Merging TransDem and none TransDem

Alikiwi

Apprentice Creator
I suspect I'm asking the impossible here. Anyway I managed to work my way through using TransDem and eventually got it right. It does take a few attempts to get there, but not that bad. I really needed to do this as building a route and smoothing the contours takes a massiveeeeeee amount of time as anyone who has created a route knows. I have only uploaded one (last year) which was the Zig-Zag (world heritage site) near Lithgow in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. This starts at Mt Victoria and goes to Bowenfels just west of Lithgow.

Then at the beginning of the year I started working on the next section (separately) Lithgow to Bathurst. Although by road it's only 61 kms, by rail it is 84 kms which a lot of twists and turns. I am about 2/3rds done, so still a lot of work to do. I decided to use TransDem to do the last part. I have also started another route, which is on a lower priority and so it has only about 8 boards so far (New Plymouth NZ), so I used TransDem (also) to do the next stage of this, and tested to see if I could join the two together. This actually worked with just 40 metres of extra board between the two and a difference of height of about 8 metres. That's easily smoothed over.

So then I tried it with the Bathurst one and horizontally I'm about 60 metres out (need extra 60 metres, so some adjustment in the track), but..... The height is off by 1,000 metres!!!

Now, I do know how this came about. When I started the first route at Mt Victoria, the elevation there is around 1,000 metres. Having never used surveyor before I used that first board as the base and drew contour lines (every 20 metres of elevation) and proceeded from there. What I did NOT do was raised that land up to 1000m but set the elevation on world origin. World origin seems to be a pain as it doesn't keep its settings. I am forever finding it has changed south (of the equator) to north. Anyway, the last board of the Zig-Zag route became the first board of the Bathurst route, hence although it tells me a certain elevation is 760m, on merging the routes it suddenly becomes -240 metres!

So those wise owls out there, can you tell me if there is any hope of correcting this in any way? I can use world origin and add 1000m to the elevation, but as soon as I merge it with the TransDem map, it drops 1000m whilst TransDem keeps it's correct elevation. Tall order I am sure.
 
I have exactly the same problem. My SAR Peterborough Narrow Gauge Division route (Trainz 2004 era and long before TransDEM came along) began as a simple learning exercise in using Google Earth and Maps to build a route. Before I knew it I had built several hundred kms of track and terrain using manual methods but all at the wrong altitude.

When I later decided to extend the route I turned to TransDEM but discovered that it built at the correct altitude. This left a vertical gap of several hundred metres between the the original (very large) route and the DEM based extensions I wanted to add.

My searches of the forum back then revealed that there was no way to resolve this issue. Since then, with TANE and TRS19, the format of the baseboard data has changed significantly making this task even more difficult, if it even was possible beforehand.

I am now updating and extending my original SAR Peterborough route to TRS19 standards but have been forced to go back to my original manual Google Earth/Google Maps methods and sticking with the original wrong altitude base.
 
Well sadly that doesn't work, maybe because that info is 8 years old? It will only open a route created in TransDem, not a route in Trainz itself, unless there is newer info?
 
Well sadly that doesn't work, maybe because that info is 8 years old? It will only open a route created in TransDem, not a route in Trainz itself, unless there is newer info?

As long as your Trainz route is saved in a file format up to and including T:ANE SP1 it will work on any route. The route has to be temporarily exported for this, as TransDEM needs access to the route. Unfortunately, with the file format changes beginning with T:ANE SP2, this feature is not currently available for the newer routes.
 
I checked my backup copy but it is SP 2, so I'm out of luck. However, I've decided there is a slight help in that I can import/merge the TransDem part which will be 1000 metres too high, and flatten it. Although I'll have to paint contours lines and fix that, at least I'll have the exact route and can see details like where roads should be and other features.
 
I checked my backup copy but it is SP 2, so I'm out of luck. However, I've decided there is a slight help in that I can import/merge the TransDem part which will be 1000 metres too high, and flatten it. Although I'll have to paint contours lines and fix that, at least I'll have the exact route and can see details like where roads should be and other features.

Actually there's a better method that's a lot easier than painting a bunch of contour lines.

Create the TransDEM route.
Make a backup of the exported route folder - this is for in case things go terribly wrong so you can start over if you have to.
Adjust the height downward in the TransDEM part by - 1000 meters or as much as needed using that capability in TransDEM.
Import the TransDEM route into T:ANE.

Hope this helps.
 
Create the TransDEM route.
Make a backup of the exported route folder - this is for in case things go terribly wrong so you can start over if you have to.
Adjust the height downward in the TransDEM Trainz menu by - 1000 meters or as much as needed using that capability in TransDEM.
Import the TransDEM route into T:ANE.

This is one option.

The other is to manipulate the DEM before exporting to Trainz. The easiest way to do this is with a single control point:
  1. Load the DEM from file.
  2. Check the elevation range: Right click for context menu, click min/max elevation. Take a note of the values, -25 to 2870 in my example.
  3. Switch trhe cursor to control point mode, the red triangle with the dot in the symbol bar "trig point".
  4. Place a single control point anywhere.
  5. Modify the control point. Right click on it. In the dialog set elevation to relative and enter the amount, -1000 in my example. Click OK.
  6. Click the filled red arrow which looks like a "play" button to recompute the DEM.
  7. Switch the cursor back to the to the standard arrow.
  8. Check the elevation range again. In my example it is now -1025 to 1870.
  9. Save the DEM under a new name.
elev1.jpg

elev2.jpg

elev3.jpg
 
Well halla-loo-ya, it worked. Well after about 4 attempts as the first one was off by 60 metres. When I lowered it that 60 metres, it rose 30! Not sure what was going on, probably operator error but it took me a while to get it right. Once I did it was 50% perfect match to my contours which was along the edge of six baseboards, and at the worst either 8 metres too high or too low, so really easy to smooth out. I really appreciate the help, so thanks.
 
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