Terrain drops when I apply a texture?

[nicky9499]

TRS19 11951 is displaying this very weird issue where the terrain sinks wherever I apply any texture.

On an existing route where the texture has been updated to one of the newfangled tech, the ground appears distorted and glitched, like as if there is a floating translucent layer. Can someone explain in brief what is this and how do I fix it please.

 

[PerRock]

that is the pbr textures. The square blocks of textures cutting thru stuff comes from mixing pbr textures with non-pbr ones.

peter

 

[nicky9499]

Thanks Peter. I had suspected that to be the case. However, the "ground dipping" issue occurs even if I apply a non-PBR texture to blank baseboard.

 

[hert]

Thanks Peter. I had suspected that to be the case. However, the "ground dipping" issue occurs even if I apply a non-PBR texture to blank baseboard.

A lot of the textures were updated to PBR. I noticed a lot of TS12 default textures are now PBR even though they dont say it in the name.

 

[nicky9499]

That may be the case, but the texture I'm applying is positively not PBR as it doesn't have the double-layer translucent effect thing, which may not be apparent from the first screenshot. Every single texture I select, over a dozen, randomly picked and some of very low resolution (old and certainly not PBR) exhibits this terrain-sinking behavior.

 

[clam1952]

That may be the case, but the texture I'm applying is positively not PBR as it doesn't have the double-layer translucent effect thing, which may not be apparent from the first screenshot. Every single texture I select, over a dozen, randomly picked and some of very low resolution (old and certainly not PBR) exhibits this terrain-sinking behavior.

First thing I noticed with TRS19, I think it's due the the PBR grid being higher than the previous one as in TANE as in the grid is probably actually now a PBR texture not a normal TGA, if you cover it in total with non PBR textures everything then works as normal, definitely weird.

The PBR textures showing through can often be cured by reapplying the PBR texture and making sure it covers a wider area from the track road or whatever.
I've been experimenting with PBR textures and by careful manipulation of the parameters alpha etc you can get it so that it doesn't bury stuff, and never use max resolution, things wobble around and move about. I'm still using good old Normal mapped ground textures in TRS19 though.

 

[nicky9499]

if you cover it in total with non PBR textures everything then works as normal, definitely weird.

So, I need to rid the route of every single PBR texture in order to avoid this "higher PBR grid" issue?

In some ways I'm trying to do this by comparing both routes side by side TS12 vs TRS19 and trying to replace the textures (in TS12) those that are showing as PBR in TRS19. The problem is I have no way of knowing which textures have been updated with PBR or not, so it's like fumbling around in the dark trial-and-error-ing over and over again until I find a suitable non-PBR texture.

Compare > replace > TS12 export > TRS19 import > review > textures still messed up > rinse and repeat.

Whose idea was it to directly update textures with such a new technology instead of creating a separate version anyway - does it not occur to them that maybe someone might want to use TRS19 without PBR?

 

[euromodeller]

I had this problem, so I made this ....

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/sho...ce-Board-TRS19&highlight=euromodeller+texture

I have also made a grid eplacement texture that I paste over PBR boards before I start work on it. The texture flattens the board back to non PBR jellytex. (see image)

The spline points that you can see are ground plane texture splines that match the ground textures.

I hope this helps you!

Graham

 

[nicky9499]

grid replacement texture that I paste over PBR boards before I start work on it. The texture flattens the board back to non PBR jellytex.

Hi Graham and thanks for chiming in. I've actually bookmarked your excellent content for awhile now just waiting to use it as soon as I can clear up some of these migration woes. Based on your quote, is it correct that all imported routes with a single PBR texture will be automatically and uniformly raised by ~0.2m across the entire route?

 

[euromodeller]

A bare baseboard in TRS19 has a 'PBR' grid texture on its surface, it would be more correct to call it a parallax texture but the term PBR has stuck.

So as soon as you import a route into TRS19 whatever textures you had in the old route will still be the same, ie. non PBR, unless those textures have been updated to v4.6 upwards, that's where the problem starts, you then have a mixture of PBR and non PBR textures on the board which creates the problems that you show in your earlier post.

It's not user friendly for a texture creator to update his/her texture without adding PBR to the name of the asset thus causing a ton of misery!

Then you will find gaps between textures that are a bare baseboard grid, which gives the raising/lowering effect also between non-PBR textures.
The decision to make is, PBR or non PBR ground textures, I find that mixing causes too many problems and I don't like PBR textures so I stick to non-PBR.

Of course opinions will differ over what to use so it's a personal choice.

good luck !

Graham

 

[Dinorius_Redundicus]

Terrain drops are falling on my head
That doesn’t mean my eyes will soon be turning red

 

[Forester1]

LOL! Nice. You always have great comebacks!

 

[ZecMurphy]

Hi All
With the parallax effects on ground textures in TRS19, so as to ensure that it works correctly the terrain is raised up a few centimeters. The parallax effect then pushes 'inward'/downward, to about an equal amount below the old default amount at it's maximum (this means that mid-grey on the parallax map should give approximately the same as the old default).

However because of this, mixing both parallax and non parallax ground textures is generally not going to give great results (at least close to the player/track), especially where they are under splines or similar looking scenery. As such, it's generally best to try either replacing with all non PBR ground textures, or with all PBR ground textures. We have, as needed, updated older ground textures to PBR/parallax.

One thing to note is the 'clipping' issue shown in the original screenshot is the blending between PBR and nonPBR ground textures. If you use just PBR ground textures on the route, you shouldn't see this issue (although some 'taller' textures may sometimes poke through a bit).

Regards

 

[nicky9499]

Thanks for the clarification Zec. My next question would be - if I were to successfully replace all textures with ones that haven't been ignominiously updated to parallax-type, will my entire route be restored to its original height?
As it currently stands, sure I can leave completed sections untouched (once textures in that area have been replaced), but if I were to build new sections near existing sections, this "different ground heights" issue pops up again even if both textures are seemingly non-parallax! In other words, right now existing sections seem to be on the "higher" level even though they are not using parallax textures, and painting new non-parallax textures next to them takes place on the "lower" level, resulting in the same problem.

We have, as needed, updated older ground textures to PBR/parallax.

All of this grief could have been avoided if parallax versions of textures were released as exactly that - separate versions for people to replace/upgrade at their own wish and not an automatic update ruining routes that already use them. An utterly poorly thought-out decision. To top it off, there is no obvious way to discern which textures are parallax or not, hence the extremely frustrating trial-and-error and TRS19-TS12 roundtripping.