3 Track Cajon Project

[Tomcat]

Did some mountain climbing today.

First two screenshots with textures folder left in terrain folder - test route with a test texturing.bin where the default Cajon base ground texture of 'Scrub Mixed' was replaced with 'Soil Wet'.

Third screenshot is the same location as shot two but with the textures folder removed from the terrain folder - top of Cajon mountain looking West down on Blue Cut and Cozy Dell. I definitely prefer shot 2 over 3. I'll live with the East-West black lines in order to keep the textures. Now on to another test route to confirm that moving the 0,0 tile also moves the lines along with it.

DT02.jpg

DT01.jpg

DT01a.jpg

[Tomcat]

These may already be common knowledge, but on the chance they aren't, here are a couple more observations;

Created 2 more test routes, placing the 0,0 tile at different locations in each and confirmed that the East-West black lines do move in relation to the 0,0 tile, always keeping the -31 tiles South and +31 tiles North relationship.

You don't have to extract terrain for the entire route for the lines to show up. I tried no extraction before DT generation at first and no lines showed up. Second try was one tile extracted and again no lines. Third try I went to a single 19x19 tile extraction and the lines do appear after DT generation even on the unextracted portions out to, apparently, an infinite distance . This makes it possible to check your line of latitude for the black lines on Google Earth and see where it might be close enough to your route trackage to become an eyesore and adjust your 0,0 tile in a new build of the route to compensate without having to spend more than 30 minutes or so prep work in a disposable test route.

Next test I'm not sure will work, which is a good reason it's a test I guess. If removing the textures folder from the terrain folder leaves DT intact but removes the black lines, albeit with a boring mono-texture, mashed potato look, would not removing just a tile groups TGPCDX and DDS files from the textures folder remove the black line from just that section of the route? Or will removing any single reference in the textures folder crash the whole shebang? I suppose I should go and find out but it sounds like it's just too easy to actually work.

[BKRR605]

Hey Tomcat, fabulous route. I just ran the scenario in the library and only found one spot between Victorville and Yermo(I think Yermo) is by Oro Grande three track are floating above ground. This ia an awesome upgrade from the original Cajon Pass.

Screenshot_Cajon_Mojave_34.59315--117.33180_04-52-34.jpg

Screenshot_Cajon_Mojave_34.59303--117.33199_04-52-58.jpg

Screenshot_Cajon_Mojave_34.59302--117.33174_04-52-48.jpg

[BKRR605]

Into the good stuff.

Screenshot_Cajon_Mojave_34.89332--117.07928_04-25-47.jpg

Screenshot_Cajon_Mojave_34.57233--117.31792_04-54-38.jpg

Screenshot_Cajon_Mojave_34.89452--116.84999_03-54-16.jpg

Screenshot_Cajon_Mojave_34.06754--117.32764_06-15-56.jpg

Screenshot_Cajon_Mojave_34.07964--117.32361_06-17-21.jpg

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Hey Tomcat, fabulous route. I just ran the scenario in the library and only found one spot between Victorville and Yermo(I think Yermo) is by Oro Grande three track are floating above ground. This ia an awesome upgrade from the original Cajon Pass.

Floating track is probably due to inaccuracies with the DEM little can be done about. What is the vertical resolution of the ground plane?
This route looks infinitely better than Kuju's Cajon converted to ScaleRail. The default Kuju track has a very thin layer of ballast, so the converted ScaleRail was mostly sunken halfway into the ground.

[BKRR605]

Hey Tomcat, fabulous route. I just ran the scenario in the library and only found one spot between Victorville and Yermo(I think Yermo) is by Oro Grande three track are floating above ground. This ia an awesome upgrade from the original Cajon Pass.

What is the vertical resolution of the ground plane?

?? Whats that?

[Bananarama]

?? Whats that?

I believe he's refering to the resoltion of the DEM, most of which is 10m/30m (USGS NED) and 90m (SRTM). Measured in meters, lower numbers indicate a more accurate DEM.

[Tomcat]

Hey Tomcat, fabulous route. I just ran the scenario in the library and only found one spot between Victorville and Yermo(I think Yermo) is by Oro Grande three track are floating above ground. This ia an awesome upgrade from the original Cajon Pass.

Floating track is probably due to inaccuracies with the DEM little can be done about. What is the vertical resolution of the ground plane?
This route looks infinitely better than Kuju's Cajon converted to ScaleRail. The default Kuju track has a very thin layer of ballast, so the converted ScaleRail was mostly sunken halfway into the ground.

Thanks BKRR605. I'll have a look at the floating track. It's most likely that I didn't snap the terrain to the track after making a gradient adjustment to the track. There are times, though, when snapping the terrain doesn't work as fully as one would expect and I have seen small gaps where it just refuses to lift up the terrain the last foot or so - I see this most often with roads rather than track. If the terrain won't cooperate then I can always use an embankment loft to fill the gap.

The ScaleRail conversion of the original Cajon is pretty much what prompted me to do the route in the first place. The conversion was a huge improvement but the work needed to adjust the terrain along the entire track network (not to mention the missing track and so-so scenery) seemed like more work than just starting from scratch.

I used the SRTM data which, I think - someone correct me if I'm wrong, is what the in-editor terrain extraction tool can use. Using the higher resolution data, if available, would not have mattered in the case of the floating track since I use the snap terrain to track after getting the track to where I want it.


In other news...

Ran a few more tests with DT and Marc is correct, nothing works and it is very frustrating, so Cajon_Mojave will not get the DT treatment... at least not this iteration of the route.

[Bananarama]

Ran a few more tests with DT and Marc is correct, nothing works and it is very frustrating, so Cajon_Mojave will not get the DT treatment... at least not this iteration of the route.

You should still do it, just leave out the textures. Having DT off in the background still adds some excitement.

[Ericmopar]

Don't kill it with love Tomcat...

[Tomcat]

You should still do it, just leave out the textures. Having DT off in the background still adds some excitement.

Good idea. I don't care for the look without the textures but others may not mind, so including the folders will give people the choice to use it with DT or go in and take out the folders if they wish.

Don't kill it with love Tomcat...

If I take your meaning correctly, then no, I don't think that will happen with this route.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

There is one collection of assets missing and I cannot find any source or download for it:

3DTrains\SceneryPacks\Scenery\Vegetation\3D_...

Where can these trees I presume be obtained? They are not listed on 3DTrains downloads.

[Bananarama]

Those might be the 3D trees from the Scenery Packs download area on my forum (there is also a low-resolution freeware version).

[ATSFFAN]

I have been running Victorville Switching Part 3. Is anybody else showing a missing track section roughly about 3 miles from the end of the Cushenbury Branch?
Lat: 34.39548
Long: -116.99677

=ATSFFAN=

[gtrtroger]

Not here.... you need to make sure you've got all the assets.... scan the route with RWTools..... you're missing something.... probably some 3Dtrains track......