The Absolute BEST LOOKING Track?

[ZecMurphy]

Why is there an unusable engineers seat that constantly gets in the way and blocks your view ?

This depends on the original creator of the cab, design of the cab, and how easily the controls can be accessed, as well as if the creator wants the interior to be realistic looking. In the case of this interior, the view point should be over the seat. If you have moved the view point back yourself, then expect the seat to be in view. Think this way, if you stood at that height in that spot in the real one, would the seat be there?

Why do creators make track that makes kinks in turnouts ?

This is to do with the number of polygons on the screen (plus textures, etc). For each 'segment' you are repeating the mesh, which is further polys on the screen. For older versions of Trainz, this was more of a big deal, since you could quickly reach the limits of the hardware (remember, TRS2004 was designed for computer that are now 7+ years old). Unfortunately, splines for older versions aren't overly efficient (unless you use chunky-mesh tracks). In the case of those shown in your screenshots, they are all custom 3D tracks, which required more resources. To have (say) halved the track length, would have doubled the number of polygons on screen (approximately). Some newer tracks (such as the tracks by bloodnok, natvander, of myself through my S301 username) have multiple lengths available (generally 1m, 2m, 4m, 8m, 16m) to give a 'forced LOD' to improve performance. Each should be used in it's best place (e.g. 16m for long straight sections, 1m for where you need to have a spline that is less than 2m in length, such as joining two sets of points, 1m for sharp points, 4m for curves).

This has, however, been addressed with TS2009's new stitched track system. This can now (for example) have a track that starts at 4m long (with segments along it allowing it to bend between, say, each sleeper), and can have LOD on it. This can allow the mesh to continuously reduce detail (in steps) as you move away. The end mesh could, in effect, become a 16m long piece with just simple shapes (a more basic shape somewhat similar to the chunky-mesh tracks), with this one being in the far distance (say 1km).

You finally find a detailed track, and the frogs and railjoiners don't show up correctly on the track, as they are too low.

At this time, frogs, blades, etc are not automatically created at junctions. There are some fixed track 'animated' points around (Andi06, Pencil42, and a couple built-in for 06 and newer), as well as trackside based 'detail' parts.

Why does high detailed track kink and shows track swirls ?

See above regarding segment lengths, and the new TS2009 stitched track.

For the 'swirls', this is known as 'moire'. It is cause by having multiple hard lines (e.g. the lines that separate the sleeper polygon from the ballast polygons, and the next sleeper polygon) all placed within the area of one pixel. As these hard lines are being mixed, they can produce this effect. It can be counteracted by a good LOD, however it does take some work. It can also be helped a little by increasing the anti-aliasing. This is an unfortunate side effect of 3D tracks (for example) that use 'hard' lines for the edges of sleepers (e.g. polygon edges, texture edges are less likely to produce this).

Where are the animated turnouts ? (Asside from the 4 y/o Andi06 switch's).

There are a number of 3rd party created 'animated' turnouts of various designs. Ones that I know of are available from Andi06, Ocemy, Pencil42 (stub points), and a set are also built-in, in TRS2006+. The built-in set in 06+ are called 'Turnout Number 8' with direction and lever position after this.

Where is the bell button in the cab ?

Not sure if it is possible for a creator to add a bell button (one that will turn on/off the 'Trainz' bell), however if you wish to request a feature such as this, I would recommend putting it in the suggestions section.

Why is there no conductor, and if the fireman is present the engineer is missing ?

This really depends on the original creator. For locomotive interiors, it's generally taken that the player is the driver. As such, a driver character is generally not included (if you move the view, the driver figure won't move with it, so it can cause artifacts to appear, or give the impression of walking out of your 'body'). For a second person/fireman, this depends on if a creator does want a crew in there. It can also make it awkward to create camera positions, since the fireman may be the way of camera positions that you want/need to be able to see certain views/controls/parts. Same thing as the seat at the start really. Except you'll need to put the camera above the window height to see past the crew.

Why are the track sounds so lame ?

This really depends on the track (and track sounds) used. For the default Auran made track, it uses default generic sounds. These are not likely to please everyone, however they are generic sounds. In TRS2006 we did implement a track sounds system, which allows you to apply custom track sounds to a given spline (bogies also support custom sounds). For example, a number of creators have implemented a 'wheel squeal' sound for corners. I haven't really looked much into this myself yet, however this can be used to give the effect of continuous welded rail, different designs of jointed rail (e.g. one could be made to have a large 'bang' over a join if so wanted, for that odd dodgy join), etc.

I am going to have to purchase 09, or 10 just to see how much, or just how little improvement has been put into Trainz.

Please remember that existing content won't magically upgrade itself. However, the available features have been improved that content creators can take advantage of. For TS2010, there are also new items built-in, some which do take good advantage of new features (such as the new ground textures included, and the new industrial items), some take some advantage of new features (such as the older Auran made locomotives have been updated a little) and some which are included as-is (this generally applies to DLS content used by the included routes).

Please also remember, not all functions that you may want are available in older editions. For example, the custom track sounds were only available for TRS2006 and newer, whilst the new spline design is only available in TS2009 and newer. As such, you may find that the newer editions may have some of the features that you want.

Hopefully this helps to clear some of this up for you.

 

[rweber95]

Set CM to search Name - turnout. You'll find No. 8 turnouts by spock2004 and stub turnouts by pencil42. The all have moving points and are simple to place.

Bob

 

[cascaderailroad]

I briefly played with them...non-detailed Damp Track matches the # 8 turnouts.

The Stub switches would be novile, if I were building the 1854 PRR mainline. I wish the Stub switches were modern track, with movable points.

I tried building a yard, like one does with model RR sectional track, with non-detailed Damp Track, and got poor, lackluster resuts.

 

[cascaderailroad]

Steel RR Ties

http://www.narstco.com/h12.html

 

[kimo505]

Don't know if it will work in 06, but Cloakedghost's site has some real nice payware track. I got the wood track and it works well in 2010 on my average HP.

 

[cascaderailroad]

Best Looking Trolley Tracks and City Streets

To make a scene like this requires 2 road splines, 2 sidewalks, 1 cobblestone track, and I still need to add another overhead trolley wire spline ... Whew ! thats alot of work ( and splines) just to lay a cobblestone city trolley system.

Anyone have any better ideas ? Almost all US cities looked like this, and some European cities also had similar cobblestone tracks imbeded in asphalt roads.