Merging Routes

[Approach_Medium]

Hi;
I am working in TransDem Trainz Edition, and am going to eventually want to merge several sections of my route in TRS2006 Surveyor.
According to instructions in TransDem, I need to create common borders at the edges of the sections, then in Surveyor position the routes and merge.
After merging, I am supposed to delete the original baseboard tile which was created with the route.
I am not sure which baseboard tile we are talking about here.
Is it the one created by the second route to be merged?
Is the "original" baseboard the one that contains the World Origin?
If that is so, then deleting this tile will remove my WO.

I have also found that after merging routes, the World Origin is the one from the merged route, not the original one.

Anyone had any experience doing this?

Thanks

FW

 

[bernhart_lossiemouth]

Hello.
Sorry to learn about your troubles you poor bear

The good hearts and minds of the community would urge you to search the forums about transdem related literature. The ignorant rest might not answer. However, Bernie, super bernie is on super helper mode today - lucky for you- yay yay!

I believe the baseboard you may be talking about is that of the tile that silly little (but ever so helpful - like me) map that helps you place assets in thier correct spot (you know about that ). You can delete that safely, without any precautions and add it back when the time is right for you. No pressure.

Bernie

 

[bernhart_lossiemouth]

Oh an remember to use smileys in your reply, they earn you respect.

 

[geophil]

After merging, I am supposed to delete the original baseboard tile which was created with the route.
I am not sure which baseboard tile we are talking about here.
Is it the one created by the second route to be merged?
Is the "original" baseboard the one that contains the World Origin?
If that is so, then deleting this tile will remove my WO.

Reading your post and re-reading the manual, tutorial 2 about merging, I have to admit step 6 is rubbish. It seems to be the unnoticed remainder from an older tutorial and doesn't make any sense here.

Please ignore this step.

The document needs to be updated.

I have also found that after merging routes, the World Origin is the one from the merged route, not the original one.

Yes, that's one of the phenomena of Surveyor. Furthermore, in many cases the surviving World Origin object does not retain position and/or lat/long reference.

Please apply the TransDEM function "Verify/Repair World Origin" (in the Trainz menu) to the merged route, it you want TransDEM to add UTM tiles or track splines to this route later.

geophil

 

[Approach_Medium]

Geophil;

Thanks for the info. I was kind of figuring that the instruction was for an older version of Trainz, or TransDem.
As for the WO, I was mistaken. When I merged two routes, the WO was retained from the original route.
That said however, I will use TransDem's Repair function, since I am going to eventually merge many routes.
My intended route is about 175 miles by 50 miles!
The only way I can manage this is to build it in modules.

After studying TransDem and Trainz, and by trial and error, I have finally come to know pretty much what I am doing.
At one point, I could not figure out why the track splines and UTM tiles I was creating in Transdem were not appearing in the route in Trains.
I was opening the route in Explorer, and committing it again when done, and also importing the scenery content, but I was getting only bare baseboard except for the DEM info, and painted route markings.

Eventually, I found that after building the route in TrazDem, before adding Track Splines or UTM tiles, I need to get into Trainz and open the route, then re-save it.
I'm not sure why this is, but it is what I found was my problem.

I also found, by trial and error that in order to export UTM tiles without receiving an error, those tiles must have Trainz baseboards to fit. I was using a rectangular mask that included UTM squares, but often my baseboards did not extend for the entire UTM square, thus the UTM tiles had no place to go.

TransDem is definitely a very powerful program, and as for all such applications, requires some training to get proficient with.
It reminds me of working with electronic schematic capture and PCB layout programs. There are so many features, it takes some time to get to know them.

I am really enjoying building my prototypical route with TransDem. It would not have been possible doing it manually as I had started to do.
Now that I have experimented for a while, and understand how things work, I think I am ready to get on with building the route.

Once again, thanks for the help

FW

 

[geophil]

My intended route is about 175 miles by 50 miles!
The only way I can manage this is to build it in modules.

Depending on where your route is located and if it mainly sprawls in East/West direction you may cross a UTM zone boundary. It is important that all modules reside in the same UTM zone, otherwise merging in Surveyor will cause trouble. Usually there will be no problems when starting at one end and continuing module-wise towards the other end. Once the UTM zone border is reached, TransDEM needs to be told to convert data in the neighbouring zone to the original zone, before any exports to Trainz are launched from the neighbouring UTM zone.

geophil

 

[Approach_Medium]

I'm OK with my zone 18 for now. I will have to go a very long way before I get into another zone.
I wish though, that I could find a better source for DEM maps. I am using "Seamless Server" for USA, but it is slow, and I have to download my maps in sections to stay within DL restrictions.
I guess it doesn't really matter, since I'm building the route in modules.

I haven't been able to add a DEM to an opened one in TransDem. I'm not sure why, but I get a runtime. Perhaps the DEM I am trying to add is not adjacent to the one loaded?

FW

 

[geophil]

How big are your DEMs? If at 1/3 arc sec and approaching maximum Seamless Server download size, the TransDEM "Add DEM" function may run out of memory because of excessive additional storage needed temporarily. This could be an unhandled memory allocation error.

 

[Approach_Medium]

How big are your DEMs? If at 1/3 arc sec and approaching maximum Seamless Server download size, the TransDEM "Add DEM" function may run out of memory because of excessive additional storage needed temporarily. This could be an unhandled memory allocation error.

The DEM I am currently working with is 157Megs uncompressed.
My system has 3Gigs RAM installed, so that shouldn't be an issue.

FW