Tutorial (unofficial) Terrain Creation Guide For Beginners

Finally found a way to share my terrain guide, Wish I had kept up with my Computer Skills, so here's a link to the website I created with the guide. I sincerely hope a lot of people can benefit from this. Thankyou to all those on the forums,and the DTG team.https://docs.google.com/document/d/...xo8P6djUyCb1jPX13D1AbdYm3PapxTof-Q-7RdG3C/pub
EDIT: Added a Painting Landscapes section to the guide

EDIT: Updated guide to show the right information for using KML for placemarks and route and also added information for using SRTM(.hgt) files for the basic terrain. ( This update I had to rush as I needed to get it sorted before setting off for work. Please give any feedback in a private conversation if you find any issues) If you've found this guide useful then please let me know.

 

Hello, thank you for sharing. The file requests access permission. I think you need to make file access public.

 

Nope

 

When you select the Share settings for the document, you need to change it to "Public on the web" to allow all to see it. But make sure you make it read-only, otherwise it can be edited anonymously. https://support.google.com/docs/answer/183965?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform=Desktop

 

Thanks for the guide DonnyDave the link is working fine now.

 

May i include your guide into my editor editor documentation file? (it's a pinned thread)

 

That would be great, The more places its shown the more chance people will have of seeing it. Might be best just to add the link with it being over 60 pages long though. I'm updating it atm . my google docs is linked to the website so any changes i'm making are getting updated to the website near enough straight away

 

BTW: there is no need to install google earth pro. To create the basic route KML file, you can also use the browser version of google earth https://earth.google.com/

 

Well I have just spent about 7-8 hours on this, with Dave's Terrain Guide and, I think, I have finally got there.......hooray !!!
Although I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, and why I was doing it, I persevered to the end and have now got a Lidar landscape that reflects a part of Southend in Essex.
So I would like to thank Dave for all his hard work as there was absolutely no way I could have achieved this without his guide.
(Now I have got to try and correct all of my mistakes before I can even think about laying down some track.....but that is for another thread).
And before anyone asks I am not planning to build the C2C network. I am simply having a bash at the pier railway !!!
Thanks again.

David



David

 

When I went to the website I noticed there was 3 different versions that you can download I think I did mention this but will check. Thanks for pointing it out though and i'll check it out while updating

 

I did the same things that Lukas did in the stream with the web version of google earth and it worked.
Creating a path and points of interest, group them and download as KML file. Everything was fine within the editor. Now I wait for my brand new credit card to use free google maps - such a shame!!

 

UPDATE: The guide has now been punctuated correctly, some areas emboldened and other areas re-worded. This is still a work in progress

 

We're finally going to add all that hard work you’ve done into the route editor. Select the Use Guides button, scroll down to the bottom, and select Use Selected Assets. A new button, Show Guides, will appear underneath. It's very important that you click here. If you select the Placemarks icon at the top of your viewport, you will now see the placemarks you created in your KML creation file. Clicking on any of those will teleport you to those locations.

Where is the Use Guides button?

 

Thanks for that and i'll get it re-worded straight away

 

Thank you for helping me. I made a few mistakes while creating the route. I didn't know that there are small icons down the left side of the screen. After creating the route, how can I place tracks on the route? Are there USA tracks with third rails? The LIRR route has the tracks. Are there subway cars similar to the NYCTA R44/R46 cars?

 

not got as far as laying track I always do my scenery first but where it says modes click it and select network editing mode, the first tool on the left is to scroll and select under that one , looks like a little track, in that one you can select your track and track rules. sorry I couldn't be more help

 

Is it possible to create flat terrain without using STRM and LIDAR data? I tried to place track on flat terrain but I got an error message saying that track can't be placed on terrain.

 

omw home from work atm be bout half hour if no one has replied I'll take a look. I did terrain in unreal engine 5.3 so can't see why there should be any problems

 

Heres something I found it explains how to create a flat landscape Creating Landscapes | Unreal Engine 4.27 Documentation

 

I Just wanted to say, as someone who doesn't happen to handle GIS and DEM datasets on the regular, that your guide is quite indispensable. Thanks for putting the time and effort into making it!

 

Thank You very much, I've never had dealings with DEM until Train Sim World Classic and DEM, Lidar until TSW4 route editor (Beta) either. I created a basic workaround guide originally for myself rather than having to search on You Tube and through the posts that are getting a bit mixed up on the forums. I then noticed a lot of people were asking for something that would save them the same problems I was having, so with much re-wording and many screenshots I put it all together in a way even a person new to the editor would understand.

 

The page for the guide is now saying I need permission to view it. I Just tried to get an API key for maps, so maybe it's Google being weird (?)

Anyway, thought you'd want to know.

(edited for brevity)

 

Okay, currently this link: (https://docs.google.com/document/d/...xo8P6djUyCb1jPX13D1AbdYm3PapxTof-Q-7RdG3C/pub) gets me to the tutorial, but currently the link at the top of this thread (https://sites.google.com/view/tsw4-routeterrainguide/home) doesn't work, at least for me. You might need to edit the first message again. Not sure if that's how it was this morning; it's getting kind of late for me.

 

https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/lidar-tutorial.74374/page-3#post-740754 from Post 126

I thought the KML contained the basic height data gathered from Google Earth Pro as seen below of the Red Line so I was expecting some basic land scape. If this is not the case, where do I get the SRTM data from? I know where to get the Lidar data from. Do I need both or do I just use one or the other? Sorry for being such a bother



This is the part I got to and it was all flat afterwards;

"Now select the create tile tab in your Route Building Window and open up your console command (tide key). In the console command window, type KML. The console command window will show some options, and you need to select ts2ed.experimental.CreateSceneryAndLandscapeTilesFromKML then press enter. If all goes well, the editor should start generating your terrain. NOTE: If you’ve created a long route, now's a good time to take a break. I'd show here a screenshot of my route, but the area I’ve chosen is flat, but you should see your landscape! Save your work!"

 

Ignore me, I found it a few steps later the SRTM Downloader *face palm*

 

made a change on the website and got a message saying that the person never had access, is anyone else having the same problem?

 

On the website yes, it is asking me to request access to the document

 

Yes, that's what I was getting too

 

Not sure what happened all I did was create a new page for when I'm ready to do my track laying guide, so I've deleted that page and reset the link. If it doesn't work i'm not sure what to do as I've set viewing to public

 

I can view the terrain guide. Maybe you need to log off and log back on or clear your browser.

 

ahh cool guess the new link is working?

 

as of right now, I'm still getting the page josh_the_tech was getting. It's late here, so I'll try again tomorrow. could just be Google being weird.

 

I've been able to access it throughout the weekend without issues but I did downloaded the guide by Right Clicking in the document - Save As - Save As Type Web Page, Complete (*htm, *html), file size is just under 1.7MB. This was just in case I lost access to it as well after everyone above saying they could no longer access it.



If PDF is allowed, could be worth adding it to a pin post at the top should Google Documents have issues. The downside is, it's one more thing to remember to replace when changes are made.

 

Still a no-go for me. I put in a request for access.

 

I saved it as pdf but file too large, zipped it and still saying file is too large

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/...xo8P6djUyCb1jPX13D1AbdYm3PapxTof-Q-7RdG3C/pub

 

That link is working for me now

 

Brill thanks for letting me know

 

When will that guide be available?

 

I'm having an issue with LAZ files. My country (USA) only provides LAZ files, which can not be unzipped. I just drag them in the QGIS editor and it unpacks them, but when I try to merge it, it starts giving me multiple errors. Also, WGS isn't the right coordinates to be using for US routes as it translates to something entirely different.

 

have you tried Where can I get global elevation  data? | U.S. Geological Survey (usgs.gov) or Earthdata Search | Earthdata Search (nasa.gov) ?

 

Yes. Apparently you have to use LASTools or something called that to covert it into TIF, but that slows down the computer so much that you can’t even proceed.

 

Little doubt, is there a way to know how STRM file I've used to create my terrain?
And how I can insert some new one (always STRM) without problems on the just used one?

 

you mean tiles in the kml file?

 

No, I mean the terrain tile user to build landscape...
I've put a lot of STRM file in the route folder when I built my route but, to fasten the process, I've selected onli a little of it and now I've reached the end of the terrains so.....
I need to find which STRM file I've used and how to generate more terrain tile but without touching the existing one

 

If you followed the guide you should have a KML file that you created using google earth pro and then ALL of the lidar(srtm) from whichever website you used to get it from that covered just over the area of your route all in the editor like I have for my route. If you didn't collect and convert all of the data you needed to cover your route then only thing I can think of doing is going back and collecting all the lidar data you need

 

Ok, now it's work, I've miss to convert the file!
Thanks!

 

happy you got it sorted happy route building

 

I've watched the Masterclass video again and noticed they've added some more information with regard to Lidar so I'll be adding this to the guide I created as soon as I've added the lidar to my own route and sorted out some new screenshots to show the changes. Please send me any feedback, good or bad, on the guide so I can keep it updated.

 

so im very new to this but i wanted to try something new. so far the guide has been great (although tbf im only on the easy part ) but when you say to delete the .tfw and .tif files i dont have the .tif with the browser logo so im not sure what ones to delete or keep