Inporting Route from TC3 into 2010

Hi Everybody.
I took semi-retirement earlier this year and quickly took up route building with trainz TC3. Being new I have had a lot to learn and have spent several months developing a route based on the old North Devon Branch Lines.

My wife now tells me that father Christmas way well bring me 2010 in my stocking this year. So could anybody tell me if the route I developed for TC3 could be imported into 2010. As I am now fairly proud of why have achieved with the North Devon Route I would not wish to leave it all behind and start again.

I would appreciate all feedback and advice anybody could give on this as the only alternative I can think of is to block up the chimney to stop Father Christmas coming down. Such is my attachment to my creation and I could not tell my wife of over 40 years that her letter to Santa requested the wrong present.

With thanks in advance for any feedback
bill

wholbr said:

Hi Everybody.
I took semi-retirement earlier this year and quickly took up route building with trainz TC3. Being new I have had a lot to learn and have spent several months developing a route based on the old North Devon Branch Lines.

My wife now tells me that father Christmas way well bring me 2010 in my stocking this year. So could anybody tell me if the route I developed for TC3 could be imported into 2010. As I am now fairly proud of why have achieved with the North Devon Route I would not wish to leave it all behind and start again.

I would appreciate all feedback and advice anybody could give on this as the only alternative I can think of is to block up the chimney to stop Father Christmas coming down. Such is my attachment to my creation and I could not tell my wife of over 40 years that her letter to Santa requested the wrong present.

With thanks in advance for any feedback
bill

Click to expand...

Hi Bill
You should be able to import your route into TS2010 with little problem. You may need to run it in compatibility mode depending on what content you have on your route, and there are likely to be asset errors which will need fixing. This is not too difficult once you read the posts here and find out how to do it.

I did manage to import the S&C route from TC3 into TS2009 without too many problems, and it worked well.
Good luck and have a happy Christmas playing with Trainz
Geoff

Hi Geoff
Thanks for the reply, but could I trouble you to give me some further information regarding importing the route. I have been quietly learning Trainz and developing the route myself and have not uploaded it on to the CMP.

Would I have to do that and then re-import it back into TC3 or could this be done within my own computer by copy and paste in some way.

With thanks
Bill

Hi again Geoff and Everybody

Sorry I should have said re-import it back into 2010 not TC3.

Thanks
Bill

wholbr said:

Hi Geoff
Thanks for the reply, but could I trouble you to give me some further information regarding importing the route. I have been quietly learning Trainz and developing the route myself and have not uploaded it on to the CMP.

Would I have to do that and then re-import it back into TC3 or could this be done within my own computer by copy and paste in some way.

With thanks
Bill

Click to expand...

No problem Bill, this is how I did it:
In TC3 CM click on the Open For Edit tab. If anything is open, selet them right click and select edit->revert.
Now, with windows explorer ensure that the TC3->editing folder is empty. If not delete any folders left there.

You now have your TC3 Content Manager with nothing open for edit.
Select your route in CM. Right click and Open for edit. With your route still slected, right click and select "View Dependencies" Once you get the dialog, opt to select in main grid.

Once you have your dependencies on the grid, select all then Open for Edit. You may have to repeat this process to ensure you catch all dependencies.

Now close down the TC3 CM. Under the folder TC3->editing you should have all of the folders for your route and its dependencies.

Open up TS2010 CM, from the menu select Import Content. In the file dialog select your TC3->editing folder and click OK. Your content is then imported.

There are other ways of doing it, but I find this the least troublesome.
Hope it makes sense and helps.
Geoff

Hi Bill,

There's several ways of importing the content....

The simpest ways are:-

1) create a *.CDP package as if your were going to upload, then save it to your local disc drive.
You can then open the CDp with the Content manager of the new Trainz package (File -> import cdp).

The advantage is that it's a smallish file - i.e. only your content - and you need to use the CMP to hunt out (and re-download) the delendencies.

2) create an Archive of the route.
Then in the new CMP, add the archive to the CMP lists, and then import from the archive.
This method add all the route content to the archive (except built-in assets), you have a bigger file, but no additional downloading.

3) for a few items (or built-in assets that are not locked), highlight them in old program CMP, then "Open for edit".
Close old CMP. open new CMP. Use the File -> import content - the files you need to open are in the old_program_folder (i.e. TC3) subfolder called "editing" (or similar).
Import, commit and close new CMP
Re-open old CMP and "edit-> revert"
close all.

Importing content became a bit more complex after 2006 - the folder structure isn't obvious - hence the need to edit the files.

HTH

Colin

Hi Colin, Geoff
Thanks very much for the replies. I will let you know how I get on importing my route into 2010. It is now a well-developed route with four of the North Devon branch lines centered on Barnstable, Ilfracombe, Bideford and Whedon Cross with all the intermediate stations.

It takes well over 50 minutes to run from one of the outer stations to another passing through Barnstable. I have also put a lot of scenery into it which looks good on my computer but that has a very high spec.

I would shortly like to upload it onto the download station (would be my first attempt at uploading anything) but I am a bit concerned that it may not run very well on lower spec computers.

Would be interested in your views as you seem to have much more experience than me in trainz.

Anyway, thanks for the advice and would be interested in same on above

Bill

wholbr said:

Hi Colin, Geoff
Thanks very much for the replies. I will let you know how I get on importing my route into 2010. It is now a well-developed route with four of the North Devon branch lines centered on Barnstable, Ilfracombe, Bideford and Whedon Cross with all the intermediate stations.

It takes well over 50 minutes to run from one of the outer stations to another passing through Barnstable. I have also put a lot of scenery into it which looks good on my computer but that has a very high spec.

I would shortly like to upload it onto the download station (would be my first attempt at uploading anything) but I am a bit concerned that it may not run very well on lower spec computers.

Would be interested in your views as you seem to have much more experience than me in trainz.

Anyway, thanks for the advice and would be interested in same on above

Bill

Click to expand...

Hi Bill
None, or very little, experience in content creation. So my hat off to you, and others like you who are prepared to share your content. Yes, please upload it to the DLS, there are lots of users with fairly decent spec computers now. And, of course, others with lower specs can lower the settings or make modifications. Well, I for one, would love the chance to have a look at North Devon.
Happy Christmas
Geoff

Hi Everybody.
SUCCESS, thanks for the advice and I have now imported my TC3 north Devon route into 2010. I have to say I have found 2010 very impressive with much greater realism and detail. Speed tree is not half as bad as I expected, in fact if you choose your trees carefully it can look very good.

I have one problem with the imported route. I extensively used a particular hedge spline in the TC3 version and cannot find this spline in 2010. When running the route the spline just shows itself as white lines in the scenery. You cannot put other hedge splines over the top of these, so is there any spline eraser which could be used to eliminate the offending spline or has anyone any other suggestions how to solve this problem

Thanks in advance for any replies or advice.
Bill

What is the name of the hedge spline? Does it show errors in CMP3.2?

If it has errors it won't show in TS2010 by default, unless you have turned compatibility mode on. The best thing to do is use the replace assets tool to change it another hedge spline that work correctly on TS2010's default "native" mode.

I hope your route makes it to the DLS one day, I sounds an interesting one.

Hi There.
I have found the spline in 2010 its under "hedge 22 spline". It has the same title in TC3 but for some reason or the other it will not transfer to 2010. You cannot click on it or replace it in any way it just stays there as white lines on the scenery. You can lay the spline with the same name in 2010 next to the white lines and then move them over the top. However, the lines can still be seen beneath the new hedge.

I did find that the lines disappeared when you "deleted missing assets", so that's what I have done and I am now busy relaying all the hedges and a few other assets that seem to have disappeared or not transferred. Also some of my signals have gone missing so it looks like I've got quite a few days of scenery rebuilding but I don't mind that as I quite like doing scenery.

However, I am more than happy with the way that things have turned out as all the dems are there and the track is exactly as I laid it in TC3. The wife is happy that she got me the right present for Christmas with 2010 and I'm looking forward to having a few new year drinks as I relay my hedges etc. So if the hedges are not quite straight when it gets to the CMP you will know the reason why.

With thanks to everybody for your advice

Bill
:clap:

Many of the errors are simple fixes, and usually occur in the config files due to typographic errors. Simply correcting these errors fixes the content and it should load properly.

John

Just wondered if this route project is still "live"? Now I've got TS2010 running properly I was looking for a short 10 - 15 mile test project and Ilfracombe to Barnie fits the bill nicely. However I don't want to tread on any toes or duplicate other work that will be published and have another couple of options up my sleeve (as diverse as Maiden Newton to Bridport or Glasgow Queen St to Anniesland - guess who's been playing SimSig...).

Hi Vern.
Yes my North Devon Route project is still very much alive, but do not worry if you wish to do a similar project yourself, as my own route has become a hobby rather than an interest which it started out to be. You certainly would not be treading on anybody's toes (least of all mine).

To give you some idea of the development of my Route, I have built the lines between Barnstable to Ilfracombe (through Brauton). I then have a further branch line running from Braunton through Saunton, Croyed and tunneled through the back of Bull point to Putsborough and on to woolacombe. This section of the route never actually existed but I was reading in some history/Railway books that it was planned and work actually started At woolacombe as a freight line for sand and gravel before the whole project went bankrupt. I therefore thought that it would be a great part of the project to actually create it which it turned out to be.

I've also developed a further branch line between Barnstable and Bideford which in reality closed in 1960s. This runs runs down through Instow to Bideford East Of Water and then on to the Bideford central. There is a junction at the Bideford East for the line that ran out to Torington Junction. I have developed a few miles of this line and it is not my intention to go much further at this stage.

I have just finished the development of the section of line between Barnstable and South Molton which originally carried on to Taunton. Although again it is not my intention to go much further than a few miles east of South Molton.

I have also created a junction at Morthoe (lee Station as it was known) for a line which runs to Mullacott Cross just outside of Ilfracombe.Again this line never really existed but I thought it would be a good place to have some industry when eventually I do finish all the track laying and scenery building of the rest of the route

I have still to build the line between Bideford central and Appledore and at the moment when that is done I may consider the project completed. I have no intention to build the line between Barnstable and Lynton as I think it has been done already in Trainz (but I'm not sure) if not, it certainly has been done in other trains simulators.

I have also created about 6 miles of track and a couple of stations on the route which still exists between Barnstable and Exeter. Again it is not my intention to go much further with that line.

As you can see it has become a very big route and far bigger than I ever intended it to be. But this has given me many many hours of pleasure developing it through what has been a very long winter here in the UK.

I would not say it is all accurate to the last detail (probably far from it) but I have researched the area as much as I could and have also relied on my memory from the time spent in North Devon when I was working. As you know the route was started in TC3 and then transferred to 2010 with no problems and development continued from there.

Anyway Vern if you decide to have a go at any of the North Devon branch lines please keep me in touch with how it is going, I would be glad to give any help I can. (Although having followed some of your postings you probably know far more about trainz than I ever will). I have a stack of books on the area and the branch lines which have now overflowed from the bookcase in my office here at home.

As the project could be finished in the next few weeks I have Thought about uploading it to the DLS. I would not know how to go about that and with all the kerfuffle regarding what is acceptable and what is not on the DLS I think I am like many who feel a bit intimidated at the thought of it. Perhaps you could give me some advice in that direction.

Anyway, all the best with what ever you do, again keep me in touch.
if you or anyone would like me to I will put some pictures of the route on the forum if I can find out how you do that.

Bill

Thanks for the information Bill - it sounds as if you have a wonderful route there and you've whet my appetite for driving it. I don't think I could better what you've done so I'll take a stab at something else to ensure TS2010 is now working okay following the video driver update. (Which I think it is, as I had a very WIP 60km Japanese route I'd started a few days ago open earlier and Surveyor was purring along at 70 FPS, fantastically smooth!).

Update to post yesterday, out of curiosity I went ahead and did a Transdem/OS Map extraction and quite pleased with how it came out so I think on reflection I will go ahead with a TS2010 "standalone" Ilfracombe to Barnstaple section.

It will be a good stretch for people to have a 40 minute drive over some challenging gradients, or as I tend to do these days sit in the train and let the AI do the work.

Then to track down some Westerns, Warships and Hymeks for a bit of hydraulic thrash!

Hi Vern and Everybody.
A man after my own heart their Vern. That is exactly what I like to do, climb aboard a Mark one corridor coach or Mark one first-class restaurant car and watch the scenery go by in A1 mode, you cannot beat it on a nice summer's evening (so to say) with a glass of red wine traveling between South Molton and Ilfracombe or Bideford.

I am really glad to hear that you are going to have a go at the Barnstable to Ilfracombe section. As you say there are some really challenging gradients on that section plus the line had some great views of the sea as it approached Lee station.

However, if you want to create a section of line that really had spectacular scenery, then the section between Barnstable and Bideford really did outshine in views from the coaches.

From Instow (where the station was actually on the sea wall ) the line then ran along the side of the Torridge with views out across the river estuary to Appledore and eventually Bideford. Having ridden on that section a couple of times when it was open it was a journey that any rail enthusiast could never forget.

That is why I am so passionate about the North Devon branch lines because they held everything, steep gradients, sharp curbs and great scenery as they crossed Exmoor heading for the coast. They need preserving in people's minds and memories (for those of us who are old enough to remember) and to let younger people know what was lost.

Glad to have you on board Vern
Bill

This sounds like a fascinating project, wholbr - specailly since I actually live in Ilfracombe. I'm much too young to remember the line, but as you may know a lot of the route has been maintainted as the Tarka Trail, providing a cycle path between Barnstaple and Bideford, Barnstaple and Braunton, and Mortehoe/Woolacombe Station to Ilfracombe.

If you are using modern day overlays, be aware that there have been a lot of developmens on the line in Barnstaple and Braunton. The A361 Barnstaple Western Bypass destroyed the two old railway bridges, and numerous residential buildings sit on top of the old line in Braunton. Of course, depending on what era you decide to base your route on, these obstructions may not exist!

I'm also fascinated by the abandoned project in Woolacombe. I'd have thought that the terrain there is much to steep, and the population much too sparse, for such a scheme to be worthwhile?

Hi David and Everybody.
Lovely part of the world you live in their David. I live in Somerset right next door to you so we can be down there in no time at all these days along the comparatively new link road.

Like you I was surprised to find that a line was proposed and actually started to be built directly out of Wollacombe for the transportation of sand and gravel. As you say the terrain would not easily give itself to building rallways but I believe that the evidence of the line can be seen just above the beach at Woolacombe.

Just to the east of the woolacombe Bay Hotel the ground rises steeply upwards with a road that you can follow around to pickwell and Georgham. Just up the hill out of woolacombe there is what is best described as a Lane leading off to the right which is now a car park running around the back of the beach (the track of the lane can easily be seen on Google maps). This I believe was the original planned route for the rallway.

They must have planned that the line would run through to Putsbourgh and then tunnel through the back of Bull Point and then on to Croyd and then to Braunton. When researching this I could understand that once you got to Croyd you would have fairly level terrain for the line to Braunton. But looking at the terrain between Woolacombe and Croyd soon made me realize why the project went bankrupt.

There does not seem to be much information available about the limited building or planning proposals (if there were any) for the line. The main part of my limited research came from a book my daughter obtained from Australia would you believe. It was at one time in print in Britain but seems to be no longer available.

Anyway, I've built this section of my North Devon Route around that belief or hunch as many would wish to call it. If you do know any different or find out anything different, don't tell me I would not wish to change the whole thing around now.

As I have said the route was started in TC3 for the 1960s era. It it has now been progressed in 2010 but I have found that there are not many 1960s vehicles etc which are not faulty in this version of Trainz. Also TC3 did not have layers which you can use to have a route where the basic track etc remain the same but different layers can give you different periods in the railways historical history.

The problem I have is that all the early development in TC3 is all on one layer so therefore the rest of route has basically remained the same. It is my intention when the route building is entirely finished to have the station carparks etc put in layers so that different cars and other vehicles can represent various periods in time.

I have put in all the bridges and track from the 60s era including the Barnstable southern loop line which is probably not entirely historically accurate because I finished up with the longest bridge ever built the railroad history (but the river and Barnstable looks very scenic from the carriages when you are crossing it).

I have found out now how to put pictures in postings on this forum, so I will try to get some posted of the North Devon lines I've built over the next few days.

Thanks for the interest
Bill