revisiting the Timber Ridge line .

dangavel

Well-known member
As a bit of light relief from working on my big route, i am revamping the Timber ridge line which Kiinger built.I'm using jvc Rocky Mountain trees and re-texturing as well as changing some bits that to me never made much sense designwise. i am also adding two boards on either side where sight lines are not very good( its mostly only one board wide ) . I've worked two days on it , but will in future only devote one day a week to the project.
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this is a three board section heading towards the 7% grade in them thar hills.
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above, the 7% grade. gotta watch some TV with the lady wife, but more to come in about an hour....
 
Further along, theres a section i never liked very much which had a huge trestle which was used as a reverse to gain height, this would have probably have cost more to create than building a smaller bridge and a short fill, so I've changed it all around into that configuration , I did this a few months back , but have done a lot more landscaping today.
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The mines have remained as they were , fully interactive, but I've changed all textures and added some escarpments, some tree stumps left over from clearing the area, ( which have incredibly loud song bird accompaniment which i'll have to turn off ) and logging trash and junk.
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this is all a rough job , but I am quite happy with it so far as i need a route i can dump locos onto and have fun , a standard gauge variation is also on the cards.
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next week I'll try and finish off this next section by replacing all the trees. The snow line section is going to be problematic as so far I cannot find any decent trees that look like they belong in snow conditions.... suggestions are welcomed...
 
Hum, I checked Rollins Pass Winter 1910 as I remembered that they had some pretty good looking snowy trees. To my surprise they used, almost exclusively, Auran's SpeedTrees. I checked the trees in Preview and I have to say they do look very good in their snowy aspect. Using them may require you setting snow level to some altitude the ensures they are snowy without setting the whole route to winter. Not quite sure how that all works and interacts. I also noted that Auran has some Winter/Snow versions of some of their ST that apparently do not change with the seasons;

<kuid2:565830:100086:2> Tree Broadleaf 05 Winter
<kuid2:523:1389:2> Tree CrapeMyrtle 02 Winter
<kuid2:523:1450:2> Tree Hawthorn 03 Winter
<kuid2:523:1117:2> SpeedTreeGroup_winter01
<kuid2:523:1118:2> SpeedTreeGroup_winter02
<kuid2:523:1119:2> SpeedTreeGroup_winter03

<kuid2:565830:100101:2> Tree AlaskaCedar 01 Snow
<kuid2:565830:100093:2> Tree AfricanOlive 02 Snow
<kuid2:565830:100094:2> Tree Birch 02 Snow
<kuid2:565830:100100:2> Tree Pine 03 Snow
<kuid2:565830:100092:2> Tree Hemlock 02 Snow
<kuid2:565830:100035:3> Tree NorwaySpruce 02 Snow
<kuid2:565830:100091:2> Tree Pine 02 Snow

That ought to give you some ideas. :D

Edit: I did some surveying on the Timber Ridge Line and the snowline starts at around 550 Meters. I checked around and could not find any other terrain that was anywhere near that height. So I stuck some Auran seasonal SpeedTrees at above 600 meters and set the snow level in the Environmental settings to 600 and sure enough they all turned snowy. :D
 
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Hum, I checked Rollins Pass Winter 1910 as I remembered that they had some pretty good looking snowy trees. To my surprise they used, almost exclusively, Auran's SpeedTrees. I checked the trees in Preview and I have to say they do look very good in their snowy aspect. Using them may require you setting snow level to some altitude the ensures they are snowy without setting the whole route to winter. Not quite sure how that all works and interacts. I also noted that Auran has some Winter/Snow versions of some of their ST that apparently do not change with the seasons;

<kuid2:565830:100086:2> Tree Broadleaf 05 Winter
<kuid2:523:1389:2> Tree CrapeMyrtle 02 Winter
<kuid2:523:1450:2> Tree Hawthorn 03 Winter
<kuid2:523:1117:2> SpeedTreeGroup_winter01
<kuid2:523:1118:2> SpeedTreeGroup_winter02
<kuid2:523:1119:2> SpeedTreeGroup_winter03

<kuid2:565830:100101:2> Tree AlaskaCedar 01 Snow
<kuid2:565830:100093:2> Tree AfricanOlive 02 Snow
<kuid2:565830:100094:2> Tree Birch 02 Snow
<kuid2:565830:100100:2> Tree Pine 03 Snow
<kuid2:565830:100092:2> Tree Hemlock 02 Snow
<kuid2:565830:100035:3> Tree NorwaySpruce 02 Snow
<kuid2:565830:100091:2> Tree Pine 02 Snow

That ought to give you some ideas. :D

Edit: I did some surveying on the Timber Ridge Line and the snowline starts at around 550 Meters. I checked around and could not find any other terrain that was anywhere near that height. So I stuck some Auran seasonal SpeedTrees at above 600 meters and set the snow level in the Environmental settings to 600 and sure enough they all turned snowy. :D
thanks Norm, I must admit I was feeling rather down at the time when I looked for snow covered trees, so I wasn't being thorough , I didn't investigate Rollins as I assumed they had created their own trees, it think at the time I was looking for splines, as I was trying to do the job as quickly as possible.i'm still doing this quickly , but not that quickly. One of the liberating things about a freelance route is that one can just make any major decisions re vegetation and not worry too much about whether one has been prototypical or not .
 
hi dangavel.
as written by normhart, the snow-covered trees of Rollins are the built-in ones.
I chose those that were more real with snow.

The choice was dictated by many reasons:

- there are not many seasonal trees with well-made snow.

- For many the winter version is the lack of leaves, the snow is not represented.

- A multi-season version will be made for Rollins. The use of standard elements gives security and simplicity to the result.

- Unfortunately some trees are defective in the season. :( Just make a choice. Generally conifers are decent with snow.


I always find your screenshots very interesting.
Congratulations !
 
hi dangavel.
as written by normhart, the snow-covered trees of Rollins are the built-in ones.
I chose those that were more real with snow.

The choice was dictated by many reasons:

- there are not many seasonal trees with well-made snow.

- For many the winter version is the lack of leaves, the snow is not represented.

- A multi-season version will be made for Rollins. The use of standard elements gives security and simplicity to the result.

- Unfortunately some trees are defective in the season. :( Just make a choice. Generally conifers are decent with snow.


I always find your screenshots very interesting.
Congratulations !
Thanks Jango, those trees work very well in Rollins Pass, which is an inspiration for any snow covered route, it's a novelty for me to do snow, quite a different experience, as for Rollins, I look forward to the all seasons version.on timber ridge, I have been naughty and broken my own promise not to do more, I'm using the hemlocks and also some of JVC Rocky Mountain spruces as they look like they have a sprinkling of snow on them .its a nice change from arid Utah and mikes of sagebrush !
 
RE:revisiting the Timber Ridge line

;) Good Evening Sir Dan Gavel,

Thank you for posting more scenic Pictures showing your handiwork. Where ever you go, your Artistic Touch always brings things to vivid life of what could be done with a Route. :cool:

It looks wonderful with the changes shown......And I enjoy the fact you add some commentary to go along.......Allows is to understand and relate to your intentions.


;) I just spent a week camping in Scenic Morro Bay, California with Mr's Blue, in a very tranquil area with a great small town feel, over the years we have driven, by and thru Morro Bay, promising ourselves someday we would take some time and come back to Camp for a week. Well this week, we finally got it worked out to go and visit and spend some time.

IT was well worth it, the only thing, there was a lot of Fog the 1st few days, then on our last half of the week, the Sun decided to return, and we got some really good Sunsets at the Ocean Docks.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Morro+Bay,+CA

Did some camping, bicycling, walking along the beach and met some nice folks too. Got to see some interesting wildlife.

Try not to stretch yourself too thin there. :wave:
 
Dangavel,
I really like what you've done with this route. Your screenshots, as always, are so very nice. I am following your revist with great interest.

It occurred to me that this might showcase those really amazing engines and passenger cars that Trainboi1 put out recently. I'd love to give it a whirl if you ever release it. The pictures look stellar.

Heinrich505
 
Dangavel,
I really like what you've done with this route. Your screenshots, as always, are so very nice. I am following your revist with great interest.

It occurred to me that this might showcase those really amazing engines and passenger cars that Trainboi1 put out recently. I'd love to give it a whirl if you ever release it. The pictures look stellar.

Heinrich505
Yes the trainboi models will look at home on this route , one of the reasons I'm doing .Glad you like what I've done so far , I'm just updating klingers good work, I'm going to revamp most of it quickly, and have already done about 20 boards of trees and retexturing and also replacing tunnels , I had already done a lot of sections in 2016 and then left it for ages. I do have the intention of releasing it , as Klinger has given permission,I'm largely using JVC Rocky Mountain trees which were payware, this may cause some issues , but if people do not have these , I can do a version with built in trees , which will need to be sorted by the user in some areas , as I am using groups of JVC trees in a few places and the replacements might hang in the air or be buried a bit,I won't have the time to place them all correctly as I need to feet back to the Uintah eventually , but working with a different route is giving me a bit of a much needed break as the Uintah needs far more precision and is so much larger overall,
 
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;) Good Evening Sir Dan Gavel,

Thank you for posting more scenic Pictures showing your handiwork. Where ever you go, your Artistic Touch always brings things to vivid life of what could be done with a Route. :cool:

It looks wonderful with the changes shown......And I enjoy the fact you add some commentary to go along.......Allows is to understand and relate to your intentions.


;) I just spent a week camping in Scenic Morro Bay, California with Mr's Blue, in a very tranquil area with a great small town feel, over the years we have driven, by and thru Morro Bay, promising ourselves someday we would take some time and come back to Camp for a week. Well this week, we finally got it worked out to go and visit and spend some time.

IT was well worth it, the only thing, there was a lot of Fog the 1st few days, then on our last half of the week, the Sun decided to return, and we got some really good Sunsets at the Ocean Docks.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Morro+Bay,+CA

Did some camping, bicycling, walking along the beach and met some nice folks too. Got to see some interesting wildlife.

Try not to stretch yourself too thin there. :wave:
I'll try not to Blue, but at the moment it's a lot of fun, I had a dig hole that refused to go away today so I had to delete the entire board and rebuild it, replaced the tunnel with a much better one and used some Uintah splines to make a canyon , I now have a big stash of textures and splines I cna use in this route , and it's fun being able to do what I want rather then having to remember that its a prototype and it has to be exact, it's a big relief for me. Glad you had a nice holiday, we are knocking our house down and rebuilding it , so have to find a rental for a year,, it's a drag but when finished we will have a fully insulated , passively heated/ cooled double glazed house at the end of it, ( rare as hens teeth here in Australia ) which will be custom designed , so let's hope it's worth it ......
 
Good morning Sir Dan..... That is so cool about redoing your house and I hope it turns out exactly the way you planned it. We lived in our house for a very long time and we made a lot of changes over the years which have helped... Eventually for us we have to downsize to a smaller house because we're getting older we don't need such a big house now the kids are grown up and you know how that is ...

I heartily agree with the Prototype aspect of things and for the people that want to make them and build them like that, it's great but for me like you I just want to have fun and make things the way I see them in my mind..

As for that dig hole situation you just went through... Seems to me in the past I went through the same thing and I had to knock out a square tile as well and redo the whole thing if not twice and then I could not get it too attach to it or delete it with the pointer of my mouse.....

At least now you'll be able to configure it with your own assets and do things the way you want it.....
 
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Good morning Sir Dan..... That is so cool about redoing your house and I hope it turns out exactly the way you planned it. We lived in our house for a very long time and we made a lot of changes over the years which have helped... Eventually for us we have to downsize to a smaller house because we're getting older we don't need such a big house now the kids are grown up and you know how that is ...

I heartily agree with the Prototype aspect of things and for the people that want to make them and build them like that, it's great but for me like you I just want to have fun and make things the way I see them in my mind..

As for that dig hole situation you just went through... Seems to me in the past I went through the same thing and I had to knock out a square tile as well and redo the whole thing if not twice and then I could not get it too attach to it or delete it with the pointer of my mouse.....

At least now you'll be able to configure it with your own assets and do things the way you want it.....
The funny thing was, I did a search to see how to fix the issue and found another post by me asking how to fix the same problem when I was revamping the timber ridge back in 2016 , there was no solution then so I decided to cut my losses and rebuild the board instead , I think it looks better anyway.
Yesterday I put grass down on all the plains areas and added telegraph poles, amazing how much difference they make to a scene when all there is in it was road, a single track and grass ! Also redesigned one of the towns and cleared a lot of trees too. If there's been logging, then you need to see where they got the logs from , it's a messy business and it's hardly ever shown in most routes. We could do with some 3D piles of log trash to help create the piles of branches that are burnt ,( along with virtual rattlers to live in them ) snakes love those old piles of trash.
 
That reminded me, I've got something for those nearly 7% grades.

My-Trainz-Screenshot-Image.jpg


:D
One of the things about the route is you can just throw anything in it, if it was standard gauge it could serve as a connecter line for other western roads
which is always fun. If I ever get the time there about another 10 miles of mountain railway I can merge into it, I created it years ago but it's missing many textures so it a lot of work to get up to scratch, you comments on a iron ore mine I made that's part of it , and there's a decent steelworks I want to add to the route too , but again, old textures now obsolete mean I have to extensively retexture , I wish there was a an easy way to retexture those old empty grey spaces easily.
 
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Gosh that narrow gauge 'Yellowstone' looks impressive for 30 inch trackage which it fits.
But now the website where it lived is gone.
 
Exchange Kuides in Config.txt for newer Textures idea

One of the things about the route is you can just throw anything in it, if it was standard gauge it could serve as a connector line for other western roads
which is always fun. If I ever get the time there about another 10 miles of mountain railway I can merge into it, I created it years ago but it's missing many textures so it a lot of work to get up to scratch, you comments on a iron ore mine I made that's part of it , and there's a decent steelworks I want to add to the route too , but again, old textures now obsolete mean I have to extensively re-texture , I wish there was a an easy way to re-texture those old empty grey spaces easily.

Hello Sir Dan......;)

I have a thought about the Texture thing.......What if you identify the old textures Kuid wise.......Then close the Route, open for edit, goto Config.Txt and find the Old Texture Kuids in the File, and replace them with the new textures for each of the old ones.

Also if you have missing Textures, as well, you could add some new ones as one to one replacement too?

Now if my thinking is correct, when you replace the old Texture Kuids with the ones you want, of course it has to be one to one replacement, so in another words, if you have 4 bad textures, then you only substitute 4 new ones? When you commit and reopen the Route it should show the Texture colors where ever they were with the new substituted ones.....

Maybe just try one at a time to see how it works, too?

Granted you'll still need to do your other manual changes but a lot of the bad textures would be exchanged for the ones that don't look good........

Of course you'd need to make a back up copy of that Old Route you made in case it doesn't work........?
 
Gosh that narrow gauge 'Yellowstone' looks impressive for 30 inch trackage which it fits.
But now the website where it lived is gone.

Yes, the author moved on sadly I tried to interest others in his work but there just weren't enough customers. She's 36" gauge not 30". The loco can't really manage the tight corners, the boiler hangs off outside the pilots, completely outside. :hehe:
 
Hello Sir Dan......;)

I have a thought about the Texture thing.......What if you identify the old textures Kuid wise.......Then close the Route, open for edit, goto Config.Txt and find the Old Texture Kuids in the File, and replace them with the new textures for each of the old ones.

Also if you have missing Textures, as well, you could add some new ones as one to one replacement too?

Now if my thinking is correct, when you replace the old Texture Kuids with the ones you want, of course it has to be one to one replacement, so in another words, if you have 4 bad textures, then you only substitute 4 new ones? When you commit and reopen the Route it should show the Texture colors where ever they were with the new substituted ones.....

Maybe just try one at a time to see how it works, too?

Granted you'll still need to do your other manual changes but a lot of the bad textures would be exchanged for the ones that don't look good........

Of course you'd need to make a back up copy of that Old Route you made in case it doesn't work........?

That sounds an excellent idea Blue, i was trying a few things ( none of which worked) but your idea would probably do the trick, the thought of doing all that retexturing put me off completely. I'll try it out.
 
Yes, the author moved on sadly I tried to interest others in his work but there just weren't enough customers. She's 36" gauge not 30". The loco can't really manage the tight corners, the boiler hangs off outside the pilots, completely outside. :hehe:

Often the case, you don't make a lot of loot building niche engines as not enough people are out there to purchase . Yes, the big articulated would look silly on some of the tight curves of the timber ridge. if a standard gauge version is attempted in , the hills that will be a fair amount of work and probably, given that a lot of the sections are on just one board ( i'm trying to keep it narrow where i can to avoid a lot of extra texturing ) , it would still be limited to 8 drivers. So no running UP 9000s on those sections !
 
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