New to Surveyor? Then this guide is for you!

[Xengeance]

I was kind of bored the last couple of days, so I decided to start on a super-guide for using Surveyor Mode in Trainz. The first part is available on my website. Clicking my sig will also take you there as well.

If you have any questions or constructive criticism, you're all more than welcome to chime in!



On an unrelated note, anyone remember that 240m basemap kit I announced about 2 months ago? The DLS finally decided not the spit it back up after submitting it like 5 times, so go grab it and make some basemaps!

 

[Tanvaras]

Very well written imo. Good for anyone new to Surveyor I am sure. Will watch for your next part to be posted and have a read through.

Cheers

Trent

 

[Johnk]

It looks like a good tutorial, but the black on black, grey on grey and purple on grey colour scheme gave me eye strain.

As things quickly get burried in the forums, may I suggest you join the webring?

Link

I'll also list your site in the Tutorials section of the Trainz Resources Directory during the next update.

 

[BobCass]

Hi Xengeance: I read through your Tutorials, looks good to me..I have to dig you a little bit..The London Bridge was brought to Lake Havasu, Az..It was Shipped Block by Block, and numbered so they could put it back correctly..



Bob Cass

 

[narrowgauge]

I agree with John, bad choice of colours, what is wrong with Black on White.

To make it more legible, break your paragraphs up some more, I found it difficult to make sense of what you have written because of the colours and the dense blocks of text.

Peter

 

[ray_whiley]

To read more easily (any web site):

"Select all ... copy ... paste into a word processing program eg. notepad ... save as". I do this and save in my Train Tutorials folder - which is quite bulky!

Advantages - easily accessible at any time, easy to read, easy to print, and you can edit to make shorter paragraphs.
Disadvantages - you lose any pictorial content. But you can always save the entire web pages as well for reference.

Ray

 

[Jananton]

Looks good, one little thing though, you've mixed up the description of the world and tools tabs.:hehe: Easily remedied I presume.

To read more easily (any web site):

"Select all ... copy ... paste into a word processing program eg. notepad ... save as".

Disadvantages - you lose any pictorial content. But you can always save the entire web pages as well for reference.

I take it you've changed the colours allready, but if you "select all" and copy and paste into word, or if not aivailable, the opensource openoffice writer word processor, you get all the pictures as well.

Greetings from sunny Amsterdam,

Jan

 

[Xengeance]

It looks like a good tutorial, but the black on black, grey on grey and purple on grey colour scheme gave me eye strain.

Heh heh, that's an ongoing endeavor. Trying to find a pleasing color scheme without resorting to 'cookie cutter' templates can be quite difficult at times. Suffice to say once I can figure out something better, I'll swap it out. Maybe a cobalt blue and chrome theme?

@BobCass: Thanks for the correction. The pun is the Bridge 'coming down' by disassembly. For some reason I thought they sent it to Austin. :hehe:

 

[SuperFudd]

No need to print it. On my PC if I "select all" it converts the screen to blue on white. Very easy to read. I have seen sites with purple on black or maybe even black on black. "Select all" makes it readable.

 

[Johnk]

Heh heh, that's an ongoing endeavor. Trying to find a pleasing color scheme without resorting to 'cookie cutter' templates can be quite difficult at times. Suffice to say once I can figure out something better, I'll swap it out. Maybe a cobalt blue and chrome theme?
:hehe:

The thing to remember is that you're dealing with all age groups when it comes to Trainz. The eyes are a funny thing as you grow older. Colour schemes that looked fine as a kid start to look odd as you age.

It's also important to keep a person's attention. In my opinion (and it's just mine), tutorials should done so that people can print them out if they want to. Ink saving is an big issue.

John

 

[wklang]

Xengeance,

I got a lot out of Part I of your Surveyor tutorial.

Do you have any time frame for the next part?

Thanks,

Wes

 

[WindWalkr]

I was kind of bored the last couple of days, so I decided to start on a super-guide for using Surveyor Mode in Trainz. The first part is available on my website.

This kind of content would go really well on the TrainzOnline wiki - maybe a page linked from the routes page or the how-to guides. I'm not sure what you feel about having your documents hosted on our servers, but if you're interested then I'd love to see it happen.

chris

 

[marlonza]

All I can say is, hats off to anyone putting in this kind of effort.
I will be reading and using it. And light grey on grey, is awesome, its calming for me, I write my software all day long on a likewise scheme

 

[IsambardKingdomBrunel]

Just noticed this and had a look.

I don't think anyone could wish for a better tutorial on starting in Surveyor.

Look forward to seeing it progress.

IKB.

 

[PereMarquette1225fan]

Odd for me.

I'm new to Surveyor mode myself, but my route...the Manchester Northern Railway is looking great. I already have a single passenger station and maybe 10 base boards down, complete with scenery and some road crossings along with a single town in the development process. Some buildings of it, are in place. I never even used Surveyor mode before I began work on this route, and I already have some great scenery. (How can that be? I don't recall using it before.)

 

[mattm]

Xengeance: Great work. Just downloaded the guide, and read through it. It sounds like an interesting project, i shall follow along closely. Any ideas on the due date of the second edition?

And yes, you do paint a pretty picture.

 

[wklang]

In the Surveyor guide published by Xengeance (see his website) he refers to the Revell_small_town_station which he indicates is on the DLS.

I can't seem to find it.

Does anyone know where I can get a hold of it?

(I'm using TS2010, so - perhaps - it doesn't exist for this version....but what do I know?)

Thanks,

Wes

 

[Xengeance]

In the Surveyor guide published by Xengeance (see his website) he refers to the Revell_small_town_station which he indicates is on the DLS.

I can't seem to find it.

Does anyone know where I can get a hold of it?

(I'm using TS2010, so - perhaps - it doesn't exist for this version....but what do I know?)

Thanks,

Wes

I think that may be a typo. It's available on TrainzProRoutes, though. (see link)

 

[wklang]

Thanks. I found it (with your help).

Any idea when the next installment of this guide will appear?

Thanks,

Wes

 

[wklang]

First: I'm using TS2010 and I'm a complete newbie as far as putting together a realistic route.

I'm trying to learn how to put together some sort of route and the guidelines set forth by Xengeance in his Beginner's Route Building Guide for Trainz seem like a good place to start. He suggests that - for a first route - make it small and make the trains on the route do something other than go around a loop (e.g. deliver raw products to processors/manufacturers; deliver finished goods to retailers, etc.). In his case he suggest a small layout of 2 x 3 boards.

(For reference, his guide/tutorial may be found here:

http://www.widjabostudios.com/locoworks/tutorials/myfirstroute/myfirstroute_1.php


In this tutorial route, Xegeance mentions that Cooperton will have some sort of yard setup for maintenance and putting together freight trains bound for Kelsey and beyond.

I'm puzzled about what this yard would look like and still fit in his 2 x 3 board layout. From what I figure (from my newbie point of view), the yard would have to be somewhere around a 1/2 mile in length minimum and maybe longer (about 1+ board width).

Has anyone working on the layout discussed in his guide gotten to the point of putting in a yard? If so, it would be much appreciated if you could post a diagram or a photo of the yard. Is a typical yard straight or could it be "bent" in an L-shape?

Thanks in advance for any help on this.

Wes