Anyone willing to help me with TransDEM?

Hi everyone,

I've recently been interested in recreating the Northeast Corridor in the present day, as well as the West Coast Main Line around 1987, in Trainz. From what I can tell, the easiest way to do such a thing would be to use TransDEM, especially with the NEC - I plan on doing that in the present-day, so having all of the track laid down for me immediately will be very helpful. However, I won't be able to use TransDEM as it is a Windows program, and I own a Mac, and I would not like to purchase a CrossOver or Parallels license just to run one piece of software. So my question is this - would anyone be willing to import a DEM file into TransDEM and then into TRS19 or 22? I am willing to create the DEM files myself if necessary - though I've got no idea how to do it, but I'll try my best - and I will credit you in the description of both the NEC and WCML descriptions. If you do not want to help or import the route into TransDEM, then no worries.

Thank you!

A couple of thoughts. I have used TransDEM but nothing on the scale you are proposing. Here is an overview of the process:

If you had TransDEM on your computer, you would go to this website: 30-Meter SRTM Elevation Data Downloader (dwtkns.com) This allows anyone to download what is called SRTM data (from the space shuttle). There are other data sources that some people use that are higher resolution but are impractical for a project of this size. So using this website, each yellow tile defines a compressed DEM file for that area. So you would decide which ones you need, and download them one by one to your computer. Since the northeast corridor is at a diagonal, you can see that you will need many more files than if the NEC ran due E to W or N to S. Once all the files are on your PC, you would start up TransDEM and import each file, one by one, into TransDEM. TransDEM will automatically uncompress each file as it imports, so you don't have to deal with that.

The next step is the process of getting the map files loaded into TransDEM, which contain the track data. I have never needed to do this, but assume anyone who agrees to help you will know how.

The final step will be to create the route. As part of this, you will tell TransDEM "I want the route to consist of X baseboards on each side of the track". This is important because you definitely don't want the route to cover as much ground as you see on the SRTM website, but there is a lot of track in the northeast USA so you will need to make some compromises. A few other settings and you create the route.

Somewhere in this process, I believe the person helping you will realize that they don't have enough computing power to deal with all this data. I could be wrong.

So how did someone create the route from London to Edinburgh. I don't know but maybe they made smaller routes for different sections of the route and then merged the small routes, properly trimmed down, to create the completed route.

I hope you will get more comments on this project.

OK then. Thank you for your advice. Though I would like to complete both of these projects, as of right now, based on what you have said, I probably won’t attempt to do such a massive route right now, as I also have a lot of personal things going on. Regardless, I thank you very much for the info uou have given me. I’ll at least try and see if I can figure out how to get DEM files on my computer, and see how everything turns out.

Once again, thank you very much for your advice and information on getting the DEM routes to work. If someone were to help me, I would think that they might have multiple DEM files and then help me with importing as I complete the route. But that’s just my thinking. Again, thank you.

You said in your original post "I am willing to create the DEM files myself if necessary - though I've got no idea how to do it". Now you know how to do that. What you don't have is the software to turn those files into a route, and what I don't have is the experience in creating the track in TransDEM - I only create routes with the raw terrain and nothing more.

I suggest watching this thread to see who responds.

Oh, right, nevermind. Again, I thank you for your information. I’ll take your word into account and see what else goes on in this thread. Have a good rest of your day and weekend.

I would recommend buying the TransDEM software and supporting geophil for making it. It is actually worth every penny and I've been using it since I gotten it for my routes
I don't know how I would be able to produce any of my routes without it (well I would still be able to but it'll be more slower than what it is now). You can buy it here if you don't know where to get it. http://www.rolandziegler.de/StreckeUndLandschaft/startseiteTransDEMEngl.htm
When I got it back in 2017 it was $28USD so it might be higher or lower - depends on the hour since the conversions are always changing.

There was another Trainzer named GamingStylez on Youtube that made an excellent beginners tutorial to the software that would be worth checking out. It has certainly helped me with reducing the amount of reading the manuals to an hour long video. That video can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Meeq_5_keYs

Good luck on your route project.


Cheers

Windows software will not run on the Mac, without additional software to translate or run Windows within another program.

hiawathamr said:

I would recommend buying the TransDEM software and supporting geophil for making it. It is actually worth every penny and I've been using it since I gotten it for my routes
I don't know how I would be able to produce any of my routes without it (well I would still be able to but it'll be more slower than what it is now). You can buy it here if you don't know where to get it. http://www.rolandziegler.de/StreckeUndLandschaft/startseiteTransDEMEngl.htm
When I got it back in 2017 it was $28USD so it might be higher or lower - depends on the hour since the conversions are always changing.

There was another Trainzer named GamingStylez on Youtube that made an excellent beginners tutorial to the software that would be worth checking out. It has certainly helped me with reducing the amount of reading the manuals to an hour long video. That video can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Meeq_5_keYs

Good luck on your route project.


Cheers

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Thank you for the info. I haven’t decided yet on what I’m going to do, but I probably will eventually buy TransDEM. Might as well support the creator for their excellent work.

capdiamont said:

Wundoes software will not run on the Mac, without additional software to translate or run Windows within another program.

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That’s really my only problem with it. I’ve looked at both CrossOver and Parallels - I’m not sure how much a lifetime Parallels license costs, but they’ll both probably be hundreds of dollars for lifetime licenses. Would you suggest I buy Parallels + Windows 11/10 or just buy CrossOver?

SRKing783 said:

That’s really my only problem with it. I’ve looked at both CrossOver and Parallels - I’m not sure how much a lifetime Parallels license costs, but they’ll both probably be hundreds of dollars for lifetime licenses. Would you suggest I buy Parallels + Windows 11/10 or just buy CrossOver?

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I've heard Mac users being able to dual boot Windows and Mac on their computer. I don't know how they do it as I don't own nor use a Mac so I'll be dumb with this but maybe this might be worth looking into? You'll get a 30 day grace period before Windows starts nagging you need to activate it. Nevertheless worth looking into this.

Cheers

If you have an Intel Mac, then you can dual boot using Bootcamp. You cannot do Bootcamp on ASi Macs. Otherwise depending on OS version you can use Wine, or Crossover.

Wine is free, however it doesn’t support the latest OS versions. Crossover is $500 for lifetime or $60 for a year of support and upgrades. You can do a trial of Codeweavers. Works great, doesn’t need the full OS install. Not controlled by MS. You do have to navigate windows file structure depending upon what you are doing. I have Transdem plus the other supporting software in one bottle and BeamNG Drive in another bottle. Currently supports Monterey. Didn’t work with Ventura until I edited a text file, though that is unsupported. They will support Ventura after is RC version. I’m hoping I get the updates while in my support period.

VMware does a have a version for personal use, however you still need a copy of Windows.

Not sure what the pricing of Parallels is but you need a copy of Windows.

When you run a copy of Windows, you are subject to MS. Not bad, but it can bring problems. Other hand, it may be easier when having to navigate file structure.