"Finishing" a Route...

[rkk01]

Or even getting halfway close

Does anyone have any "hints and tips". (Not the tutorial type on here!)

I enjoy getting track down and getting the topography looking right... And I've learned to like the frustration of getting some signalling in...

But, at that point, I prefer to start driving When what the route needs is texture painting and scenery assets
I now have three challenging driving routes that I enjoyed building and love driving, but they are far from finished and whenever I open in the editor, it's alway more tempting to add more track miles than plant more trees

Anyone else share my route building "faults"???

[dewilkinson]

I know that feeling well. But I have disciplined myself now to not lay track more than one station ahead of where scenery is up to, then do the scenery up to that. It slows things down, but makes it more satisfying when you go driving as plain green scenery is a bit boring.

[AndiS]

It is epidemic. Zusi people even say so loudly that they need 3D modellers and little else still everyone proudly show of their track laying progress. (Discount my usual exaggeration, there are some buildings done.)
But the gist is that this is a train simulation and it does not attract gardeners and architects.

"I have disciplined myself now to not lay track more than ..." reminds me of my own "I have disciplined myself not to buy books, err, with a few kgs here and there that the mail man drops by because someone must have clicked on some order button. Actually, I try to focus on downloaded text because it is not such a waste if I don't find the time to read them.

The thing is this: It is your hobby. It is my hobby. Its prime purpose is to relax you and me. In our hyper-optimised world, we try to be useful and spend 24 hours a day on a purpose, like creating something you can share afterwards, and such; or improving your health or knowledge or what not.

After all optimisation, we are still humans and most of us have a job that eats up most of our energies.

Now for the practical advices, from one who rarely ever finishes anything himself:

1) Decide whether you are sure you want to share what you create or not. If yes, then be honest about the pencilled in release year - will it still matter than?

2) If it is just for you, try to remember that often. Try not to see the route with others' eyes. Say for yourself where it is too empty and what is needed there to make you, and only you happy as you drive by.

3) In executing what you decided above, consider the forest area tool. Find out how you can set it up to do what you want and create a set that varies. Then lay a mix of different flavours of forests. Is is still too boring for you? Does it suffice for driving by. Hedges can be forests, too. I guess people even made this work for houses but I never played with it myself.

4) Dig through the assets on your disk. If it is not for release, then the limit is what you happen to have on your harddisk. If you consider a release, try to limit yourself to a set of routes. But with the current stream of sales, getting a few payware routes is not as much of a stumbling block as when they were all rated 30+ or so. Plus many people have quite a few routes already. I recently got Weardale and Woodhead for a song and I must say that just arranging those nice assets can be a pleasure. Not like I have time to do anything for real, but I found the availability of this stuff truly inspiring.

5) If you love to drive but want to have a say about the route, maybe altering an existing route could be your project? I know of many who modify existing routes. It gives you a head start. If you already built your own route, you will also not crash into the hard limits that those hit who believe it is all a game. Altering a route is not easier than creating a new one, but you are not looking at something totally unfinished all the time.

[jetstream]

rkk01 - that's the complete opposite to me. I've spent the past 6 months doing 'heavy' modification of a route 'set in the West Country set circa 1958' - apart from running around some stations to check out the signalling, I've not yet run a train from A to B. I much prefer the route building to driving - although I love the locos.

[maxtedrw]

Route building is hard. There is no way round this simple fact. I always had to remind myself that I was building the route for me. I am the kind of person that benefits from carrots and sticks so I tackled the route in 1 mile sections laying the whole route as I went along. That meant that once a mile was finished it was properly finished with the exception of seasonal effects and sounds. For me this worked well as I was then able to reward myself with a new area.
But there is no right way- except to recognize that everyone who completes a full route will have had to endure some part that is boring or frustrating. This is also true of any building to be honest - I suspect there are few folks who love modelling, making textures, doing the audio, doing the physics in equal measure. Or for whom at least one aspect is their own weak spot in their eyes.

What I did find helpful was to take a never go back and never revisit approach. It was not always obeyed but instead I waited till the route was finished and then revisited some of the first work I did in the light of what I had found it since.

Of course when you are only doing an 8 mile narrow gauge line it is a lot easier than a complete reworking of a major railway hub.

[rkk01]

Thanks all!

I guess I start driving because I want to test the route, track work, signalling etc...

As someone whose work is the "terrain" (Geologist, Engineer) and how infrastructure sits in it, I also get very frustrated when placing assets:

- that bridge skew isn't right,
- that embankment isn't how it would be built IRL,
- can't find the right steel plate bridge (very, very common & surprising given the number on the real rail network!!)
etc, etc...

Much of that frustration is linked to the 8m grid and the inability to shape the land in the way that we would when building something real.

BTW - what's the "forest tool"????

Anyway, this amused me

this is a train simulation and it does not attract gardeners and architects.

And is quite a good reference point!!!

[AndiS]

Sorry for being hazy. "forest" must be an echo from a distant past. It is called Block Assets. First mentioned in HOWTOUSE_TS12Tech.pdf (in railworks/def/Docs), p. 7. Significant improvements to it are described in HOWTOUSE_TS15Tech.pdf, pp. 14.

As someone whose work is the "terrain" (Geologist, Engineer) and how infrastructure sits in it, I also get very frustrated when placing assets:

- that bridge skew isn't right,
- that embankment isn't how it would be built IRL,
- can't find the right steel plate bridge (very, very common & surprising given the number on the real rail network!!)
etc, etc...

I know exactly what you mean. This is why everyone talks about the dearth of 3D modellers. In real life, every bridge is fitted to the place where it is installed. It may be based on a standard blueprint but no one makes the bridge 3 m longer than needed just because the last bridge they built had that length, too. And there is some skew and/or irregularity in many items of infrastructure, at least when you look at it closely.

I am excited (ah, I mentioned that word) about the TSW tools. The UE4 platform is quite mighty, but putting this all to practice, e.g., to get adjustable bridges, is a very long way to go.

[rkk01]

Thanks again AndiS - I thought it was probably the block asset tool. I will re-read those guides as its not a tool that I have had much success with