I got Trainz Classic & 2006 (build 3337) last November. I was heavily into HO scale models back when IBM announced their sate-of-the-art "personal computer" with 64KB of RAM :hehe: !!!
Then a divorce in 1981 . . . and all my fun stuff had to go . . . RC planes and Ho trains too. Now that I'm an old fart . . . I got the itch to do HO trains again.
Then I found Trainz . . . VIRTUAL MODEL RAILROAD. But I was skeptical until I installed and ran it on my computer . . . Wow ! All the same fun as HO scale but all I need is a decent computer . . . no need for all those modeling tools and soldering gun ! No more need for space and thousands of hours of building a layout and wiring it!
I decided to concentrate on the 2006 rather than the Classic for now. I did read the manual. I understand that "building" a "loco" requires learning some 3D software with a pretty steep learning curve. I understand that "paint shed" doesn't allow me to "weather" an existing loco. I am going through all the "NEWBIE-pitfalls". I am having "V8 moments" one after another. I am finding the advantages and disadvantages of "VIRTUAL". But still is a lot of fun.
I have started building a route, so I've laid tracks, created junctions, read some tutorials on track laying, started tapping the bounties of DLS, and tried many aspects of Trainz . . . I didn't know about the invisible arms that reaches out from the screen, grabs you and keeps you there until you pass out LOL . A few times on Friday and Saturday nights, I'd feel a LITTLE sleepy, I'd glance at the window, AND ITS GETTING LIGHT OUTSIDE !! Anyone stayed up Trainzing till dawn ??
NEWBIE QUESTIONS (Most of what I can think of at the moment)
** ACTIVE / INACTIVE ROLLING STOCK :
Is it possible to make ANY rolling stock active ? I must have missed it somewhere in the manual if this is possible. I've downloaded a bunch of US rolling stock and half of what I got is inactive. Mainly some nice "Autoracks", articulated "trailer cars" and TTX well cars for containers . . . but they are inactive. Are there any of these that are active ?
Included in 2006 is a Conrail SD70 that can take on deisel fuel . . . very cool. I had assumed (my bad) that all or most of the locos are capable of this . . . so I put a refueling station in my yard. Surprise . . . none of the locos (SP, UP, ATSF/BNSF and DRGW) I downloaded is capable of refueling. Can I make them "active" to take on fuel ??
** UGLY PARTS :
Many rolling stocks have some very ugly looking bogies. I'm just starting to explore "config.txt". It seems just replacing the kuid with the kuid of the bogie I like in the "cinfig.txt" is all it takes . . . right? I'd like to replace some of the ugly couplers (the boxy ones) with ones that are a little more realistic looking ones. Same procedure as bogies ?
**Fixed Tracks :
Creating your own . . . does it require learning 3D software to accomplish this ? Is there a way to replace the "look" of the Fixed Tracks to the one I like in the "spine track" ??
**CONTROLLING JUNCTIONS IN DRIVER MODE :
After laying out my yard . . . I am finding it difficult to select the junction I want to change with my mouse cursor . . . it keeps switching the wrong ones ! Is there another way to control the turnouts ? In the HUD ?? Any options OTHER THAN with the mouse cursor?
**MISSING DEPENDENCIES OR BROKEN ASSETS
Some of the locos I downloaded won't show up in Surveyor. One is the UP SD70 Ce. How do I fix it so that it works? Some of the locos are missing the "windshield" and it looks wierd without it. CMP can't find the missing dependency in DLS. Now what . . . are these locos just dead? Is there a trick to fixing broken/faulty assets ? Is there a place to report these problems ?
**COPYING SPLICE TRACKS & OBJECTS :
I think this just can't be done . . . but maybe I missed something. It seems very logical to me to be able to copy spline "things" to another location. We can copy & paste everything else . . . why not spline??
**CREATING NEW OR EDITING EXISTING TEXTURES :
This seems should be the simplest of all . . . but there are nothing in the manual that touches "CREATING OR EDITING" TEXTURES. What file formats are used for the "texture image"? I thought it must be a jpg. or bmp. file. Which brings us to my next question . . .
**WHAT IS THE LANGUAGE USED TO NAME THE "LOCAL" FILES ??!!
Ive got tons of folders in "local" which is where all my assets are saved. Why are the folder names encrypted . . . it makes no sense . . . totally unusable due to the large number of folders under "local"
**ADDING A NEW BASEBOARD :
Is there a way to change the default baseboard elevation to something other than ZERO elevation ??
**DARKEN / LIGHTEN COLOR ON LOCOS & ROLLING STOCK :
I have some nice reefers that are waaaaaay too bright . . . they need to be darkened. Can it be done ? If so, HOW ??
I will think of more questions later to add here.
If you are a NEWBIE and have some basic questions, maybe you might want to post them here.
Thanks everyone :wave:
Then a divorce in 1981 . . . and all my fun stuff had to go . . . RC planes and Ho trains too. Now that I'm an old fart . . . I got the itch to do HO trains again.
Then I found Trainz . . . VIRTUAL MODEL RAILROAD. But I was skeptical until I installed and ran it on my computer . . . Wow ! All the same fun as HO scale but all I need is a decent computer . . . no need for all those modeling tools and soldering gun ! No more need for space and thousands of hours of building a layout and wiring it!
I decided to concentrate on the 2006 rather than the Classic for now. I did read the manual. I understand that "building" a "loco" requires learning some 3D software with a pretty steep learning curve. I understand that "paint shed" doesn't allow me to "weather" an existing loco. I am going through all the "NEWBIE-pitfalls". I am having "V8 moments" one after another. I am finding the advantages and disadvantages of "VIRTUAL". But still is a lot of fun.
I have started building a route, so I've laid tracks, created junctions, read some tutorials on track laying, started tapping the bounties of DLS, and tried many aspects of Trainz . . . I didn't know about the invisible arms that reaches out from the screen, grabs you and keeps you there until you pass out LOL . A few times on Friday and Saturday nights, I'd feel a LITTLE sleepy, I'd glance at the window, AND ITS GETTING LIGHT OUTSIDE !! Anyone stayed up Trainzing till dawn ??
NEWBIE QUESTIONS (Most of what I can think of at the moment)
** ACTIVE / INACTIVE ROLLING STOCK :
Is it possible to make ANY rolling stock active ? I must have missed it somewhere in the manual if this is possible. I've downloaded a bunch of US rolling stock and half of what I got is inactive. Mainly some nice "Autoracks", articulated "trailer cars" and TTX well cars for containers . . . but they are inactive. Are there any of these that are active ?
Included in 2006 is a Conrail SD70 that can take on deisel fuel . . . very cool. I had assumed (my bad) that all or most of the locos are capable of this . . . so I put a refueling station in my yard. Surprise . . . none of the locos (SP, UP, ATSF/BNSF and DRGW) I downloaded is capable of refueling. Can I make them "active" to take on fuel ??
** UGLY PARTS :
Many rolling stocks have some very ugly looking bogies. I'm just starting to explore "config.txt". It seems just replacing the kuid with the kuid of the bogie I like in the "cinfig.txt" is all it takes . . . right? I'd like to replace some of the ugly couplers (the boxy ones) with ones that are a little more realistic looking ones. Same procedure as bogies ?
**Fixed Tracks :
Creating your own . . . does it require learning 3D software to accomplish this ? Is there a way to replace the "look" of the Fixed Tracks to the one I like in the "spine track" ??
**CONTROLLING JUNCTIONS IN DRIVER MODE :
After laying out my yard . . . I am finding it difficult to select the junction I want to change with my mouse cursor . . . it keeps switching the wrong ones ! Is there another way to control the turnouts ? In the HUD ?? Any options OTHER THAN with the mouse cursor?
**MISSING DEPENDENCIES OR BROKEN ASSETS
Some of the locos I downloaded won't show up in Surveyor. One is the UP SD70 Ce. How do I fix it so that it works? Some of the locos are missing the "windshield" and it looks wierd without it. CMP can't find the missing dependency in DLS. Now what . . . are these locos just dead? Is there a trick to fixing broken/faulty assets ? Is there a place to report these problems ?
**COPYING SPLICE TRACKS & OBJECTS :
I think this just can't be done . . . but maybe I missed something. It seems very logical to me to be able to copy spline "things" to another location. We can copy & paste everything else . . . why not spline??
**CREATING NEW OR EDITING EXISTING TEXTURES :
This seems should be the simplest of all . . . but there are nothing in the manual that touches "CREATING OR EDITING" TEXTURES. What file formats are used for the "texture image"? I thought it must be a jpg. or bmp. file. Which brings us to my next question . . .
**WHAT IS THE LANGUAGE USED TO NAME THE "LOCAL" FILES ??!!
Ive got tons of folders in "local" which is where all my assets are saved. Why are the folder names encrypted . . . it makes no sense . . . totally unusable due to the large number of folders under "local"
**ADDING A NEW BASEBOARD :
Is there a way to change the default baseboard elevation to something other than ZERO elevation ??
**DARKEN / LIGHTEN COLOR ON LOCOS & ROLLING STOCK :
I have some nice reefers that are waaaaaay too bright . . . they need to be darkened. Can it be done ? If so, HOW ??
I will think of more questions later to add here.
If you are a NEWBIE and have some basic questions, maybe you might want to post them here.
Thanks everyone :wave: