rivers and lakes at high altitude

[surealis]

I am completely new to trainz, a got a copy of the 2006 release that I just
installed and started to create a landscape. In this I have some mountains
and rivers and I tried to att a water surface to a lake at 210 m altitude.
It just does not work. Is that a bug or how should I do?
I can have water levels at 5 m or lower than 0.

I did not find any FAQ about water levels

Incidentally trainz is probably not what I really would like as train
building game, what I would like most is to be provided with a
landscape and then find the best way (best meaing cheapest or
fastest or most scenic or whatever) to build a track between two
points. Provided means to change the landscape to accomodate the
track. If anyone knows such a game please let me know.

Bosse

 

[stagecoach]

When you place water set the height value next to the place water button to say 5m above the land height you want then place the water. You can make adjustments until you get the height you want. Always lay water in an empty area if you start on top of already laid water it will revert to that level.

 

[Lo_Poly]

I am completely new to trainz, a got a copy of the 2006 release that I just
installed and started to create a landscape. In this I have some mountains
and rivers and I tried to att a water surface to a lake at 210 m altitude.
It just does not work. Is that a bug or how should I do?
I can have water levels at 5 m or lower than 0.

No matter where you place water, it always gets laid down at the default height, which is a little above 0. On where you laid the water, adjust the view so that you're looking directly down at the location. Then, select the water height adjust tool, click on the location where you laid the water, and keep pulling up until it appears.

(I might also note that, say if you have water at a height of 53.0, if you select the water placement tool, and click on the area where the already existing water is, the water you lay will be 53.0. Same height.)

Incidentally trainz is probably not what I really would like as train
building game, what I would like most is to be provided with a
landscape and then find the best way (best meaing cheapest or
fastest or most scenic or whatever) to build a track between two
points. Provided means to change the landscape to accomodate the
track. If anyone knows such a game please let me know.

Transport Tycoon or Chris Sawyer's Locomotion.

 

[surealis]

Sorry, no water at 210 m

Thank you for the quick replies and I tried both recepies but none work.

I can click on the "adjust water height (or type E) and click on
some water that once upon a time suddenly appeared where it
should at 210 m and the the value 210.00 appears between
the "water placement" button and the "adjust.." button. Then
I click on "water placement" and click on the screen where I want
the water but the default value 2.00 reappears between the buttons
and now water. When I move the cursor around an click sometimes
the water that I once managed to place dissapears, even if I am
nowhere near it.

When I push down the "bottom" of what I would to have as lake below
0 m then I get water at 2m. the default level. If I type 210
between the buttons the value is replaced by 2.00 as soon as
I have clicked on the "water placement" and somewhere on the map.

woops ... suddenly I got a little more water at 210 m, after pressing
keys in a more or less random order ... but then the default 2.00
reappeared and I cannot repeat the random order ...
This seems to be very much like a bug ...

I have another question, as I like mountains and laying tracks
on narrow ledges, not always in parallel with the squares it is
very difficult to make the ground and the track be on the same
level and avoid making the track be like a rollercoaster. Is there
some simple trick to do make a flat narrow surface ... it is even
difficult to get a good view of the ground as the point of view
jumps up in top of the nearest mountain whenever I move it.

I know I should do easier things first and learn and probably
double my scales but this is what I enjoy.

 

[sterrett]

Incidentally trainz is probably not what I really would like as train
building game, what I would like most is to be provided with a
landscape and then find the best way (best meaing cheapest or
fastest or most scenic or whatever) to build a track between two
points. Provided means to change the landscape to accomodate the
track. If anyone knows such a game please let me know.

Trainz is probably exactly what you need.

Look on the Download Station for layouts called "U-Make" or "U-M" and for others called "Module". If you read the documentation and experiment with a small bit of route building and merging "U-Make" layouts, you can achieve what you're seeking with very little effort!

 

[nicky9499]

Or, if you're a little more adventurous, checkout TransDEM and HOG. They're programs that take real world terrain data and put it on the tiles for you then all you do is lay the tracks and plonk down some scenery.

Cheerio,
Nicholas.

 

[fuzzies]

surealis:
I have another question, as I like mountains and laying tracks
on narrow ledges, not always in parallel with the squares it is
very difficult to make the ground and the track be on the same
level and avoid making the track be like a rollercoaster. Is there
some simple trick to do make a flat narrow surface

The following snippet from the trs2004 "World_Builders_Guide.pdf" may be of interest to you:

Select the Smooth Spline Height (S). Click on the raised track section and the ground is instantly raised up to meet the track. To make a few minor adjustments, click again on the track a few more times between each pair of spline points. Sometimes it takes a few passes to get the track just right.
Find a level untouched area of your baseboard. Next, make a small hill using the Topology tools.
Lay a single section of track over the top of hill with a single pair of spline points at either end. Note that it clings to the surface of the hill. Now Click LMB on Smooth Spline Height (S) and then Click LMB on the track. As shown below, this will level the terrain between the two spline points, thereby creating a cutting through the hill to flatten the track.
Smooth Spline (S) levels the track between two spline points, bringing the land up or down to match the leveled track.

Hope this helps,
Lenny

 

[john259]

Start by making a little lake in land that's at normal height, as follows:
Create a new test layout. Don't bother texturing it.
Depress some of the land a little.
Paint the depressed area and a few squares beyond it in all directions with water.
Then try moving the water up and down gently.

BTW, most people don't use scales in Trainz. Everything is given its full-size real-world measurements.

HTH, John

 

[Tokkyu40]

Thank you for the quick replies and I tried both recepies but none work.

I can click on the "adjust water height (or type E) and click on
some water that once upon a time suddenly appeared where it
should at 210 m and the the value 210.00 appears between
the "water placement" button and the "adjust.." button...

I have another question, as I like mountains and laying tracks
on narrow ledges, not always in parallel with the squares it is
very difficult to make the ground and the track be on the same
level and avoid making the track be like a rollercoaster. Is there
some simple trick to do make a flat narrow surface ... it is even
difficult to get a good view of the ground as the point of view
jumps up in top of the nearest mountain whenever I move it.

I know I should do easier things first and learn and probably
double my scales but this is what I enjoy.

You may be laying water on top of existing water underground. Move the pointer up to the very top, then click on the cross-hatch button on the drop down toolbar. This will give you a ghost grid without textures and let you see what's underground. Look straight down and make sure you erase all the existing water before you try putting new water in place.
Set your desired height and try again.
For ledges, you need to make your slope and run the track along it at the approximate height where you want the track to run.
Open the advanced menu at the bottom of the track menu. The top left button allows you to adjust the heights. This also smooths the curves between track spline points so the track doesn't bounce around following the ground surface. There are also buttons below that to check your grade and your spline point height. Practice with those to get the track to run the way you want it to. Parts of it will be underground by now, and other parts will be hanging in mid-air. Its okay, for now, so just leave it.
Once you have elevation and slope adjusted to make the track run the way you want, use the move button to pull the track sideways to the edge of the slope, then go back to the advanced menu and click on the Smooth button, at the top right. Click on the track and the ground will be smoothed under the track, forming a ledge.
Trainz is the quickest and easiest program for forming a layout. With practice you'll get to know the tricks and be on your way to making any route you can imagine.

Claude

edit: I use the scales all the time. Sometimes I'm building a model of a model train and want to set the layout table height above the floor. It's all part of the fun.

 

[stagecoach]

As said in last post, it reverted to 2.00 because you have laid water below the ground. Once water is placed at different heights do not use the adjust water height tool as this will make ALL water the same level.

 

[Approach_Medium]

The following snippet from the trs2004 "World_Builders_Guide.pdf" may be of interest to you:



Hope this helps,
Lenny

To accomplish this, you first need to set the track spline height, either by assigning a height to specific splines, or by setting gradient between splines.
This works very well on narrow ledges.

FW

 

[Approach_Medium]

Transdem, Trainz edition works very nicely for what you want to do.
It is slightly complicated to use, but once you have gone through the tutorial, you will be creating landscapes with ease.

For my prototype layout of the CSX Riverline in New Jersey and New York, which includes everything from the Hudson river to Oakland NJ, and from Bayonne NJ to Selkirk, NY I used Transdem.
I obtained my DEM's from the USGS Seamless Server at:
http://seamless.usgs.gov/index.php

Transdem Trainz edition comes with an excellent tutorial.
If all you want is terrain, you can just export the processed DEM info from Transdem to Trainz.
I went a lot further, taking snapshots in Google Earth, importing into Transdem, and creating track splines from the RR routes.
Since you want to create your own route, you won't need or want to have Transdem create the splines for you.

You still need to texture the terrain that is created by Transdem of course.

After having spent hundreds, if not thousands of hours on my layout, I think that next time I would go the way you are going. I think it would be more fun to create your own route once the terrain has been laid down.

Have fun!

FW

 

[john259]

...what I would like most is to be provided with a
landscape and then find the best way (best meaing cheapest or
fastest or most scenic or whatever) to build a track between two
points. Provided means to change the landscape to accomodate the
track.

Several people including myself have expressed the same thought before. This would simulate the job of a railway surveyor and implemented properly in 3D with different geological problems to overcome it could be extremely fascinating. For example, finding the best route to build through a mountain range, deciding in each place whether to make a cutting or a tunnel, an embankment or a bridge, etc. Or selecting the best type of bridge to build depending on the situation. Weighing up the balance between construction cost and time versus operational costs, train speeds, safety, etc. Sorry to waffle on.

John

 

[Tokkyu40]

I've done that with Fishlips' generic routes; looking for a logical place to put towns and industries, then finding a route to connect them.

Claude