Challenge - Denby to Boxford

[Acorncomputer]

When time comes to decide what sort of route you want to build for a challenge like this, the mind suddenly goes completely blank but with some inspiration from Google Earth and a bit of imagination I have come up with the Denby to Boxford route.

Denby is a medium sized town in the South of England which is on the main line to London. It has a rail yard operated by an independent group providing services to all rail companies. A remnant of the Beeching cuts is a branch line running from Denby to Boxford passing through Oak End and Compton. The line stops at Boxford but has been kept open with double track to Denby primarily to service the quarry at Boxford Down which produces a high quality stone much favoured by Architects.

Once out of Denby, the scenery is superb and England can be seen at its best.

The line has not been modernised much and has a quaint old fashioned feeling which makes the modern infrequent local service look out of place.

The quarry work has been sympathetic to the countryside and much of Boxford Down remains untouched. This has become a favourite destination for Heritage Rail Tours as set up high on the Downs is Stoke Castle which offers visitors superb views and friendly hospitality. In addition, the owner of the castle, Peter Waterhouse, (who also owns the rail yard in Denby), has built his own small yard and sidings at Boxford where he stores some of his own rolling stock for use and preservation.

The line once continued northward from Boxford towards Adams Hill and North Derek but this has now been made into the Tiger Trail, popular with walkers and cyclists, and its tree lined path can be clearly seen from the top of Boxford Down.

[Acorncomputer]

Before planning what scenery and other assets I am going to use in my route, I need to work out exactly what are the default assets that come with RailWorks.

Like many people, I have transferred my assets from Rail Simulator to RailWorks and it is just about impossible to know which of the assets available to me are the ones that came with RailWorks. This is even more difficult as I count 45 different developer assets to chose from, with the list always headed by some developer called Acorn.

The solution to this was to create a new test route from the front end of RailWorks - I used Bath Templecombe as the template - and then when it was created, I found that in the object filter set, only Kuju/RailSimulator is ticked. (The object set filter is accessed in editor mode by clicking on the small blue cube with an orange arrow in the left hand middle fly-out window which then releases a right hand fly-out window listing all the developer assets available to you.)

In addition to the Kuju/RailSimulator box, I ticked -

Kuju/RailSimulatorUS
RSDL/Foliage
RSDL/RailSimulator EDIT See later posting - this is not default to RailWorks
RSDerek/RailSimlator EDIT See later posting - this is not default to RailWorks
RSDerek/giveaway EDIT See later posting - this is not default to RailWorks

EDIT - Castlerock/Scenery is also default to RailWorks

Unless anyone else can add other default assets to this list, then this should present me with only default assets to work with.

I will be using this test route as a notepad to try out techniques and experiments before doing the real thing in my live route. My first task is to check through the assets available, place a few to see what they look like and generally form a picture of where these might be best used in the live route, and to make notes on my sketch route plan.

Next will be the creation of the bare route, a loading screen and rough description.

[RSderek]

If anybody is missing assets from RSderek then PM me. There are no restrictions on those items I created and they can be passed around or reskinned.

regards

Derek

[RSAdam]

To answer your question. The following is 'default' to RailWorks:

• Castlerock/Scenery
• Kuju/RailSimulator
• Kuju/RailSimulatorUS
• RSDL/Foliage

RSDL/RailSimulator contain the Class 08 and Class 66 Addon Packs. There is no default or free content located in there.
As mentioned by Derek, anything RSderek related is also non-default content and needs to be downloaded/obtained.

Finally, it should be remembered that there are many developers of free content who place their items under the Kuju folders, and thus by manually copying files from Rail Simulator into RailWorks (officially not advised) these will be included without knowing.

Regards

[Sly401]

Hi Guys

Would using the telgraph pole string speed up anything ?

They are available from UKTS library and there are no restrictions on use or redistribution... same goes for slant rail and the other fencing lofts.

Feel free to use as you wish

Sly

[hertsbob]

Hi

I'm getting confused here.

Referring back to the original rules/guidelines...

b) You can only use assets that came with RailWorks or that have been made available to everyone since. i.e. The route must load up completely in another copy of RailWorks without the need to obtain third party assets.

So how does using these other assets fit?

Just asking the question...

Cheers

Bob

[Acorncomputer]

Hi

Thanks Adam and Derek for clarification of the default assets.

I thought that Derek's assets were included in the default RailWorks folders but that is not so. For the purpose of this Challenge then, assets from Derek (RSderek) will NOT be treated as default.

Thanks Sly for the offer but again for this Challenge, your assets will not be treated as default either.

Adam has given the definition of what will be classed as default for this Challenge and I will put up a separate post to clarify this point. Adam has also pointed out that some developers placed their assets in the Kuju folders in Rail Simulator. I personally took the advice of not transferring the Kuju folder over to RailWorks so my Kuju folder should only contain those assets given to me by RailWorks.

[Acorncomputer]

I have created my own route template and this may be of use to others wanting to do the same -

Creating your own route template

In this tutorial, click on an image to see it bigger and clearer.

Something that is not obvious to many newcomers to RailWorks is that in order to create your own content (scenery, locos, route templates, etc), you have to set up some folders on your own computer first where the raw information is placed before turning it into a format that RailWorks can understand.

Most people creating content already will be conversant with the way this is done and also the need to have a good knowledge of how Windows files and folders are manipulated and used. In order to create a route template you will not need to go into so much detail but you will need to have some knowledge of file and folder manipulation.

The folder where all the action takes place is the Source folder. This should be found in the RailWorks folder like this -



If you cannot see a source folder then RailWorks has not created one so you will need to do this yourself. Simply create a new folder in the RailWorks folder as per the above screenshot.

The next layer down in the source folder is where you will place your own developer folder. You will usually ever only have one developer folder which should have a unique name. This is a shot of the next layer down in my Source folder -



You can see that in addition to my Acorn folder, there are a few others which relate to some bespoke assets I have created for other people. If they had created their own assets then they would have their own source folders on only their computers. We are only interested in the Acorn folder at this stage. Within the Acorn folder, the set up looks like this -



Each one of the next folders represents the place where I have grouped my models and route templates for each route I have built or I am building. Some of you will now start to recognise the format here as when RailWorks transfers your raw information to the main program, it basically places the converted model/route template/etc in a similar folder format in the RailWorks/Assets folder. This is then found when you use the object set filter to set what assets from each developer that you want to use in a route.

You need to create your route folder here for this Challenge. Something like My_Route_Challenge but using your route name

Getting back to my Source/Acorn/Denby_to_Boxford folder, this is set up in a standard format of empty folders that match the range of assets that you might be transerring to RailWorks. The detailed set up is shown in the WIKI -

http://www.railsimdownloads.com/wiki/ti ... e%20Manual

You do not need to worry about this at the moment though, but you will need to set up one folder which is the TemplateRoutes folder -



You can see the file path at the top of the window. It is important to note that folder and file names in your own folder should be in the format of Joined_By_An_Underscore or AllInOne format. The system will not work properly if you leave spaces between the words in the title.

This seems a good time for you to set up your own Source folder in this way. You will need to chose a name for yourself that is unique and likely to stay unique so that your assets do not clash with someone else who has chosen the same name as you. Check through your RailWorks/Asset folder to see what sort of names others have chosen.

When you have set up these folders, you now need to load up the Blueprint Editor from the front end of RailWorks -



Click on this button and the Blueprint editor will load - (Click on any image to see it bigger and clearer)



The file tree on the left is reading your source folder. You can see my folder reflected in the tree but you will only have the one file path. You now need to RIGHT click on the TemplateRoutes folder and chose a new route blueprint from the small window offered to you -



- and then click OK. This will bring up the actual Blueprint for you to fill in. The next shot shows what I filled in to the top half of the Blueprint for my route -



You will also need to fill in the same lines but with your details. Note that I have also renamed the Blueprint itself by right clicking on the file and renaming it to match my route. This is not essential and you could leave it with the name RailWorks gave it but it is up to you.

The next shot shows the lower half of the Blueprint which I have scrolled down to. I have only shown the Blueprint in two parts as I could not get all the detail in one screenshot.



You will see that the origin of the route is set in the top fields. I have chosen some arbitrary points somewhere in the South of England but if your route is based on a specific location, then those co-ordinates should be entered here with up to 10 decimal places (I think). I hope you can see the other entries in detail because you need to complete your Blueprint in EXACTLY the same way. This means that all wording should be the same, the slashes need to be facing in the same direction, the full stops should all be there, etc.

What you are doing is setting up the instructions to tell RailWorks where to get the information it needs to create your base route. These entries all refer to default Kuju files but the only other source of this type of information at the moment is the RSDL Island Line, terrain, weather and textures. For the purposes of our Challenge you can only use the Kuju files as they are default, the IslandLine (Isle of Wight) is a payware add-on and cannot be used but under other circumstances you could mix the sources of these items so that terrain could be referenced to the RSDL/Isle of Wight but the weather to Kuju, for example.

Those of you who are super clever, can create your own weather, terrain and texture files and refrence the Blueprint to those but that really is advanced stuff.

Having completed all the entries so that it all looks like my screenshot (only your route template name and Blueprint name will be different), hit the export button at the top and if all goes well you will get a report in the bottom window that tells you that there has been a successful build -



This screenshot shows what you are looking for. If you get this message then great, you have created your own route template, now hit the save button at the top which will save all of the details in case you need to create a new template.

If you do not get the successful build message, you should get a message indicating what the problem has been. Save the Blueprint anyway and try to fix whatever the problem is that has been indicated.

So what has happened? The source folder has done its job and if you now go to RailWorks/Assets/YourDeveloperName/YourRoute/TemplateRoutes you should see something like this -



These small files are your route templates.

Now fire up RailWorks and go the the route selection screen and click on New Route -



This then takes you to a screen where you choose which template you want to use to create you new route -



Find your new template, and click on it -



Type in the name of your route (as you want it to appear in the main route screen) and click on create. Now go back to the route selection screen and you will see your new route listed, click on it and run it. When it loads you will see something like this -



Looks bad, but all you need to do is open the object set filter and you will see that of all the developer assets avilable, only your box has been ticked. You now need go down the list and find Kuju and tick ONLY Rail Simulator and Rail Simulator US. You can also tick RSDL/Foliage and Castlerock/scenery. This will allow only the default RailWorks assets to be shown in your asset seletion list for use in your route as per the rules of this Challenge.



Now exit the route -



The next time you run the route you should see the green terrain as well as the sky and your route is now ready to start building in - NOT YET. Wait until the Challenge starts before placing anything. If you are wanting to use DEM data then you must also wait until the challenge starts before you raise terrain this way. EDIT - 19/10/09 I have amended this sentence as the original wording was not correct.

You are now a developer for RailWorks with your own developer name and if you create more content for RailWorks then you will get it into the simulation from the source folder but using another type of Blueprint, depending on what you have created.

You can add your own route loading screen now if you wish at any time but if you wait a while I can put up some instructions for that as well.

[class43HS125]

hi,

........... The next time you run the route you should see the green terrain as well as the sky and your route is now ready to start building in - NOT YET. Wait until the Challenge starts before placing anything. If you are wanting to use DEM data then you can raise terrain this way before the Challenge starts if you wish.

Just curious on this one. But first, I am not looking for loop holes around the original challenge concept. Its more sort of wanting to stay within the same challenging spirit as everyone else.
Where does DEM stop and landscape sculpturing start, cause its not "building" the route as such , as in one is not placing assets. Placing assets having been the definition of "building" the route so far, but dosen't one "build" the landscape one requires, on which to place the assets?

Just strikes me that it could be a bit of an interesting green area. I know my DEM needs a few river beds created where it shows flat patches and google shows the river bed so can I tweek the DEM before hand? Can one create ones track bed cause ones DEM at 90mtr is coarser than other parts of the world at 30mtr where its claimed the track bed is far more clearly defined? (ok that may be grasping at straws a little bit. )

My understanding has been..... DEM all loaded into folder with a flat green landscape at the required location and press "T" at 7:0:0.0000001 pm 13th /11/09 to "build" the required landscape. I am to change my understanding on this, not that I need all the help I can get mind you Dont you just love the way the meaning of a few words can be viewed in a differant light from afar.

Ross
NZ

[Acorncomputer]

Hi Ross

You are right. I did not say what I meant there. Raising DEM should be part of the route building process and not the permitted pre-challenge work so I have amended the wording accordingly.

Have you tried to follow this tutorial? If anything is not clear or correct in practice then I would like to know so that I can make amendments.

[class43HS125]

hi,
I have read your tutorial and although I havent actualy, letter for letter done what you say to literaly check it out, as far as I can see it is the correct course of action. It is the process I have followed quite a few times now and have come up with the required results. You have a good explaination of what to do when one discovers the inital deep black hole covered in clouds. That was a tripping point for many right from the begining of RS.

Now if you could just impart the gift of being a landscape artist with the ability to visualize the finished scene in a similar manner then I would stand a chance, but Its fun and thats the entertainment value of RW to me.

Ross
NZ

[Racal]

Awesome folder tutorial Acorn .. I downloaded the RS demo at the end of July and with in a week I had bought RW .. I'm still learning the ropes as far as building routes is concerned so I would'nt have a hope of entering this challenge but I have done some 3d modeling in the past in Lightwave,3ds Max and Maya so I hope eventually hope to contribute. I would just like to thank people like you for taking so much valuable time from their lives to document how things are done to help newbies like myself get a better foot hold into supporting this platform.

Maybe this "Challenge" could be an annual event and if so .. I am better prepared for 2010.

Thanks again.
Regards.Dave.

[Acorncomputer]

Hi Dave

Welcome to the forum. There is a great deal of information spread all over the RS and RW forum which can be a bit tricky to find. I have done something like this before for Rail Simulator but I hope this latest one for RailWorks is fairly easy to follow. I will be working on a loading screen next and route description which will complete the setting up of the bare route ready for the Challenge.

[Oldpufferspotter]

Hi Geoff,
Many thanks for that excellent tutorial. For the very first time I ran the Blueprint Editor, and following your precise instructions I successfully created my own route template - in Rail Simulator!
Maybe it is because I'm doing it in RS, but I did get an error 'Child blueprint from external set not included in build' for each of the Blueprint set IDs. I had a successful build first time despite that though. Does anyone know what these Child Blueprints might be?
Anyway I'm dead chuffed that I've successfully done something completely NEW (for me)!
regards Ted.

[Darpor]

It is worth noting that there have been times when creating the template this way, via the blueprint, causes problems later on when other people try and install the .rwp. If you guys get a chance, pass the .rwp onto someone you know and see if it loads correctly.