What's the biggest/most complex project have you done in Surveyor?

sparkyinak

New member
I was playing around with Surveyor on my iPad and got carious about how far they pushed their program? Like what's the most linear miles one has laid or the biggest spread one has done?
 
haha! My current route. 46 miles / 74 km. With several branches coming off the main line (for a fairly short distance). A lot of work; but I find it fun and relaxing.
 
My largest route is 189 miles long not counting branch lines. There are parts that have been reworked and parts abandoned so the route maybe a bit longer now than it was the last time I measured the distance.

The route didn't happen overnight. The building process has taken about 16 years to come to fruition and the same route still lives on today in TRS2019 as it did in TRS2004 in its earlier form. There are still parts of the original route in there buried among the other new baseboards that were built around them. This has been an ongoing rebuilding program to improve upon that was built using my inexperience and limited assets of the times.
 
The average noobie often proudly announces their intention to build the entire rail system of their country. Sadly, they give up long before finishing.:D

I think there are some routes of several hundred miles which are made by merging other routes together.

Normally, you overwhelm your computer long before you reach the limits of the program but I don't know anything about the iPad version, it could be limited compared to computer versions.

I have began my version of the Rio Grande Southern several times in my 18 years as a user. Using a TransDEM created terrain of 312 baseboards I have laid the entire 162.60 miles of track, bridges and some buildings several times. Finished some texturing and planted hundreds of trees. But I'm never really feel like I can capture the magnitude of the mountains which the RGS ran through due to limits of draw distance imposed by my computer. I have hopes of making it again in TRS19 but many of my custom textures and trees don't work well in TRS19. I just haven't got around to fixing them.

William
 
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Wow, John. 189 miles and 16 years! I can see that I will never be challenging you in the "longest" category. :)


My largest route is 189 miles long not counting branch lines. There are parts that have been reworked and parts abandoned so the route maybe a bit longer now than it was the last time I measured the distance.

The route didn't happen overnight. The building process has taken about 16 years to come to fruition and the same route still lives on today in TRS2019 as it did in TRS2004 in its earlier form. There are still parts of the original route in there buried among the other new baseboards that were built around them. This has been an ongoing rebuilding program to improve upon that was built using my inexperience and limited assets of the times.
 
My current creation is about 98 miles East to West and 30 miles North to South with perhaps 40 trains trying to avoiding each other running under AI at any one time. Started in 2014 in TS12 it was later migrated to T:ANE but then I lost interest and started another route which progressed well. However I then got this guilt complex discarding all the work from the first route and couldn't get anywhere for a few months. Finally I chopped the second route in half and bolted it onto each side of the first route and that's where I am today. At the end of the each line are portals which can be removed in the future to allow expansion but currently I'm improving the detail and realism of the route. Peter
 
My largest Surveyor project is the Baltimore to Connellsville & West Mega Route. It has over 1100 miles of mainline right of way, and includes 11600 baseboards. The file size on the DLS is 393MB. I Created it by merging four of my routes starting with the Cumberland to Connellsville in 2006. I spent a total of eight years (spread out over an eleven year period) building this route It includes the entire Western Maryland railroad from Baltimore MD to Connellsville PA, and on to Webster Springs WV, with a branch to Cass WV. It also includes the B&O from Baltimore to Connellsville, and on to Grafton WV.

Joe
 
Wow, John. 189 miles and 16 years! I can see that I will never be challenging you in the "longest" category. :)

Not necessarily. Mine grew in spurts as I merged in some areas such as the old blank routes with the TIGER lines on them and one other route. The rest of the route, however, are my own creation. As I've gone through and updated the old parts, I saw that I have pretty much stuck with the same theme I started with back in 2004. My plan was to model two competing routes that became one which connect a mill city to an ocean port. The modern version is an expanded regional that includes the original route plus other lines. As I've updated the route, I've also had a good laugh at my track laying and landscaping, but then again like everyone else I too was a noob and I've learned a lot from other creators such as George Fisher who was my virtual mentor in route building.

My current creation is about 98 miles East to West and 30 miles North to South with perhaps 40 trains trying to avoiding each other running under AI at any one time. Started in 2014 in TS12 it was later migrated to T:ANE but then I lost interest and started another route which progressed well. However I then got this guilt complex discarding all the work from the first route and couldn't get anywhere for a few months. Finally I chopped the second route in half and bolted it onto each side of the first route and that's where I am today. At the end of the each line are portals which can be removed in the future to allow expansion but currently I'm improving the detail and realism of the route. Peter

I did the same, Peter. When I moved on to T:ANE and subsequently TRS2019, I thought initially it was time to forego my original route and start afresh. I tried a few times, but never could quite get the new route off the ground because my heart too was in my original. Feeling a bit guilty, I dug out the old route from my backups and installed it. Like you, I too have been renovating and improving. If felt good being back with an old friend. As I work through certain sections, I think back to the family who were around then and where I was working at the time. In the subsequent years of building that route, I was diagnosed with neurological problems, lost my job, and lost family members. Looking at the old route, like being with an old friend, brings back the better times and memories.
 
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It’s a project I am still doing but my Toronto route will probably extend past 300, maybe even 400 miles.
 
I frequently get carried away with TranzDem and slapping down rough track. But my sloppy work doesn't even begin to match what others have done. It seems that I never finish moving and adjusting the track. The longest so far was 319 miles, but it was only terrain and track. No structures, no surface textures.

Most recently working on a 27 mile fictional route following the Wilson River north-northeast of Tillimook, OR ... but that certainly isn't a long route.
 
I was playing around with Surveyor on my iPad and got carious about how far they pushed their program? Like what's the most linear miles one has laid or the biggest spread one has done?


Thank you for the opportunity to blow my own trumpet, and plug my upcoming release: "WeddinNSW: Southlines to the Lachlan", available on the DLS in the next week or so. A combined total of about 380 kms (lets call it 400km:)) of NSWGR (Australian) country branchlines. The first version of Weddin was released almost 18 years ago. At that point it was a mere 47.5 kms in length, and a single branchline (it took me well over a year to build). It (and much subsequent) track was built 'by hand', ie: pre TransDem. Sections of the original release still form part of the latest upload, albeit with a degree of refinement.

Over the years, and a number of releases, Weddin has grown and grown. I could not have done this alone. The current WeddinNSW would not exist without the generous contributions of many other Trainz content creators. While about two thirds of the upcoming release is based on my development/extension of the original route, most recently my two route building 'neighbours' have given me permission to work with, and incorporate, their routes into the Weddin empire (hence the new release).

Today Weddin, tomorrow the entire NSW rail network!! :D:D
 
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Phil. (another trumpet blowing !!)
Over the past few years Ive gradually merged all of the available southern NSW routes into a single mega route.
Includes.
Main South from Picton to Albury.
Your earlier versions of Weddin through to Grenfell and Eugowra
Goulburn section and Crookwell branch from Ntesdorf
Yass branch
Boorowa branch
Tumut branch
Tumbarumba Branch
just merged section of Lake Cargelico branch to Stockingbingle
Hay branch to griffith
Kywong Branch
Oaklands & Westby branches (Ntesdorf ?)
Holbrook branch

All of this started with the original Southlines by Tomtre and grew like topsy.

Worst thing now is the ability to merge any more due to RAM limits etc, it was a struggle to get Stockingbingle merged but it eventually worked albeit with some strange results such as floating trees etc which took some cleaning up.
Ive updated many of the assets (trees etc) and added EIT's at various places
Ive run this route in TANE SP4 and tested in TRS2019 and seems to run well with several consists running.
PG
 
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PGibbons/ FootplatePhil - Forgive me if this a repeat of what you have already heard from me earlier, but I offer it as advice to those proposing to merge large routes (or indeed carry out any memory-intensive action) in TRS19 or T:ANE where the memory requirements exceed your amount of physical RAM.
Use Virtual Memory to complete the operation.
Otherwise known as Pagefile memory in Windows parlance, virtual memory can be set to much larger amounts temporarily ahead such memory intensive operations. Route Merges in particular can take up to 90Gb of memory in certain circumstances. If you run out of physical memory AND Pagefile memory allocation, then TRS19 and T:ANE will EITHER never complete the operation OR will CTD on you.
Accordingly, as long as you have plenty of spare hard drive space to host the pagefile memory, you can set the Virtual Memory allocation to a very high value before you start the merge operation.
I typically run virtual memory pagefiles several multiples of my physical RAM (16Gb DDR3 on one machine and 32Gb DDR4 on another) temporarily ahead of major database and route merge ops. (Don't forget to restart the OS to reset the allocation each time).
Apologies if this is teaching you how to suck eggs. Some others may find this helpful, however. For most operations in Trainz, 16Gb of physical memory is all you'll need. Occasionally though, you'll need MUCH more memory than physical RAM is affordable, so Virtual Memory is your best friend - and IT WORKS!
PC
 
PGibbons/ FootplatePhil - Forgive me if this a repeat of what you have already heard from me earlier, but I offer it as advice to those proposing to merge large routes (or indeed carry out any memory-intensive action) in TRS19 or T:ANE where the memory requirements exceed your amount of physical RAM.
Use Virtual Memory to complete the operation.
Otherwise known as Pagefile memory in Windows parlance, virtual memory can be set to much larger amounts temporarily ahead such memory intensive operations. Route Merges in particular can take up to 90Gb of memory in certain circumstances. If you run out of physical memory AND Pagefile memory allocation, then TRS19 and T:ANE will EITHER never complete the operation OR will CTD on you.
Accordingly, as long as you have plenty of spare hard drive space to host the pagefile memory, you can set the Virtual Memory allocation to a very high value before you start the merge operation.
I typically run virtual memory pagefiles several multiples of my physical RAM (16Gb DDR3 on one machine and 32Gb DDR4 on another) temporarily ahead of major database and route merge ops. (Don't forget to restart the OS to reset the allocation each time).
Apologies if this is teaching you how to suck eggs. Some others may find this helpful, however. For most operations in Trainz, 16Gb of physical memory is all you'll need. Occasionally though, you'll need MUCH more memory than physical RAM is affordable, so Virtual Memory is your best friend - and IT WORKS!
PC


PC_Ace: Yes, this was how I was able to merge Soutlines/WeddinNSW/LinesToTheLachlan/Stockinbingle on my 16GB config. The merge failed before the virtual memory tweaks. I've forgotten now, but it is in entirely likely it was your tips I was following. However, as noted by Peter, the merge process still throws up some weird 'artifacts'.

PGibbons: I have great memories of combining your routes with Southlines and Weddin way back when ( I think in TRS2006). Was so impressed to be able to put together such a large merged route. More recently I had Grazlash's excellent "ARTC NSW Main South" route installed in my TANE install (TANE now deleted), and once I upload my current project I thought I might try to join "WeddinNSW: Southlines to the Lachlan" to that route in TRS2019, along with your routes, for my own satisfaction.

Sorry to take this a bit off OP's original topic, but hopefully the discussion is still useful.
 
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view_media_post
This is my route for Part of North Yorkshire, mainly on the West side of the (ECML), East Coast Main Line.
Has been a continuous work in progress since version TRS2004
Refer to link below for mapping.

https://www.trainzportal.com/mytrainz/view_media_post?media_post_id=119409

view_media_post
 
I wish I had the patience that you guys have. My current "pet project" is a halfway faithful recreation of the Blackwell Northern Gateway railroad from Wellington, KS to Blackwell, OK.

It's about 35 miles of rural branch line. Tracks, roads, and textures are done, now I just have to do scenery. Going 10 MPH, as the BNG does in real life, it can take quite some time to get end to end.

It's not as big as the stuff some of you guys work on, but I'm a procrastinator who gets burned out easily, so I figured I'd do something small.

Matt
 
I wish I had the patience that you guys have. My current "pet project" is a halfway faithful recreation of the Blackwell Northern Gateway railroad from Wellington, KS to Blackwell, OK.

It's about 35 miles of rural branch line. Tracks, roads, and textures are done, now I just have to do scenery. Going 10 MPH, as the BNG does in real life, it can take quite some time to get end to end.

It's not as big as the stuff some of you guys work on, but I'm a procrastinator who gets burned out easily, so I figured I'd do something small.

Matt

That's how I built my route. I did about 8 to 10 baseboards a week if that and when I felt burned out I worked on something else.
 
Here's my Enfield and Eastern. A portion of E&E Revision 2 and E&E Revision 3 (2004 and 2005) respectively exists in the lower left hand quadrant. I've modified these a bit, but the core is still there. The TransDEM parts are going to be trimmed down eventually and are still TBD as to how much will be included.

E&E Map.jpg
 
The most complicated script I wrote was Regional Weather. Unfortunately, async broke it in later versions of TANE.
 
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