Atomic Systems

If you lay a piece of track and you're not happy with it don't delete it, use the undo arrow to take you back as many steps you want. Just deleting tracks can lead to problems. Also you will find junctions will not form properly if they are too near one of the red triangles.

There are many tricks and tips you will learn as your skill develops.

Have fun

Already mentioned but worth repeating -

Always build in Windowed Mode. That way if you make a mistake you can just close the window with the cross at the top right hand corner and the mistake (plus any work you had just done since your last save) will not be saved.

When using the gradient tool, you need to isolate the area you are working on (Track, Fences, Roads, Hedges, etc) by either putting in gradient points (that you do not move or adjust) either side of the area you are working on or by cutting the track either side of the area you are working on. Using gradient points to change gradients on lofted items can lead to unwanted raising or lowering of miles of track. The longstop cuts or gradient points will limit any damage. After you have altered your piece of loft, you can weld the track together again which will give a perfect join as along as the track immediately on both sides of the cut have not moved.

Save regularly. If you are working on a serious large project then save the whole RailWorks folder and put it somewhere safe. It might run to many gigabytes by now but if you have a bad computer malfunction that cannot be fixed by a Steam verification, then it is quick and easy to replace a faulty RailWorks folder with your copy and at least carry on from where you made the save.

Great result for everyone - if no one minds (I'm going to do it anyway) I'll change the title of this thread to be a little less confrontational and to reflect the strides forward that have been made.

Good luck with your route, Bill.

Paul

Hey, how can I get my track straight when I try it will only do curved if I make the mouse straight the track laying tool will go invisable unless I make it curved.

You need to deselect "snap to track". It is one of these circles in the bottom left fly-out, with a U-shaped magnet next to it. One of the magnets is "snap to terrain" (you should deselect that, too). The other is "snap to track" which is only useful when you merge tracks (i.e., create a switch where two tracks join into one).

Well, mate... I can only say there's a seeming lack of patience on your part, where track laying comes into it. I thought it was a bit hard at first, but after some bouts of continuous trying, I got the hang of it, and managed to lay some interesting lengths of track for my own use, albeit on level ground, mainly, I confess. I can lay gradients, and remove ground to one side of the gradient, so it looks like its deeper. What I haven't yet attempted yet, since buying Rail Simulator, and advancing to RailWorks, Then RailWorks 2, seems to be the actual DEM work, on ground that is shaped like real terrain is. But, I wish the creators of RailWorks could provide a tool that would make it far easier to shape ground and raise it for a wider area from either side of the track, then it would be easier to shape your own routes a bit more, like I managed to do with TRS2004, onwards, before Rail Simulator arrived on the scene.

I love working with RailWorks, but it gets a real pain, waiting longer and longer, the more assets you add to RailWorks, for it to actually load to playing stage. My computer is a moderately fast one, and I have at my disposal, three hard drives of 250 GB, including two external ones. The internal one is partitioned so I have two areas of storage, while I keep most of the downloaded files on the two external drives. I just wish I had a faster machine, and the ability to shape ground better, as it gets hard to terraform bona-fide routes that aren't actually real-world areas. But I really can say it wasn't all that difficult to learn track laying. It does require a bit of practice. My advice is: Once you get the hang of it, it stays with you, definitely. Don't give up - keep trying, and you'll appreciate it greatly. I'm still learning, and enjoying it. (Even if it's only for your own pleasure, and only for fun, but you might persevere, and go on to make stuff for others to enjoy.)

Regards

Jim McDermott

I found one of the best ways to learn is to set up a test route and just muck around with the track to see what type of formations you can come up with.

Hi Bill
I've just uploaded a revised tutorial ' A Beginners Guide to Track Laying for Railworks2 ' to UKTS. Am awaiting approval. File No. 26428.

As others have said, work away from existing track. Joining two separate sections of track is not easy but can be done.

Hope you get over your problem. It gets quite easy after a bit of practice.

Norman