Allan, I hope you don't mind me putting this in your SAR thread!
I would hope for advice from yourself and any other Route Builder who reads this Forum, for my ongoing work on this SAR Route.

My first question is in relation to Track Textures.
I have downloaded the Spanish VM Metre Gauge track, but am not really impressed by the track textures. What other Narrow Gauge track textures are available and suitable to use with this track, and how do I change the textures, as I believe the VM track doesn't use the regular "acleantrack1.ace".

Any help appreciated.

Wayne

Hi Wayne,
As I said in the PM, we will change the track texture when we get together. Acleantrack1 has the sleeper/ballast texture. Acleantrack2 has the rail top/sides texture. Either can be replaced with the file from another site/route etc.
Very simply, that's it in one (two) sentence(s). I have used the files that I use on the broad gauge so that the BG and NG look the same particularly in the dual gauge yards such as Gladstone. If you have TGATool2, open the .ace files and save them as .tga (or jpg if there is no alpha channel) so that you can view and/or edit if required.
Cheers

Wayne,

I dont think there are any extra textures for the VM track. What did you have in mind for a new texture? ie: colour of ballast, wood/steel/concrete sleepers? I might be able to whip something up.

Cheers,
David.

Hi David,
I have changed the texture for the VM track but in doing so I have not got it quite right. I think it is to do with the alpha and/or the change of angle from the top of the ballast and the slope on the side. Anyway, it looks reasonable and I guess I felt that it could be updated sometime down the track. However, if you are going to have a look at the texture for the VM track, would you be prepared to include my texture and fix whatever I have got wrong.
Cheers

Also Just a Note I am using VM track on my Brisbane Route it looks ok for a modern setting.
One thing I have noticed is that models running on this track have to be lowered so the wheels are almost sitting on the Horizontal elevation line not slightly above as in normal MSTS track.
Not a big problem as all stock is being custom built but other peoples addons may have to take this into account.
Cheers Russ

Thanks for all the input so far, guys.

David, I am modelling what is essentially a Branch line with wooden sleepers and dirty grey Ballast, laid for very low cost, and hence not overly neat or tidy, etc.

I will be talking to sarfan39 soon, and he tells me that the texture he is using should suit my track also, so perhaps if you are happy to help him with his, it will end up helping both of us.

Cheers,
Wayne

Wayne, would this sort of texture (see link) interest you at all?


http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y255/SAR704/TT1.jpg

Of course, it is highly optimisable

Michael, I was actually looking for something like this one.



Seems to me to represent what I want rather well.

Having said that, I haven't seen what Allan is using yet, so it may well be better, or equally as good.

Cheers,
Wayne

Hi, Just thinking about Mileposts.
I would assume that, after having made the actual shape, each post would have to be a separate object with it's own texture file, to create all the different numbers.

sarfan39 or arg706, do either of you have SAR type mileposts which I could use to maintain uniformity with our SAR Routes, or should I start making my own?

As always, any help or advice appreciated,

Wayne

Wayne, the mileposts, provided they are setup correctly use a certain ace file with numbers from one to ten on them. These can be edited upon placement I believe just like speed limit indicators.

Although I built some mileposts I never ended up including them as they don't tell you anything that the Griffith Bros Tea signs don't (which are every mile). At the moment I only have a temporary ace file for them which I cannot distribute. They took me time to fine tune as you need to determine how high you want the numbering off the ground, and how far out from the centre of the actual MP board you want them. Basically it is an X Y Z process

How far are you off putting them in?

ARG706, the Griffiths Bros Tea signs never made it to Eyre Peninsula AFAIK, I guess they wouldn't mean much over there, as the EP distances were calculated from Port Lincoln and there was never a Refreshment Room there.

I had thought to start putting Mileposts in right from the beginning, as this would give me an easy way of keeping track where I am with the distances, as I am building track, etc.
Is this the wrong idea, should I be leaving them until much later in the process?

Wayne

I disagree with using manual methods of determining distance or exact locations of sidings. You're using a mkr file right? I tend to use Google Earth for my lat/longs or as a last resort, www.multimap.com. They are usually quite reliable. By the looks of it, the area round Thevenard is all in hi-res. Meaning you can use GE to import markers for track and roads without a worry

I haven't had any trouble directly related to the addition of interactives early on. But normally my track and roads take priority.

Thanks, that all makes a lot of sense.
Yes, I am using Marker files from GE.

Wayne

Wayne, how does this look?



Too much dirt and not enough ballast? Need some fine tuning to get the sleeper plates under the rails.

Cheers,
David.

David, think of the worst branchline track anywhere in Queensland and that's still better than the track you're talking for the Eyre Peninsula. I've heard some sections have speed limits below 10MPH owing to the track condition.

Here are some pics of the actual track on Eyre Peninsula.
This is mostly how the track always looked when I was there in the 70's and 80's which is around the era I am trying to depict.


Track near Penong which is fairly indicative of most of the track on EP.


More track near Penong.


Track on the Kapinnie branch.


Track near Kevin, which I assume I would have to create some other way, as I don't think you can have 2 different track textures in one Route.

Overall, something like the Penong pics would be a good track texture.

Cheers,
Wayne

Thanks Michael. That gives me an idea of what to shoot for



Wayne, that's some top quality track shown in those photos The VM tracks come with wood and concrete sleeper textures, so it is possible to change the concrete to another wood sleeper texture and have 2 different textures. There is also another way that requires a lot of .w file editing that changes which texture a shape uses which means there is no limit to the number of track textures used in a route. I'll dig around and find the tutorial.

Cheers,
David.

Gidday Wayne,

I saw your comments about trying to find a suitable Track Texture for your Eyre Peninsular route, and the subsequent photos of parts of the real-life line.

I've been experimenting with 'track overlays' to get some variations with track textures myself, for use in various routes - and these might be just what you want!!! These are designed to show a 'buried' track with the sleepers hidden under various sandy, browny, grassy textures.

I've set them up as a number of 'AutoGantry' entries, so that they run down the centre of the track - each side is tapered down to blend in to the normal terrain textures, then a series of low scrub bushes can be also 'AutoGantryed' down the centre of the track or along the left or right sides. Once the AutoGantry items are done over a whole tile, then you work your way through them, selecting and deleting any that 'get in the way' of other scenery, or over any bridges or culverts, or in sections where you want the sleepers and base track texture to show through.

Have a look at the attached image - if these are of interest to you, send me your email address to bbss<AT>bigpond.net.au and I'll parcel them up and send to you when I've finally finished them off!!!



Regards, Brian Bere-Streeter

Thanks David and Brian, you have both offered some great ideas, and I am certainly interested in finding out more about them both.

David, that Tutorial would be great if you can find it, as there are certainly at least 3 different textures required to accurately depict all the track on EP.

Brian, your idea would also be a possibility, as there are certain sections, e.g. the track shown near Kevin, which are totally covered in Gypsum, and therefore all you see is the tops of the tracks sticking out of the white gypsum. Also, some sections are completely covered in dirt as you saw in another of the photos.
Will send you my email address by PM.

Thanks guys,
Wayne

No problems Wayne. Found the procedure which was developed by Mike Simpson.

Method:-
1. Build the route, and note the track sections you wish to replace. As an example say a1t100mstrt.s - Write down each section's x,y,z positions and .W file details from the RE
2. Copy a1t100mstrt.s to route's Shapes folder along with it's .sd file
3. Rename to a1t100mstrtxxx.s, similarly rename .sd file and edit the .sd internally to give the same .s file name, and change the ESD from 2 to 1
4. Uncompress a1t100mstrtxxx.s with Route-Riter or SFM, edit the texture names from acleantrack1.ace and acleantrack2.ace to xacleantrack etc
5. Make copies of acleantrack1.ace and acleantrack2.ace in your Textures and Textures\Snow folders and rename copies to xacleantrack etc
6. Using TGATools2 and Paint Shop Pro or similar, produce your new track textures.
7. Find the .W files from 1. above, and uncompress them if necessary.
8. Locate the track sections in the .W files and change the Filename entry from
FileName ( a1t100mstrt.s ) to
FileName ( ../../Routes/MyRoute/Shapes/a1t100mstrtxxx.s )
Where MyRoute is the name of the route you are editing.
9. Run MSTS and off you go with multi track textures.

It is a bit tedious to do if there are a lot of track sections to change. You best bet would be to use this method for the areas of your route where there is the least amount of track that requires the third texture. I tried it on a route that used N tracks and the results looked pretty good. It uses concrete sleepers on the mainline and steel sleepers in the yards and loops and this was the only way to get 2 textures using N tracks.



Cheers,
David.

Allan, (or anyone else who can help), I have about 20 Km's of track laid with the VM Metre gauge track now, and last night I ran a single 830 Loco the length of the track to test it.
However, 3 times the Sim froze at the same spot. This seemed to occur about 10 Km's after a set of points, but about 5 Km's before reaching the next Siding.
I seem to recall in the early days of MSTS reading about this type of problem, and I also believe some Route Builders developed invisible point nodes to overcome this problem.

My question is: Allan, have you had this problem in your Northern Narrow Gauge Route, and if so, how have you overcome it?

Thanks,
Wayne

Wayne,

The MSTS ‘node’ issue is covered by Ian’s (sticky) post at RailPage Australia.

http://www.railpage.com.au/f-t891.htm

As the node issue occurs when you traverse a turnout I am not sure that this is applicable in your case.

Although this does not resolve your particular issue it does raise the question as to wether the VM Metre gauge track also includes the invisible nodes to overcome this MSTS bug or has MSTS Bin made this thing of the past.

I have 295km laid in the SAR NNG route and have travelled the entire distance several times with different locos/rolling stock. The MSTS node problem only occurs at the leading point into the next loop where (if there is a problem) the train will buck and bounce and couplers break and the sim ends with the message about a derailment. Provided adjacent loops are no more than (say)10 kms or so apart, the problem will not occur. I am not aware of the Sim freezing because of the node problem.
I expected problems because I have several very long runs between places and yet there is only one where I had a problem. Now VM track does not have 0 degree points so what I did was to lay a 0 degree point from the 3' standard MSTS xtracks and covered it with a piece of static scenery which looks like a piece of track. I will have a low speed at this point with track repairs being carried out. I think you need to look somewhere else for the problem Wayne.
Is there a stray blue pole at that point? Have you run the route from the opposite direction to test whether the sim freezes at the same spot in either direction or 20 kms from the start? If it freezes at the same spot, you have a problem at that spot or where that tile loads. If it is 20 kms from where you start the Activity, the problem will be different.
Which one is it?
Cheers

Thanks for the responses, Allan and Superheatedsteam.
Just got in from work, and thinking it through at work, I had decided exactly what you said, Allan, I need to drive it from the other end and see what happens.
Will let you know later.

Another thought, I think this area is approximately where the grids (world views) join in RGE, so wondering if this could be something to do with the problem?

Wayne

The freezing isnt due to any node problem that I am aware of, This affects the couplings as previously noted.
Gallop3 has developed a set of coupler statements that will get around the node problem to an extent.
Crossing world tile boundaries that is one I will have to Explore.
Do you have Bin installed??

Cheers Russ