My TRS19 U.S. Standard Gauge Procedural Track Project

MSGSapper

Trainz route developer
Phase I of my TRS19 Standard Gauge Procedural Track project is now complete.

My new Build 4.2 U.S. Standard Gauge procedural rail is now available for download on the DLS as follows:

Items:


Shiny Rail Series

SAP Protrack U.S. SG, Flat Bottom, Base Plates with Spikes, Shiny
KUID:439337:102580
kuid_439337_102580.jpg


SAP Protrack U.S. SG, Flat Bottom, Base Plates with Spikes, Shiny, No Ballast
KUID:439337:102786
kuid_439337_102786.jpg


SAP Protrack U.S. SG, Flat Bottom, Shiny, Track Only
KUID:439337:102789
kuid_439337_102789.jpg


Rusty Rail Series

SAP Protrack U.S. SG, Flat Bottom, Base Plates with Spikes, Rusty
KUID:439337:102745
kuid_439337_102745.jpg


SAP Protrack U.S. SG, Flat Bottom, Base Plates with Spikes, Rusty, No Ballast
KUID:439337:102784
kuid_439337_102784.jpg


SAP Protrack U.S. SG, Flat Bottom, Rusty, Track Only
KUID:439337:102787
kuid_439337_102787.jpg


Since this is my first major track project, I hope you will take the time to provide me some constructive feedback on this new track and if possible some screenshots showing it in use on your routes.

Phase II is in progress but will take some weeks or even months to complete as a re-design of some of the meshes will be involved, due to LOD issue requirements, and will be done by someone who is collaborating with me on this project and far better and more experienced at mesh design then I am.

Phase II will be a new version of the phase I track and will be specifically for build 4.6 and have 3D PBR textures.

BTW I encourage variations of what I have done by others......

Enjoy!

Bob
 
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My only critique is the railhead appears too wide.

The new track and the old Elstoko

sap_track1.jpg


Comparing the old JR track and the Elstoko track.

track_jr_elstoko1.jpg


It is nice having track that isn't green.

Thanks for your efforts
Harold
 
My only critique is the railhead appears too wide.

The new track and the old Elstoko

sap_track1.jpg


Comparing the old JR track and the Elstoko track.

track_jr_elstoko1.jpg


It is nice having track that isn't green.

Thanks for your efforts
Harold

Harold:

I did not change ElStoko's rail mesh at all. The track mesh came from <kuid2:368725:49059:1> Protrack NSWGR dirty stone, mid-life timber, baseplated, fpl.

This could simply be the texture at work here in the UV map as I had to remap the UV to the texture after importing the .3DS file into Blender.

Thanks for the feedback!

Bob
 
Bob,

Looks good! Feels more familiar with base plates and spikes! Two things I noticed, which are only obvious if you're close up:

1) The outside top of the rail looks too shiny on the sides. I'd expect this on the inside of the rail tops, but not the outside. This might contribute to Harold's comment about the rail head looking too wide.
2) This is probably mesh related: The ends of the rail have no caps. Again, only noticeable if you're close up at the end of a siding.

Here's a shot of one of my routes with Jarrah track replaced with yours:

MSGSapper%27s-New-Pro-Track.jpg
 
Does anyone know the best TANE ballast texture to use with the new track?

I have uploaded to the DLS today a build 4.2 matching ballast for this track. For best results set "Scale" in surveyor at it's lowest setting when painting it.

This new 2D texture should be available for download from the DLS in about 24 hours or so.

Bob
 
Question to all regarding this track:

For the snow texture I have limited it currently to the areas between the ties. Some folks have contacted me with differing opinions on how much snow coverage should exist. Some want more, some want less. I looked at several existing tracks and the snow coverage varies greatly from one track to another.

While I am open to making adjustments to the snow coverage, I would first like to hear some of your ideas on this before I issue a new version which address the issues raised since my first version of the track was released.

The two things that will be corrected as of now will be:

1. End Caps will be provided. Please note that these were not included originally be ElStoko which is why they weren't there to begin with. My thanks to oknotsen for helping me with this by providing an end cap mesh!

2. The shiny part of the rail will be adjusted to cover not as large of an area as it does now.

Bob
 
The following 2D Ballast ground texture is now available for download on the DLS to support this new track:

SAP Ballast 1 Seasonal
KUID2:439337:102804:1
kuid2_439337_102804_1.jpg


Bob
 
:wave: Good Morning Master Sergeant,

You are doing a bang up job on those Tracks, stay the course,

Lots of folks are going to appreciate having something that has been missing for a very long time...........And I am one of them, I have several Routes that need a change out.....

I remember when I started with Trainz IPad version, and I looked at the tracks and thought, wow, :'( these switches and crossings do not look very prototypical, I wonder if there is something else too use.....That was over 4 yrs ago.....It looks like that time has finally coming to fruition.........
 
I am not happy with the appearance of the original Protrack rails and have decided to replace them with realistic prototypical 132LB U.S. rail which I have created for this project. While I am still tweaking the textures here are some comparison shots of my track and JR US track #1-132 (wide ballast).

SAP ProTrack 132LB Rail Screenshot 1

SAP-ProTrack-132LB-Rail-Screenshot-1.jpg


SAP ProTrack 132LB Rail Screenshot 2

SAP-ProTrack-132LB-Rail-Screenshot-2.jpg


When I am ready to release it you will see it as a new version of my SAP Protrack content items which should automatically upgrade any track you have already laid down in your routes after you download the items from the DLS.

I have also solved the end cap problems in a way that doesn't involve any separate end cap meshes. FYI the rail vertices has been reduced significantly despite all this.

Bob
 
In case the "rivet counters" among us want to know, here are the specs for the rail that I followed as closely as I could for the cross section when I created the mesh in Blender:

SAP-Protrack-132LB-Rail-Specs.jpg


Bob
 
As I wrote in the initial thread about this:
The tracks look good!
I hope you don't mind, but... these new tracks look better than the first version :hehe:.

Anyway,
I played around a bit with the initial set.
I like them (so I assume I like the update better :p), but since you are updating anyway, I hope you can shovel some more snow on the snow track version. The sleepers could use some of that wide stuff as could the bottoms of the tracks. Alternatively, you could raise the whole ballast in the snow version to make the sleepers, plates and bottoms of the tracks disappear into the snow; probably closer to reality during snow and easier for you to model.
 
I am trying to improve the appearance of the shiny rail in order to make it shine in a manner similar to <kuid2:506034:582678:5> JR US track #1-132 (wide ballast), but not having much luck. Here is a screenshot of my Blender settings for the material:

Blender--Rail-Settings-Screenshot.jpg


The Specular settings are set to:

R: 0.020
G: 0.020
B: 0.020

The mirror setting is unchecked.

The texture itself does not have a built in transparency layer, although there is a separate alpha.tga which is how ProTrack does things.

I tried setting the material type to rail.m.tbumpgloss but get a fair number of warnings about texture slots (tbump and treflect) not being filled in and the track shows green when I display it in Trainz surveyor.

Can anyone point me in the right direction on this?

BTW to see the texture just look in my <kuid:439337:102588> SAP Protrack U.S. Standard Gauge Mesh Library content item.

Bob
 
I have uploaded the revised track library (kuid2:439337:102588:1) to the DLS today. Everything should be available for download from the DLS in about 24-48 hours or so.

Changes from the previous version:

1. Track rail has changed to 132LB prototypical U.S. rail.
2. Rail is solid now, and no endcaps were needed to do this.
3. Rail triangles dropped significantly from previous version.
4. The textures have been revised to look better.
5. Remapped all UV's for better track appearance.
6. Better snow textures have been provided for both the ballast and the ties.
7. Corrected some minor normal issues with the ties.

Despite my best efforts, and much research, I could not solve the track shininess problem, and still keep the track backwardly compatible for T:ANE users. I think it still looks very good though.

SAP Protrack U.S. 132LB SG Track Screenshot 1 - With Snow

SAP-Protrack-U.S.-132LB-SG-Track-Screenshot-1.jpg


SAP Protrack U.S. 132LB SG Track Screenshot 2 - without snow

SAP-Protrack-U.S.-132LB-SG-Track-Screenshot-2.jpg


Please do not ask for any more features for this track.

I have done all I can with Phase I of this project and spent way too much time on it as it is. To do anymore would make it no longer backwardly compatible with T:ANE.

Any further improvements will have to come in Phase II of my track project which will be specifically for build 4.6. I have no idea at present as to when Phase II will be completed, although I think it will be some months at the earliest.

Bob
 
I like the improved looks, including the improved snow look.
6. Better snow textures have been provided for both the ballast and the ties.
...
Please do not ask for any more features for this track.
I notice the plates and spikes (and bottom of the tracks) managed to stay clean of the white stuff.
I totally understand you don't want to invest another second of your time into that (for now), so what I did was email you an adjusted ballast mesh which might solve the whole situation and hopefully take the work out of your hands that way. The ballast is sized on the Z axis in such a way that the plates, spikes and part of the bottom of the rails should now "disappear" into it. As it has a snow look, you could see that as a thicker layer of snow on the whole thing.
Like it? Use it (on a 4.2 build preferably). Don't? Too bad and not your problem; I am sure a procedural US track with snow I like will eventually show up.
Whatever you decide; keep up the great work, I am sure a lot of people appreciate what you did so far.
 
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