Mitchell: A Fictitious Midwest Map Based on 70s' Memories and Modern Updates

themp3dj

themp3dj
Hey All, I'm a long-time fan and "1st Time Thread Poster" here from the home of the Indy 500: Indianapolis, USA

Brief Bio:

I started chasing trains back in the early 1960's when two sets of my grandparents lived a few houses from the Monon and the other near the B&O crossing in Mitchell, Indiana. It didn't matter which track I was closest to, the few houses to the corner worked just fine as I would hear a train blow from a mile or two away and out the door I would run to watch them come through this little southern Indiana "burg" of a few thousand, more known as the hometown of astronaut, Virgil "Gus" Grissom.

In the early 1970's, I started collecting music of all kinds which started my radio and nightclub DJ career lasting thru the early 2000's. After struggling through the 1990's with a fledgling promotion and marketing company and a real estate brokerage, I created "RaceFanRadio, Music and Motorsports 24-7 !" in 2003, the first on-line radio station marrying music and various forms of racing broadcasts and interview shows which consumed my talents and resources for ten years. Today, I spend most of my time devoted to real estate clients but look for those few hours a day to let go and unwind....

Why Trainz 2019:

My love for trains started at 3 years old with my first Lionel set and only grew through my teen years with an 8' x 4' HO layout in my bedroom. Now fast forward to the simulation age of Trainz 2019 and I can finally build the rolling empire of memories and dreams...!

Hence, my first Route Map, "Mitchell 1.0" (now updated to Mitchell: 2020~0720 Update; KUID ID: 918001:102617)

I have been working inside Trainz 2019 since I gave myself a late Christmas present seven months ago and have been addicted ever since. Having played city builder games for years, I sidelined "Cities Skylines" for a new "mental unwind" only to find I can't devote enough time to it while running my very successful real estate brokerage.

Mitchell 1.0 and Follow-up:

After spending a few months trying to learn Trainz 2019, I decided it was time to start working on my own route map. Thanks to numerous tutorials, Google searches and trial and error, I uploaded my first effort in mid-April, 2020. Yep, filled with numerous open-ended errors and un-finished business, I was looking for more of what my route would look like on the big screen as I built on one computer system to play on a much larger and nicer gaming system.

I did the basics, added a few challenges and worked through more ideas and added the first update a month later: "Mitchell: 2020~0527 Update" As my skill set increased and the desire to add more, I found more frustrations and issues which still are to be worked out in future updates...

More updates to follow...
 
Mitchell 2020~0702 Update:

As my understanding of various creation assets and skills continue to increase, the desire to add more content also elevates. There are numerous unfinished thoughts or "place-holders" all over the map and quick attempts at ideas are easily noticed as I feel the last part of the multi-step process is the final landscaping items to be added later. Right now, I keep searching and exploring the various content creators libraries to glean ideas and favorites used by the other route creators. I'll download a map and incorporate their best ideas into mine...

Thanks for the inspiration and the desire to get better: DaveSnow, Colin's Trains, Horace Fithers, Approach Medium, BlueWizard and a gazillion other of you guys in this community...!

Known Issues and Desired Help:

* Tree Rendering from Computer to Computer - I create on a high-end computer in my office / studio and then play on an even higher-end gaming computer. Trainz 2019 Installed Tress (i.e. - Tree Maple, etc.) appears in my selection list but not graphically in surveyor / edit mode. Originally, these assets were visible and available but now are no longer even though the same trees show up on my gaming computer in locations where they were not intended. Attempted changes to matching identical settings in-game have not resolved the problem and reloading files did nothing as well. What next...?

* Ground Texture Rendering - Similar to the issue above, I see textures look fine on my creation computer but leave overlays on the gaming computer. It's as if the layers are not the same elevation or the track needs the "smooth spline height" adjustment...

* Interlocking Tower - thanks to various tutorials and videos, I can get north-south double tracks to work but not east-west or vice-versa. Is there a certain priority sequence that needs to be employed when setting up 8 unique paths..?

* Intermodal Container Load / Unload - again, tried various ideas and no luck in finding a good tutorial for Trainz 2019. What is the proper asset to start with and best settings..?

* AI Unloading versus Manual Mode Unloading - I added coal un-loaders to the Harbor and notice no problem in manual mode but cannot seem to find a proper dialogue for AI. I've seen various threads that mention AI does not work for certain assets. Again, better assets and/or settings than others...?

Any other tips, tricks, suggestions and comments are welcome. Stay safe and roll on..!
 
Just to be clear, are both of your computers running exactly the same build number of TS2019? Do they have the same graphics settings on the Trainz launch settings as well as the main menu? Do they have the same or equivalent graphic settings for the graphics cards?
 
The ground texture rendering issue stems from mixing PBR and non PBR textures and using ultra settings. There are two distinct ranges of PBR textures available on the DLS, MSGSapper's Truly Seasonal series and JohnnyC1's PBR texture range which has almost 1000 textures available. In my current build (Illawarra/South Coast NSW Australia) I use PBR textures and track exclusively and I've converted my previous routes to PBR also. These assets are all build 4.6 in content manager. The 'overlaid floating texture' effect when blending non PBR textures is a result of height mapping in PBR, which appears to be pushing down on the terrain. Another symtom of this is track which looks like it needs levelling. One rule of texturing with PBR is never mix PBR and nonPBR under road or track splines. Just one more building tip; grass and scenery splines are a performance hog and can produce anything from micro stutters to slideshows.
For more tips visit https://forums.auran.com/trainz/sho...oute-Creations-Collaborations-and-Renovations
cheers
Graeme
 
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Hey Forester1, "Thanks" for the heads-up...! Yes, both boxes running TS2019 Build #105175 but both have different graphics cards so I'll have to dive in closer to each card setting profile. I'm sure the gaming computer has better specs and hardware as we built right at the end of the year with my first box a handful of years older...

I'll try to run best specs for each box and see if that closes the gap...

Thanks again...!
 
Thanks Graeme...! Betting there is a mixture of PBR and non-PBR as I started with mostly original game installed assets and worked from there. I'll spend the time getting rid of the non-PBR stuff and I haven't used grass and scenery splines as yet so thanks for the tips..!

Checking out the link you provided as well...

Truly appreciated...!
 
I am sure all those mentioned and lots more will be happy to help with any suggestions to move you along.

I wish you well

Colin from Colin's Trains
 
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