Tips and Tricks-Surveyor

Dunno if its posted allready, havent read all the tips here..

It took me while too figure this out, hence i wanted too share this..

You have track junction Objects with animated switches, but these objects arent tracks and need a invisible track layed over them.
But i allways seemed too be able too connect one side the other side where i clicked the invis-track did not connect..

Now i placed a invisible track on eah end of the junction track, and connected the invisible track splinepoint together in the middle where the animated switch lever is about to be placed on the junction object.

Only downside of this there is a small piece of track laying now in the opposite direction, but the AI trains seems too ignore this small part fortunate.

I used this mostly on the new HOTT Animated tracks and the China tracks and works like a charm, havent used this trick yet with AJS modules, allthough i guess it would work with that as well..

Grts
Arra
 
brendansbiz said:
how about cheats?:cool:
Click to expand...
What are you talking about, cheats? It sounds like you have the wrong software.

This is a Train simulator. People do many things with it: build objects, create routes, drive trains, etc. Some have even branched off into other areas and have made Moon and Marz routes, done monorails, even airplanes, ships and horses. None of these activities involves cheats. There is no pot of gold at the end of the track, no promotions with more power. If you want another level, you build it.

Even if there were any, you would only be cheating yourself.
 
When you make your new stitched track, ideally the transition from one LOD to the next should be totally transparent as you move further away. Any abrupt transitions will be pretty obvious and easy to spot and fix. As you approach that sublime effect, it is helpful to include some temporary markers in your mesh to help you see where the transitions occur. As an example, the numbers 0 to 3 have been added to these meshes:
martinvk_20110830_0000.jpg

The arrows point to where I expected the transitions to happen. It looks like I'm almost done. :)
 
"Rolling" objects

Every once in a while one hits a key and something unexpectedly happens. So it was the other night I happened to hold down the SHIFT KEY when i went to rotate a milepost. Low and behold, the angle of the post changed so that it was now leaning over! This is apparently called "rolling", although I haven't found it documented in any of the manuals.

Not all objects roll. But for those that do (e.g., mile posts, power poles, etc.) getting a lean is simple:

In the Objects Panel on the right side of Surveyor select the "Rotate" button. Then instead of rotating the object, hold down the "Shift Key" and roll it.

Cayden

rollingj.png

By cayden at 2011-09-07

Milepost (renamable),<kuid2:124060:23000:1> by pencil42
Power pole disused Series2c,<kuid2:184151:331:2> by vinnybarb
 
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There is a line you can add to the config of most objects for this to happen. It stays that way even if someone else has the asset but not the line.
 
Smoothing that Terrain!

This tip/trick/tutorial assumes you can't afford lots of software and you only have Trainz by itself. It will work with any version.

This tip/trick/tutorial (Or better known as TTT) allows you to smooth off terrain on hills and mountains and valleys, etc. Most of the .bmp displacements that automatically create terrain based on a heightmap come with a trade off. Although becoming smoother as they increase in size, they also become more jagged and broken.

In order to smooth it off, open up the "Topology" tab (Hotkey: F1) and select the button Plataeu (Hotkey: P). Clicking multiple times on the cliffside will slowly smooth it off and make it look much better.

Although, this can be tiresome and take a large amount of time. Especially with a large area to cover.

So, in order to speed up the process, I recommend that you download an autoclicker program which in the shortest form, allows you to click a certain key or button as many times as you want without you needing to do a thing.

I suggest this one: http://www.murgee.com/auto-clicker/

WARNING: I DIDNT GET A VIRUS WHEN I USED IT. DONT BLAME ME FOR ANYTHING THAT GOES WRONG WITH USING IT. ITS ON YOUR COMPUTER SO ITS YOUR SCREWUP. I TAKE ABSOLUTELY NO RESPONSIBILITY AND NEITHER DOES AURAN OR N3V OR WHATEVER. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

The autoclicker allows you to set the interval between clicks. I put mine on an interval of ten milliseconds and clicking an infinite amount of time. I also hotkeyed mine to Numpad "-"

Now, when you return to Trainz, turn on plataeu mode and then pressed your autoclicker assigned hotkey. You should now have the equivalent of an effective smoother.

Your still able to move around with the arrow keys and the right mouse button, but I would highly like to suggest that you be careful with what you smooth - Its not the same as just taking your finger off the mouse! (Actually, all you do is press the assigned hotkey... DUH)

I hope this helps!
 
Invisible Hidden Layer Solved - 2010

I see a number of posts about the problem of a consist that can't be seen or deleted but which occupies space on a so-called "hidden layer". But the "hidden layer" doesn't show in the layers tools and the consist blocks the track.

I figured out a solution on my own and now I see it's similar to some others (but less complicated I hope). I hope I have the correct sequence below:

Copy your problem route to another name and work on the copy
Open the problem route as "edit session"
Choose layers tab
highlight the route
use merge into button, and
merge into the session layer
A warning will appear but go ahead
The bad consist should appear.
Delete the bad consist
Delete the track at the problem spot (I don't know if this is needed but it seemed to help)
use the merge into button again to
merge the session into the route
save-as a new route-name and session.
 
Hello there. I am having trouble with basic colours. Having laid out tracks and roads, I usually decide to lay down the colour green to provide a background. The problem is, when I look at it, it seems to lack some large snooker balls - the ground is flat, green and totally without significance. It looks like a snooker table covered with close-mown and beautiful green grass - ie totally unrealistic. Can you give me a hint on how to mix colours to produce a more accurate picture? Very basic, I know.
 
Feiler said:
Hello there. I am having trouble with basic colours...
...Can you give me a hint on how to mix colours to produce a more accurate picture? Very basic, I know.
Click to expand...

Yes, backtrack to a tip I added much earlier in the thread. If I get chance I might find it first.

Dave

EDIT - See post #246
 
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Holding down the [ or ] KB key will smear the textures.

Setting texture size to minimum seems in most cases to provide a less checkerboard texture.

Some textures are better than others, as some textures are unrealisticly blinding green or pixelated.

One of my favorites is Forest 1

I could reccomend many others ... but that would be better via a PM as thye list is lengthly.
 
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In real life, everytime I look into a deep fresh water body such as a lake, canal, or river, the bottom appears black. Sunlight can penetrate the water surface only so far. Therefore, I always use "pitch black" texture to line the bottom floor of any water. WAY more realistic. I know there's a bunch of "water" textures out there, but I have yet to see anything Ive seen looking over the side of my boat other than black. Then spray a little hint of seaweed or sea grass toward the shallow parts. Model railroaders know this also when we use fake water and want to show deep volume. We simply paint the bottoms of water bodys black. Then lighten colors towards the banks. Unless its a shallow stream with rocks and pebbles, use black.
 
Hi guys, for guys like me who like to push things to their limits, mess around in general and have fun when bored : One can join two different guage tracks like in TR2006 on the Gossen run where the NG2 and Ng3 tracks run next to each other in places, and it will allow rolling stock of both guages to run there, might not be practical but it is fun ! Just don't join on junctions or spline points.
 
:cool: Actually, Trainz does not recognize the different gauges. You can attach one track gauge to another or use narrow gauge equipment on standard gauge, or whatever you want to do.

I don't know about using two tracks on top of each other...

I know narrow gauge equipment shows up in Railyard on a standard gauge track...
 
Same thing with couplers, any coupler will join with every other type. No need for any adapters or transition cars.
 
backyard said:
:cool: Actually, Trainz does not recognize the different gauges. You can attach one track gauge to another or use narrow gauge equipment on standard gauge, or whatever you want to do.

I don't know about using two tracks on top of each other...

I know narrow gauge equipment shows up in Railyard on a standard gauge track...
Click to expand...

Hi backyard, all I am saying is I can put any combination of rolling stock together on any track in trainz and they all run. eg. NG2 and NG3 and standard wide track and a Gilpin Russel , Gossen Garrat and Big Boy with a mix of NG rolling stock and any other with them. Not practical I know, but fun.
 
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