Using layers in session creation

[TrainzDev]

With creative use of layers, you can do a lot more within a session than has historically been possible with Trainz.

The layers function in surveyor allows you to add any type of object to a session. Not just trains, triggers and trackmarks, but any kind of scenery, spline, or even entire new tracks.

In SP1, we have added a setting for the 'bound layer' of each object. This allows you to take an object that the map author added to one of the map layers, and bind it to a session layer. You can then hide that session layer, and all the objects either in it, or bound to it, will be hidden.

This allows you to remove an object from the map without editing the map. You might use this where the map creator has used an object that is either too old or too modern for the scene you are trying to portray. This will leave a space in the map, and you can then place another object in a visible session layer to fill the space.

You can change any part of a map this way with the exception of the land surface (textures or elevation).

 

[GN1996]

Awesome! I now fully understand the bound layer. Thanks for all these blog posts, they are very big helps!

 

[stovepipe]

Yep this sounds great. I've been wanting this feature for a while. Does it apply to tracks as well I wonder.....

 

[TrainzDev]

Yep this sounds great. I've been wanting this feature for a while. Does it apply to tracks as well I wonder.....

It certainly does, although using it with track requires a little more thought. The hidden track is just hidden - it still exists. And it's still connected. So where you have added new track, you'll need to splice in your new track at an existing spline point, add a junction lever, set the lever in the correct position so a train stays in the visible section, and hide the junction lever so it's not visible. You might also want to lock the junction with the set junctions rule so it can't be changed. And depending on how the track is arranged, you might need to do something to make the AI follow the new track - e.g. placing 'track direction' markers on the hidden track to keep the AI out.