Australian Roads, The Lack Thereof

Alikiwi

Apprentice Creator
Probably I'm getting too fussy with route building, but given how long the game has been around, and how it's developed, I'm (a little) surprised there isn't a good set of Australian and New Zealand style roads. About the best is a small set of Yarnish Australian roads, ie Aus Rural Highway. However, 2 main points. They only come in one width, which isn't a big deal but isn't realistic, and 2, someone forgot that prior to about the late 1970s, the solid no passing line was yellow, which it still is in New Zealand (I think). However, this isn't the main problem, it's the total lack of realistic intersections. There are some for a UK set called UK roads but these are not quite the same and have one vey major problem, they are paper thin. Unless your baseboards (map) is a totally flat plane, they are impossible to use without getting buried, and that's in Tane without PBR. PBR would nearly bury them.

So, am I missing some useful assets out there that I haven't found, or are we stuck with American intersections with markings on the wrong side and noting we NEVER have 4-way stops? Oddly some of the Yarnish T intersections are too narrow to match the Yarnish roads, or are the wrong colour - some are only dark, with no light coloured versions to match the roads.

In an effort to get around this problem, I decided to try and forgo intersections and butt
the roads up and use Yarnish Invisible road to link the traffic. Unfortunately traffic crossing the 'T' going left to right in this picture, take a detour into the other road, then back again, so it looks ridiculous. Anyone know if this can be made to work, or any other solutions?

My-Trainz-Screenshot-Image.jpg


Actually, I might have the solution - what if I delete the invisible road going from the left side, up into the other road? Hm.
 
Hi, alikiwi.

As you have noted, the "intersection" assets are really unsuitable and so you have developed the same technique I've been using.

In the example you give, the invisible track connection on the "main line" is not going to work as you want. Best to delete it. Traffic will most likely turn down the side road from at least one direction, maybe from both. Be interesting to watch what actually happens. I mostly try to keep it to a single diverging arc to encourage traffic flow in my preferred direction. That may not be ideal but it works and since we're passing by most of the time in the cab, it is not terribly obvious.

A road loop (as in a cul-de-sac) produces some odd vehicular gyrations. I don't see my loops generate traffic but they do spin incoming. That can be useful if you want to limit traffic on a particular road.

A question I'm pondering is, "Why do so many of my shorter roads fail to have any traffic at all?" Even some longer ones seem trafficless, even with one of the traffic generators attached. In Surveyor, cars pour down them but in Driver, Nichts, nada, nothing.

:B~)
 
... it's always surprised me for a game that originated in Australia how relatively few assets there are for the basics from that area, particularly up to TANE/T19 standards. Tress are another case in point, most of the gums etc. are from T2004 era which are useless in the new versions.

I think part of the problem is that the virtual railroad market in Australia is quite small, certainly compared to the USA and Europe.

On the matter of gums, there is a great selection of SpeedTree Eucalyptus trees (Aussie gums) on the DLS and built in.

On the matter of roads, I can see that for city and urban roads where yellow lines are in demand, there is a shortage. I almost exclusively model outback and "bush' locations so this is not an issue.

I recently came across a good set of bitumen (asphalt) roads that are perfect for my outback needs.

<kuid:56603:100630> Weddin road - 1L bituman
<kuid:56603:100619> Weddin road - 1L dirt track
<kuid:56603:100605> Weddin road - 2L, 2 dark gravel verges
<kuid:56603:100639> Weddin road - 2L, unmarked bitumen

... by Footplatephil. I believe they are based, with permission, on roads created by Malc??? None of them have the "floating" problem where they "hover" above the terrain.The bitumen road below is the "Weddin road - 2L, 2 dark gravel verges".

Road-solutions.-Spline-for-bitumen-surface-road-and-dirt-texture-for-dirt-road..jpg



I have always had issues with dirt road splines, no matter what the country of origin. In the above screenshot I have used textures to create the dirt road and, as a result, there is never any problem with the intersections.
 
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Happy New Year All.
Quite by accident yesterday I came across some roads I downloaded mid year (and forgot about).

They are a series of roads (no intersections) by Artika and Sandrilyon called B4 Road (all Build 3.6).
Might suit some rural roads requirements.
Cheers
NickE
 
Probably I'm getting too fussy with route building, but given how long the game has been around, and how it's developed, I'm (a little) surprised there isn't a good set of Australian and New Zealand style roads. About the best is a small set of Yarnish Australian roads, ie Aus Rural Highway. However, 2 main points. They only come in one width, which isn't a big deal but isn't realistic, and 2, someone forgot that prior to about the late 1970s, the solid no passing line was yellow, which it still is in New Zealand (I think). However, this isn't the main problem, it's the total lack of realistic intersections. There are some for a UK set called UK roads but these are not quite the same and have one vey major problem, they are paper thin. Unless your baseboards (map) is a totally flat plane, they are impossible to use without getting buried, and that's in Tane without PBR. PBR would nearly bury them.

So, am I missing some useful assets out there that I haven't found, or are we stuck with American intersections with markings on the wrong side and noting we NEVER have 4-way stops? Oddly some of the Yarnish T intersections are too narrow to match the Yarnish roads, or are the wrong colour - some are only dark, with no light coloured versions to match the roads.

In an effort to get around this problem, I decided to try and forgo intersections and butt
the roads up and use Yarnish Invisible road to link the traffic. Unfortunately traffic crossing the 'T' going left to right in this picture, take a detour into the other road, then back again, so it looks ridiculous. Anyone know if this can be made to work, or any other solutions?
Actually, I might have the solution - what if I delete the invisible road going from the left side, up into the other road? Hm.


Hi Ali, I might have a solution to your T intersection using invisible roads.

The secret is to use 2 spline points for the invisible track to connect to (see image below) on the side road only. I've spaced the spline points out so that you can see how it works. They can be tightened up.
You will find that cars travelling from right to left will continue along the main road, whilst the cars travelling from left to right will turn left onto the side road. Cars heading to the intersection from the side road will bypass the first spline point then turn left at the second spline point.
For the gap in the road use a road with 'no traffic' to cover that space.

road01.jpg

Cheers,
Roy
 
You can retexture roads if you want to roll your own unless you want to upload the route then you need permission for your assets. I did that with some YARN roads for various purposes such as no traffic, one-way, different textures such as ballast and concrete for industrial areas, just for starters.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I did work out to change the invisible roads as suggested and did exactly what Roy has shown. Traffic crossing left to right will turn left up the 'T' and anything coming down the 'T' will also turn left, which is acceptable. I've downloaded the two other road types suggested, the Weddin type are all non traffic, but that can be useful in suburban areas that are at some distance.

Not sure what the reference to Eucalyptus trees is about or where it came from, but I've used them extensively. I did not (as others did) that in TRS19 some of them were flickering white light, and oddly yesterday some of them refused to be placed and their preview picture was missing! I discovered they have mostly been updated (very recently I believe) so downloaded the latest version.

As for intersections again, I can and have used, a white line to make a stop line where applicable, and if you want to get tedious, I have on very rare occasions made dotted lines for the Give Way stop!
 
Not sure what the reference to Eucalyptus trees is about or where it came from, but I've used them extensively. I did not (as others did) that in TRS19 some of them were flickering white light, and oddly yesterday some of them refused to be placed and their preview picture was missing! I discovered they have mostly been updated (very recently I believe) so downloaded the latest version.

You probably missed them but between your post (#1) and the now post #2 there was a SPAM post, a humorous response to the SPAM and then Vern querying why anyone would seriously respond to a SPAM post. It was Verns' now deleted post that he mentioned that there was a shortage of Aussie content in general, including trees.
 
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