and WITH THE QUOTES ), and it was mentioned that someone had a test layout of 20,000 boards!!! It would seem to me that with a layout anywhere near that size, or even one with a few thousand boards, you could easily exceed 250 kuids of ground texture. Then again, I guess the secret is to use multiple adjacent boards that complement each other, and be very careful not to repeat it again until you are on the other side of the world!!!:hehe:

To be honest, 250 textures are plenty for me, at least for now. I have yet to exceed a couple hundred board layout. With only one year under my belt, I am awaiting the time when I can even fathom a 1000 board layout!!!:wave:

 

[StorkNest]

Are you saving while merging?
Haven't tried this but here's an idea.
Merge up to 4 modules since this happens at 5-6.
Save.
Leave Surveyor, possibly even exit Trainz.
Restart.
At the restart when you open the save, it may recount and not count the textures more than once.
I've had wierd stuff like TrainzMap not display track on a route I download. I save the route under a different name then change files and it works. So this could be some weird thing like that. You save some merged modules then restart and the extra counting is gone.

 

[Dinorius_Redundicus]

Interesting question.

This is what I'd do. Starting from your first map, analyse it with Trainzobjectz (or CMP?) and count how many kuids with kind = groundtexture there are. This method only counts each texture once.

As you merge each map, save the result and analyse it again to get the total number of textures present.

If you start losing (loosing??) textures before the total reaches 250, you know something crazy such as double counting is happening.

- Dean

 

[stagecoach]

Dont forget that textures may look the same but be a different kuid (UK or Australian for example). The only way around this is to replace similar looking textures with with just one. Light grass, grass US, Aus grass for example all replaced with a default grass of similar colour.

 

[geophil]

The .gnd file has a central table with a maximum of 250 entries for ground texture KUIDs. Each terrain vertex (the 10 m grid) inside the .gnd file may have one or more ground texture attributes which reference the KUID in the ground texture table. Naturally, each ground texture KUID can and will be referenced more than once. Each instance of the texture has additional attributes: Scaling, rotation, opacity. That's part of the vertex data, not part of the ground texture KUID table which only defines the types.

Merging two equivalent source .gnd files will form a single new combined .gnd file (ignoring .obs, trk, .bmk in this statement) with a single new ground texture table of 250 entries maximum again.

So, let's assume you have 200 ground texture KUIDs in module 1 and 200 ground texture KUIDs in module 2 but only 100 of them are identical in both modules. You would end up with 300 textures in the merged file. As there is not enough room for that, 50 texture KUIDs will be discarded and their references removed.

 

[big_b]

Created new route 1 board only & tried some textures just applied a small amount then used the undo key.The few I wanted I put into favorites. Then I used each of the six favourites on the board ( only 6 visible textures ) saved & exited.CMP now shows over 50 textures as dependencies.Looks like CMP remembers & counts the ones you try but erase towards the 250 count.

Dave