Where can I find the best Trainz hints for Surveyor

[pcas1986]

OK. Let me explain my position. As I have now retired and, supposedly, have more time, I really want to make better use of Trainz and particularly route building. I've been an ad-hoc user since TS2004 and have TS2004, 06, 09, 10, Tranz Classics and the routes collection. I've been building a route for several years and am at the point of making switches, signals and sessions work. This is trickier than I thought and therefore very interesting.

As you all know, the route building material supplied by Auran is a bit sparse although there is the odd tutorial and various other bits of material. The real gold is in the stuff that the enthusiasts have developed over the years and I am beginning to work out who they are. Without naming names - because I might inadvertantly leave out a worthy recipient - my sincere thanks.

I have discovered a number of really useful tutorials, websites, demo routes and, every now and then, I come across some gems in the forum archives. Generally when I am looking for something else.

I don't want to turn this into a debate about writing the definitive manual because you did that a while back. But can someone provide me - or point me to - a list of non Auran tutorials and other Surveyor resources? This might stop me asking a silly question such as one I posted a few days back.

TIA
Paul

 

[Dermmy]

The Tips and Tricks in Surveyor thread is full of good stuff...

 

[Johnk]

Sadly, Trainzers generally get too engrossed in their work to even think about writing tutorials. I constantly scan the forums and the Trainz Community web sites and put what I find in the Tutorials section on the Trainz Resources Directory. If you look under Trainz/Surveyor, there are currently 36 tutorials listed there.I've only written one Surveyor tutorial myself and that was eight years ago. It was on how to build a double slip switch. You'll find it in the Directory. Trainz Magazine has also featured a few tutorials, but probably not an experienced person like yourself is looking for.

There's a small group of people out there who you can contact via the TRD or my PM that are trying to address this problem. Included in that goal, is a rewrite of the Content Creator's Guide and maybe a very comprehensive manual for 2010. Although the target is huge, it's difficult to get the arrows to reach it.

I've said many times before on this forum, if anyone has a desire to drop down a few notes and take a few screenshots on any subject, I can design the tutorial for them. That includes some tricks you may have discovered yourself pcas1986. Something you take for granted, may well be the thing others are looking for, and visa versa.

Here's an example of a tutorial by bill69. It was supplied to me as a wordpad doucment and a dozen screenshots:

http://trainzresources.com/directory/tutorials/bills_diamond/

Please make a note of the URL because it's not listed on the Directory yet.

If anyone else is interested, let's get the ball rolling.

John

 

[john259]

Paul,

Have you discovered Chuck Brite's Midwest Central surveyor tutorials? Lots of good info there.

John

 

[Johnk]

Hi John,

All Midwest Central's tutorials are listed in the TRD, that's why I try to encourage people who answer these questions to also point the person in in that direction.

Regards,

John.

 

[pcas1986]

All,
Thanks for the various replies and links. Some, like the TRD I already had, and confess I haven't fully explored yet. I wasn't actually asking anyone to write any tutorials but rather point to those already written. I've read some tutorials and am currently working my way through the Auran TS2006 Sessions and Rules Guide.

Like most I guess, I'm not a fan of reading manuals for the sake of reading them but as a source of reference when something goes wrong. This is a by-product of my days as a software developer using software API references.

My goal - sometime in the next few months, is to develop an asset that has working properties of its own. Whether this is a locomotive or something else is undetermined. The scripting part I expect to be relatively easy but my graphical skills are poor. I recall trying to use GMax a while back and not achieving much. I've since discovered and downloaded Blender so maybe that will be better.

Cheers
Paul

 

[Johnk]

Paul, if you have programming and scripting skills, it may pay you to find someone who has none of the above, but can build models like crazy. Teamwork may be the answer to seeing a lot done a whole lot quicker.

Just a suggestion.

 

[pcas1986]

Paul, if you have programming and scripting skills, it may pay you to find someone who has none of the above, but can build models like crazy. Teamwork may be the answer to seeing a lot done a whole lot quicker.

Just a suggestion.

Food for thought! Meanwhile I'm still learning to walk...

 

[john259]

My goal - sometime in the next few months, is to develop an asset that has working properties of its own.

Paul,

Andi Smith's "Getting Started In TrainzScript" on http://www.trainzdev.com is a good place to start. From the home page on that server go to TrainzDev Wiki > Scripting > Getting Started In TrainzScript > Tutorials

You can download the TRS2006 GameScript API from http://files.auran.com/TRS2006/manuals/TRS2006-API.zip
More modern versions of Trainz obviously have more functions but the fundamentals are the same.

BTW as well as scripting rolling stock, industries and scenery assets, TRS2004 also allowed scenarios to be scripted. That functionality was removed (except for very advanced experts) in TRS2006 and later but the layers facility in TS2010 may partially or even fully restore it.

John

 

[pcas1986]

Thanks John.

I've actually reloaded TS2004 to have another look at it.

Cheers
Paul

 

[pcas1986]

Paul,

Andi Smith's "Getting Started In TrainzScript" on http://www.trainzdev.com is a good place to start. From the home page on that server go to TrainzDev Wiki > Scripting > Getting Started In TrainzScript > Tutorials

...

John

Actually I'd been wondering what TrainDev was about. I just registered for TrainDev and discovered exactly what I was missing. I don't recognise the (programming) language but it appears to be much like any other object oriented high level (scripted) language.

Thanks again

Paul

 

[john259]

The language is called GameScript or TrainzScript. It's C with object oriented additions and umpteen API functions.

Here's a tutorial for writing a very simple TRS2004 scenario.

John

 

[pcas1986]

The language is called GameScript or TrainzScript. It's C with object oriented additions and umpteen API functions.

Here's a tutorial for writing a very simple TRS2004 scenario.

John

Well I'm making progress and managed to implement the first Andi06 "Hello world" example of using the exception handler to pop up a message. Though in TS2010 you get the orange/red spot in the corner. Not terribly useful but its a start. Then I ran into the .texture and .texture.txt TS2010 issue being discussed in a separate thread. So then I had to figure out how to get Texture2TGA_con working. I could not get it to work in a DOS window until I read the readme on how to integrate the utility into CMP. That worked a treat and is far, far better than my DOS window effort. Next time I should read all the readme and not just the bits I thought of value.

Turned out to be rather an interesting day because I've learned a few things I didn't know before. Maybe, in the not too distant future, I can make some meaningful contribution of my own.

I've written code in both C and C++ but its not my preferred programming language. Probably because I spent more time fixing other people's bugs rather than writing new code from scratch. Script style languages are very powerful because they hide much of the difficult memory management issues that plague lower level languages - particularly C. I was actually an Ada programmer.

I also had a quick peek at your website which I hadn't seen before. I bookmarked it for later.

I'll have a look at the TS2004 tutorial after I finish with Andi06 intro to scripting.

Cheers
Paul