Bit of Help route building / making it download station worthy. (UK fictional Route)

beep55

New member
Hello all

I'm looking for some guidance and perhaps assistance with a route I've been building since Trainz 2006.

I am constantly losing focus with the route as it is now pretty big. Lots of tiles with nothing in and lots of unfinished scenery / trackwork. But lots of areas which I'm very happy with!

It is purely fiction, so this proves problematic in that I tend to add things, but never finish sections off, come back and realise that I'm making too many "busy" areas.

My plan is to have a large circular route to allow AI to populate mainline and make sessions which I hope to release at some point.

For those of you who are interested. The route is a complete mix of UK Steam, Diesel and Electric. Certain sections lend themselves to a more "modern" feel whilst others lean toward late 1960's. I know to many this may not be "correct" or even "frowned" upon. But I wanted to take the best of British Railways.

Can anyone suggest how I can build landscapes quicker? I find that I can't get the hills, slopes and to get away from the flat landscape.

I've posted some screenshots elsewhere in the forum, but any help would be great.

I'd love to release this route. 13 years in the making and think it's about time it was finished, sessions created and trains running!
 
Yes I use that a lot. But landscaping I find difficult. I've tried copying and paste for it but doesn't seem to work well.

I have a route like that as well I started back in December 2003 and has followed me through the various Trainz iterations I have installed. It's at a standstill right now until I get up the energy to work on it again. I actually have a lot of routes like that, but anyway...

Have you tried the displacement maps? These will give you quick terrain that you can then smooth out as needed. It works pretty well for filling those areas you don't know quite what to do with.
 
Building large amounts of terrain is more difficult more needs to be - I wish the terrain tools could operate on larger chunks of land. But here is a more detailed description of what JCitron just suggested so you can create your own displacements.

Somewhere off to the side, build a miniature of the terrain - maybe a ridge, or a hill. Now go to Topology/Advanced/Select area and select your miniature terrain. Then click "get Displacement" and your miniature terrain will appear as a greyscale in the window. Then select a large area that you want to have the terrain and press "fill area" Play with the displacement scale slider and press "fill area" once more. And if you want to save the greyscale image, press the checkmark and you will be prompted to give it a name and a description. Unfortunately you are limited on height I think around 300m and the lower areas (darker) will eat into the previous terrain which you may not want. I suggest learning this technique on a blank route until you understand how it works.
 
Last edited:
British railways are a mix from diesel and electric on main lines with a growing number of interconnecting heritage steam lines so unless you are modelling a specific route really you have licence to create anything which you like.

Likewise I have a historic route started in TS12, merged with another started in T:ANE with many gaps in scenery but no bare baseboards because once laid I tend to use the topology slope tool to create basic hills away from the intended line of my track outwards to the edge of the boards. Once the track is laid I'll contour these basic slopes into hills to compliment station, buildings, roads and so forth.

I think seeing trains running has helped maintain the interest and to achieve this I've terminated open ended routes with portals to turn traffic back until I've been able to add the next length of track/section etc. I've also set one or two small achievable goals at a time. A village or hamlet, an industrial park, the scenery for what would equate to the next three or five miles of track. If its not going right I leave it alone or just spend the time driving or letting AI do its thing and enjoying what I've achieved to date because if you are not enjoying doing it, it sort of defeats the reason for purchasing Trainz in the first place. Peter
 
You could use Transdem to do a fictional terrain extraction and build on that, doesn't even have to be from the UK or where a railway runs in real life. For a circular route why not take one of the smaller Scottish Islands and then do a line circling the coast. Or in the case of one of my current WIP projects, I found a 32 mile branch line in western Victoria (Aus) but am building it as "Honeycombe Vale" a fictional ex GWR branch line set at the transition from BR steam to diesel so I can run Pannier tank locos side by side with Warships and Westerns. If you're struggling for track plan ideas, grab a few back copies of Railway Modeller or buy the Peco track plan books and something in there should fit.
 
Thank you for all your replies :)

I will post a few screenshots here later today.

I certainly agree with everything said here. I struggle to concentrate at best of times.

I would like to get opinions of actual route before a release, for feedback and to enhance any areas.

This has given me a bit of momentum. Thank you for all your comments.

I occasionally post progress screenshots on Instagram so if any of you are interested it's piano_guy87
 
I have much the same problem with unfinished routes. One reason is that I am easily tempted into content creation which I really enjoy - and never get around to using my own creations! Another is the discouragement brought by each new version of Trainz and the thought of having to do much of the work again. But as I don't aim to upload routes, perhaps I should continue any unfinished ones in their original version - after all, it's only for my own enjoyment.

One of these days …

Ray
 
Thank you for all replies :) I have taken advice on board and made some good progress!

Here are a couple of screen shots below. Any feedback would be great. I've done a quick drive on the route from southern most terminus (Kemerton Central) to the main hub station (Stanford Bridge) this took approx 50 mins with a 9F Pulling 750 Tonnes. I will post some more screenshots of my next Quick Drive session so you all have an idea of the route. Shots below are a little all over the place.

I know quite a few of them are lacking in the ground cover, grass, shrubs etc.

This route has quite a few lines in it. So I can create a multiple of sessions using different routes rather than limited to "End to End" there are some sections which I find a challenge to maintain boiler pressure.

I've certainly found the displacement tool helpful in creating less flat terrain. I am mastering the art of tunnel building. I find that constructing my own tunnels using digholes are much better than the ones you can just drop and place etc.

I think it is slowly coming along... maybe another two years and it might be ready ;)

Fictional-UK-Route.jpg


Fictional-UK-Line.jpg


Fictional-UK-Rail-line.jpg


Fictional-UK-Line.jpg


Uk-Fictional-Line.jpg




Fictional-UK-Rail-Line.jpg


Fictional-Uk-Rail-Line.jpg


Fictional-UK-Rail-Line.jpg


Fictional-Uk-Rail-Line.jpg
 
I totally agree you really have put some effort and hours into creating your route, its brilliant and in such detail, thanks for sharing it. Peter
 
Thank you all :)

I'm a bit OTT with detail, if something has a gap or even the terrain looking off it bugs me!

Your comments shall keep me going and I hope someday soon you'll actually be able to download it and drive it yourself ��
 
That's definitely a job well done here!

I'm the same way with my routes. I detest floating track and other splines and will go back and readjust stuff until I get it right. That's why it's a good idea to take a drive on the route. I set hte AI to drive while I go along for the ride and look out the cab for things to fix. This gives me a chance too to find a missing switch lever, trees in the way, and to enjoy the fruits of all my hard work I put into the route.

Another thing to do is take a walk on the route at track level using the ALT+Y camera view. This will give you a chance to check for crooked track and for spots that slow down. If the route moves really, really quickly in Surveyor, it'll move quickly in Driver most of the time. If you have any sudden stutters or a slow down in this mode, it's time to troubleshoot.

My long route is about 190 miles long and has parts in it that date back to the earliest route I started. I've tried my best to stick to the theme of a regional railway and have replaced and updated sections over the intervening years.

Using Vern's technique, I brought in a couple of TransDEM generated routes and put in a line where nothing existed, but could have. That makes for some interesting engineering as I aim to keep the roads and existing infrastructure in place. Complex crossroads become town centers and long stretches of road become suburban housing developments. As the route moved on, I found places to put in factories and mills similar to where I live in northeastern US.
 
Going by the screenshots you certainly have an excellent eye for realism and the technical skills to create it. If the problem is just 'keeping at it' then I'd agree with the earlier suggestion of setting an achievable chunk as a target for each modelling session. Personally I see detail as vital but I don't get into it from the beginning. I try and get something (Eg a village, or a station, or a junction) just upto what Consider as 'first pass standard.' I then do a sweep of the superdetail at the end. That way I find I do get bogged down with superdetail in one area and bare board in another. Your work looks like real quality - keep at it!
 
I've posted some screenshots elsewhere in the forum, but any help would be great.
Screenshots will get nice comments, but if you really want constructive feedback you need to ask for volunteer testers and provide them with the route to test on their own systems.
 
That looks very, very good.
You have some nice scenes and a great sense of proportion.
The roundabout under the embankment is an excellent feature.

Keep up the good work and keep us informed of progress.

A tip for getting larger images from My Gallery.
Click to show full image, then right click on your image and click copy image location.
I then open a new browser tab and paste the address in the address bar and click enter. It is there for you to see full size.
Open up a new browser tab for each image then when you are ready to put it in the forum, copy the good one's address from the address bar and place it in the input box.

Like this..

Fictional-UK-Line.jpg
 
Back
Top