Taking on Snowdon
Moderator: Moderators
One trick I learnt when trying to lay a passing loop on a gradient......
Build it first on a flat surface, then transfer the pieces one by one to the right place, applying the gradient piece by piece.
And as I suggested on the other thread, you're going to have problems with the mesh squares not lining up to the track and you'll get jagged edges where you have a track path running along a slope. For any bad areas, you can create scenery ground slabs to fill in the gaps, etc.
Build it first on a flat surface, then transfer the pieces one by one to the right place, applying the gradient piece by piece.
And as I suggested on the other thread, you're going to have problems with the mesh squares not lining up to the track and you'll get jagged edges where you have a track path running along a slope. For any bad areas, you can create scenery ground slabs to fill in the gaps, etc.
Check out this link dkightley
http://bryces2006ukexperience.fotopic.net/c1210253.html . You should see some pics of what I'm talking about.
http://bryces2006ukexperience.fotopic.net/c1210253.html . You should see some pics of what I'm talking about.
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Frsimplex1993
- Building the West Lancashire Route
- Posts: 2321
- Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2003 9:46 am
- Location: Ffestiniog Railway
- Contact:
The track is layed on the track bed? Your post is confusing, to m it sounds like you think the SMR is suspended off the ground 
?
?Cheers,
William a.k.a Silly Billy
http://www.freewebs.com/shrailway
http://www.freewebs.com/joflrailway
http://www.freewebs.com/railmachinesltd
William a.k.a Silly Billy
http://www.freewebs.com/shrailway
http://www.freewebs.com/joflrailway
http://www.freewebs.com/railmachinesltd
Which is the reason for my saying that you'll be struggling with getting the track to sit snug to the ground....
For sections like the final drag to the summit, you're best to create large scenery objects that form the ground surface....ie the steep slope, the shelf the track runs on, and the steep fall away. You might even have to partially duplicate the track bed texture on the "shelf" so that the track appears to sit on the scenery object.
If you want, I can mock up what I mean.....
Doug
For sections like the final drag to the summit, you're best to create large scenery objects that form the ground surface....ie the steep slope, the shelf the track runs on, and the steep fall away. You might even have to partially duplicate the track bed texture on the "shelf" so that the track appears to sit on the scenery object.
If you want, I can mock up what I mean.....
Doug
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pitleyfalley
- Builder of the Southwold Railway Route
- Posts: 2366
- Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2003 11:56 pm
- Location: Tinkering with a new project
Im suprised youve managed to get the track steep enough to contour to the landform. Have you discovered the 't' button trick yet? When laying track pressing button 't' will rotate the track, ie make a right hand bend a left hand one by turning the track through 180 deg. The offshoot of this is that the track can then by laid steeper... press 't' 3 or 4 times and try and lift it and it will go much steeper.
To get the track to sit on the ground also try using smaller lengths of track, 10 10m sections will fit better over 100m than say 2 50m sections or 1 100m section. Basically using lots of little bits to get the track to lie properly.
The other trick I used on the WHR steep bits was to lay the track to the ground, then hit y and carry on laying, but then not save the terrain changes at the end, only saving the world placement changes, the consequence of this was to retain the old terrain but with the track where i wanted it. For instance making a tunnel, id lay the track sections through the tunnel and press 'y' after each bit, obviously this carves a great lump out the hillside but means i can lay the track more easily, by only saving the world placement changes this then left the tunnel in the hill when i exited and then reopened R.E... might be useful?
Chris
To get the track to sit on the ground also try using smaller lengths of track, 10 10m sections will fit better over 100m than say 2 50m sections or 1 100m section. Basically using lots of little bits to get the track to lie properly.
The other trick I used on the WHR steep bits was to lay the track to the ground, then hit y and carry on laying, but then not save the terrain changes at the end, only saving the world placement changes, the consequence of this was to retain the old terrain but with the track where i wanted it. For instance making a tunnel, id lay the track sections through the tunnel and press 'y' after each bit, obviously this carves a great lump out the hillside but means i can lay the track more easily, by only saving the world placement changes this then left the tunnel in the hill when i exited and then reopened R.E... might be useful?
Chris
Tackling the SMR railway in MSTS will almost certainly involve facing some of the same issues I went through in laying track for my DFB project. The major "trick" is as described above, using the "t" button in the Route Editor to get the track to incline to much steeper values than would normally be permitted. Here's a short list of what I learnt, in case it helps:
1. Set the Tile Default value for all tiles that track passes through to zero - this increases the number of mesh points in the scenery by making a much denser grid, so that the scenery will conform better to your track when pressing the "y" key.
2. Use short track sections for everything - even if it makes progress painfully slow. This will help to round off gradient changes and make it easier for the scenery to conform to the track
3. Leave adapting any scenery ("y" Key) until you are completely happy with your vertical and horizontal alignments.
4. I made up an Excel table that compares gradients in MSTS "degrees" format to gradients in 1:xxx and Promille formats, let me know if this might help.
5. Laying single track in small sections on a big moutain can get slow and tedious - give yourself time and don't worry about Terrtex and scenery objects until the track is laid. I have some bridges I can give you from my DFB project - can you use Trainsim Modeller / Gmax / 3D Canvas?
6. Think generally about rolling stock - remember that the route will need SMR engines and coaches.
7. And whatever you do - back up your route, over and over and over again. Even one mile of accurately laid mountain railway takes what feels like an age - you really don't want to have to do that many times over.
1. Set the Tile Default value for all tiles that track passes through to zero - this increases the number of mesh points in the scenery by making a much denser grid, so that the scenery will conform better to your track when pressing the "y" key.
2. Use short track sections for everything - even if it makes progress painfully slow. This will help to round off gradient changes and make it easier for the scenery to conform to the track
3. Leave adapting any scenery ("y" Key) until you are completely happy with your vertical and horizontal alignments.
4. I made up an Excel table that compares gradients in MSTS "degrees" format to gradients in 1:xxx and Promille formats, let me know if this might help.
5. Laying single track in small sections on a big moutain can get slow and tedious - give yourself time and don't worry about Terrtex and scenery objects until the track is laid. I have some bridges I can give you from my DFB project - can you use Trainsim Modeller / Gmax / 3D Canvas?
6. Think generally about rolling stock - remember that the route will need SMR engines and coaches.
7. And whatever you do - back up your route, over and over and over again. Even one mile of accurately laid mountain railway takes what feels like an age - you really don't want to have to do that many times over.
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Tonysmedley
- Very Active Forum Member
- Posts: 3382
- Joined: Mon May 26, 2003 11:18 am
- Location: SPALDING UK
post subject
Some SMR rollingstock is available on UKTrainsim download files ID5535 and ID 5585
Tony
Tony
Tony (the old one)