I have been working on my first real life Croatian route between Staza-Hrvatska Dubica ( 25 km ) using only European Loco & Asset pack and default Kuju track from Bath Green Park to Templecombe but with that track it does not look very good. Since I dont realy like to use 3D track, I prefer using classic and nostalgic 2D Track. So I would ask you what 2D Track is the best and most realistic looking track depending on its textures and color? On witch route i can find it? ( I need european track with wooden sleepers and realistic manual switches ).
I think that the best 2D track is in the Armstrong Powerhouse Track Enhancement pack. It's so good that I compared two separate copies of the London-Brighton route with the AP track and Norbert Rieger's DBTracks (which are 3D) and thought the 2D track looked better. It's of course payware, but at roughly $15 for the pack it's not that expensive and produces a massive increase in a route's realism.
The Track looks realy nice, but I am not using anything build by third party community, I stick only to official RSC and DTG releases ( mostly routes from ( 2009.-2014. ) Sorry I forgot to mention that. The real question is what is the best looking 2D Track that is published by RSC and later DTG?
There is no really good 2D track. For UK I quite like the track from the Wear dale route. It's attached rule also allows quite sharp radius curves on main line, rather than having to lay as Yard then go back and select to change.
Published by RSC/DTG, I'd have to say the track on the Konstanz-Villingen route by Maik Goltz (licensed for the aforementioned AP Track - Remember people that *IS NOT* AP's track, it is licensed from Maik!)
The Weardale Route mentioned above and the Netherfield Nottingham route are quite good for Flat Bottom Rail on Wooden Sleepers which you find on European Routes. A lot of RSC/DTG routes come with Concrete Sleeper Track.
Weardale track definitely looks the best. It is too bad that I missed buying this route when it was on february sale for only 2.70 euros.
You may not think that at first, but seeing the upgrade first hand makes it understandable - same with the other general EPs made by AP, especially the signal and weather packs.
No, I don't think seeing them in person would convince me to spend $15 on graphical improvement to track.
It worked for me, and for everyone else who bought it. How you can put up with the track DTG includes I don't know.
...because they were already the sort of people for whom spending $15 on improved track graphics seemed like a financially sound thing to do.
I find it varies greatly from route to route. The original Kuju track is pretty hard to look at nowadays, as is that on older DLC routes like WCML North and Over Shap, but the (relatively) newer routes like Liverpool to Manchester, Weardale and South West Mainline are pretty good "out of the box". As with most "enhancements", there will be those who view the AP track replacements as essential, and others who find them irrelevant.
I seem to run more european routes than UK and I find the track on those routes are quite good Some RSSLO routes need a tweak but most freeware routes look good
Side topic: How does one make new track textures? I believe someone did some for AP and they look amazing. Thinking of modifying the South African roots that I have to make their tracks. Look a bit more real
For the first question, I'm not sure of the exact method but it'll likely be the same way as retexturing any other asset in the game. I know that the developer of the South Eastern Network route has a retexture for the AP tracks which looks very nice; I might have asked about it but I don't remember if they answered or not. As for changing the tracks, again I'm not sure of the exact method but it will be possible to change them using TS Tools.
Changing track is quite complex. Tried it on one of my older routes which I was trying to refurbish after the UKTS closure. Had to do all sorts of find and replace in TS Tools including Track Rule references and some manual editing of the files too. Why can’t it be like Trainz Surveyor where you drag the existing track to one side of a menu box, the type you want to use on the other, decide if you want the whole route or just a section, hit go and five seconds later it’s done.
I have done some track replacing with RW Tools in the past Mike had made a useful guide showing what needed to be done but it was not a quick process as different types of track are involved. The file is attached. I had changes some of the track on the District Sud Ost route (Belgium) as the default track looked rusty in places I swapped it to - I think - the free track from Chris Trains Part way thru the process and the track to the right of the platform is the original and the others have been changed. Peter
