Tolkien-like spikes.

[PWHolmes]

Help, please!!!!!

I have a huge spike appeared in the W&L route I am trying to complete. It is as if two or three nodes have been jerked up by 300 feet, always in the same place, near Cyfronydd Station. It isnt there in RE when I approach from Welshpool, but appears after I have been doing some editing further down the line.

The real horror is that it is always there when I run a train in MSTS!!!!!

It is almost as if I have some instability in the software describing the shape of the terrain.

Why has this happened and how do I stop it from doing so.

Should I get it to occur in RE and flatten it?.... and if I do will it only reappear later.

I really need your advice here.

Paul

[bigvern]

These spikes are a pain in the a... to get rid of.

Have you used any form of DEM data, either Level 0 or created with a 3rd Party programme from maps? The spikes have only occurred on routes where I've done that and seem to be a result of the sim interpreting micro errors in the DEM data - i.e. thinking a point is 5000 feet higher than it is.

Also seems graphics card related. Very hard to get rid of - just using the "Flatten" command doesn't always work, nor does actually sculpting the area up or down. The only way I've got rid of them is to "bandage" the area with sections of 4 lane dirt road then hide same under trees/water.

[mccormackpj]

Hi Paul -

Don't know whether you got my other message. I've got the pics of LC signal cabin and waiting room, Heniarth Mill, Schoolmistress', Dolrhyd Mill and the Water Tower. Can you let me know where to send them?

Patrick

[PWHolmes]

To all,

I have recieved nowt through the net for two days now, including any notification of replies, and logging onto any remote web site is fraught with difficulty and delays.... I have to assume there are internet problems between Taiwan and the UK.

Patrick,

many thanks for the help, I am really grateful. No, as per above, I have not recieved anything in theway of an e-mail etc, but I am sure that what you have done is very valuable to me..... if I can only get this damn problem sorted out. I CANNOT release a route or even go any further if I have a bloody great pyramid at Cyfronydd, and one with 80 degree sides at that!!!!!

Vern,

I haven't imported any data, I simply traced the lines from a contour map through TS-Tools. Regarding your advice re disguising the thing... it will take some disguising at it soars 300 feet above the village... I cant hide that in some trees, its only 30 meters from the rail edge!!!!!!!!

Have I wasted 18 months of my life on this rubbish.... thanks Bill, I hope you appreciate my addition of 20 quid to your already appreciable fortune... but then I dont suppose I would give a damn if I was that rich!!!!!

I have tried flattening it with the F key, using F7 and trying to reset the point heights dont work either. Whatever I do its just there as a permanent feature, seemingly totally imovable, unwanted and preposterously spoiling of all of that work.

Is the only way is to start again?????

(the biggest expletive you can imagine raised to the power of infinity)

Paul

[saddletank]

Paul, I think what Vern is saying is if you lay a wide road piece over it and hit the flatten key the terrain under the road ought to be pressed down. Then you'll have to place a fictional farm or copse over it.

[bigvern]

Ah well TS Tools does create DEM data which seems to be the source of the problem (the DEM, not TS Tools). I've had it on routes where I've used the DTED Level 0 DEM via DEMEX as well.

[davec]

Paul

you might want to try widening the tile ceiling and floor values and then re-terraforming the tile in TsTools - it sounds as though the value for that point is out of range of the current floor and ceiling settings.

Dave C

[brooksy]

Hi Paul
Had a lot of these appear on my route following the same TSTools method of tracing contours.
The only way I could get rid of them was by ensuring the minimum terrain heights were equal and then smoothing the terrain followed by use of the J key to refresh the terrain.
You will need to take note of the minimum height you require for the area and maybe match them.

When adjusting the minimum heights I tend to adjust the height of the tile having the lowest max height. Seem to remember some sort of a terrain message appearing if I tried it on the tile registering the higher max height. While since I did this but the statement may have to be reversed if you get the message.

What you will probably notice is an immediate drop in the spike height which will still need fine tuning.
In a couple of instances I had to revisit the spot and do a bit of fine tuning but eventually fixed them, he say's touching wood.

One thing you will need is patience as they have a habit of reappearing from time to time, as you make adjustments to the terrain on a revisit to that area.
I found it easier to suffer the ugly things until I was sure I had finished work in that particular area.

Hope this is of some help.
Cheers

[micksasse]

Well there's a thing - I have the same phenomenon of a massive green spike thrusting into the air on the shore next to Barmouth Viaduct - and I've never even opened Cambrian Coast in the RE!!!

[PWHolmes]

Brooksy,

thanks for the tip. I have lowered the tile floor for the offending tile only to what seems to be a minimum on other tiles (50m). the spike didn't shift but RE then allowed me to set the height of a rectangle including the spike to 125m (eg something like the height of the surrounding terrain. Its fairly flat here, being in bottom of a fairly gentle valley and, lo and behold, the spike went, both in RE and, when I ran a test train, in MSTS.

I dont have much confidence yet that it will not re-appear, or that I may have similar problems further down the line but I shall at least have a solution to try.

Micksasse,

yes, I have a spike in the Mawdach Estuary also, maybe this fix will cure it??

Everyone,

Although I have had several replies in this topic, I still haven't recieved a notification by e-mail. Thanks for your help.

Paul