TS2012 Route Creator Information

[KCJones]

Thank you for this help it is most appreciated

[spec5sx]

Does anyone know exactly how big a sky dome should be? I understand all the concepts of modeling a sky dome but, I can't find anything that says how large the model should be.

[g_nash]

Does anyone know exactly how big a sky dome should be? I understand all the concepts of modeling a sky dome but, I can't find anything that says how large the model should be.

Can give an example mesh of the what was used before if it's of help ? ( would have to wait till later today )

Not had a chance to look at anything indepth yet , but don't see that there'll be any difference other than the extra layer geo .. maybe Marc Nelson will stop by and add also comment before I get the time to check here again

:)

[Bananarama]

The skydome can be of any size - use a size that's comfortable to work with. One bigger will not look any better than one smaller, unless the poly count has been increased. The skydome I use for the Selkirk screens is only 100m in diameter and less than 1000 polys.

[spec5sx]

Thanks for the input Marc. I appreciate the help.

[William_Putnam]

This document details some key new features of TR2012 for route and scenario creators. This is written with the presumption that the user will have some familiarity with the existing tools and is not aimed at the novice user.

Route Editor:

Bulk Asset Blocks
The asset block is used for populating large areas with asset coverage, primarily for forests and woodland. Objects in the asset block will hug the terrain. The block is located in the foliage/water filter of the object browser list and is called “Asset Block”. It is placed like any existing decal. Initially it will be an unpopulated 100x100 square on the terrain with draggable corners allowing for easy resizing.

Double clicking the asset block in the world will bring up a properties window allowing you to specify the following:•Dimensions – This can also be changed by dragging the corners of the object in the world.
•Density – This value is in objects per square km and is set to an initial value of 10,000.
•Scale – This is a scaling value which will alter the height of random objects in the asset block. For realistic scaling without stretching textures this value should be set between 0 and 1, with 1 meaning some assets in the block will be double the height of others.
•Rotation – This mainly applies to 3D objects in the block. Enabling this will add a random rotation to all assets in the block. Unchecking this option will align all the objects in the same way.
•Asset – Selects the asset which populates the block. As this tool is primarily for forest creations, any objects which are filtered under foliage/water or clutter in the browser list can be used in the block.


Note: If the terrain height is modified after an asset block has been placed on it then you will need to move the asset block slightly so that it sees the new terrain height and snap to it.

Thank you, and I need this feature to place lots of sage brush in the route I am modifying. But for the life of me, I cannot find this "asset block" you speak of.

Clicking on the "foliage/water filter," I am assuming I am to open that list of foliage I can use, but within that list, I cannot find anything concerning an "asset block."

Please enlighten me as succinctly as you can, how I can find this feature, please...

[SCLALINE]

Click on the Foliage/Water filter, look for the A's if you have alot of assets its alphabetical so 3dtrains would come first if you have anything like that
its definately in there, make sure you have the kuju/railworks assets enabled

then name is Assetblock

ill do a tutorial i guess


hold on

[William_Putnam]

Click on the Foliage/Water filter, look for the A's if you have alot of assets its alphabetical so 3dtrains would come first if you have anything like that
its definately in there, make sure you have the kuju/railworks assets enabled

then name is Assetblock

ill do a tutorial i guess


hold on

I found it! I was experimenting wih a test route for the feature, and I did not have the critical assets checkec off for it!

Now, I will do a little playing around with it and see if I can make it do what I want it to do...

If I have further difficulties, I will check back with you.

Thanks for the help!

[SCLALINE]

i made a quick video for anyone else who cant find it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFmZmzPsl-I

[Derek]

more from me:

2012 Art Guidelines : New FX Shaders

This document lists out the new FX shaders, and their suggested uses.

This document also describes some of the shaders in more detail, from an artists point of view.

TrainEmissiveGlow
Use this shader to make a glowing object. This shader can be this as a replacement for the old-school light-glow quads.

Texture slot 1 is the standard diffuse channel (which supports TRANS). Slot 2 is the emissive mask. White is fully emissive, and black is non-emissive. This emissive mask can contain any shade of grey to change the intensity of the glow if desired.
Example
Lightglows. Neon Signs, Streetlights

TrainLightBumpSpecMask

Use this shader on scenery objects that require normal maps, specular maps and ambient occlusion maps.
Ambient occlusion
In basic terms, when creating these assets, think of an ambient occlusion map as a shadow-map. Light areas of the map are unaffected and dark areas of the map represent the shadowy areas (under gutters or in crevices).

Use : this shader on foreground buildings. Group assets that are built specifically for use as a background object should not use this material.

Slot 1 is the diffuse texture
Slot 2 is the normal map (24bit) with specular map (8bit) in the alpha channel
Slot 3 is the Ambient Occlusion map.

Generally, make slot 1 and slot 2 share the same UV channel 1, and the Ambient Occlusion map have a second UV mapping channel 2. This allows for the same flexibility as when using the old shadow-map technique on the old legacy assets.
Example
Trackside Buildings

LoftTexDiffSpec

Use: this shader to create lofted element with a basic specular phong of a fixed size and power.
Example
Track rails.

Stars

Use: this shader should only be used as part of the skydome asset.
Example
Skydome stars

Clouds

Not currently used

TrainDecal

Use this shader when decals are required on scenery assets and rail vehicles. Allow for full 32-bit support with alpha blending.

When dealing with primary numbers, remember to give the numbers full 32-bit textures as it now will render smoothly onto the background (not aliased as in RW2).

NOTE : Previously when we had the same fonts on, for example red, blue and yellow geometry, we would have to create three fonts for this. This new shader will limit the amount of extra texture-sets we need, as the same fonts can now be rendered onto any colour background using the alpha.

Example
Dynamic numbering, logos on sides of tenders, Class numbers on coaches.

TrainShadowOnly

Use this shader to create cab shadow volumes.
Example
Cab shadow volumes.

LoftPostDPPTexDiffSpec

Use this when lofts have very thin lateral elements that cause visible sub-pixel flickering.
Example
Lofted catenary wires, lofted telegraph wires, simple lofted wire fence

TrainPostDPPObjectDiffuse

Use this when scenery assets and rolling stock have very thin lateral elements that cause visible sub-pixel flickering.
Example
Static Telegraph wires, railings on vehicles

LoftTunnelTexDiff

Use this shader for lofted elements in tunnels with no transparency (rails).
Example
Track cross-section rails in tunnels

LoftTunnelTexDiffTrans

Use this shader for lofted elements in tunnels that require transparency (ballast).
Example
Track cross-section ballast in tunnels

LoftTunnelBumpSpec

Use this shader to create tunnel walls. The shader allows for normal map and specular support.
Example
Track cross-section walls in tunnel

TrainViewFacingUnlit

Use this shader when you require something to stay bright regardless of day/night and you need viewer facing properties.

This is an unlit view facing shader.
● It stays full lit and does not get darker just like the old fashioned TEX
● It supports the TRANS flag
● It supports three options non-viewer, viewerfacing and upright-viewerfacing. One of these can be set via the viewer Facing Options radio button in the Material roll-lout in Max.
Example
A lightbulb hanging under a station canopy. The whole lightbulb and wire cable support can be made as an upright viewer facing sprite, and will remain fully bright at night.

[OldProf]

Can more than one stopping point be placed on top of a single siding marker? I assume this also attempts to resolve the whole discuusion of how much (little, or none) siding marker the route developer should place without limiting the scenario writer's options? I like being able to locate and label my route's sidings but still leave flexibility for other scenario writers to do things differently.

I can report having done this successfully, Tori. The stopping point referenced in a particular driver instruction appears as a small red arrow in the ribbon while that instruction is being carried out by the player. I don't think that this resolves the matter of length of siding markers, however, especially in regard to AI trains. For example, I've tried placing a stopping point in the midst of a siding-long track marker and instructing an AI train to make a drop-off there. The AI train may enter the desired siding, but once there it just sits--or sometimes creeps a bit, but it does not make the drop-off. In my opinion, the best siding markers are still short ones (no more than two car lengths) approximately centered in the siding. This allows scenario writers to place additional markers along the siding for pick-up or drop-off purposes. [I just remembered the name of one of the supposed staff members at Car-Talk: Russian chauffeur: Pickup Andropoff.]

Tom Pallen

[OldProf]

The information you're providing in this thread is extremely helpful, Derek. Thanks for taking the time to post it. I sincerely hope that revised manuals will soon appear, especially in regard to the Timetable Editor, which perhaps should be renamed now that Timetabled scenario markers no longer exist.

Lately, I've been running into complications while writing a new scenario for HSC. Specifically, what works and doesn't work for AI switching operations changes from one test run to the next. I'd be happy to provide specific examples, but won't expand this post with them at present.

Tom Pallen

[Mazherman+75]

AI Improvements
AI engines can now pick up rolling stock as well as drop off. Simply author the instruction on the AI engine the same way as you would for the player. The rolling stock picked up must be in the pick up location at the start of the scenario (i.e. not dropped off in that location by another AI or player during the scenario).

I have tried this in a yard scenario where there is a speed limit of 25mph. The AI engine follows the path correctly, but when entering the track to pick up the cars, it did not slow down to the proper coupling speed. The result was an collision.
Then I thought that by lowering the allowable speed in that particular track to 2mph a coupling would occur. The engine did slow down but the result was still marked as a collision.

Has anyone tried this yet ? Any suggestions ?

[Machinist]

Some reasons for the problem but none related to the track speed.

Looks like AI train is not "seeing" the cars to be coupled. Some suggestions: check if the "consist" (all the cars, or at least the car to be coupled) is correctly assigned in timetable couple instruction, if the instruction is to couple at rear or at front of Player train, and if the consist is correctly placed in the siding (shake the wagons, sometimes they are not coupled each other).

Another is place the whole consist (I'm not sure if part of consist is enough) to be picked up within a "track marker" (siding, destination, platform etc.)

You can see also about stopping points. maybe it helps:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3742&p=34864&hilit=stopping+points#p34864

[OldProf]

I have tried this in a yard scenario where there is a speed limit of 25mph. The AI engine follows the path correctly, but when entering the track to pick up the cars, it did not slow down to the proper coupling speed. The result was an collision.
Then I thought that by lowering the allowable speed in that particular track to 2mph a coupling would occur. The engine did slow down but the result was still marked as a collision.

Has anyone tried this yet ? Any suggestions ?

I encountered the same situation yesterday while adding AI to a new scenario I'm working on for the Horseshoe Curve route. Here's what occurred: I already had an AI engine successfully switching one part of a yard area while the player train worked in another area. Then I added another freight AI train that passed through a different area much later. Suddenly, the switching AI started crashing into a cur of cars rather than picking them up. The reason turned out to be that the number of one of the boxcars in the added AI duplicated that of a boxcar in the switching AI's first pickup. Once I assigned a different number to one of those cars, the crash went away.

Duplicate car numbers frequently cause problems in scenarios. Even a player engine sometimes has problems picking up or dropping off a car with a duplicate number and AI engines always do. Every now and then, folks complain that certain car numbers are not "authentic" or "historical" and re-painters frequently fail to provide their work with a set of numbers different from those of the original model or even omit the car numbers file from their work entirely. I have written before and repeat now that these are processes that work against successful standard scenarios.

End of Sermon.

Anyway, try clicking on that triangular icon at the bottom-right of the scenario editor panel. If duplicate car numbers exist, they will be noted at the top of the list. Clicking on the first duplicate number will show (very roughly) where that car is located; clicking the other duplicate number will do the same. I always change the number of car that isn't cited in switching instructions, so I don't have to redo those instructions. I've recently found a new trick for spotting the car that needs to have its number changed. Go to the train in which that car resides and adjust the view until you are looking straight at the number of the car at one end or the other of the that train; then, use the arrow keys to move the view from car to car until you spot the number that needs changing. Double-click that car to bring up its properties box and insert a new number. Voila! I find that changing the last number of the string usually suffices. By the way, the duplicate listing will not go away until you have saved, closed, and reopened the scenario for editing. Hope this resolves your problem.

Tom Pallen