Tips and Tricks-Surveyor

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A B C

Let's say a is at ground level, and c's at 30. I've laid the track directly from a to c and added spline point b. C has not been edited using the edit spline height tool. Where do I click smooth gradient?

rockster said:

is it possible for admin to delete any pointless posts i think this is need here now

cheers

Gav

Click to expand...

Agreed, this thread was doing superbly up and until page 5 or thereabouts, then it got hijacked. Since that point the Tips seem to be interspersed!!

Chris

BUMP!!!

Mods please can you make this thread a sticky?
It is really useful if you get rid of the rubbish posts in it.
Thanks!

Why resurrect a long dead thread?

Also I doubt this will end up as a sticky.

Because it's a very useful thread, assuming you can get around the hijacking that a certain few seemed so persistent at.

Wow, I havn't seen this in a While!

Tip: Templates, Templates, And More Templates!

There very helpfull!

18 pages of hijacks to sort through... hmmm, sounds like fun.

Does someone feel like getting all the main points of this thread together into 1 spot?

If someone lists the posts (by post number) that are irrelevant, I'll mass prune this thread and bring it back on topic.

Cheers.

Off Topic since it isn"t a Tip but if you plan to prune this Thread I suggest deleting the posts by "American Connections" and the replies to those posts."Your Mission Jim.should you decide to accept it".

Lance_Jago said:

If someone lists the posts (by post number) that are irrelevant, I'll mass prune this thread and bring it back on topic.
Cheers.

Click to expand...

This may raise even more controversy but here goes with well over one hundred that could safely be deleted in my opinion

20 29 30 41 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 70 71 72 73 75 76 78 79 80 82 88 91 92 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 106 108 112 114 115 116 120 121 123 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 136 137 138 139 141 142 144 149 150 152 153 160 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 174 175 176 183 164 185 186 187 193 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 217 218 219 222 223 224 225 226 227 229 230
Many thanks Lance for taking the time out to restore this thread to its former glory and to titaniclover for starting the thread and the various contributors for there useful tips and suggestions

Regards Bob V

You may find that in some places - e.g where a line crosses the baseboard diagonally or on a curve - its impossible to achieve realistic looking Cuttings or Embankments.However , as with my route at Mowbray Park in Sunderland, you can use "UK Tunnel Grass Spline" (TRS2006 Built-in) and set one end to the Track height and the other to the wall at the top of the cutting.Then use the same heights and repeat till you complete the cutting.Its fiddly till you have practised it but the effect is worth it.In addition I underlaid the track with black "Asphalt Parking lot Spline" to simulate the ash ballast used by the North Eastern Railway on most of its lines.This needs very careful adjustmen but looks good....

1. Hold down the shift button while rotating an object to roll it. Although this isn't available on every object.
2. The straighten track tool works on regular splines too.
3. Try adding these to the end of the trainzoptions.txt/trainzclassicoptions.txt file:
-showcachebar
Shows whether Trainz is caching an area or not. Handy for if you're wondering why trainz might be slowing down at times.

-showkuids
Shows the KUID of the currently selected asset. Very handy, if see a certain asset and want to track it down you now know it's KUID. etc. etc.

-freeintcam
Allows you to move freely around inside a train Cab. You're no longer locked into one place now. Works in TRS2006 and TC as far as I know.

-debug
Holding down shift allows 'zooming' speed in driver to check track connections without traveling the route at regular speed.

4. Copy and paste is your friend. Allows you to knock out large areas/tasks in a breeze.


5. Don't use double track. It's a lousy shortcut.

6. Hold down shift as you are moving or placing a spline point to prevent it from joining another spline (also do this for if the spline is incompatible with another spline, which can prevent it from being place. Hold down shift to make it go down). This is a godsend if you are working with a very complex area!

Also, spend a minute or two to install Trainz tuner. http://www.kreativenergy.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=28

Kinda surprised I haven't seen this here yet, even though I hardly use it myself:

When laying down multiple spline points, hold ctrl and simply click one right after the other. Handy for curves.

Thanks everyone for keeping this thread alive!
Thank you very much Mods for cleaning it up!!

Tip: When making yards, with out a template, start with you mainline like this:
____________________________________________

Then off that make a normal spur that straightens out and and ends where ever.

___________________________
___________________________\_____

Now make another off that like so.

___________________
___________________\___
_______________________\____

Leaving a space so that you have an area for the junction so it dont mess up anything.
I find this type of yard building much easier and better.

Cheers,
Adam

Tips & tricks

Thanks for starting this thread!!!!!! It is very helpful. Thank for letting me know it was here.




Danny5

If track is floating, then there is a button on the top-right row of the advanced track tab (Can't think of it's name) that will change the ground height to the height of the track.

There are also tools in the advanced tab in the track tab that allow you to set gradients and spline point heights that I have found very useful.

Random Terrains

If you would like some random terrain (user-specifiable to a degree) to start a new fictional route with, take a look over at
http://www.gaurc.us/index_files/software.htm for a utility called Terrain Zurveyor. You can specify general conditions and hit Generate and it will create a displacement file that you can directly use in Surveyor to set the terrain of a user-specified area.

You can also find some nice pre-generated displacement files over at http://www.trainz-online.com/ which includes some pictures so you can have an idea what you will be getting.

Wow, that looks like a great utility!

I'll have to check it out...too bad that I'm too far into my route to probably use it, but who knows...^^

Thanks for the great tip!

Here's one from me, always save before you paste. I've avoided that nasty spline bug (where you paste and some splines go nuts and try to join others half way across the map).

:wave:

Gisa ^^

tip

This one I use a lot. I put a small dot in the center of my screen so when click my right mouse buttom I make sure the arrow is at that dot so my compuss don't take off across the board. try it see if it don't work for you ?


Danny5

...the Mother of All Tips...

8) I now have two monitors, and in Surveyor, I can use external pages, loaded before TRS2006, for use as reference, in route creation.

For example, Google Earth, NASA World Wind, maps, topo's, etc.

And yes, my cursor will navigate the second screen, however to load anything new, I have to use the Windows Keyboard Shortcut.

Auran Jett Engine, stands by, as directed.