Trainz Plus Alpha #2 Release

T

Tony_Hilliam

Trainz Plus - enjoy Trainz from just 20 cents a da
[FONT=Söhne]We appreciate your feedback from the original Alpha release, and after many iterations, we are excited to provide you with access to the latest build. This build is NOT optimized, and we want to make it clear that there are known issues with loading times and performance while moving and editing. However, we believe that we are very close to the final implementation in terms of file format and functionality, and we're eager to get this into the hands of our testers for more feedback.[/FONT]
[FONT=Söhne]
Please note that since we can't guarantee the format won't change, we strongly recommend that any work done in this build is considered "throw-away" work. Also, there are still some open tasks related to tool performance and overall performance that we are currently working on.[/FONT]
[FONT=Söhne]
You can report any bugs using this link: https://n3vgames.typeform.com/to/xRdryu[/FONT]
[FONT=Söhne]
Key Features: [/FONT]

  • New HD Grid resolution
  • New Update Route option
  • Clutter Effect Layer Rework
  • New Color Tint Effect Layer
  • Note: Trainz Living Railroad "scheduling" is removed from this build
[FONT=Söhne]For more details on these changes and how to use them along with our future plans, please visit: https://docs.trainzsimulator.com/docs/hd-terrain[/FONT]
[FONT=Söhne]Surveyor 2.0 has undergone significant changes since the first Alpha. Here are some of the highlights of this build including key differences:[/FONT]
[FONT=Söhne]
HD Grid:[/FONT]

  • 30km draw distance
  • Tessellation ensuring detail up close, reduced detail in the distance
  • Original textures used for mini-map/satellite view (No "Low LOD" textures)
  • Maximum 16 textures per baseboard
  • Minimum 0.125m Radius brush size
  • No baseboard "walls" (extend your terrain indefinitely)
  • Re-added Rotation and Scale options for HD Textures
  • Scrapbook support should be good now (please report bugs with detailed steps)
  • Lots of tweaks to parallax and displacement mapping
  • "Add New Baseboard" option
  • "Convert Existing Baseboard to..." option
  • "Upgrade Route" option to automate conversion to HD
  • Converts legacy water to water effect layer
  • Updates all baseboards
  • Checks for the 16 most used textures on each board and replaces other textures with nearby textures
[FONT=Söhne]Effect Layers:[/FONT]

  • Color Effect Layer type added
  • Rework and improvement of Clutter Effects
[FONT=Söhne]User Interface Changes:[/FONT]

  • New Driver Properties Window
  • New Driver Settings, Driver location, Player Assignment, Dispatch Status, Command status, Activity log
  • Vehicle Properties Window updated with new properties as per Driver
  • New Driver MiniMap (found in Driver Properties Window)
[FONT=Söhne]Important Information:[/FONT]

  • HD Terrain is only editable in S20
  • HD Terrain does not support seamless joins to legacy terrain (so we recommend converting the entire route)
  • HD Terrain is not compatible with Legacy Water
  • Converting from HD Terrain to 5m & 10m will cause some loss of detail
  • Large copy & paste operations do not support HD detail
  • Water Effects Layer requires refresh to render correctly after changes. Toggle visibility off then on again.
  • Color Effect requires a minimum 5m radius
  • Use Sensitivity % to adjust the rate of update when painting/terraforming
  • TLR has been disabled for this release to allow the team to focus on HD
  • New Detail windows and logs are still enabled
[FONT=Söhne]General:[/FONT]

  • The current build is not optimized, and there are known slow operations that will be addressed prior to beta or official release.
  • Initial Main Menu load is very slow.
  • Initial shader build is very slow (can take 5-10 minutes for the first route).
  • "Compiling shaders" message may appear (and will take longer than usual to complete).
  • Game may hang when moving
  • Game will hang when rotating a marquee selection (so avoid doing this!)
  • High resource usage on HD routes
  • Currently, texture scale is not converted correctly using Upgrade Route. (The support is there for copy/paste, but there is a bug in the conversion process.)
  • Undo after raise height leaves holes and bumps
  • Assertion Errors are enabled for this build. Trainz will pause until Assertion Errors are closed. Users can select Continue and Ignore Errors. (Reporting when these occur with bugs will help with troubleshooting)
  • DLC packages will report a failure to download precache data. Clicking retry will ignore the error and proceed to complete installation
  • DLC Packages will report a precache assertion error during database rebuild. Select Continue and Ignore Errors
  • MPS is unsupported (during this phase of testing)
  • DirectX 12 is not supported. Please use DirectX 11 for testing.


REMINDER:
** ALL work done with Trainz Plus Alpha is to be throw-away. It will not work in ANY future builds. **
** Do NOT use your existing local data folder! **

TESTING FEEDBACK
Once you’ve had a good play around with the new systems, please give us your feedback through this form:
https://n3vgames.typeform.com/to/ie8XJ5ud

INSTALLING & PATCHING:

Requires build 120247. This is a full installer 9.9GB, please use Trainz Plus Alpha stream for the online installer.

Once you have 120247 installed, there is a patch from 120247 to 121097 using the Trainz Plus Alpha stream.

CREATE A NEW LOCAL DATA FOLDER
DELETE ANY ROUTES CREATE IN ALPHA #1

This build introduces several new key features coming to Trainz Plus in 2023. Please note this is an Alpha release and features are subject to change. All work done with this build should be considered “throw-away”.

Register for Alpha Testing:

If you would like to join the testing, you can register your interest through this link: https://n3vgames.typeform.com/to/XWZ3YK6p
 
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Greetings.. no replies yet? I'll at least say my update from previous alpha went very quickly. Loading up after launch was a bit slow as stated in notes above but no issues launching and running KSC sessions and saving...
 
Ty Tony testing it
It refused to update at first cause I had edited some files to make the driverlist look better
after putting back the originals it updated


-Took forever to load the first time (as advertized)
-TLR is totally removed again in driver (as advertized), sad it was fun actually
-Rotation and scale for textures is back, very good !
-the little icons in S2 are a bit better readable, but when you zoom in they become ants again sadly
-water gets converted to new water if you "upgrade" a route, read convert to HD
immediately shows that new water is still looking worse (because its not transparent)


Converted the content sample 1 baseboard route to new HD and ofc. you immidiately run into the 16 texture limit
would it be an idea to make it a setting "Max textures" ? default being 16 and max 64



Putted track on a new route and tested smooth spline, then tried to bore an Euro tunnel through but failed
so I cant check if dighole(or alternative) works



a lot of work still remains it seems
The good news you have an extra employee, cause chatGTP does the advertizing now :)
keep up the good work, greetings GM
 
Update went fast. The first time i STARTED IT WENT VERY SLOW. The next time it went a lot faster. Will be checking it out later today.
 
Looks really tempting, but I think I'll wait for beta...​
Click to expand...

That's fine. This stage of testing is still "throw-away" work and as noted, some big delays building shaders etc. Those issues will be fixed and the beta will be much more robust (but backups still highly recommended).
 
I'm not testing but a question on water.
From what I've read in forums water is now an effect layer where all water is at a specified level
How is water at different levels achieved?
Eg. A river flowing over a dam wall where height differences occur.
Do we now have to have a separate water effect layer for each level?
 
When will be testing for Steam users? I've bought Trainz+ and an alpha test participant, but I can't use it in any way
 
big_b said:
I'm not testing but a question on water.
From what I've read in forums water is now an effect layer where all water is at a specified level
How is water at different levels achieved?
Eg. A river flowing over a dam wall where height differences occur.
Do we now have to have a separate water effect layer for each level?
Click to expand...

There are some brief preliminary notes based on my own explorations at https://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php/How_to_Use_S20_Tools#.C2.A0Water_Effect_Layer.C2.A0
 
Re Water Effect - Also visit the new home for Trainz docs that we're slowly updating - https://docs.trainzsimulator.com/docs/water-effect-layer

Note that there are still a couple of bugs with water effects. Namely lack of colour support, and adding effects to newly added boards (currently requires a resave of the effect after adding the board).
 
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Installed patch with zero issues. Very quick. Slow startup as advised.
'Create new route' initially took quite a while for me to realise what I was seeing between the S2 interface panels as textures took so long to initially appear.
Really enjoying experimenting with the new Grid and Terrain Tools - and making a lot of newbie mistakes - but eventually getting the results I want to see.
Very slow progress, but fascinating to explore.
Many thanks for the update. Some really big, desirable changes!
Very happy to postpone concurrent evaluation and experimentation with Trainz Living Railroad - as the focus should be on this exciting new HD terrain development model - whilst TLR was way too unbaked/ buggy imo.
 
Im not sure where to put questions about the new HD version yet. So I will ask here. How are things like digholes affected?
 
Started a new route, shaped terrain a little
updated route to the new HD
Tried to make a tunnel and used 1 of the built-in digholes
Dighole seems to work now, cool, but it shows the water which as effect layer is under the entire baseboard
the new water sadly makes it extreme hard for me to do anything in S2HD


btw I noticed the sides of baseboards are missing, think its a improvement
 
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Thank You Tony for having me as part of the testing Team!:)

Update installed easily.
Loading screen was a bit slow at first, but did start up OK.
Will be testing this new update in the up coming days.

I do have one important question?
And that is will there be an update to raise a large map's CDP limit size in total allowing for the map to be allowed to be exported to .cdp when it is over 999mbs?:eek:

My Large Map of of 20 Years of detailed work would be very good to be able to save it to .cdp?
Current Map size is 851mbs when converted to HD it is over 2gigs or more, and will not save to a .cdp.:eek:
Cheers to all of the Community!
 
G.M. Just lower the water effect and you won't see it.

Jeff - there are no current plans to update the .cdp file system. You can backup a large route just by saving the .tzarc file (or saving the whole local data folder for all the dependencies as well).

To restore, copy the backup into the /original folder.
 
Tony, given that there is going to be a limit on the number of ground textures might it be possible to add transparency to ground textures? Either through an opacity map or alpha map which would allow ground textures to be like stencils. Imagine laying down a base texture like soil and rocks, then applying a stencil texture that adds bunches of grass but still showing the bottom layer in places, then another adding small rocks and then medium rocks. Basically the same way layers are used in Photoshop. Even without scaling and rotation, you would be able to mix and match for a great deal of variety without needing lots of textures.
 
Transparency already exists. Here's an example of using 20% > 100% transparency.

And the process of using small samples of existing textures to make your own "custom" texture is possible by using Scrapbooks.

2023-04-03_093920.png


And then colourisation on top of that - here I've added different colors over the top, making different areas lighter or darker, or redder etc. So a single texture on HD is actually unlimited in how you can combine it with other textures and colors.

2023-04-03_094828.png
 
just a question about the HD terrain: will be available in future to have a dighole smaller than the old 10x10 meters? It would be very useful in creating realistic tunnel entrance.
 
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