I'm sure this question may have been asked before but I am reaching the point where I'm looking to start creating custom stations for my new route. (I have about 50 stations to do!) Now, I know that it involves exporting out the track as FBX files and then importing them into blender, but I'm hitting a block as to what the steps are after that. Speaking as someone who has zero experience in 3d modelling, I realise that there will be some learning I would need to do myself, but I would appreciate any starter guides about things like simple cubes block outs and assigning materials etc. I would then need to understand the steps that I need to perform in the editor as I've seen that other stations have custom lighting, groups of meshes, nav spawns etc, adding things like DisplayBoards and other meshes. It's all feels a bit overwhelming for a beginner with no clear guide in docs or online (that research has turned up yet). Having been able to make some real progress on other areas of route creation I'm looking to take things to the next level.
This is a very big question. Have you read the Custom Station Help thread started by Greggygran last year as there is a lot of information in there - some from me - about setting up a station in the Editor. Also I suggest you find a DTG station blueprint like the ones you want to make, make a Child of it and then study how that station is set up. As a brief summary: 1. You need to make a platform mesh in Blender. I imported the track layout into Blender and then created the platforms manually using a cube to get the standard (UK) distance of the platform edge from the rail. Others use the platform sections provided by DTG. You will need to add textures and collision boxes then export it (or them) as FBX Static Mesh. Import the static mesh into the editor. 2. You will need Track Markers (Platform) on each track section which adjoins a platform and give them appropriate names (e.g Platform 1 _Down Main) 3. You will then need to make a Station Blueprint for each station - either from a child of an existing DTG one or using the blank station blueprint. You can add your platform mesh (or platforms) to the blueprint and then link each one to the appropriate track marker. You will also need a passenger spawn volume and possibly waiting areas along the edge of the platform. Benches, lights and so on can be added to the blueprint if required. 4. Drag your station blueprint into the game and then line it up with the track . Again, I personally use a spacing block imported into the editor to check the platform edge gaps and height above rail .(This is critical for passenger operation.) Other people may be able to suggest better methods. 5. Make a Station Directory for your route to which you must add every station and specify each platform using the Track Marker name. Here you set the passenger density by time of day curves and which passenger characters you want to appear. 6. Finally you need a Navmesh to cover the complete station (all platforms, footbridges, subways etc.) to control passenger movements. Then you should be able to set up a Scenario where you can drive to a station, load /unload passengers, and move on to the next one. If you set the scenario as Play In Editor you can then "play" the scenario in the editor to test the passengers work correctly. As far as I know nobody has been able to import a complete route into the game (except for DTG third party partners) Hope this helps - if you have fifty stations on your route I wish you the best of luck with your project (my route only has four !).
Great info here, just starting on a station right now. so far I have just imported a static mesh from Blender and textures, but looking at other routes, it was clear that I was missing a few steps. Thanks for filling in some of the blanks.
And thats actually the problem, Navmesh can be generated but it won't be saved by the editor, even the spawn of the passenger doesn't work ingame, although in PIE it does. Excuse me, if I'm not right and I would be happy about an solution, but I tried almost everything regarding that on my end... I wouldn't say that, in TSC there are a few test maps that work ingame, building a route and get it work ingame works, although with a few minor problems
It's some time since I was involved with the station and passengers but I had run into problems with Navmesh. I didn't mention that in this new thread because I was trying to give the OP a quick summary of the requirements for setting up a station. If you look through the earlier thread by Greggygran you will see that I had trouble with passengers appearing at the start of the scenario but not at the next station (5 miles away) because when a new "level" is streamed in during play the Navmesh is destroyed and has to be rebuilt. I searched lots of Unreal forums and found this is a problem for Unreal users who are not connected with TSW at all. The suggestion that eventually worked for me (in the Editor at least) was to create a Navmesh for each station on the relevant local tile and then duplicate one of these Navmeshes and move it to the Persistent Level. Then , when I ran the scenario in Play in Editor mode the passengers worked fine at each and every station. I can't tell if this works in game as I have not yet succeeded in getting my route into the game. At the time I wrote that comment I wasn't aware of any custom routes working in game but have recently become aware of rob#3036 who has got his Talyllyn Railway route into the game. He kindly provided a tutorial explaining how to set up the various files for cooking and packing a route. Sadly his method didn't work for me probably because I have too many DLC dependencies in my GWR Branch line route. I am happy to withdraw my comment and pleased to discover that others have now managed to get custom routes working in the game.
So on every official map there is a navmesh in the persitant world that is usually over the station in the sky and then the normal local navmesh for each station.
Very interesting and useful discussion. Can someone share an idea for creating curved station. I don’t see how can I export my section of rails from the editor, but maybe there is a way to do it, or some different approach to do that.
Not sure I got it right. So, I have to create a spline that follows the track and export it? Sorry if my questions sound stupid, I’m getting a gist of UE
