Build 117042 progress

I still have parts of my route marked as faulty by Content Management, but thankfully my stations, electric signals and BR locomotives now work, along with a number of bridges that had disappeared, but which I have managed to re-download from DLS.
A trivial matter, but one that will have to be fixed eventually is the driver portraits. I'm not at all sure I like them as they take up a lot of space on the screen, but of course it is only necessary to have one showing. However, whose face you see is problematic. Many faces are quite different in the part where you tell the drivers which train to board and what to do from the way they appear on screen. I first discovered Isla on my screen, posing as a male driver! That part seem to have got sorted, as does the part where the portraits up top were different from the one at the bottom, but...

Curses! It's been cut short. I was trying to show that Jane, whose head you can see used to look the same as Jessica, but now Jessica looks the same as Louise - perhaps because they are driving the same type of vehicle?

You can ignore this. The driver-images for the most part, are pretty generic. I also avoid the 3d characters because they're pretty creepy and use the 2d images instead. There you'll have a better chance of seeing the real people, but not always.

Agreed. It is a trivial issue, but it will need fixing.

Another more serious issue I have - don't know if this is just Mac - I frequently have to force quit because it won't shut down properly, perhaps not every day, but certainly several times a week. Sometimes, even that doesn't work and I have to switch off and leave the computer for a while.

rhban said:

Another more serious issue I have - don't know if this is just Mac - I frequently have to force quit because it won't shut down properly, perhaps not every day, but certainly several times a week. Sometimes, even that doesn't work and I have to switch off and leave the computer for a while.

Click to expand...

The driver images are what they are and have been like this since TANE, so I doubt they'll be updated. I switched to the 2d images because these 3d ones are weird.

The other issue isn't good. If you have forced-quit the application, there's a good chance of corrupting your data and ending up reinstalling and losing any routes you've been working on. What you need to do pronto is run a database repair. At the Launcher, click on the developer menu item at the top, and choose Rebuild database. The process can take a few minutes.

The program may take a while to shut down, if you've been editing. This is because the database has been accessed and the files have to be closed. For large routes and sessions, this can take quite some time. On startup, there may be a long time before a route or session loads due to the caching of content. This is also normal and usually occurs if you've rebuilt the database, updated your Trainz version, or added a lot of content including DLC (stuff from the content store). With that running, never force-quit the program and let it finish no matter how long it takes.

I always rebuild database after adding content - it's usually at least half a dozen, but often more, especially buildings. I stilll have a number of assets that Content Manager claims are faulty, but they seem to work OK - what can a bridge do wrong if you can see all the bits that hold it together?

HOW DO YOU USE THIS PROGRAM THAT IS STILL IN THE MAKING?
I am now attempting for the fifth time to create the same route that I started some weeks ago. I have learnt to ignore the program's warnings, urging me to save when I leave surveyor as this saves the session, which I can then apparently never use again. There is one other step, which I'm not sure of that loses my route entirely, so I am being careful.
What is annoying is not knowing what I can download. I have to download a lot because I cannot install any of the stuff in Content Store - many of them take hours to download, but they all come up with Error at the end - so without those, I end up with a program that contains almost no bridges, no invisible stations, no roads I like, no canal or dock walls, no modern non-American locomotives and not many buildings. I appreciate that every asset with a kuid lower thank... I've forgotten: 3.5 I think - has been disabled, but that leaves very little choice for some things. I need a slightly curved bridge - not allowed; I need dock walls - they all seem to be illegal, I need a lot of other assets, but I've already put my route in the red, faulty group again, and I don't seem to be able to do anything about it. I have tried deleting the "faulty" assets, but ak that happens is they show up in my asset file slightly faded out but apparently still making my route faulty. Some faulty assets, once placed, are apparently undetectable, which is very worrying.

You seem to be causing a lot of these problems in how you are using it. If you don't save when you leave surveyor then all work done won't be there when you come back. All sessions can be used again if you enter surveyor via the edit session screen. Select route, view session, select session, and edit session. When you work in surveyor always save before you go into driver mode. This retains all trains at the start position because once in driver mode the session saves at the point you close at.
Why are all your assets below 3.5 disabled? All older assets can still be used and even 1.3 assets can work fine in TRS22 Only assets that are built in and faulty with no newer version available need to be disabled.
As you have TRS19, TRS22, and Trainz Plus on your timeline I am wondering if you are sharing the same data folder with each of them because each one must use its own folder.

If I may….. don’t do serious route creation with beta versions. Wait until a stable release is out and when those bugs have been fixed. You are trying to learn and are fighting bugs at the same time. After you are used to things, then look at creating a route in beta versions.

You misunderstand me. Of course I save the work I have done on the route, but when I am about to leave surveyor, I get the Save/Don't Save thing again accompanied by dire warnings about what will happen if I don't. If I make the mistake of heeding the warnings, it saves the session, which leaves the one actual session I had in a total, unusable mess, from which I can rarely escape except by recommencing the entire route.

capdiamont said:

If I may….. don’t do serious route creation with beta versions. Wait until a stable release is out and when those bugs have been fixed. You are trying to learn and are fighting bugs at the same time. After you are used to things, then look at creating a route in beta versions.

Click to expand...

Sound advice, but that means I have a program that could be of no use before next year at least.
I am now making progress on my route, but I accept I may have to start again with trs2019.

My rule for saving after I do work in surveyor is one of 4 options. These options will keep the original position of all the trains.

1:- Save = save the route and session and you remain in surveyor to continue working on the route if you want. If you do, use one of the 4 options again to exit surveyor.

2:- Save = save the route and session and you remain in surveyor to go into driver mode and drive the trains. To exit driver mode use the don't save route and session.

3:- Exit Surveyor = save the route and session and you are returned to the view sessions screen.

4:- Exit Game = save the route and session and you are returned to the desktop.

If you use the save, don't save again unless you have done some alterations.

Im not saying don’t do any route creating. I’m saying to step back, run some routes, and do make some routes that have simple goals of just learning with built in assets. Get used to things. Stupid things like putting down a loop a track, with a locomotive and running it. If that saves nice, duplicate it and add grass and trees. A few buildings. Save. Transform the landscape.

Remember that this is a beta. A release version is supposed to be out soon.

capdiamont said:

Im not saying don’t do any route creating. I’m saying to step back, run some routes, and do make some routes that have simple goals of just learning with built in assets. Get used to things. Stupid things like putting down a loop a track, with a locomotive and running it. If that saves nice, duplicate it and add grass and trees. A few buildings. Save. Transform the landscape.

Remember that this is a beta. A release version is supposed to be out soon.

Click to expand...

Indeed. It's just that after having had no computer at all for 2 years (doing everything on my phone!), I was desperate to get some route ideas down and running. My current route is far too big - instead of being 3-4 boards wide along the tracks, I have got a solid map, so saving and loading are a bit slow, but my one train so far is running well, so I am happy for the moment. Remembering not to save the Session unless I have made changes, otherwise it cuts me out of editing completely.

I make it a habit to save my route work every so often just in case something happens, then the amount of work potentially lost is minimal. In addition to this, if the save becomes session saves only (which is when you add vehicles to the route but not changes in scenery or structures). So, when I get only the session saves, I'll rename the route to save everything. When done for the day and I leave the game I will export to CDP my route to an external drive. This way if I lose my computer operations and this has happen in the past, I can have the latest version of my route without having to start over. It's prudent to maintain good saving habits and you never know what may take out all your creative work in a heart beat

I like the idea of an external save.

Smooth Track Tool

THE SMOOTHER
I have always felt that the smooth track tool was one of the most useful, but it seems that under build 117042, it doesn't work all that well, either leaving gaps under the track or triangles of "land" over the top as you can see in the these two photos:

And yes, I did click more than once on smooth track. I've sort of solved the problem by tracing lightly over the track with lower ground tool.

The PBR textures will cause the triangles of land over the tracks as well as gaps underneath. The solution to this is to paint the area with a wider brush.

When laying track, you want to ensure that the height is fixed, otherwise, your trains may derail due to a broken rail. The tracks will have a slight gap between them at spline points that cause the derail.

To fix the height of your track, click on the height adjust tool found in the advanced pulldown at the bottom of the track tools panel just next to the spline point. When the height is fixed, the spline circle will turn from white to solid yellow. You can also get the height of the track at one spline point then click each following spline point to fix the height the same along a line of tracks. This is useful for those areas where everything has to be the same height such as in yards and stations and also for bridges. Set the height of one end, get the height and then apply that height to the other end.

JCitron said:

The PBR textures will cause the triangles of land over the tracks as well as gaps underneath. The solution to this is to paint the area with a wider brush.

Click to expand...

After advice from others in these forums I have decided to use another option to fix this problem. Change the Shader Quality in the Launcher Performance Tab from Ultra to Standard. Using a wider brush will work but it restricts how closely you can place other textures to the track (or road splines).