Tsw 4 Editor - Important Dev Questions

As it is UE im almost sure that you can rule out C# im hoping and im pretty sure that you will be able to use C++ as UE has support for that but it may only be blueprints/visual scripting

 

That's pretty nice. How long did it take to create?

 

I have used 3Dcanvas for 15+ years and I have a ton of 3D stuck in that format.

The Collada format (.dae) is not available in UE4 4.27.
The .obj format is supported but the object is disassembled into pieces, if the original 3D was done with multiple pieces.

I was able to import the textures with the FBX file. Not exactly intuitive but I have seen worse
The tonality is still a little too darker but in Blender I have a bright terrain texture that make everything lighter.
For the actual shaders list I'll wait the editor.
The shadows under the sides disappear automatically with the distance which is bad.

I have done this bridge many years ago and redone it in Blender 4 months ago.
I don't remember exactly how much time but I think 2 or 3 days (not full days but 4-5 hours each day).

 

Here's a question I just thought of: TSW uses UE 4.26 as its engine, so presumably the UE editor is also related to that engine version. Would an earlier version of Blender from around UE 4.26's time maybe have better compatibility?

 

There is no such thing like predefined shaders in TSW as like in TSC. The material you create is the shader. You need to know what you want to achieve and then create the appropriate material for your approach in UE4. TSW normally uses a set of master materials that also include the weather effects stuff and other things like automatic ToD 'conversions'. The texture workflow is quite simple actually. For a standard object like a scenery object you need a set of 3 textures for your mesh. They are BC, MRA, N. Where MRA is a packed texture format that includes the maps of Metallic, Roughness and AmbientOcclusion in one signgle texture to save performance and memory consumption. For glass materials it is then BC, MRop, N.

 

I'm not 100% on C++ with an editor that is already compiled etc. Working with UE and their Blueprint template you can't do C++ and you can only do BP. This is partially due to C++ would need a recompile of the editor and also the added C++ code won't be in the base game.

Would be really nice if C++ is doable but I highly doubt it. Unless someone from DTG confirms otherwise I'm setting my expectations to BP only stuff, if that make sense.

 

Per Matt:

 

Awsome I was right then.

 

On a slightly different tack.
Can anyone recommend Blender Tutorials that aren't YT video clips?
Took a quick look earlier and the whole thing is thoroughly confusing compared to something like Trainsim Modeller or 3D Canvas. Mind trying to study these things in the heat probably not a great idea.

 

You need to be more like this guy

 

Yes it has been a bit like that here today. Just had to drink a large glass of orange juice. Upstairs it’s almost too hot to have the main PC and not to mention the heat making the wife even more tetchy than usual. Definitely not a good idea to be studying Blender and miss something she’s rattling on about and expects an answer!!

 

Aye its pretty unbearable today. I have air con in my living room with doors/windows closed so its not too bad in there, but the rest of the place is around 32-33 degrees inside according to the thermostat (for central heating). It might only get used a couple of weeks a year but the aircon was the best investment I ever made

Doubt your missus would let you invest though, unless you could somehow associate it with train game purchases, ha

 

Do you mean written guides? I doubt something like that exist beyond explaining a specific technique. Otherwise try the Blender Guru's donut series.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjEaoINr3zgFX8ZsChQVQsuDSjEqdWMAD

 

YouTube is your best friend. Because of the type of software it is. To make tutorials is not straight forward as it's the user that determines what you do and how you do it. The above mention though YT is a good source of teaching stuff.

 

Thank you.
To summarize: Basic Color (the main texture), MRA (Metallic, Roughness and AmbientOcclusion) and N (Normals).
Months ago I tried to do some PBR texturing and it was not a walk in the park to obtain good results .

Blender 3.x is better then 2.8/9 (before 2.8 Blender had a different GUI which was keeping me from jumping from 3DC to Blender).
The FBX format has been a standard for many years so the exporter should be the same.

 

There's always the official manual, which I understand is quite detailed. You can also search and ask questions on Q&A sites like blender.stackexchange.com. I too share your displeasure with video tutorials.

 

I like to use substance painter as you can get quite good textures from it and it'll do it Al so your textures are ready to go in UE. Just have to pop them into a material.

Obviously not everyone can do it though so sometimes have to go with blender etc. Just have to keep in mind what you do in blender may not look exactly the same in UE. At least I've found anyway.

 

The most recent Blender Humble Bundle was videos, but they've done book bundles also (which I much prefer myself).

 

Use this for Painter to get you nearer to the results in UE4. It's not perfect but better than the standard Painter colour settings.
ACES LUT For Substance Painter (gumroad.com)

 

Thank you for the suggestion.

For the moment I went for a simple constant like in Blender . (I don't know why there is a yellow glow)

 

I see the doughnut tutorial by BlenderGuru has already been mentioned which I would also really recomend as it covers most of the tools you will end up needing. I'd start there, however I can also recomend Flippednormals intro course, different style but I feel they get to the point a little quicker,



They also have a website where you buy all kinds of courses, which can really save you time in the long run but yeah they are paid afterall.

 

Awesome, thank you for that.

 

Thanks Matt!

 

Yellow glow shows that the object is selected. Nothing too special about that. Also if you select multiple objects, one of them will be highlighted as "active", which is the one you can currently edit in the properties window and other places.

You can hide overlays simply by pressing a button though it will likely be at the top of the viewport instead.

 

About the Lidar data.
The format GeoTiff with coordinates MN95 is ok for TSW4?
I can load it in Blender without issues

A route can receive terrain from 2 different sources?
For example, multiple tiles done with Lidar data and around them tiles done with classic .hgt?
I discovered that my country mapped only the plains (not all of them) and not the hills and mountains (except in particular areas)

 

I did not thougth about that, since i clicked way from the object in UE4, but maybe I forgot to do it.

 

Wait. That was a UE4 viewport and not Blender? Now I feel a little dumb.

Aynway in UE4, you can hide all symbology by pressing G to go into Game View. However if you select something while in game view, it still highlights so then you need to double-tap G to hide it again.

Also apparently pressing Esc de-selects everything so that's another way to get a clear preview.

 

Wasn't it your goodself who created The Cambrian Route for MSTS? How I'd love to see that in TSW! I remember the day the disc arrived, I was flying out to Magaluf later that day, took me ages to pack as I couldn't get off playing the route, first thing I did when I got back was to dump the luggage and load up the route for a couple of hours.

 

I did the original Cambrian Coast for 3D Train Stuff, yes! Thanks for the kind thoughts. Not forgetting all the rest of the team who did the 3D models, trains and textures.

Sadly I wasn’t involved with the subsequent wider Cambrian Lines they made though I believe the earlier version formed the base of it.

 

A bit of clarity needed here please....
Will the editor work with the Microsoft Xbox store PC version on day one? If not when will it be available as I am thinking about which platform to pre-order.

 

Yes they were taken from two distinct screenshots done in UE4.
Thank you for the tips.

 

MSTS Cambrian Coast was also my inspiration for getting involved in Kuju Train Simulator/Railworks/TSC development. I wanted to be able to drive KevMT 's Prairie engine from the correct cab rather than the default Black 5 cab we aliased everything to back then, so I set out to build it. Then we needed more GWR wagons and the rest, as they say, is history

 

On a slightly different tack and looking ahead to one of the routes I might build in due course...

Trying to think if any of the current (Standard Gauge) routes have log or timber loaders and suitable wagons/loads to convey logs.

I know there are log wagons in Arosa, but ideally thinking of UK/European SG, not MG.

 

There is the German Roos-t 645, which is similar to the KFA's I think it comes with Ruhr Sieg Nord and maybe some other German routes

 

Excellent, thanks Alex. Even if there isn't a loader presumably during the timetable or scenario creation stage we will be able to specify loaded or unloaded.

I can almost hear the diesel locos powering through that northern tundra and pine forests!

 

Sounds great!

Yeah I imagine so, we will see what can be done with cargo loading, could be a really interesting thing to exlpore!

Been getting into a lot of US stuff recently so I've got my eye on making really like to make a small US shortline make it nice and industrial with, something more like a model railway shunting layout so cargo would be quite important I think!

 

Is there going to be centralized place for the documentation(wiki?) of the editor or is it going to be like in MSTS days: dozen sites with random assortment of knowledge of RouteEditor.

 

The google overlay showed in the stream needs the "key" obtained from goggle like in TSC or it works without it?

 

Hopefully it will work with the same key as mine (luckily) has never required me to register a debit or credit card.
If not, then good old kml markers will have to suffice.

 

Don’t know if anyone asked this but will it be available for Mac. I know probably in the title but wondered.

 

Great news Matt, thanks. (Just don’t tell Google! j.

 

Is this down to a license issue for ue4 or that it would mean total new bit of software. If you can answer.

and thank you for first reply also.

 

Thanks for the info. PC editor I think is going be the thing i need to push me into getting Mac setup to virtually run windows. One final question. Having pre ordered TSW4 for ps5. Does that entitle me to download the pc editor to a pc or would I need pc version for that.

thanks for all your help.

 

I believe that generally speaking Unreal 4 works under Wine.

 

Not wanting to sound silly but what is wine, software wise?