Question about route I'm making -Or

I started another version of my local Halifax-Truro route last night after finally giving up on anyone like MLT or someone making it. I (REALLY) wish it hadn't come to this, since I don't know what I'm really doing, but it's going okay.My problem is that I started about 27 miles west of where I usually begin the route, so I have to drop the land significantly to get to the east coast at Halifax. But I'm already only at the 1.0 M height default, so I can't drop much and get any water that's far below the land.
Is there a way to either use negative water heights or raise the land all at once so I can get cliffs into water?
PS:Is there a simple, free (or cheap) DEM tool, and good free DEMs for Nova Scotia??ThanksDarryl

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RE: Question about route I'm making -Or, DRGWK36, Sep-20-03, 07:38 PM, (1) RE: Question about route I'm making -Or, lenglel, Sep-20-03, 07:40 PM, (2) RE: Question about route I'm making -Or, JohnCS, Sep-20-03, 08:46 PM, (3) RE: Question about route I'm making -Or, darrylcn, Sep-21-03, 12:19 PM, (4) RE: Question about route I'm making -Or, darrylcn, Sep-21-03, 01:43 PM, (5) RE: Question about route I'm making -Or, JohnCS, Sep-21-03, 02:32 PM, (6) RE: Question about route I'm making -Or, darrylcn, Sep-21-03, 03:32 PM, (7) RE: Question about route I'm making -Or, JohnCS, Sep-21-03, 04:27 PM, (8) RE: Question about route I'm making -Or, darrylcn, Sep-21-03, 05:58 PM, (9) RE: Question about route I'm making -Or, fishcarver, Sep-22-03, 03:25 PM, (10) RE: Question about route I'm making -Or, fishcarver, Sep-22-03, 03:59 PM, (11) RE: Question about route I'm making -Or, darrylcn, Sep-22-03, 10:43 PM, (12) RE: Question about route I'm making -Or, fishcarver, Sep-23-03, 09:37 AM, (13) RE: Question about route I'm making -Or, fishcarver, Sep-23-03, 10:48 AM, (14) RE: Question about route I'm making -Or, darrylcn, Sep-23-03, 11:18 AM, (15)

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Darryl:You can raise the height of everything by 100m or so and work from that. A good tool for DEMs is DEMEX - I think it's at www.demex.com or www.dem-ex.com. You can do quite a bit with the demo version, and the full version is pretty inexpensive (around $25 US I think). That lets you offset terrain by a set amount.I can't help you with Canadian DEM sources. My impression is that they're not out there, at least for free, but then again, I haven't looked.Don't worry about not knowing what you're doing. Not many of the rest of us do, either Andy

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I'm pretty sure you can use negative heights for water *if*
you have lowered the minimum height for the tile below sea
level. Sure hope you can find some elevation data, I shudder
to think what it would be like to hand sculpt all that terrain.Lloyd

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Canadian DEM...http://www.dem-ex.com/supportforum/viewtopic.php?t=34

JohnCS
dem_ex@hotmail.com
visit the DEMEX website:
http://www.dem-ex.com

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Thanks John!How is the quality of these DEMs? Is 90 Meter very detailed? Will lakes and stuff show up? What about the cuts for the tracks? There's a double track area cut into the rock that runs to one of the container terminals in Hfx, will it appear do ya think?-About the demo, can I actually make some terrain and play with it in the Route Editor using just the Demo and the RGE? Is it functional enough to do that?Thanks everyone for your help. Like I said, I really wish Maple Leaf Tracks would do this route, I didn't want to have to do it myself, but I guess it'll be a learning experience!

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The only problem is that I'm in Canada, and I'd have to buy dem-ex, the route editing guide, and prolly Jumper just to get something that's okay, and I'd still only have access to 90M resolution maps anyway after having spent 60 or so $ american...Does anyone here work for or with Maple Leaf Tracks?? I'd like to ask 'em a question.

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>How is the quality of these DEMs? Is 90 Meter very detailed?Fair

>Will lakes and stuff show up? Yes
>What about the cuts for the tracks? No>There's a double track area cut into the rock that
>runs to one of the container terminals in Hfx, will it
>appear do ya think? No>-About the demo, can I actually make some terrain and play
>with it in the Route Editor using just the Demo and the RGE?
>Is it functional enough to do that? Yes

JohnCS
dem_ex@hotmail.com
visit the DEMEX website:
http://www.dem-ex.com

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One more question John, I know I have to exit each time I do a new tile, and when I relaunch the program, all the Red Xs are in place again. My question is, will Demex choose a tile on it's own to do for that loading of the program, (I think it will), but will it choose a difference one each time or do I have to un "X" all the squares and X a different one each time?

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It will pick the same tile each time in DEMO mode.Use unregistered mode, and then you won't have to worry about it.

JohnCS
dem_ex@hotmail.com
visit the DEMEX website:
http://www.dem-ex.com

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Yeah, I figured that out myself just now.. I was thinking Unreg mode meant you could do nothing, and that demo was the only one which you could actually save work into the game to use with the RE.Now that I've figured it out, this program is amazing. Thanks very much John. I've wanted to drive/make CN's Bedford Sub. since I got the game, but eyeballing it to get heights and distances was always too frustrating to keep intrest in. Your program goes a long way to making it possible, thanks! Now if I only had some 10M data...
Also, I'm filling in water in our harbour... Is there a way to select more than one tile to toggle water at once?? I feel like my mouse'll wear out.

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Darryl: Your best bet would be to scan some NTS 1:50,000 Topo maps of your route, and use something like TSTerraform (freeware) or TSTools to hand-digitize it,eg: put in contours, markers, cuttings,etc along the right of way and then use DEMEX to "tune up" the terrain. There are a couple of my Q & A posts around this forum on this and related issues (search under "fishcarver"). I am having a fair degree of success using this method on my Bayline.Fishcarver"Rebuilding the Hudson Bayline like one eats a Polar Bear: one BYTE at a time."

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Darryl: Check this link:
http://forums.atomic-systems.com/viewtopic.php?t=18985JimFishcarver
3f66140c5a03713d.jpg,"Rebuilding the Hudson Bayline like one eats a Polar Bear: one BYTE at a time."

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Thanks Fishcarver!Can you explain this process in some detail? I'm kinda slow when it comes to the route making process..The latest bearkthrough I've had has been Markers -Why oh why didn't I discover 'em before??- and Lat/Long.... I've been placing flags on my DEMEX formed route and am going to "connect the dots" when I'm done placing 'em. That along with the fact that they can be used to tune my DEMEX map with the R.E. has made this project seem like a do-able venture for me finally...The only thing slowing me down is I have to make stabs in the dark using Mapquest's Lat Long entry. If there was a map of my region that would allow mouse hovering or something to display Lat/Long it would greatly speed up the time it's gonna take me to add the markers..

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Fishcarver
3f66140c5a03713d.jpg,Darryl: There is a free utility to give you lat/long coords of most named Canadian places here: http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/index_e.phpTSTerraform will do exactly what you want to do once you get your scanned map registered, INCLUDING putting in the markers, profiling the track bed, etc and will show you where you are on the map at all times.I'd suggest that you check the Route Building-Terrain forum at UK train Sim, also the TSTErraform and TSTools tutorials there as well. Also, download TSTerraform 5.01 (free) from the same site and take a look at the user guide. Also, can you PM me with an idea of the geographical area that you are working on? I'll see if I can locate copies of the 1:50,000 topos at the library here and give you a hand. Do you have access to a scanner?Don't feel bad: there is a bit of a learning curve to this stuff: just like any other form of model building!
Jim "Rebuilding the Hudson Bayline like one eats a Polar Bear: one BYTE at a time."

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Hmmm: maybe time for a tutorial....Fishcarver
3f66140c5a03713d.jpg,"Rebuilding the Hudson Bayline like one eats a Polar Bear: one BYTE at a time."

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Yeah, you're right. I found the pdf at UKTrainsim, now I have to wait till their off-peak hours to get access..

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