Custom track - need some help

[SAR704]

For some reason, track exported from 3d Canvas/Crafter from 2013 or earlier to IGS doesn't have the flickering problem, but from 2014 and onwards it does. I don't see how this is an improvement to the game, and would be interested to know if there is a trick to fixing it with a newly made track section by any means.

Here's a comparison. The darkened ones at the bottom are the culprit. (Please ignore the issue with the texture alignment)



The IGS files from 3DC seem to be virtually identical in their formatting, except the older ones have the buffers mentioned by Marc that prevent this flickering. Is there any way at all to add them to the IGS/Xsec track files (exported from 3d Canvas 7.0.2) in 2014 to remove this annoyance?

Unfortunately, I don't know the trick to getting the track files absolutely perfect so that 3 way junctions can render, so that's why I need prefer to use the older files from around 2013 (which seemed to be set up properly and/or used with the Trainworks exporter which doesn't seem to work properly in 3d Canvas 7.0.2). It seems that if anything is even a fraction of a millimetre off the mark, TS will crash.

[SAR704]

Finally sorted it out. Thanks to GreatNortherner for having a look at the IGS file and noticing the problem. It was due to horizontal polygons at the end of the track loft, which caused the crashes. Looking forward to placing those 3 way junctions on the Central Australia Railway at some time. Will have to add some dogspikes at some point.

[SAR704]

I've just retextured the track, and sleepers, and I just noticed that there seems to be an issue with the dog spikes I've added as part of the the middle geometry.

They seem to be a bit off centre on curved track. I've just had a look at the Scalerail in comparison, and the spikes are fine. Is there an entry in the blueprint I need to adjust to get them to be in the centre regardless of how tight the curve is? Or is there something else I've possibly done wrong?

[GreatNortherner]

Hi,

I guess this is happening on banked track (super elevation on)? In that case, I don't think you can actually use the middle geometry at all as it won't tilt together with the track. At least I haven't found a way yet how to make it do so. If somebody knows of a way to make it work, please do let us know.

To use super elevation you can add all the fine details to the actual track loft (like Marc did with ScaleRail and Rick with GXTrack or Bob and I with the VNHTracks, to mention some examples that use this approach).

Cheers
Michael

[SAR704]

To be honest, I'm not even familar with super elevation in track lofts. There's no tilting. It's all just level. It's a branchline, and the rails visible are actually about 40 pound per metre, literally.

So basically, the small branchline Alco would be running on what be seen as a set of wires compared to a modern US mainline. The mainline is 80 pound per metre. This line was basically a line to nowhere.

[SAR704]

I hope I'm not being annoying, but this sleeper flickering issue seemed to have returned.



I've tried different shaders with the 3d sleepers in 3DC. These being TrainUprightViewFacingFlora.fx, and tried using no shader at all, and yet they're still flickering. This wasn't the case with the custom narrow gauge track I made last year.

Does anyone know how to fix this problem?

[Bananarama]

Do you have any co-planer faces that might be too close?

[SAR704]

Sorry, but not sure what you mean by that. Could you please elaborate?

[Bananarama]

A poly surface that is above another and is too close.

[GreatNortherner]

You could also check the MipLodBias in the Geo file of the troublesome object and play around with it.

In the Geo file, it is here:

Code: Select all

<MipLodBias>
   <e d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000000000" d:precision="string">0</e>
</MipLodBias>

To export a custom MipLodBias setting from 3DC, use the RailSimX custom field argument r0miplodbias=0 (or -1, -2, 1, 2, whatever works best)

Mip LOD Bias.
This is used to push the mipping further out or bring it in.
Normally we leave this at 0.
However if you want to push the mipping out on textures (For dials in cabs,logos/text on the side of trains etc) a minus value needs to be used. Thi means the texture stays sharper for longer the further you pull away. -2 is what the team use for mnost dials in cabs.

http://the-art-of-rws.blogspot.de/2009/ ... art-2.html

Cheers
Michael