Hello everyone, as so many people posted their routes in the recent days I thought I might as well do it too. So the route I'm building is a German route, from Hannover to Bielefeld. It's one of the busiest routes in Germany and about 120 km long. The top speed is 160 km/h mostly but there is one stretch that uses LZB where the top speed is 200 km/h. About half of the route is made of four prallel tracks, the other half has two tracks. This is because of the high amount of freight traffic. It's like two parallel double track routes. One for passenger traffic and one for freight traffic. There are also many IC / ICE services with multiple stops along the route. And in the Hannover area there are plenty of S-Bahn services. Here is the route map as of now which shows my current progress and which stations I want to be included in the route when it's finished: As you can see the route goes from Brackwede to Lehrte, so slightly further than what I wrote. I also want to include the Hanover freight bypass railway so that freight services can go all the way to Lehrte. If I still have time after all that, I will probably make the brach "Ravensberger Bahn". In this project I'm trying to use only custom assets. Espesially when it comes to roads. I personally can't stand the way the roads are made in most of the existing DLC. That's the reason this will probably take a very long time to finish, but for me it's worth it. I'm working iteratively on the Bielefeld - Minden part of the route, after that iteratively on the rest. I hope that'll give better control of the time that the project takes. But for now, here are some screenshots of what I've made so far:
I swear this is the golden era of TSW, so many routes, most of them also being routes many people wanted, finally being made by the community per editor. love it!
OMG I have been waiting for the route many years. Have meantioned it in the last TSW survey. I live along the route. This will be a master piece! Please keep us up to date.
I love to see this route because I drive it by myself in real life. On my profile picture, that's me in Hannover
Cool to see your project now. I've thought about when you will announce it as you gained so much knowledge about the Editor and QGIS already. It's also cool that you're one of the first building a long route. I know that the common advice is to rather start with a short route, but I guess we both more like to go by "all or nothing". This is a very nice mind set. As you know, I'm far away from even creating custom assets, but I want (and need) to do so as well at some point, I guess. One thing to emphasize "only use costum assets" is also a very challenging but great idea. I don't like how most assets we can use for our projects are dependent upon other DLCs (requiring them to have). Try to create as much as possible by costum assets, will be hard, but in the end it pays out in terms of quality but also in the amount of players which can use your route. +1!
I genuinely love this idea, I wish the best of luck for you. Will be checking in to see what cool updates ya got
Yeah I know I'm even scared that the project might be too much for me. Hence the iterative approach. I don't think I will be able to release it anytime soon. But luckily I have experience from building routes in TSC and also game development / programming experience, which makes this even possible
One step at a time! We don't need to rush. And minor successes are important. Unfortunately, I don't have experience with route building in TSC and Unreal engine, but I learned actually a programming language as apprenticeship (C), but however it doesn't help me anything here. :-P One advice I learned from Lukas in the masterclass and wasn't aware of how important that is when suggesting a route was mentioning that he looks at a cab view to get everything done like in real life. I have a few routes in the area which SRTM data you send covers. Unfortunately, the one I now try to create and my most motivating one, has no cab views available :-( - But the other two routes, starting at the exact same train station, have various cab views available. I would try to get as many cab views as possible to help you creating your custom assets and the route, in case you didn't know or didn't emphasized on that already.
Oh that's really cool that you have a bit of C knowledge. Even if it doesnt help you directly, it helps to know how programs work and will help you scriping in UE4. Yeah I know that about the cab rides. I have downloaded several cab rides. There are so many on my route. I also use satellite images of different providers and Google StreetView and Apple Look around especially fir buildings. So I try to use every free information there is. I also sometimes take photos myself if there isnt one of the building I'm modelling on the internet.
Trains are a difficult question. Of course I would like every train that drives there in real life but on this route that would be way too many that we don't have. If we have an IC2 in the meantime, I would also use it. But an IC2 has different dostos. Im not so sure whether I would use the existing dostos for this or just a normal IC. The trains I definitely want on this route (which I'm going to make if nobody else does it): - Stadler Kiss in Westfalenbahn livery - Siemens Desiro HC in RRX livery (I know someone is making one). - Talent 1 in Eurobahn and NordWestBahn livery Other than that I'm using the trains that we already have. Another problem is the licensing, but Im going to think about that when the route is done. The route itself is more important to me.
It's 1 meter resolution Lidar data. The 30 meter SRTM data from NASA is nowhere close to that level of detail.
OK then and speaking of the Westfalenbahn it's part of the Netherlands Spoorwegen Abellio group which means their group licence is needed. Although you can get around that by using existing 523 Switzerland Germany 427-429 1429 in DB Traffic Red to represent them.
Is the lidar data only for hannoverrr or is it for lower saxony? Im trying to build a map in lower saxony but i can't find any free lidar data.
Lidar data in Lower Saxony is not free, unfortunately. There are exceptions for certain regions like Hanover.
The good thing is that it will be free for the whole of Lower Saxony by the second half of 2024. I was informed of this when I called the institution responsible to find out the price for the area I need for my next project (58.000€).
Oh my god, I hope you are telling the truth. You wouldn't believe me how happy this makes me. I wish they posted it on their website or something because for the last weeks I've been looking for information like this. Having felt the joy of using super detailed 1m Lidar, I cannot go back to using SRTM or something like that. I was even considering buying some important tiles. That's also part of the reason I postponed the Minden - Hannover part of the route. Because I hoped they would make it free.. Thank you so much
Is this the price you shall pay to get the Lidar data for your project or the annual income of the regional government with Lidar data inquiries? I've read that governments in Germany decided to offer their Lidar data for free because they made "only" an income of about that number, too less for them to even out the costs for the necessary bureaucracy and office works.
I guess that's the price of the Lidar data. I looked at their website and I would have to pay about the same or more if I wanted the same amount of Lidar tiles as I have in NRW. It's really expensive.
Wow! Never thought that would be true. Makes me think about who could ever pay this amount of money for such a little chunk of data? This price would not even make sense if I would plan to build my own industrial complex. But maybe this is also the reason why nire and more states offer it now or soon for free. Because nobody paid that ridiculous price tag. Not even CEOs of Siemens, BASF or a like.
Yes, that would be the price for all the tiles I need. But thats because I plan to build different routes together which result in a network of lines (long and wight). If you wanna know which one this is, you can find a little hint in one of the pictures in the thread of my current route. But normally for a 'short' route like for example Hannover-Braunschweig, the prices should be a lot cheaper. Although you might still have to pay like 5 to 10k €
Hello, I have always wanted a route like this, at least Hanover Central Station. But even my home station Wunstorf in Train Sim World is a dream. I want TSW4 for my birthday just so I can drive this route. Please continue working on this route. If it comes out in November, I'll be able to buy it straight away
Thanks, it's my dream route, too. I don't know if I understand right but please don't get Train Sim World only to drive on my route as it will take a very long time until I'm going to release it.
Take your Time. But what's important to me is that the route should be very identical and realistic. I'm also going to buy TSW4 because of all the new content and updates that no longer appear in TSW3.
shut up and take my money, nuff said the more German and Austrian routes, the better maybe one day the community finally creates a functioning Ebula O anyway, good luck ))
Lukas said they want to do it and it sounds very promising, but I asked Matt about the progress in one of his charity streams and whether this might be a feature for TSW5. He said "no progress", also didn't give me the feeling as they are actively interested to take the time to get Ebula going. Therefore a community implemented Ebula is still the most hopeful thought to get it into TSW.
there are some things that are very hard to take into an account if you want to go HUDless... like... the point where you are supposed to stop... the marker it shows you doesnt always correspond with the H sign for example... a working EBula would bring stuff closer to reality and fun
For me, the most benefit would be to see the times when to depart and arrive directly in the cabin. And probably to see the speed limits at certain sections relative to the kilometer/hectometer boards.
also, in reality you cant just blast into station going 100 km/h or so, even if the train can stop in time... safety reasons... and Fahrplan-s also show the approach speeds for platforms... which stations you are supposed to stop at, which platform, at what sign... I know it isnt supposed to be 100% real, but still... for example they promised penalties for super-hard breaking and such, no show... and y know, some more nuances to driving... like except some trains, you cant just blast it to 100% throttle or you cook the engines and such... and at some parts you have speed limit, but you arent actually supposed to go the full speed... example from my real rides as passenger: I travelled from Bratislava-Petrzalka to Vienna Hbf, it was a REX, but not Desiro ML, but Taurus and a bunch of Wiesel dostos... I am pretty positive that the Desiro services do go like 120-160 at certain sections of the route... these dostos arent supposed to go more than 140, but most of the route it goes between 80-100, sometimes 120, way below speed limits at certain sections... and the stops are almost the same, except it doesnt stop at Wien-Grillgasse so I guess also these differences are reflected in a Fahrplan for that specific service... I know this aint ZUSi, but still I would like to achieve sth close to reality, given the limits of the game
also, I would like to add this - just about anywhere and anytime, there is always a shortage of loco/train drivers... this kind of games pretty much "grooms" ppl into this kind of stuff... at least a part of players dream of sometime actually driving these steel behemoths ... and not everyone can start with ZUSI, and not everyone dares to apply for the actual job or training right away like, some ppl maybe wanna try as much as possible in virtual space before trying for real... so any steps taken toward the game having some aspects of reality is a good thing... great stuff about TSW is that you can turn on or off what you feel you are capable of at the particular moment and IMO this is the best game to gradually prepare future candidates ... looks better than TS, has more friendly UI, is more accessible with better learning curve... and with the arrival of editor, content will start from trickle to flow to flood
Hi! Are there any news about this route? (Sorry for asking but I am VERY hyped on this route (living along it))
Hi, I'm making steady progress but I'm not nearly as fast as pilot21 with his two routes already. (I wish I was) Originally I thought I would only post an update when I have more meaningful progress to share. Right now I have completed laying all track (except DB Systemtechnik in Minden) of the first part of the route from Brackwede to Minden as you can see on the route map This is about 50 km of four parallel tracks. But to show it better I made a little cab ride from Minden to Brackwede: At the moment I want to treat this part of the route as the whole route. When I'm done with it (or when I feel like it) I'll do the next section to Hannover. That means the next steps for me are: - Make the height correct. It's kinda tricky. You can see the bumpiness on the video. I have only done that around Bielefeld yet. - Make custom models (already done) and textures (not done) for the tracks, switch motors and maybe signals. I think from then on I will start to create more scenery. The next bigger goals are: - Finish the roads - Make stations and platforms and related assets - Make generic buildings and vegetation Currently I feel like continuing with the roads most as they are almost finished. But all that is really going to take a while...
Hey, really awesome! You can definitely tell where you are, even though nothing is there yet – both on the tracks and at some distinctive points (Sparrenburg and Ossi ). Actually, you're already so far out after Brackwede that you could even extend it all the way to Gütersloh. I wish you success and fun with your route!
Thanks! Yeah I could but then I would have to model Gütersloh as well.. To be honest, the tracks only go so far out so the portals for the AI trains are not too close. I have to set boundaries somewhere..
Bro thats craszy! It looks really good! Its one of the routes I drive most irl.! And even the DB Systemtechnik! Will we be able to drive inside it?
Thank you. I am going to try laying all the tracks of DB Systemtechnik. Since this is kind of a restricted area I don't know how far I will come with modelling it. If it all works out I might make a scenario or timetable service with it.
Understandable! Perhaps after completing the main route, there might be the desire to extend it but it's good that you're also setting your own limit there; it's already quite a lot.
