Will be updating my layouts

MSGSapper

Trainz route developer
Based on what I have seen so far coming out of N3V I intend to adapt and update my layouts to the new realistic "turf" and other scenic standards when the new version of Trainz 2018 eventually comes out with those tools.

At this point my only concern is if the new turf grass and weeds will be able to reflect seasonal changes as almost all of my layouts are seasonal. Anyone know the answer here?

Bob (AKA MSGSapper)
 
We'll have to test that and find out. :)

Once I've had a chance to play with the new features in the recently released test version, I'll post some results for the community to see. Those PBR textures are quite intriguing.
 
I can't wait until that feature comes out, seasonal and everything.

Just hoping my GPU can handle it tho:confused:
 
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I can't wait until that feature comes out, seasonal and everything.

Just coping my GPU can handle it tho:confused:

I think you'll have replaced your video card by the time the new game version is out. There's still a long way to go for anything is fully implanted with everything now still in proof of concept phase.
 
I think you'll have replaced your video card by the time the new game version is out. There's still a long way to go for anything is fully implanted with everything now still in proof of concept phase.
I just built a custom PC this year with a brand new NVIDIA 1060 3GB GPU, over the summer time since my older one broke due to motherboard issues..
 
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I just built a custom PC this year with a brand new NVIDIA 1060 3GB GPU, over the summer time since my older one broke due to motherboard issues..

That will most likely work fine, but who knows what the future will be like. As I said I wouldn't worry about that now. By the time this is released, the NVidia 2000-series video cards will probably be out. You know how that goes.
 
That will most likely work fine, but who knows what the future will be like. As I said I wouldn't worry about that now. By the time this is released, the NVidia 2000-series video cards will probably be out. You know how that goes.
I can see the price on them as well :eek:
Time to see how it goes I guess,,,
 
It depends to some extent how much can be updated versus starting from scratch and building again.

I'm currently updating one of my very early routes to run in TANE and, while it's surprising what a difference replacing terrain textures and updating to Protrack makes, it still remains a 2005 route in most respects. For a shorter route, it might even just be better to start over from scratch. With a constant flood of new ideas and limited time available, there's also a balancing act between how much is divided into fresh projects and refurbishing the old.

This also pre-empts any decision or debate with N3V as to how much backward compatibility TS2018 will have and whether that, in fact, will hold back the possibilities if it still has to cater for UTC era assets.
 
It depends to some extent how much can be updated versus starting from scratch and building again.

I'm currently updating one of my very early routes to run in TANE and, while it's surprising what a difference replacing terrain textures and updating to Protrack makes, it still remains a 2005 route in most respects. For a shorter route, it might even just be better to start over from scratch. With a constant flood of new ideas and limited time available, there's also a balancing act between how much is divided into fresh projects and refurbishing the old.

This also pre-empts any decision or debate with N3V as to how much backward compatibility TS2018 will have and whether that, in fact, will hold back the possibilities if it still has to cater for UTC era assets.

If it truly as easy as N3V portrays, then your route could easily be "brushed" over with new clutter meshes, and hopefully brushed with the Turf Effects as well. To me what mostly sets apart an old route from modern is the amount of trackside detail. For example just look at the S&C route from 10 years ago, compared to the new route released by Rumour3. The amount of trackside grass makes a great difference, as it gives the impression of detail that may not have been possible 10+ years ago, and will be easily possible upcoming.

One of my plans is to update the S&C (for personal use) somehow, with the new features. Of course the Protrack upgrade, and maybe a good number of updated stations and buildings. More trackside infrastructure (signalbox linkage, signal wire, trackside relay boxes, etc.) but this would be impossible without an idea of what the route looked like in the early 60's. Definitely new clutter and Turf Effects, and what else N3V have in store for us!

I think the problem with cutting off backwards compatibility is that it means a solid year's wait for new content. The built-in assets are not enough to sustain everyone's needs, and it's getting more complex, tiring, and frustrating to create new content, which is why creators seemed to have disappeared.

To combat this, N3V could dip into their revenue and commission some new projects? It would no doubt be expensive, but it's a matter of what coveted content does N3V TS2018 offer that DTG TS2018 doesn't?

British Railways is extremely well-represented in DTG's game, while in Trainz it's more or less represented, but getting longer in the tooth! However much N3V splurges on commissions, I think they could easily recover that money through customers buying their game for the chance to play with some new content.
 
It is a difficult one for N3V and while I tend to sit slightly on the side of a fresh start, equally I can't help but smile at putting a new lease of life into my previous work.

Ron is quite right in that there is some necessity this time round, for N3V to arrange for the included default content to be bang up to the new standards, i.e. completely ditch all the routes and rolling stock from previous editions and start from scratch, but leave some backward compatibility for users to edit their old stuff. (Perhaps as I suggested elsewhere minimum build level of TS12). There's a lot of people out there getting disillusioned with DTG and in particular Train Sim World, but they are still being seduced by the fancy graphics. They just announced their German TSW today and it is a short, modern S-Bahn route with one train-set. However despite the griping many simmers will still buy it because the graphics look good (to their eyes at least). That's the market N3V need to be tapping into.

Sorry if this has digressed somewhat from the OP but aspirations to makeover old content go hand in hand with what might need to be ditched to allow N3V to expand their product and attract customers from the other sims.
 
Ron,

It is as easy as brushing and painting the clutter and stuff on the route. I was playing with this last night for a bit, and it was quite nice adding in grass along a test route by using the ground brush instead of dragging a grass spline, which I really, really hate because it looks like a carpet no matter how hard we try to disguise it and the performance hit can be awful too depending upon the quality of the assets.

I then added some track and the grass went through the tracks and filled in all without little impact on the performance. The caveat is right now this all testing and demo and none of this is available anytime soon(tm), or may not see light of day anytime soon(tm).
 
Ron,

It is as easy as brushing and painting the clutter and stuff on the route. I was playing with this last night for a bit, and it was quite nice adding in grass along a test route by using the ground brush instead of dragging a grass spline, which I really, really hate because it looks like a carpet no matter how hard we try to disguise it and the performance hit can be awful too depending upon the quality of the assets.

I then added some track and the grass went through the tracks and filled in all without little impact on the performance. The caveat is right now this all testing and demo and none of this is available anytime soon(tm), or may not see light of day anytime soon(tm).

I don't seem to have any of the dev clutter & tfx grass showing up in surveyor with internal test build
 
Ron,

It is as easy as brushing and painting the clutter and stuff on the route. I was playing with this last night for a bit, and it was quite nice adding in grass along a test route by using the ground brush instead of dragging a grass spline, which I really, really hate because it looks like a carpet no matter how hard we try to disguise it and the performance hit can be awful too depending upon the quality of the assets.

I then added some track and the grass went through the tracks and filled in all without little impact on the performance. The caveat is right now this all testing and demo and none of this is available anytime soon(tm), or may not see light of day anytime soon(tm).

Good, to hear, but can the Turf Effects grass be used in a clutter layer brush? I'm a tad confused, in your last paragraph do you mean that the grass cleans up around the track you laid, like suggested by someone on the Dev thread?

This is in the NEXT version of Trainz that is coming out or TRS2018 (Trainz: Next) for clairification.

I think GAWPO50 is part of the Dev testing team along with John.
 
Good, to hear, but can the Turf Effects grass be used in a clutter layer brush? I'm a tad confused, in your last paragraph do you mean that the grass cleans up around the track you laid, like suggested by someone on the Dev thread?



I think GAWPO50 is part of the Dev testing team along with John.

Sorry I was confused too by my post, Ron! lol

The tracks actually pushed through the grass with no clean up around them, which is what we want.

The grass is one of the Turf Effects from what I can tell. I'll post up some pics and maybe a video of this in action. I swapped between grass and plants as I went along.

Yes, GAWPO50 is a new member. Congrats to him for joining the team. :)
 
I’d be interested in seeing, and your earlier statement that it is not as big a performance hit as previous versions’ grads splines is great to hear as well!
 
I’d be interested in seeing, and your earlier statement that it is not as big a performance hit as previous versions’ grads splines is great to hear as well!

The test build runs ok on my ancient GTX780Ti but all I've done is zoom around a demo route. Some of us are trying to figure out how to make these new textures.
 
Sounds perfect for ramshackle branch lines however, for you guys testing this for N3V there needs to be some method of excluding the rails on more well kept main lines. Ditto roads. This was a big issue with DTG's procedural grass textures in RW/TS, if you didn't re-paint over the affected sections everything had something of a hairy look. Hopefully this can also be extended to crops more effective than flat textures or the very linear splines.

One thing I'm not doing on my route refurb is dropping lots of splines alongside the track. Just looks too regular and artificial - even the wider versions.
 
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