Motivation? Yeh, I've got plenty of it.
Here's how the complicated thing that's me works:
1. Come up with a style of route (kind of environments you want the track in. Say, mountains, hills and valleys like some North Welsh railways, or harsh, barren deserts in America etc etc
2. Think of a time period. It's pretty easy to pick almost any time period between 1930s and now, since there is enough content out there to build a route in almost every country in the World in most or all decades between then and now.
3. Think of what was around in that time period. Slate mining in Wales stopped almost completely around fourty, maybe fifty or more years ago. So that'd rule actual slate industries in your Welsh route - just scenery, showing that it's a dead industry in most places. Or if you're going for an earlier look, think of the saloons, banks, shops and jails of the Wild West, when the iron horse was the best thing there'd ever been for transport.
4. Think of one name to suit your location and period. That could be the name of the route, town, county or state. You decide!
5. Jot it down on paper. I use a massive book for mine. If you use a notepad or a book, it might be an idea to lay it out in a nice way (username at the top, then route details slightly smaller below) rather than scribbling it.
6. Get some more names! Remember you can have infinate towns and industries. There is no limit to what you can make! You don't even have to use all of the names. There are some good name generators out there which can help if you 'lose it'. Try
http://www.tafweb-trainz.co.uk/namegen.html for a good UK one. Over 40,000,000 different names!
7. Plan the route. Whoooa, here's the biggie. Try to plan it so that there's one to three boards per A4 page, depending on the location. If it's just a basic bit of line with nothing much, then three board would be better for one page. If it's a large terminus or large station, or another highly important location, you may want to just plan that on one page rather than boards. Make sure that all the pages can link together somehow (although I suggest you don't tear them all out to find out!) There are many track plans on the internet and in magazines you could use - even if you make changes to them.
8. Build the route. The big bombshell. Write down the start date of your route on your paper/in your book/notepad etc. Try to do it in chunks. Set yourself goals on how much you're gonna do each day/two days/week etc etc. Make sure that you do no more than about four boards without finishing them (well, a version 1 at least, you can go back and revise them to perfection later). Take your time! Don't rush ANYTHING. Even about 5 metres of track can take someone an hour to get perfect. I know, I've been there, and plenty of others have!
9. Check it all over. Have a nice drive! Take your favourite iron horse to transport a couple of criminals to the nearest jail, or go for a nice quiet drive with a few wagons of slate through the mountains and hills. Change any bits you think need changing. Announce it to the whole community.
10. Testers. This is a good bit. Put a request up for testers - you'll get plenty. I'd say about 10 should suffice. Then they'll post what they think in the topic, and you consider their suggestions. Whether or not you implement their suggestions is entirely up to you, but remember, these guys (and maybe a few gals too) are telling you this because they want your route to be as good as it can be!
11. Once testing is over, check the route again. Make sure there are no errors, problems, and check the used assets to make sure that they're error free. Add a description, region etc to the route (this can be done at an earlier point if you so wish). Make sure everything is hunky dory.
12. Upload it to the DLS. Announce it the upload, even if it's not on the DLS yet, or it's been rejected for whatever reason (if so, either wait for the DLS to get its stupid arse in gear, or if it's not the DLS, try to fix the problem/s and see if others can.
13. Enjoy your route. That's the main bit. Remember, you've gotta have fun making it, even if Trainz is a bugger and won't let you do what you want to without spending a week on it! And once you've finished, use it! Enjoy travelling around on your masterpiece. Write down the finish date on your paper/in your book/notepad, as well as the date it arrives at the DLS.
That's what I do. It makes the most of building a route.
Thoughts?
James Hill
