Route Feedback Thread. Get critical feedback on shots

[itareus]

Indeed. I wish it could be backed up automaticly somehow.....

There are ways, and without spending lots of money, but the subject can get a bit complex. What Windows Operating System are you running (XP/Vista/Win 7 etc.)?

...... Spose closest i'll get is backing up the whole Trainz folder to my external HD every eve!.....

That would take some time !! You could just backup your "UserData" Folder but that won't save you much time. Doing a CDP of the route and Session would take you no more than 5 minutes (max).

....Any advice on new trees that will do the job would be great, if anyone knows of any...

Check out Jankvis (assets with the "~" in the title) and Mcguirrel (UltraTreez - which are SpeedTreez ++), both on the DLS. Also check http://www.greenery.name/mstsg/mstsgd.htm?trainz,1

I too would welcome any suggestions for better greenery in TS2010.

Chris

 

[mezzoprezzo]

Hi everyone.


Thanks Davie_UCF & Ray_Whiley for your kind words.

Your encouraging comments, and progress on your (Davie’s) route, have prompted me to post a couple more ideas which have worked for me.

I see you now have a couple of sidings. One in use through the shed; the other disused.

The live line has shiny track: the dead one is rusty. That’s great, but you can add further to the realism.


The live line end probably needs buffers of some sort. The dead line probably doesn’t matter too much.

I use transition pieces of track which, although subtle, help greatly with realism.


Buffers at the end of a working line.

Your loco or rolling stock will never keep the track shiny beyond the point at which the buffers do their work to stop the loco/truck/carriage. Placing an item of rolling stock against the buffers in Surveyor will show the point at which the rails will never be kept shiny by wear and tear. In reality this is a gradual, not an abrupt change in rail type. This is where the transition pieces come in. I mainly use ‘drstrach’s stuff (>100 track choices!), but there are others available including UK bullhead which I also use, but with less choice. The following two shots show the UK bullhead type.

In the first shot the lower of the three tracks is the transition piece, (deliberately stretched to double its useful length to better illustrate the way it works). In practice you obviously just use half to make the transition.

kuid:179051:102000 is the transition piece from rusty to shiny. All rusty is 101999. All shiny is 100459.

Simply butt joining the two contrasting rail surfaces together is not a good look (middle track).

Using the transition piece gives a subtle, but more realistic look (top track with buffers).

Adding a bit of greenery and perhaps a bit of identifiable domestic stuff like a garbage bag or supermarket trolley will help with upscaling the railway hardware to make it look more like its actual size, and therefore a bit more realistic.

Derelict lines

With these you can go from rusty, then to sleepers only and then to faint marks in the landscape where the track used to be. No buffers required unless you want them - and great scope for some overgrown areas with rubbish/wild flowers etc. Here I’ve used ‘drstrach’s tracks:

Apologies if you already know all this, but someone might find it useful.

Cheers
Casper

 

[Davie_UCF]

Good advice. Theres a transition track for the MP track too. But doesn't match the newer version thats in TS10. Spose time to fix that and reskin it to match the new textures.
Can't be hard.. just both textures in a PSP file and fade them into each other.. that should work right?

 

[mattm]

Casper, Great advice! Thank you for posting; i shall be sure to implement one or two of your ideas later tonight, when i'm in surveyor.

I may also post a screenie or two here, as i do tend to struggle a bit; detail-wise.

Matt.

 

[Davie_UCF]

Heres some experimentation with the ton of grass we have available. I find that most of it just looks awful. But some adds a bit of realism close to the rails or on embankments where you can see the ground a lot more.

Also I created a transition track for the two HP tracks after the mezzoprezzo advice


Bit of an attempt at point rods and a ground frame..

 

[Railwayz]

Let me say that I really like the feel of your layout. Even in the early shots the texturing was pretty good and the layout wasn't bad although it's improved markedly with the advice provided.

And thank you to the others who have provided that advice. I've taken away a lot that will help me with my own layout.

My piece of advice (from working with real railways) is that when it comes to laying track there is always three deciding factors:

First there's cost. Laying track is expensive in the real world and Engineers will take the shortest route possible that will save them money. Of course a straight line may not always be possible due to the type of ground available for a track bed or the density of stone they have to push a tunnel through (granite is very hard and expensive to tunnel through where as soft earth may require too much support).

Second there's political expediency. If there's a marginal electorate nearby then political will can often push a rail line way out of it's way to gain a few extra votes. Of course if the electorate is solidly in the other parties camp then they can forget it and may even find he line is terminated short of their area. Of course the one I like best is when the line is allowed to run right through their electorate with no station provided. How's that for thumbing your nose?

Third is operational requirements. One of the first posts pointed this out when it was said that it depended on the density of traffic and the length of trains that would use the platforms. I think you did the right thing in shortening the double track as any train waiting to move onto the single line would wait at the platform anyway unless your trains were mixed consist where the were goods vans on the front of the train and passengers on the rear. Providing the run around loop on the branchline platform is something that may well have been done to keep the main lines clear, especially if that station was the end of a double line section.

I hope this helps somebody when trying to decide where they should lay track.

Railwayz

 

[mezzoprezzo]

@Railwayz
Thanks for the real world track laying background. That’s information which is well worth remembering for route creation.

@ Davie_UCF

Hi again Davie.

Your track’s looking really good now.

I see there’s a slight kink in the siding – great for old track. When trying to lay it straight, I find it fiddly when inserting the transition pieces and often get a little shift to the side and lose the straightness. I’ve got over it by laying an over long piece of straight track, eg the rusty bit – covering the whole length, plus a bit more at each end. Then insert spline points, roughly where you want to fit the transition and shiny bits. Delete the bits between the spline points where you want the transition/shiny and simply insert them. That usually keeps the line straighter than adding at the end piece by piece.

If you can set the track against the baseboard grid or wireframe it’s easy enough. But that’s never where you want it! You can then use a straight edge. I use AMG Rulers from the DLS (they are more like pull-out tape measures) kuid:70791:69001 lies flat to the base board - 69005 is vertical.

However, if you want to kink the track, that can be fun too. You could sink the terrain a tiny bit here and there. I was laying a bit of track over what I thought was flat ground. It wasn’t, so my track went down looking a bit distorted. Rather than correcting the mistake I exploited it and turned it into a subsidised land area and derailment. Another happy accident:

Cheers
Casper

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[Davie_UCF]

That kink got fixed, I was just in a rush trying to test the track. Your method is one I use a lot!

I like your scene, using the dodgy track, very inventive!

I'm wondering what people think of my platform textures? They are modified from a much lighter platform which I felt was too bright.. I've no idea if there are any more realistic platform splines or textures I could use that would suit the era..
any ideas ?

Thanks

Edit: Areas looking quite nice now. I've not spent anymore time on it really, however my framerates have dropped in OpenGL for no reason it seems. I now get 10fps where I used to get 40fps, Direct X is fine though.. Suppose i'm switching to DX, it doesn't seem to have any major drawbacks at present.


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