From the Announcements forum. RailfanTV Schedule: Thursday, 12th October: PC Editor Masterclass #1 - Track and Signals (Lukas) Join Lukas as he hosts the first of our PC Editor Masterclasses, where we will be looking at Track and Signals. I noticed this in the announcements and haven't seen it mentioned here in the editor forum. I'm looking forward to this!
Hopefully it can be digested into some form of document. Maybe I'm just odd (probably) but I find video tutorials not always easy to take in.
there are many different ways people learn, reading is definitely not one that suits me but it would be a great Idea for those that find it easier that way
just started to watch this and errrr KML? never had to do that when I imported my terrain is there really a need to do our terrain this way?
I started watching the stream on Track and Signals . . . the demonstrator Lucas speaks reasonable English but . . . all the software was of German format that I could see . . . Lucas spoke very quickly . . .and moved very quickly . . . and had to backtrack very quickly at times which really confused me . . . at the point I gave up (40minutes) he just worked so quickly and was clicking on German text I could not follow ANYTHING ! I gave up. I hope that better quality and usable tutorials do become available. I work with UE5 so I am technically capable of learning almost anything but this was totally foreign to me. Very Sad
If you want to auto-populate the route with the landscape, scenery and track tiles as Lucas demonstrated, then yes. Doing it manually is an option that will work fine for a small area.
i'll watch it again later today, got the day off work so more time to inwardly digest everything properly
For the KML part: there is no need to install google earth pro, simply use online version of google earth instead! earth.google.com
I haven’t watched it all but did copy exactly what Lucas was doing in my editor up to a point. Then he suddenly switched from using a kml file to propagate the tiles, to using already prepared LiDAR data so I was left wondering why we’d gone through the kml exercise at all. I think he did go on later to show how to get that data so will take some deep breaths and get QGIS ready for use this afternoon. Hoping it will all click and make sense eventually.
Agree as per my earlier point. These streams are appreciated but no substitute for a carefully written manual or at least instruction sheet.
UPDATED 10/10/23:: This is information for people creating a route that's in the UK. I followed along with (1) TSW4 PC Editor | How to import terrain - YouTube This video is a great start and to help others along. @ 4.00 to get UK lidar data go to https://environment.data.gov.uk/DefraDataDownload/?Mode=survey in the download options select LIDAR Composite DTM, Year 2022 or whichever the latest year is, resolution DTM 1M . @4.36 set the number to 27700 It should be something like OSGB36/BRITISHNATIONALGRID EPSG:27700 @11.36 go to this tutorial posted by Matt https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/plugin-creation.74410/#post-727523 and create your plugin for your route and then follow this tutorial .@1839 and @1908 Tick the Use Pseudo Mercator Box in both snap to landscape and Tile placement tabs Lidar settings dropdown. Make sure you setup your data, route and folders exactly the same. This is what worked for me I hope it helps.
I'll feel better if there are written instructions. I tried to watch the almost 3-hour "movie" but I couldn't do it.
just under half way through i learned some new stuff overall to that point all seemed ok for me but i think something written step by step with pics and links would be a good idea too. I'd give it a go but with work and using the editor in my me time I'm not sure how long it would take. EDIT: I'm in the process of putting together a step by step guide
That would be very useful. I managed to get my Lidar data merged in QGIS but had masses of out of range errors when I tried to produce the projection. It’s possible I used the wrong projection setting for the UK but my understanding of what is actually involved here is very limited. A step by step guide with some explanation of each process would be hugely appreciated.
I don’t think there will ever be a written guide. The amount of time it would take to create it, for the amount of people that will actually use it wouldn’t be viable in my opinion. It doesn’t take long to sit down and make a video, but it takes a lot longer to document it and those people have to be paid and it takes them away from actually building stuff - can’t see it happening. Plus DTG’s record on manuals isn’t great. What will happen, in my opinion, is that some people will figure it out and share the info. In time the community will start putting things together - I’m already surprised at what people have been able to achieve. I’ll be very happy if I’m wrong.
Well an awful lot of people in this thread, not just me, seem to think something this complex at least needs a written guide or small manual covering the basics. Something IMHO DTG should have factored in when deciding to go public with the editor. Ultimately the more people they can get making routes that reference various DLC, more chance sales of said DLC will increase as users buy it to get the assets that populate the freeware route - a paradigm that works in TSC. As noted in another thread they have 200 people working for them plus associates. Surely they cannot be that busy that one or two can’t be tasked with spending a couple of day’s writing up a set of instructions. If you’re going to do the job, do it properly. Don’t make the editor another released then quickly forgotten and unsupported enterprise.
I'm in the process of putting a written guide in place. I'm gathering the data from different sources. There is a guide somewhere on the forum that someone has done but its mainly copy/paste of all whats on the forums and doesn't really go into too much detail. The one i'm doing is step by step more like a route editor for dummies as I have learning difficulties and short term memory problems so can relate more to those with zero experience and as I do require more details rather than snippets from people with more experience. I'll also be including any areas where I had to do a workaround with any issues I encountered along the way so that people don't have to and will be adding in plenty of pics in places that words can't show. Its taken me away from my route editing but having hope that it will work for everyone Is keeping me happy to do it.
Just a quick update I'm onto page 16 of my route guide creation and I'm at the point where I've just added the TOD4 lighting to my new route. Next I'm covering obtaining Lidar Data, the route I'm making is just over 2 miles long so that won't take long to get written up and tested. I will at this point be mentioning any hurdles I came across and how I fixed them just in case anyone else has the same issues as well. Luckily it's my day off work so fingers crossed should get it mostly done, I'm aiming to get it all done but have a hour walk to do to meet my wife from work so she's not walking home alone in the dark EDIT: Nearly 12 hours later 29 screenshots and 29 pages Unfortunately My editor guide still isn't finished so just to update you all on where I'm at. I've shown how to get Lidar data (UK only sorry guys and gals) and now working on the dredded QGis I'm expecting it all to take another 3 to 4 hours to complete so I'm going to spend another hour Then I'll finish it off after work tomorrow. I finish at 1730 so will be home by 1800 GMT.
Following the Youtube masterclass very carefully, I've managed to get the basic landscape data showing up fine. Unfortunately when I move on to applying the Lidar Data to a selected tile, although it definitely works it is only visible for less than a second. The display then quickly reverts to the low res landscape and the Lidar detail disappears. Has anyone else had a similar problem? Edit: I just realised that after creating the new level I had accidentally deleted the Floor actor along with the other unwanted items. Started the new level again and this time it worked.
I have watched the first part of the video about landscape creation and would like to thank Lukas for his help. When Matt and his colleague did the original video they created the Landscape (to illustrate how it was done) and then deleted it before laying track. I don't think it was intended to imply that manually creating the landscape is the first step in building a route - although importing the Lidar data probably is. It seems from Lukas' video that the first step in creating a new route is to load in the kml file for the whole route. (I think this was how it was done in Train Simulator (TSC) where the game editor built up the terrain around your chosen location.) Then if you have the DEM data ready the editor will create all the landscape tiles around your chosen route in one go using the command line (console) prompt. They (the tiles) are not all visible in the editor because they stream in and out as you move along the route. I had already built the landscape for my route but thought I'd give it try so I deleted all the landscape tiles _ leaving all the Lidar data in place - and then recreated the landscape using Lukas method. This worked fine with one exception. When I selected all of the Landscape proxies (RHS) and then applied the Lidar data it applied only to the 50 or so tiles listed in the editor at the time. As my route is about 20 miles long I had to travel to the further reaches of the route before the "hidden" tiles would stream in - then I could select them and apply the LIDAR data to them. Perhaps somebody knows of a way to select all the Streaming Proxies.
Hi All, I'm laying some track for a route i'm building and have stumbled across somwthing I don't know how to do. Does anyone know how to achieve a double slip point? Many Thanks! Will
Finally worked out a decent safe way to share my guide There's a link in this section of the forum. Tutorial - (unofficial) Terrain Creation Guide For Beginners | Dovetail Games Forums The guide needs a lot of tweaking but would appreciate some feedback to help with this.
