Tunnels

[okhiu]

Hello all,

I intend to recreate an area that looks like this.

Many tunnels, many bridges, many curves. Also a timelapse cabview here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIdqqAMutV8

But i am having difficulties in "controlling" the tunnels. Is there a way to lay them as i want, like any other spline? Because it's very annoying to see them curl and bend in a way that i do not want them to curl and bend. Or maybe are there any other tools to repalce the standard tunnels?

Thanks for your help

 

[AndrewH]

The short answer is not to use tunnel splines, because their placement options and angles are limited. Use tunnel entrance objects and join them with track. You will also need to employ a hole punch and a tunnel wall spline.

 

[Vern]

The short answer is not to use tunnel splines, because their placement options and angles are limited. Use tunnel entrance objects and join them with track. You will also need to employ a hole punch and a tunnel wall spline.

Then try and find assets to cover the remaining gaps through the terrain... :hehe:

Seriously though what Andrew suggests is the best method, the old Auran style system is clunky and pretty much unworkable in most prototype situations.

 

[okhiu]

Thanks, i found a tutorial made by cascaderailroad where he used splines , i'll test that when i get home, hope it will work also for short tunnels. It won't be a problem to cover the gaps, i'll use trees and bushes. And i also have some tunnel portals that have part of the mountain too, i think those will cover well. I'll come back with screens when i'll have a positive result

 

[cascaderailroad]

With Snap To Grid tunnels they curve weirdly when regular track is connected to them ... I alter the config file height tag to be -1, and this stops the snap to grid feature, and also disables the built in dighole feature, and you need to place your own 1x1 dighole.

However if anyone downloads your modified tunnel route ... all the tunnels will revert to the original, and will look weird.

I use a snap to grid tunnel spline, and lay an independent track right on through the tunnel, 0.02m, slightly higher than the tunnel track.

 

[okhiu]

With Snap To Grid tunnels they curve weirdly when regular track is connected to them ... I alter the config file height tag to be -1, and this stops the snap to grid feature, and also disables the built in dighole feature, and you need to place your own 1x1 dighole.

However if anyone downloads your modified tunnel route ... all the tunnels will revert to the original, and will look weird.

I use a snap to grid tunnel spline, and lay an independent track right on through the tunnel, 0.02m, slightly higher than the tunnel track.

Thanks for the tip, havent got time to test anything yet, but the problem with reverting to original can be solved by cloning the originals and editing them.

 

[Vern]

Thanks for the tip, havent got time to test anything yet, but the problem with reverting to original can be solved by cloning the originals and editing them.

However unless the route is purely for personal use, you would need to upload the cloned/amended version to the DLS so other users can access it. That then brings into play that you probably ought to be contacting the original author of the item to get permission for such an action.

The original Auran tunnels and their derivatives are unsightly and ugly anyway and as already mentioned, you will achieve much better and realistic results using the dighole system.

 

[deneban]

Many tunnels, many bridges, many curves. Also a timelapse cabview here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIdqqAMutV8

But i am having difficulties in "controlling" the tunnels. Is there a way to lay them as i want, like any other spline? Because it's very annoying to see them curl and bend in a way that i do not want them to curl and bend. Or maybe are there any other tools to repalce the standard tunnels?

If you read the tunnel height tag definition, it's an all or nothing process:

tunnel-roof-height

Used by tunnels to determine the roof height in meters allowed by the terrain hole. If less than or equal to zero, no terrain holes are generated. If greater than zero, this spline is considered a true tunnel- it will generate holes in the terrain mesh, its approach angle to the terrain mesh will be locked to 45° increments, and the endpoints will snap to the 10m grid size.

Tunnels are intended for running a spline underneath the terrain mesh.

Tunnel splines attempt to curve such that the spline terminates at a 45° angle increment. This helps ensure that entrance holes can be successfully created through the terrain mesh.

Tunnel splines have slightly modified editing semantics in Surveyor. Vertex markers are visible in different conditions. Smoothing the ground around a tunnel is not permitted. The tunnel spline always follows the spline gradient rather than reacting to the ground height.

 

[okhiu]

However unless the route is purely for personal use, you would need to upload the cloned/amended version to the DLS so other users can access it. That then brings into play that you probably ought to be contacting the original author of the item to get permission for such an action.

The original Auran tunnels and their derivatives are unsightly and ugly anyway and as already mentioned, you will achieve much better and realistic results using the dighole system.

I am not uploading anything on the DLS as i do not consider normal for some company to make money from what i upload for free. There are plenty of free hosting websites that work far better than DLS. Anyway that's another topic. What i will clone arae some tunnels made by two romanian teams for which i have permission to do it.

 

[jrfolco]

You'll find several "Dig Hole" type tunnels and portals on my site, along with a tutorial on how to install them. They are spline objects, and can be found in the Objects (spline mode) tab in Surveyor. These tunnels and portals will work in any direction. You can download them from the DLS. Click on my sig below, and go to "My Content"

Joe

 

[okhiu]

You'll find several "Dig Hole" type tunnels and portals on my site, along with a tutorial on how to install them. They are spline objects, and can be found in the Objects (spline mode) tab in Surveyor. These tunnels and portals will work in any direction. You can download them from the DLS. Click on my sig below, and go to "My Content"

Joe

Thanks, those are already installed They are very usefull. For now i got all i need, thanks all for your advices, i will come back probably in screenshots page with the result

 

[deneban]

You'll find several "Dig Hole" type tunnels and portals on my site, along with a tutorial on how to install them. Joe

Actually even the early UTC and TRS2004 tunnels are "Dig Hole" type, it is just done automatically for you.

Joe that is an awesome site, I love the signaling tutorial.

 

[okhiu]

Actually even the early UTC and TRS2004 tunnels are "Dig Hole" type, it is just done automatically for you.

Joe that is an awesome site, I love the signaling tutorial.

That was the idea from the beggining, the ones that do it automatically, are snapping to the grid as they want, not as I want. So they are useless for a route like the one in the pics above. I will use for sure the spline type tunnles, and I will manually place the DigHole. It will be difficult to mask the holes, but at least I will have the tunnels placed in the directions I want.

 

[jrfolco]

Actually even the early UTC and TRS2004 tunnels are "Dig Hole" type, it is just done automatically for you.

Joe that is an awesome site, I love the signaling tutorial.

Thanks Deneban

The only tutorial that I wrote was the Tunnel and Portal one. The rest were all accumulated over a period of years. I learned a lot from the signalling tutorial. I've playing around with the VistaMare TrainzMap and Trainzmap Viewer, and it works great in TS2010, but it's erratic in TS12. If I can get it to work, I'll upload it.

Joe

 

[deneban]

That was the idea from the beggining, the ones that do it automatically, are snapping to the grid as they want, not as I want. So they are useless for a route like the one in the pics above. I will use for sure the spline type tunnles, and I will manually place the DigHole. It will be difficult to mask the holes, but at least I will have the tunnels placed in the directions I want.

Yes I totally understand why you prefer the manual dig-hole style, I just wanted to make aware the manual dig-hole style should be refrained from being characterized as "the dig-hole style."

 

[John512]

Why should it?