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"Help with uneven terrain please!"

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don123 (3 posts)
Feb-16-02, 00:47 AM (EST) "Help with uneven terrain please!" Hello,I am new to the route editor in MSTS. When I lay a peice of track, it sometimes dissapears inside the terrain, I think this is because the terrain is uneven. How do I make the piece of track follow the terrain?Where can I find a really good tutorial for the Route editor?Thanks,Donald. Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
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Subject Author Message Date ID RE: Help with uneven terrain please... markhyams Feb-16-02 1 RE: Help with uneven terrain please... LawrenceKellie Feb-16-02 2 RE: Help with uneven terrain please... landnrailroader Feb-16-02 4 RE: Help with uneven terrain please... rgarber Feb-16-02 3 RE: Help with uneven terrain please... Motley24Crue2 Feb-16-02 5

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markhyams (4 posts)
Feb-16-02, 01:54 AM (EST) 1. "RE: Help with uneven terrain please!" LAST EDITED ON Feb-16-02 AT 01:55 AM (EST)Press Y, but this makes the terrain follow the track, not the other way around. Can't do it the other way. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
LawrenceKellie (1324 posts)
Feb-16-02, 01:58 AM (EST) 2. "RE: Help with uneven terrain please!" Should try Tapiola. I specifcally made the track "follow" the terrain in many, many areas. So many, it is a very difficult route to run, especially if you are even getting near underpowered.Lawrence Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
landnrailroader (163 posts)
Feb-16-02, 11:46 AM (EST) 4. "RE: Help with uneven terrain please!" All of the other answers have been correct, but I thought I would expand on them a bit.When setting values in the embankment & cutting window, which affect what the "Y" key does, bear in mind, that embankments steeper than 45 degrees were relatively rare, but cuttings of 45 degrees were unusual, although if it was strictly a dirt cut, that would possibly be a little too steep.The worst problem is that the default 18 (METERS) is way too wide. Actual roadbed for single track is of the order of 18', i.e. 5.5 METERS or so. I typically set this value to 8 or 9 in open country, and 6-7 in cuts or fill areas.If it is a rock cut, the slope was often 75-80 degrees, although more modern construction favors a benched cut, in which the cut is made of a series of terraces, or benches, which have 90 degree slopes between them, and 3-4 meter widths. If viewed in cross-section, it appears as a staircase on each side of the track. MSTS does not allow a 90 degree cutting.Railroad track was usually not laid according to the terrain, although the route designers (They were called "Locating Engineers") tried to avoid extremes in terrain. In general, also, the route designer tried to select a route, where the amount of cutting material, would approximately equal the fill material required. A wonderful example of this, is on the west slope of the BitterRoots in Idaho, along the line of the gone, but not forgotten, Milwaukee Road. In many spots on this grade (22 miles of 1.7%), the material removed from cuts, or tunnels, was enough to create a nearby fill. This is a matter of economics.Now, down in South Georgia, there are a few lines that really did conform to the terrain. The South Georgia, Georgia & FLorida, Georgia, Ashburn, Sylvester & Camilla to name a few. Even today, civil engineers refer to these as being railroads that "were laid right on top of the ground", but they were intended to be slow operations, built at minimal cost, and even today, those that survive perform their intended job very well.J. H. Sullivan, P.E. (retired from CSX) Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
rgarber (1222 posts)
Feb-16-02, 08:41 AM (EST) 3. "RE: Help with uneven terrain please!" the tutorial most recommended is Mike Vone's Route Building Guide published through Abacus for $15. www.trainsimulatorworld.comYou have several choices when looking for information:1) Like Lawrence said, look at how other people and the default routes did things.
2) Tutorials - www.trainsimulatorworld.com and here in the train-sim uploads are a few
3) Ask like you didAnyway specificially to your question I would say you have two choices, conform the track to the ground by rotating the track up or down (click on track and then use the rotate key to raise or lower the track. Becareful when raising the track above 1.050 (whatever it represents) because engines will start huffing and puffing going up the track if its long enough.) and then hit the Y key to conform the ground to the track. The other choice is to leave your track flat and press the Y key period. Not you can adjust the effect of embankment and cutting in the width of the effect in one of the little dialogue boxes.If you're trying to match your track to DEM'd hilly terrain, make your terrain match the track rather than vice versa. First we don't have enough track segments to adequately follow terrain. Second, no one else will no the difference anyway. Hope this helps!Rich Garber Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
Motley24Crue2 (346 posts)
Feb-16-02, 12:00 PM (EST) 5. "RE: Help with uneven terrain please!" >If you're trying to match your
>track to DEM'd hilly terrain,
>make your terrain match the
>track rather than vice versa.
>First we don't have enough
>track segments to adequately follow
>terrain. Second, no one else
>will no the difference anyway.
>
>
>Hope this helps!
>
>Rich Garber
lol good point thats what i have been doing
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