The Central Minnesota - My First Route

[boyerm25]

I've had trainz for a couple months now and decided to try my hand at route building (remember I'm not the same Boyerm25, so this actually is my first real route. I did have a test where I learned to use the editor, but it looked terrible so I'm not counting it ). This is a fictional route; could be anywhere in Minnesota really. The focus of the route is going to be industrial area operation, but I've gone into a bit rural area on one end of the industrial area.

RDC at the Yakima station

The beginnings of the town of Yakima. The station ended up on the very edge of town (I might change this later).

The one completed baseboard.

All the track is laid and all industries are placed. The route is three baseboards - I have two more to texture and scenic.

 

[boyerm25]

I have a question related to route building - figured I would put it here. Is trackside grass worth it? My performance takes a BIG BIG hit whenever I put it in, but it makes the route look nicer (IMO). So - is it really worth it? What do people think?

 

[hert]

Route buliding is always about performance vs detail. The more detail you put in the less performance you get. So its always a balancing act of making a good looking route that also performs well.

 

[boyerm25]

Well, as I run Trainz on a laptop,I may have to make some sacrifices of detail. Any advice to making the route look better?

 

[hert]

You want to have the most detail near/close to the tracks then slowly get less and less as your fan out from the tracks. Try painting on roads that arnt near tracks then using splines to help the frame rates out.