Alpine River Route WIP Thread. (Large Screenshots)

Hello all,
I have created this thread to post updates to my Work In Progress Alpine River Route and to see if anyone would like to give me suggestions, tips, constructive critique, or something you would like to see in this route. (This is a fictional route.) I promise to not be offended if a credible route builder says it sucks and that I need to restart.

A "Few" Screenshots.
Screenie 1
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Screenie 2
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Screenie 3
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Screenie 4
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Screenie 5
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Screenie 6
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Screenie 7
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Screenie 8
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Screenie 9
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Screenie 10 (The Red Dots show where my compass was when I took each Screenshot.)
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I apologize for the many very large pics.
 
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I am glad that you like it. However I have come across another dilemma concerning the type of trees I should use for this route. So, the built-in Tree... (Oak, White Oak, Sugar Maple, etc.) OR Pofig's 3d1 and 3dE trees?

3D1/ 3DE Trees:
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Built in Trees (Labeled Tree...) Includes Seasonal Effects. I know these work in T:ANE because I have seen them work in a video that was posted on YouTube.
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This has to do with your water, I like to suggest you play around with Wheel Colors and see if you can lighten the intensity of Blue and or play around with different textures under the water to see if the color naturalizes. I use black or Grayish Silver for the bottom with my Water, you can also do a Trim of one color near the Coast line, and out further from the land use another color, and it will give you a diversion of color like the ground areas where you merge colors into one another on land areas.....Your Route looks great, congrats on your accomplishment.
 
An update:
Before getting to the Sreenshots I would like to mention that while this route may be fictional, it will include a few prototypical scenes. (I.E. Horseshoe Curve and Tehachapi Loop.) Also, I have decided to make my Screenshots half-size of my previous ones for the sake of convenience.
Screenshot 1: This screenshot shows the area just before the "high-bridge". As you can see, I have decided to use a combination of Pofig's Trees and the trees I mentioned in post #4.
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Screenshot 2: This shows the "high-bridge" the bridge is crossing over the fictional "Alpine River" (Hence the Route's name) Also, looking at the water, I have taken Blueodessy's suggestion(s) that he so kindly mentioned in post #5
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Screenshot 3: This Screenie shows off the 1.5-2% grade that carries throughout the route. The Yard (Shown in post #1) is at ground 0 and the bridge shown in the previous screenie is already at about 100. Also, the flat baseboards shown in this Screenshot have actually been raised to 100.
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Screenshot 4: This shows the beginning of the first "prototypical scene" (Horseshoe Curve!)
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If you have any suggestions or "Prototypical Scenes" you would like to see in this route, please tell me by either sending me a PM or posting in this thread.
Thanks,
 
May I politely ask a Moderator to close this thread please? The reason why is so that I can move it all over to a new thread where I can give updates to all of my WIP's instead of creating a bunch of different threads concerning each one. Thank you.
 
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Looking really good sir, keep up the good work..........




Thank you kind sir!


Another Update;
I have not done too much work to the route lately due to the fact that I have been working on my own versions of the UP 9000 class and UP FEF series. (I have also created a re-skin of a GP38-2 into IAIS paint Scheme.) Furthermore, I have now added a four-track tunnel. (Custom Built using built-in assets.) Also, in this section, the plateau tool has been my best friend. I have not added any new baseboards.
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This Shot Shows off My GP38-2 Reskin (No, can't release them.)
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This comment, hopefully constructive, is about the groundtextures used in the forested areas.

I'm not a route-building expert, but to my eye, the uniform light green makes it look more like a lawn with trees planted on it than a natural forest. Trees try to kill off grass and other plants by dropping a lot of leaf and branch litter. It rots and is toxic to most competing vegetation. Also they intercept much of the sunlight that would otherwise reach the ground. So the forest floor should be darker and have a more complex blend of textures to represent those conditions. A few rocky outcrops in appropriate places would also enhance the look. They could be represented by textures or maybe by actual rock objects if you can find suitable ones.

If you can find some screenshots of routes from TrainzItalia (Donner Pass?) and RoyzTrainz (various Canadian Rocky Mountains layouts), they are good examples of what I'm getting at.
 
Thanks for the tip Dinorius! I will put your suggestion(s) into effect immediatly.... Also, do you or anyone else have any suggestions where I could get some decent rock splines or objects? If not I can create my own...
 
....do you or anyone else have any suggestions where I could get some decent rock splines or objects?

There are many out there, they vary a lot in quality, but I have no idea who created them. I guess if you saw some in screenshots, you could ask the route builders who used them where they got the rocks from. Otherwise it's down to searching the DLS or 3rd-party sites with terms like "rock", "boulder" and the like. Sorry I'm not much help on that. I made some sandstone and granite boulders myself and they are on the DLS, but I've seen better rocks by other authors in screenshots.
 
Okay, so I have been hitting the Route Hard today. The majority of it was terra-forming. I have also taken Dinorius's suggestion and changed the Environmental textures accordingly. I have also added a few rocks. (Just so no one bothers to ask I got the GTEL tender via the Wayback Machine.)
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The following shot shows off the rough(ish) but "good-looking" terrain created using the plateau feature.
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Once again, if anyone has any suggestions or constructive criticism please let me know.
 
That is one heck of a route you have going on, thanks for showing the map, it helps me better visually relate as you show each area your working on!

As per texturing and colorizing, it's to me one of the hardest things to do in trainz , to get those colors melding into something believable is no easy task. Be proud of what you've accomplished and I really like what I see here....
 
Another tip; try adding some abutments at the ends of your bridges. If you look at pictures of them in real life they will never just match into ground level, something solid has to support it. I'd maybe put a few more piers in where you have the steel beams on the wooden supports, it would fall down in reality!

Looks like a good route :)
 
Thanks guys I really appreciate the tips and compliments. Also, I will post the mini-map screenshot more often. Thanks again guys!.
 
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