Questions about portals..and a massive route.

[SHOPlanB]

Hey everyone!

I have a rather odd question. I'm curious to know if its possible to improve performance by "busting" up a route (if its possible) that is just huge by using portals for cities. I've got a basic idea of what portals are, and how they work, but again, it led to more questions. For instance, will I be able to still see the city from a distance before hitting the portal? And how (if possible) would I break up the "entry/exit" using a portal? Of course, if this isn't possible, the whole thread is moot I suppose.

Thank you in advanced!

 

[Robert3a0]

G'Day SHOPanB

The shot answer to your question is yes. A picture tells a thousand words. In this case I entered portal into my content search filter (which is further filtered to a minimum build of 2.7) and just picked at random CMTMPortal2 1. Once placed, click the question mark on the Portal (as shown) and a properties box will appear. Click on the empty check box Train returns after 5 minutes delay. A new check box will appear Train returns through an alternate portal. At the top of your propertiesbox give your portal a name (e.g. San Francisco Up portal) Then place another portal where you want your train to exit your town and give it a name (e.g. San Francisco Down portal) Then in the first portal and enter the place you wish to exit from in the Train returns through an alternate portal by clicking on the red none and insert the desired portal name, in this case San Francisco Down portal. When you run a test enter the up portal and your train will appear at the down portal after whatever you have set the delay period for. So, for example if you are running to a timetable you can set a delay time that simulates the time it would take for your train to cross your city (e.g 2 hours) You can adjust the after 5 minutes delay to any time you want. Some portals allow you to transfer a consist across the internet to another Trainz user if you have their detail. I hope this helps.
Regards
Bob

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[SHOPlanB]

Robert,

Thank you for the input. However, upon re-reading, I think I managed to leave out a key detail. I'd like to be able to run the trains in the cities. Example, I approach city X (hopefully I'd be able to see it also). I enter the portal, portal loads the city, and now I'm in the city conducting trains operations. Do my thing loading, and then head for the exit portal. Also, all these cities are existing. Hopefully that clears it up. =)

 

[Robert3a0]

OK, from what you say, you want to approach your city to within visual distance and then portal to a location in that city so you can do whatever it is you need to do and then portal out again? If that is the case, just do that as I mention above i.e. place a portal entrance somewhere outside your city then place another portal entrance in the desired location inside the city (note, trains actually exit out of the portal entrance, so you need to connect your exit track to the entrance). Then place a couple of portals one at the place you want to exit the city and another where you eventually want to re-enter the countryside and continue your journey. Note also that those portals can handle traffic going in either direction so long as you have correctly identified the portal you wish to exit from. For example you might call name your first entrance Portal 1 and the portal you want to exit from (in the city) Portal 2, So you set portal 1 to exit at portal 2. to reverse the traffic, i.e. to have traffic enter portal 2 to exit portal 1 - set portal 2 to exit at portal 1. Have a play around with a few portals and you will find that what you want to do is very achievable. A couple of other tips though, once you have placed your portal, add some track at the exit end so that it looks like it is heading off into the distance (in other words, your scenery will look much more realistic in driver mode. If you want to see your city in the distance make sure that you set good weather fog in your environment settings to zero. In your display settings use the maximum draw distance (I think it is about 5 kilometers. You will need to place your portal in visual distance so you might need to play around between the surveyor and quick drive functions. Also, your computer's graphics and memory will also impact the distance you finally place your portal. Let us know how you get on.
Regards
Bob

 

[Dap]

Hey everyone!

I have a rather odd question. I'm curious to know if its possible to improve performance by "busting" up a route (if its possible) that is just huge by using portals for cities. I've got a basic idea of what portals are, and how they work, but again, it led to more questions. For instance, will I be able to still see the city from a distance before hitting the portal? And how (if possible) would I break up the "entry/exit" using a portal? Of course, if this isn't possible, the whole thread is moot I suppose.

Thank you in advanced!

So, you want to break your super size route into smaller modules. Yes, you can do this by using the iportals. This sends a train off the first module of your route to a holding track in the cloud. When you start up the next module of your route on your super sized railroad, the iportal there will look to the cloud to see if there are any trainz waiting and if so, bring them onto the route. This will work with route modules on your computer or route modules on another computer elsewhere in the world. If is a fun way to share trains between routes.

David

 

[SHOPlanB]

Thank you for the reply David. I'll try messing around with it and see what I can come up with. I'll of course wait for my new video card and see how that works before I start breaking up the route.