Tips and Tricks-Surveyor

[JCitron]

Use the Alt-Y to get down to the ground level. This ground-level view gives you the chance to see what the objects what the area looks like without entering into Driver.

I find this nifty little Easter egg very helpful. This ensures that the objects have been placed on the ground particularly where there are hills. Some building don't sink into the ground, and will sit on the highest point.

This is also good to check out the performance of your route. By using the CTRL key in addition to the navigation keys, the camera moves along faster. Areas that have bad stutters are ones that need some looking over again. I've used this to find areas that need trees removed or other objects replaced because the original ones were too poly-heavy for good performance.

John

 

[231g5]

mise a jour

je n arrive pas avoir les mises a jours sur la gare de téléchargeent

comment on fat trs2009

 

[lORD_MAGERIUS]

Not really got anything that hasn't already been mentioned. Though when I'm building a route, I always think "why?"
Why are these sidings here, what did/do they serve? Why put a curve here? Etc... Also, if I'm struggling to build a route, I'll go out of my comfort zone. I usually build British routes but if I can't get inspiration for it. I'll stop and maybe start building an American route or a European route, to get myself into a different frame of mind and then come back the the British route full of fresh ideas

 

[colourlight]

Bad track Joints

I found laying a track from a bridge, when editing Port Ogden, adding a spine point and laying another piece of track to it to create a point switch results in a very small gap which is noisy when a train passes over it. to eliminate excess noise. Lay 2 stretches of track from the bridge which automatically creates a spine point then add a third piece of track ( to the middle spline point).:wave:

 

[escafeld]

colourlight - I'm trying to get my head around your suggestion, but can't grasp what you're trying to say. Any chance of an illustration?

Regards, Dave

 

[nuni727]

----bump---- Didn't want this thread to go unnoticed. Now for my contribution to this thread, If Using a roundhouse always put a bumper on buffers at the end of the tracks inside the roundhouse that way if you back up into the shed you won't derail your train.



-Nuni

 

[martinvk]

Good idea but I see two issues.
1 If you're driving on manual, the buffers will not stop you. You have to know where to stop

2 If it is the AI, they tend to stop too far from the buffers. My solution to that is to place some invisible track past the end of the roundhouse. Then either hide a buffer under some scenery or use invisible buffers. Experiment for the exact distance to get the engine to stop at the correct location inside the roundhouse.

 

[loubot69]

Stations

I'm wondering how to make my own stations.
If you have a look at the FMCK Kings Cross-York Route and look at the York and Kings Cross stations they have a number of platforms. I'd like to know how to make them instead of just having the 2 or 3 platform default ones. I also looked for downloadable ones but couldn't find any
Thanks in advance aswell

 

[backyard]

Blame the AI-Driver...

You can place a trackmark on the service tracks at the turntable & assign the AI Driver a task.

Always assign a driver to each locomotive you install...

 

[itareus]

I'm wondering how to make my own stations.......

Check out the Station Kit by Andi06, details here:

http://www.ajsmith.nildram.co.uk/trs/station01.shtml

Also try searching for "Station" or "Platform" on the DLS (there are loads of existing stations / platforms which you can combine to make what you want). "Ray_Whiley" has made a good few UK platforms and station buildings recently (also on the DLS).

You can make hand crafted stations (and most other Trainz objects) using Blender (Freeware) but this will involve a lot of learning and hard work.

If you have specific questions please post these in a new thread.

 

[craftsmaster]

First, don't think twice about taking the locomotive out of the box. This is essential. Make sure all of the wheels are metal. This doesn't necessarily mean that each wheel actually picks up electricity, but it's a start. If the car doesn't come equipped with metal wheels, don't buy it.

Turn each of these metal wheels with your fingers. Wheels that turn easily are not gear driven. If they are difficult to turn, they're gear-driven, and that’s what you want!

If you're in a hobby shop (which I recommend), ask them to test run the car. The store probably has a track set up already. If you test run the car and it needs to be push started, don't buy it.

The clerk may try to tell you the locomotive failed because the track is dirty. Don't take his word for it. Ask him to wipe the track with a rag and try again. If the locomotive still needs a push start, don't buy that particular car.
_________________
Each individual has compelling reasons to love model railroading. But beneath these varied reasons are common threads that make it an awesome hobby everyone.

The Australian Model Train Guide

 

[gisa]

Craftsmaster, these are great tips but they have nothing to do with Trainz and surveyor in particular (as per the thread title). Perhaps you should start your own thread for these tips?

:wave:

Gisa ^^

 

[martinvk]

Craftsmaster, these are great tips but they have nothing to do with Trainz and surveyor in particular (as per the thread title). Perhaps you should start your own thread for these tips?

:wave:

Gisa ^^

Since he doesn't even have any version registered, if he even owns one, it might be hard to offer any Surveyor tips. The next time I'm tempted to spend a lot of money on a breakable model, I'll keep his tips in mind. Meanwhile, back to the subject at hand.

By keeping switches and signals (both trackside objects) on different layers, it is easy to work on one without disturbing the other by locking one of the layers.

 

[lewisner]

My Tip for today - If you are looking for a specific piece of Content such as an "Embankment" remember that although English is one of the commonest languages on the planet it is not the ONLY one. Use an online English to (eg German) translator to find what "Embankment" is in the major foreign languages then type the result into the DLS.By doing this you can often find things you would otherwise miss.

 

[Lord-Claud-Hamilton]

Can't remember who did Whitemoor and March I'm afraid.

I know this was a very old post (2007 - Lewisner was also involved at the time), but I was searching for something else and came across it by chance. But I think it was either LieLestoSbrat or tommylommykins who produced Whitemoor yard.

I can't remember which era it was and unfortunately I dont think it was ever sent to the DLS.

I wouldn't mind getting my hands on it myself actually.

 

[lewisner]

The Spalding - March line was done as part of the DPS ECML route. I don't know what they have done or are doing with it in recent years.

 

[FlyingScottmond]

For Prototypical Routes:

1) Rule of thumb- If a 200 ton diesel loco looks small next to a building in your route the building is probably too large and not to scale.

I have actually heard that one before! When multiple people agree on it, you know it is true.

I took different stuctures and combined them to make different buildings, sometimes mulipules of the same, or combinations of seperate items; try it!

That is one of the beauties of Trainz, the simple fact there is no clipping.

 

[FlyingScottmond]

First, don't think twice about taking the locomotive out of the box. This is essential. Make sure all of the wheels are metal. This doesn't necessarily mean that each wheel actually picks up electricity, but it's a start. If the car doesn't come equipped with metal wheels, don't buy it.

Turn each of these metal wheels with your fingers. Wheels that turn easily are not gear driven. If they are difficult to turn, they're gear-driven, and that’s what you want!

If you're in a hobby shop (which I recommend), ask them to test run the car. The store probably has a track set up already. If you test run the car and it needs to be push started, don't buy it.

The clerk may try to tell you the locomotive failed because the track is dirty. Don't take his word for it. Ask him to wipe the track with a rag and try again. If the locomotive still needs a push start, don't buy that particular car.

I did that once at my local hobby store. I chose not to buy because it didn't run but then the shopkeeper found out the power wasn't turned on.:hehe:


EDIT: Did you attend that Model Railroad Convention at Ipswitch a few months ago?

 

[Rail4Pete]

Texturing forest

Summer: In real life the ground in a forest is mostly dark brown with green spot, but you just see it when you walk through it. When you are outside the forest, the color you see is always green. In trainz, because the distant tree will not show up, if you want to feel it is a forest, you have to paint the ground in the variant green color the tree would be. If you paint it dark brown, it will not look as real from long distance.

I made this error and had to repaint all my layout.

Rail4Pete

 

[davesnow]

Creating a forest

In TS2010, when copying and pasting a forest, you can press the "[" or "]" keys to rotate the group between pastings. This way, your forests will look random and not patterned.