Random Freelance perhaps using Transdem or other means

Seane2c

New member
Hi Guys:

It's been a while since I've been into Trainz as I've been trying to do my own programming projects in Unity and needed a diversion. Trainz2019 was the last simulator I used and my son still uses it to this day.

What drove me away from Trainz was NOT Trainz but by anal attention to detail and heigh maps of my own area. I wanted to build a route, begin operating it, saving sessions, and slowly developing scenery. Unfortunately that is hard to do once you play around with heigh data and I had a difficult time compromising with trying to get it perfect (when I knew something wasn't right but others probably didn't care or know I did).

So I tried to program my own projects and faced a wall. I needed to come back and see if this was still for me.

The only idea I had to this problem was simply finding some detailed DEM of anywhere in the United States (I'm from Canada just west of the Niagara River) because I know they have some better DEM regions in some locations. Just to take something that appeals to me and forget about what the prototype does, or even the roads and cities near it and just create something.

But is there a random generating tool out there that either creates DEMS, or realistic enough grey scale that Transdem or soemthing else could use?

Looking forward to your ideas, as this is will be my entry back into Trainz if it works out.

Thanks

Sean
 
There's a massive 'blank' terrain only DEM route Rio Grande Southern on the DLS (Trainman24) which contains all sorts of topography from riverside flatland, through rolling hills and into the Rockies, you might find an area in that which suits your needs...
 
Trainman24 has several DEMS available on the DLS:

<kuid2:477317:20701:1> Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Ry. [unedited DEM]
<kuid2:477317:20023:2> Rio Grande Southern Railroad - DEM [unedited] v1.1
<kuid2:477317:20703:1> Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee Railroad [unedited DEM]
<kuid2:477317:20026:1> Colorado Midland Ry. - Colo Springs to Granite - DEM [unedited]
<kuid2:477317:20714:1> Colorado Midland Ry - New Castle to Aspen [unedited DEM]
<kuid2:477317:20028:2> Colorado Springs & Cripple Creek District Ry. - DEM [unedited]
<kuid2:477317:20012:2> Colorado Midland Ry. Hagerman Pass DEM [Unedited] v1.1
<kuid2:477317:20713:1> East Broad Top Railroad [unedited DEM]

I have also been working on some other DLS DEMS myself (With very little progress I'm afraid)
<kuid2:2300:1010189:1> INPR TRS 1
<kuid2:2300:1010191:1> INPR TRS 2
<kuid2:2300:1010193:1> INPR TRS 3
<kuid:2300:211120> INPR UTC 1
<kuid:2300:211121> INPR UTC 2
<kuid:2300:211122> INPR UTC 3
<kuid:73500:100696> Camas Prairie
 
Well I don't have a silver membership so it's better that I simply find an area that appeals to me and just pick something get the DEMS and use TransDem since I have it. I'm more curious about something that can create random DEM such as a map creator out of parameters. Then get it into TransDem to import into Trainz.

Not sure if such a beast exists.

Thanks

Sean
 
Hey Sean,
Not sure what you need, but Fishlipsatwork (Author ID#59012) and Smooz (Author ID#2300) made a bunch of DEM's that are on the Download Station. They are not always listed under the routes category.
Dean
 
Hey Sean,
Not sure what you need, but Fishlipsatwork (Author ID#59012) and Smooz (Author ID#2300) made a bunch of DEM's that are on the Download Station. They are not always listed under the routes category.
Dean

The HOG textures on those routes do not appear in TRS19.
 
The HOG textures on those routes do not appear in TRS19.

I have several old - very old - HOG routes in TS19, all the HOG textures are on the DLS.
What is odd though is I downloaded a fishlips terrain-only route yesterday, but had to use TRS10 after a search in TS19 showed only two or three of his routes. TS10's CM still has the whole catalogue....
 
I have several old - very old - HOG routes in TS19, all the HOG textures are on the DLS.
What is odd though is I downloaded a fishlips terrain-only route yesterday, but had to use TRS10 after a search in TS19 showed only two or three of his routes. TS10's CM still has the whole catalogue....


There are 199 fishlip terrains on the DLS, they download as third party in TRS19 for some strange reason.

Go to Custom on the search, Author > Fishlipsatwork and you can see them all listed as location unknown, they do however download just checked a few.

I did have the link to his site but it seems to have nothing there any longer.
 
My CM only lists 3 assets by fishlipsatwork:

<kuid:59012:101289> Bruns-Charleston
<kuid2:59012:101397:1> Mobile New O
<kuid:59012:101285> Charles-Florenc

Is there something one has to do to see the rest?
 
My CM only lists 3 assets by fishlipsatwork:

<kuid:59012:101289> Bruns-Charleston
<kuid2:59012:101397:1> Mobile New O
<kuid:59012:101285> Charles-Florenc

Is there something one has to do to see the rest?


Yes what I said in the post before yours.

Use custom search
select Author type in Fishlipsatwork
Hit Enter and they will all appear.
 
Here is my experience with all this. Few Trainz users have wasted more time on this issue of terrain generation than me.

I first played around with old trainzdem-generated routes by fishlipsatwork and others, but over time it is harder to find them and some have to be repaired.

There are freeware terrain generators some of which use parameters, some are random, and all can generate greyscale jpg files and with some work can be made into a file with the right format which trainz (toplogy/advanced) can use. You can also use a program like Gimp to create greyscales from scratch. I have done both of these. But I have never found a way to get altitudes greater than about 300m even with the sensitivity turned up to max.

I have never found a freeware terrain generator that will output as a .dem file. Doesn't mean there isn't one I just never came across one. I think this is what the OP is looking for.

So I bought transdem and just use the srtm data which works for me. Back in the early days of covid I started a new route based on terrain I thought was an interesting mix (from northern Japan) of water, mountains, plains, etc. Later I decided some volcanos were needed for the background so back to transdem and merged into my active route. Using transdem for non-prototypical route building purposes keeps me entertained.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top