Super -low-poly track?

neilsmith749

Well-known member
I'm wondering if anyone knows of any really low-poly rail-only track on the dls.

I'm using the dock-rails for the winter route, and it's okay, but trainzobjects shows it at 10 polys. I've noticed that the low poly (MP tracks) are down in the 5 poly range, WITH the ties and ballast. So, to me it seems like it shouldn't be too far beyond the imagination for a rail-only version to have extremely low polys - suitable for just after a snowstorm.

Any ideas? Or maybe a request to the maker(s) of the MP track.

Thanks

n
 
Not sure how track can be lower than 12 polys. Each rectangular "face" is 2 polys so each rail has a left side (2), right side(2) and a top (2) giving 6 polys per rail section. Therefore with 2 rails the poly count will be 12 per section. Don't see how you can get less than that. :(

Cheers
Dave
 
Best way I know to find track isn't by polys, it is by FPS. There was someone who posted a test he did, you take a completely blank baseboard and lay out a spline of track, you should have something like FRAPs or Game Recorder already running to see FPS. Note the FPS, remove the track and lay out a spline of different track. Keep doing this and you find how different track affects FPS on your system and which ones produce the best results.
 
lo polly track

Best way I know to find track isn't by polys, it is by FPS. There was someone who posted a test he did, you take a completely blank baseboard and lay out a spline of track, you should have something like FRAPs or Game Recorder already running to see FPS. Note the FPS, remove the track and lay out a spline of different track. Keep doing this and you find how different track affects FPS on your system and which ones produce the best results.


Hi neilsmith749,

To save you a bit of time, I have found the MP lo polly track to be the best for frame rates. On my dock wharf I have used this track and lowered it to a height of -0.11. This lowers the sleepers under the wharf surface and makes the track look like rail only track.
As far as fraps goes, the program itself slows your frame rates slightly, if you want to see your actual frame rates run Trainz in a window rather than full screen.

Hope this helps,
Cheers,
Bill69
 
I'm agreeing with Storknest: Test by FPS, not poly count: Andi06's junction track is (I'm guessing) two polygons per repetition, but it certainly eats more resources than its weight would suggest.

I would suggest the use of any of the Auran Chunky-Mesh tracks. Any track which is made that way (identifiable by the bump in the middle) will have a minimum number of polys. This includes Scara's MP track and the Auran default track among others.
 
Low poly track can be made with 2 planes per rail, giving 4 poly per rail, or 8 for whole track, 10 with ballast.

It can be made with 2 poly per rail, but loses a bit when viewed from above

So useable track has a min of 8 without ballast, 10 with
 
Technically, you could have a track spline with only 2 polys....

This would be a flat plain with a track texture on the top side. Top side + bottom side = 2 polys.

However such a track would look extremely pathetic especially when viewed from the side
 
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