NSW and Soutlines merged routes, maybe largest in Trainz (Warning large image)

Hi everyone,

I am sure others have tried (and or completed) this but I have not seen a thread/post about it so I thought I would do one. Now that I have a new computer I thought I would try merging a series for layouts by pgibbons and tomtre that cover a huge part of NSW (Australia of course :hehe.

I did have problems with this, first 2010 did not like the original SouthLines and Tumut routes maybe because they are "Trainz Service Pack 3" routes. Then merging them I found the known problem with merging in 2010, that is tracks going everywhere all over the place and into "outer space". I went back to my old computer and tried there in 2009 with some success but due to the computers limits I could not go all the way. I then realised that if I did, not matter what computer setup I had it would still be a drain on resources once trains where placed down.

On the largest section one distance between stations is about 200km west, 100km south west and 130km south east and as the various section are from DEM files then the baseboards DO basically reflect this. One layout is HUGE :hehe: and comes in at 88MB. The other is smaller though still around 30MB in size. Unfortunately for some strange reason I could not join the final section with the tracks going every where. Maybe one day I can.

Here is the original layout image by Peter Gibbons with additions by me for his recent work.




The two sections divide are shown and you can get an idea of how large and complex the layout is.

The individual routes are reasonably easy to merge but with the current problems with merging in 2010 I had to use 2004, 2009 and 2010 to complete the entire 2 layout merges. All up, including some errors by me and some "trial and error" attempts it took about 10 hours to get this far. Now all I have to do is a little repair work where the sections join and fix the odd error here and there that occurred due to the merging.

Many thanks to tomtre who created the first part of this, Southlines Four, and for his inspiration to Peter Gibbons to continue making more additions. Of course many thanks to Peter for his continued work on this massive project and I hope he continues his amazing work.

Craig

Looks fascinating...

Andy

HI Craig,

I have merged all the layouts by pgibbons and tomtre except for the lastest Waaga - Henty and Kywonng Branch.

I can not merge the last two because of the problems with TS2010 SP2 with track, roads, fences etc, going everywhere all over the place and off the boards

I was able to merge the layouts inTS2009

I have tried every possible way in TS2010 with no sucess.

Regards

Jeff

Hello Craig,

The distances that you quoted are huge, I can't imagine how big that would be in layout form. Would you happen to know how many boards that would entail, I've often wondered how far you could go with a layout as far as size goes, I'd really be interested to know. To detail it would certainly be a project.


Tom

crankwhistle said:

Hello Craig,

The distances that you quoted are huge, I can't imagine how big that would be in layout form. Would you happen to know how many boards that would entail, I've often wondered how far you could go with a layout as far as size goes, I'd really be interested to know. To detail it would certainly be a project.


Tom

Click to expand...

HI Tom,

I was wondering about this too and I was also wondering about the effects of a spread out layout on memory etc. If you look at the image there are only baseboards where the tracks are, but does the vacant space in between account for any memory/RAM needs? I have no idea but suspect it would play a part even if small. My new computer has 4GB of RAM and my old one has 1.5GB however it was still able to merge the largest layout section. If I put a consist on it that may have caused my old computer to crash.

I counted up the baseboards in a sort-of way. The figure of 200km was the only section I used and that distance was actually a road distance and the DEM distance may also be out. There are 219 baseboard "sections" for the 200km section which equals 157.6km (219 x 720m) though the actual number of baseboards is higher. What I mean is that you would need 219 single baseboards in a straight line to cover the track distance but in many cases there where more the one and in some as much as 4. The actual number would have been at least 300 if not a bit more. So the distance could actually be 216km.

Still if you use 219 baseboards as a guide line going west, then another 200 south-west, about another 200 going south-east (some of the sections use each other), about another 100 west again for another section and about another 100 going north-east you get some idea of the size. All up that would be 819 "single" baseboards, so then guess some more to cover the cover areas where you need 2 or more and you are looking at over a 1,000 baseboards easy.

@ Jeff, great work on your area covered. I tried on my old computer after getting the "Junee" section joined to go east with Bethungra however that was as far as I could get before the tracks etc stuffed up. I actually wondered if the lack of RAM then became part of the problem but on my new computer with more RAM I did not even get that far in 2010 before the problem happened.

I went for a run yesterday on it, I just used an XPT train pushed the speed to maximum and eventually hit 160km and let it run to where ever. It was great and no problems until I stopped it. I would change some camera positions though and of course still need to fix the merge areas up. That will be a little sideline job over the next few weeks.

Craig

hello Craig,

That's amazeing, the layout i've been working on is 144 boards and about 50 of them is utilized by water only which surrounds the whole map, I chose to create a large square map instead of the valley style which allows for more cross action. That would mean your undertakeing is seven times my own, now that is huge. I wish you success with your mergeing and I'll check back with you later to see how you have made out. I find that interesting.

Thanks for your response.

Tom

Hi Tom,

When you look at the whole layout it is quite amazing. Peter Gibbons who created most of the individual routes certainly has done a great job. When you look at some of the changes in the Aussie bush areas then into some "minor" mountain areas etc it all fits well. I have been able to merge 16 routes together though in 2 sections with one I could not. So that is a great effort from Peter. All the thanks to him and to Tom (tomtre) who started it off with his Southlines Four layout.

At the moment I am looking at a NSW site that has all the railway lines current and disused to get a list of the stations. This will make it easier to set up some sessions even though much of the track is single line.

The biggest job though is fixing the merge areas, some minor merging problems I saw and placing or changing some camera positions.

Craig

Hi Craig,

I have most of this large layout on my computer and enjoy it immensely. Mine stops at the Boorowa extension, at Monteagle and I don't have the Hay extension from Junee. I have part of the Tumbarumba line but the one missing keeps telling me "Invalid Content" when I try to d/l it. The system I use to run it on is an Athlon 64x2, 2.5 Ghz with 3 Gb Ram and an Nvidea GT7200 video card. Frame rates are generally good but it gets a little jerky when trying to draw complex yards like the Cootamundra one. All my Trainz programs (UTC, 04 and 06) reside on their own 80 Gb hard drive.
When I recently added the Henty extension I decided to rewrite all driver commands using the Schedule Library rule and am most of the way through that. As I said I have very little trouble with lagging and have had up to 10 trains running at once with no trouble, before the latest addition. Will be interested to see what will happen next.
I also agree with you remarks concerning the creators of this amazing route and thank them for making it available.

Cheers
Russell.

Hi All,

Has anyone managed to merege all of the routes together with TS2010 SP2. I can merge the routes in TS2009 and it all works well, however I have made some changes to the layout in TS2010 so at this stage I am unable to add the latest routes until the problems with merging routes is fix

Jeff

Kywong-Henty Extension

Afternoon everybody, the day goes well, i trust?

Craig, good to see you keeping the spirit of the NSWGR alive. I have all the modules as well, with the exception of the latest Kywong/Henty extension(s?) Is that one or two route sections, and most importantly, will it work with '06? If so i shall download it as soon as possible.

I attempted to merge all the layouts together, however my poor computer was just about brought to its knees, and that was before i added any trains!
I scrapped that, and decided instead to create several mini-routes. These run much smoother on my computer, to the point that i can add trains:hehe:.

Good work Pgibbons, and of course Tomtre, for their excellent work in recreating a slice of outback Oz.

Matt.

Hi Matt,

Both routes - Wagga to Henty and Kywong Branch will work with trs2006

Regards

Jeff

jhatchman said:

Hi Matt,

Both routes - Wagga to Henty and Kywong Branch will work with trs2006

Regards

Jeff

Click to expand...

Jeff, thanks for that. I'm downloading now.

Matt.