Tips and Tricks-Surveyor

[escafeld]

Yes I did forget to add that in and for that I thank you. I suppose not having a good night sleep for five days and working much more than usual affected my mind in a negative way...if you've gone through this, then I'm sure you'll be quite understanding. There was no way you could have known that though so that's fine.

I do resent your sarcasm however as it was completely uncalled for. Why? What did you hope to gain by doing that? I took the time to post here to help others who may have missed this in the manual, like myself. Sometimes people forget things they have learned or missed the first time around. I hope others can forgive me for not having a Ph.D in knowing every exact thing in the trainz manual!

Comments like this make people not want to post and not feel welcome here. I might need to proofread my posts more but maybe you should think about the impact your words will have on others before you post them.


Gisa

Hey, just reign yourself in a bit, there was no sarcasm directed at you, just at the fact that I never read read the manual and so never understood the use of the Mini Map.

Please lets not have any more lectures until you've understood what's been said. I've done the no-sleeping bit, but didn't take it out on anyone else.

 

[gisa]

Hey, just reign yourself in a bit, there was no sarcasm directed at you, just at the fact that I never read read the manual and so never understood the use of the Mini Map.

Please lets not have any more lectures until you've understood what's been said. I've done the no-sleeping bit, but didn't take it out on anyone else.

At first, I thought you had understood me but now I can see that you misunderstood me (and that happens on the net). I am not talking about the minimap at all. As well, I think my suggestion is not obvious either. It's somewhat intuitive now that I think about it but perhaps some might not think so (perhaps an old school DOS mindset) and I could definitely see why others like me would leave the object tab open to do things like that. Does it even say this in the manual?

I now see that your statement was not sarcastic at all. I apologize for misconstruing your statement although in all fairness I think it's easy to see why it could be interpreted that way.

That is an excellent tip you described in your last post and I hope others will consider it if modelling an ocean side because the seashore looks much more realistic that way.

:wave:

Gisa ^^

 

[escafeld]

Attach a short length of invisible track at the buffers and the loco will drive right up to them. NOTE - this invisible track appears to attach above track height, which can be confusing at first.

 

[escafeld]

When you have to elevate the trackwork and can't raise the land to meet it, as below. Use 'Bloc de macadam' to hide the empty space beneath. The blocks are the size of a grid square and so help to fill in the fiddly-bits. I've raised one to show what it looks like.



Another view of an area mostly covered.



Regards, Dave

 

[cascaderailroad]

Cool Asset...Thanks !

Very cool asset ! I wonder if one can re-skin, custom re-color or re-texture using Irfanview (paint dialog box), Gimp, or MS Paint...I have done this re-coloring and re-texturing of dirt road, and cinder path splines, and it works extremely well.
http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc339/cascaderailroad/Screen_042-1.jpg
By selecting in the Surveyor Options (drop down box) Randomly Rotate Assets, your trees and bushs will be rotated very unsemetricaly and more realisticly.

 

[escafeld]

cascaderailroad - The texture is a .tga file and easily altered in paint programs that accept those files, such as Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro. Having said that you could copy the file, alter the texture and rename it for your own use ...I think. Check the conditions of copyright.

It would be handy to have a set of these blocks in different dimensions eg triangular and have them rolling enabled. Might just have a word with Remi Wurtz, the content maker.

 

[davesnow]

Blow that Horn!!!!

Just a very, very small tip, but one perhaps some newbies don't know... you can blow the horn using the "+" key on the Number Pad (The number keys on the right side of the Keyboard). A little easier than having to search out the "H" key if you're in a hurry.

 

[wheelsonfire]

As a relative newbie I'd like to thank all the positive contributors to this thread. I've read all 29 pages and learned a lot. I'd like to pass on a tip that I learned from lielestosbrat on the UK Forum.

The 'Adjust Radius' tool in 'Advanced Trigger Management Tools' can also be used to adjust the radius of a switch lever and I quote: "It can also be used on point lever object to adjust the radius they can be triggered in relation to an item of rolling stock on the same line. In other words set it to about 4 and click on your points and you can change them with the loco/rolling stock nice and close to the point lever object. Handy for those cramped areas."

I hope there is someone who didn't know this!

 

[Euphod]

I, for one, was unaware of this trick, thanks!

 

[escafeld]

Me neither, wheelsonfire, thanks. I've added a few tips, but didn't know that one.

 

[rawhide60]

map

I have Trainz 2009. I would like to know is it possible to get a print out of all the track.

Cheers rawhide60

 

[escafeld]

Hi rawhide, you need to go to a questions and answers thread to get a reply. This is just a thread for posting 'Tips & Tricks'. You could always start your own thread to get a speedy answer.

 

[qassaquyangli]

WARRNING

INMATURE ME!!!

 

[mondow]

This topic has become so long, if you were to read all of it, The server would log you out because of inactivity. Also this is a sticky. Thank you Mod...

My tip

If you are trying to make a lot of terrain. to speed things up Use copy and paste. Than

 

[mjolnir]

Those modeling a propotype scale route, who want things to look as much like the prototype would have done things as possible, might find this book, which can be downloaded from Google books, of some usefulness:

http://books.google.com/books?id=XtXCm4RgYIMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Railroad+engineering&as_brr=1#v=onepage&q=&f=fals

ns

 

[backyard]

Those modeling a propotype scale route, who want things to look as much like the prototype would have done things as possible, might find this book, which can be downloaded from Google books, of some usefulness:

http://books.google.com/books?id=XtXCm4RgYIMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Railroad+engineering&as_brr=1#v=onepage&q=&f=fals

ns

Thanks Mjolnir, that's one good link, 501 pages of History!

 

[martinvk]

In TRS2009, when placing track and there are only a few other tracks in the neighbourhood, moving them around and aligning them is no problem. But the middle of a large yard or the throat of a major station is another matter. I find that there is a perceptible delay in my moving a spline point and seeing the track move. Often I can force a redraw by zooming out and then zooming back in. Even my regular stitched track with all the LOD suffers.

So I made a very low poly version, only used for designing. No ties, no track clips, nothing except two simple rails and a single plane for ballast. Not pretty but performance is back to normal and I can quickly align multi-track sections without any fuss and no zooming.

The "Replace assets ... " feature in 09 makes this very easy to do. Swap all normal track for the design track, align and then swap it back. If you have different types of track, swap and align then one type at a time so that you don't end up with all the same track everywhere.

 

[escafeld]

Continuous traffic at 'T' junctions.

For smooth and continuous flowing traffic onto and off the main road at 'T' junctions do the following: -

1. Lay the main road. The road can be curved.
2. Lay the minor road but do not connect to the main road, just make sure there are no gaps. The road can be curved.

3. Add a spline point to each section of road stemming from the junction, about two grid squares away in each direction. So now you should have three extra spline points, two grid squares away from the junction.

4. Using the USA default invisible road, because it is visible in surveyor, attach this road to one spline point on the main road and drop the end somewhere away from the junction. Note - The other side is shown as done, just for you to see the final result you're aiming for.

5. Join back up to where you left off and then attach to the spline point in the minor road.

6. Repeat for the opposite direction.
7. When you have done that, pull the spline points on the invisible road to the position arrowed in red. The invisible road, though visible in Surveyor, will disappear beneath the actual road, but here I've raised it to show you the direction it takes.
The vehicles will swing out before the junction a little and swing out again when they get through the junction, but this looks good with buses and other large vehicles.

Note - a split may appear (arrowed blue) in a curved road where the invisible road is joined to the actual road. You may have to do a bit of tweaking. Another point to make - Traffic may appear and quickly disappear between the spline point and the junction of the minor road (arrowed in yellow). It's a rare occurrence, but may happen from time to time.

Regards, Dave

 

[Measure_Twice]

Reply to Tucson_Coyote

Hey Tucson:

If you can build a track to Globe (about 100 NE of you), we can get the 'think tank' rolling stock and transport ideas back and forth . Have it stop at the Globe Downtown Historical Station, I'm less than a 1/4 mile from there.

#1 ___________ CREATING LONG/WIDE SLOPES
Here's my best idea for creating gentle grade slopes in TR2006. If there's a better way that works for baseboards that ARE ABOVE the 0 height default baseboard, let me know. (Using the current slope tools in TOPOLOGY only reference the 0 height default baseboard (sad).

I take 'highway' from the spline section and stretch it from my slope starting point to my slope ending point. So, now I have a nice long 2 mile stretch of Highway. I will then skip just under two squares laterally then do the same Highway stretch. I will repeat this about 4 more times, now having 10 sections of Highway parallel to each other. If I did it right, there'll be no gaps between the Highways, they'll appear (overhead) just touching each other without overlapping.

Yes, a lot of work so far - hope there's a better way. Now, Ill elevate the far end of each Highway to my desired slope. Let's see, 2 miles=10,560' ... figure a slope of 10' every 1,056' linear. We've got about a 100' rise over the two miles (is that too steep?). Now I'll elevate each far vertex to 100. When done I'll raise the ground texture by clicking between each highway section, left to right to the last highway sections. I'll then click-delete each highway.

The final output will be a ridged slope. Apparently due to the limitations of the program, that's the best I've been able to do. I don't think Ma Nature has perfected the smooth slope yet either . I'll then use the CUT/PASTE function and widen my slope to the appropriate width.

If there's a better way - POST IT !


#2 ___________ MINIMUM BRIDGE HEIGHTS

I've found setting my minimum bridge height for train/other separation to 13. I've found setting my minimum bridge height for vehicle/other separation to 9.

Enjoy

Measure_Twice (lay track once)

 

[escafeld]

The slope idea is very good Measure_Twice, but been quoted several times I'm afraid. Keep posting your ideas though, there's always something new to be thought up.