03 (March 2010) Trainz Community News

Volume 1, Number 2 March, 2010

Repair Strategy and Building Custom Filters for Content Manager – Part 1 (Feature) Red Alerts

Mcguirel's Ultratreez Are We There Yet Air HornsCommunity Comment 2010 Route Building Competition

Scaling Images With Your Body (Tutorial) and more!

Topography Maps Using Google Earth

... ..

Trainz Community News - Volume 1 No. 2 March, 2010 Page 2

Welcome to our second Newsletter. We wish to thank everyone for such a positive response in the forum and private emails. With so many of you asking for the Newsletter to continue as an independent production, we have decided to produce this second edition.

There’s certainly no shortage of content. As the publishing deadline approaches, we already have enough material left over for a third edition. I really do wish to thank all the contributors, including the people who supplied the tutorials, cover screenshots, and links to interesting web sites. Not everything made it to this edition, but rest assured that the overflow will all be published in April.

By now you will know of Auran’s announcement to discontinue support for TRS 2006 and beyond. We can find arguments for and against this decision, but at the end of the day Auran can’t be expected to supply their time and costly server space to support a program they marketed four to ten years ago.

Other businesses have similar policies, yet life goes on. Take a look at Microsoft for example. They haven’t supported their Train Simulator for yonks, yet the MSTS community continues to motor along, seemingly without a worry in the world.

Let’s try to be positive about this. Auran wants to concentrate on TS2009 and 2010 and eventually remove anything from the DLS that doesn’t work with these products. Our choice is to fix those Assets so that they do work with TS 2009+ or find another way to cater for the massive community who wish to continue using those older versions.

Enter the Trainz Community, of which this Newsletter is a part. We don’t have a web presence as yet, but that’s on its way. We’ll do everything we can to bring older assets up to TS 2009+ standards, and we may even be able to offer support for those that don’t make it.

Please read Ian Woodmore’s Community News article on the next page to see what we have planned. But also keep in mind that none of this can happen without your full support!

EditorialContentsEditorial

2010 Route Building Competition Update

Tutorial - Scaling Images With Your Body

Latest Additions to the Trainz Resources Directory

TARM Tidbits - Repair Strategy and Building Custom Filters for Content Manager – Part 1

Red Alerts

Are We There Yet?

Auran - N3V Games License Agreements

Insight Desktop Search

Tutorial - Producing Topography Maps for Trainz Using Google Earth

Mcguirel's Ultratreez

2

5

6

Editors: John King

SubscriptionsClick here to subscribe

Ian Woodmore

Aging 749/751 diesels are slowly being withdrawn from regular work in Czech Republic. Replaced by 753.7 locomotives, they serve their final days on secondary lines with all types of trains. In this case 751.089-4 and 753.073-7 leave Trutnov hl.n. with a short freight train heading for Stara Paka and Liberec. Notable is the 1948-built crew car behind the second locomotive, still in regular use after 60 years. Sudety region / Autumn 2009.

Peter Kilanowski aka KilanZiom (Poland)

[email protected]

This Month’s Cover

7

8

22

23

24

25

26

31

http://trainzresources.com/directory/pommo/news/index.html

Trainz Community News Page 3

Auran has made public their 'Trainz Life Cycle Policy' and ever since we have seen a swathe of bitter acrimony in the main forum blasting Auran for a business decision that is not unusual in the software field. No amount of righteous indignation is going to change that policy as it's a matter of survival.

So let's accept the policy, do something positive instead of complaining, and get on with life. Let's decide what we can do. After all, it is not the end of the world and there is a way forward for Auran and us to work in harmony, for the greater good of Trainz and Trainzers.

their assets and to host the results at a central website. In 2006 Steve Forget developed the Trainz Asset Repair Library (TARL Mk 1). This hosted some 8,000 repaired config files of approximately 500 authors including Auran. There was only one author objection and his wishes were respected by not hosting his assets.

Unfortunately, due to natural disasters like a direct lightning strike at the website and personal reasons, TARL died, but is not forgotten.

Community Commentby Ian Woodmore

No doubt those of you who can afford it, may have to bite the bullet and upgrade. In my experience TS2010 will run on many older computers better than the earlier versions of Trainz that you are using. Whether you upgrade Trainz is your decision, but the majority of legacy assets will run in TS2009/10. Yes, there are issues remaining, however TS2009 SP3 addresses some of them, and when it’s released TS2010 SP2 should address many more.

Obviously we would all prefer authors to update their own assets, and repair those that do not comply with the specifications. Having spent many hours repairing assets I understand that authors would rather be creating something new and more exciting rather than going back over old ground.

Several Polish depots in the early 1990s competed with each other adding random decorative details to their fleet of locomotives. Steam-heating-equipped SP45 diesels were considered the best for such decoration. Here SP45-187 from Poznan depot and SP45-143 from Leszno depot await their service at the border station of Kralovec. Sudety region / Autumn 1995.


So in the best scenario (or should that be session) Auran and authors should be bringing us the future, while we, the people who don’t create content, can be fixing the past. BUT there's got to be a better way than all of us having to repair assets for ourselves. In my case it has taken me over four years so far, and I foresee at least another two years before I can say the problem has been licked.

Why then, has the community not tackled this problem and come up with a system of providing a means of universal access to our collective repairs? It boils down to the difficulties of obtaining author approvals to repair

Today we may need to host more than 40,000 repaired assets. A Notice of Intent for Project TARM was posted in the main forum over a month ago to suggest a Way Forward.

The results were not unexpected:

�For: 3

�Against: 3

�Those with no opinion: 366,000

�Me: In a quandary.

In usual fashion the thread very quickly dried up.

Project TARM would provide an updated service similar to TARL Mk 1 and would, in the current situation, provide the bridging between the unsupported legacy versions of Trainz and TS2009/10 while still enabling many repaired assets to work properly in earlier versions.

The Trainz Resources Directory is sponsoring an initiative to get the Project TARM ball rolling, but we need your help. This is what is on offer:

Trainz Community Newsletter - immediate and then monthly - more contributions are needed, particularly on new techniques in TS2009/10. Watch for our continuation, including current articles such as TARM Tidbits etc.


TARG – Trainz Asset Repair Guide. Initial offerings will be via the Trainz Community Newsletter, then progressively these will be hosted on the Trainz Community website. By Sept 2010 substantial information will be available to you on how to repair assets. This is an ongoing effort.

TrainzAuthor - Will list all authors with builtins, obsoletes, or faulty assets in summary form. It is the basis of the modules requiring a database. It will also be the start of a License guide. This will be operating shortly.

MADE – Missing Assets Directory and Exchange. Initially the target date will be dependent on the development of a pilot database. Then 10,000+ missing

A mixed freight led by a CD Cargo 753.187-4 diesel locomotive awaits for departure at Trutnov Stred station. The leading unit is very recognizable amongst railway fans for its rusty paintwork, refreshed for the last time in 1997. Sudety region / Autumn 2009.


Trainz Community Website - We’re currently using the Trainz Resources Directory as an interim for newsflashes and whatever else on offer, then commencing 31 March 2010 a new Trainz Community website will be progressively activated.

TOOLMAN – Many of you will be aware of PEV's efforts in developing tools to assist in repairing assets, and what it means for the Way Forward. These tools will be used as part of the TARM strategy.

Watch for future newsletter articles by Mr Toolman himself. I suggest that other Trainzers developing tools for TS2009/10 let us know what they are doing and their progress.

assets will be listed, but only a few assets have been"found" as yet. All help to locate missing assets will be greatfully received. This could take the form of Trainzers advising what websites they have found authors assets hosted on. We could then incorporate that information into MADE and provide it via Trainz Resources Directory Web Links.

TARL – Trainz Asset Repair Library Mk 2. Awaits the database pilot target date, then gradual updates to extend functionality. Progressive updates of sanatised config files will be dependent on author approvals and the speed with which we can upload. First to be posted will be by those Authors who have already granted permission in the original config file, or have subsequently given approval for hosting.

TAUP – A Trainz Asset Update Program to future-proof legacy assets. Initially ensures that during repairs defective assets are fully compliant with the Content Creation Guide TC, and any overriding Wiki requirements as they become evident. Could later be extended to all non-obsolete assets.

Comprehensive Manual - Our aim is to complete a Wiki ASAP then ensure info can be easily searched for and downloaded as HTML or PDF. Target date unknown. Help needed.

As you can see this is a massive enterprise. There is a great need for the services proposed, and it’s our hope that the Trainz Community, including Auran and authors will give us their support.


The competition is now in its 12th week and the routes are finally starting to take shape. Although we’re down to six competitors after starting off with over twenty, those who have stuck it out are producing some fantastic models.

Please visit the and support this small but devoted group by viewing or commenting on there work. Some of the competitors also have private galleries on the site, so make sure you check those out also.

Competition Gallery

Current Competitors

skidmark22

jadebullet

Mitch456yui

Kiwirail

NIARTcar

IamKJVonly2

There are also a couple of newcomers, but neither has posted screenshots in accordance with the competition rules. This doesn’t eliminate them from the competition, but they may lose bonus points if they don’t post their screenshots shortly. :)

Prizes

First Prize:

First Class Ticket (One Year) Courtesy the Trainz Resources Directory

Twenty Dollar Voucher Courtesy Jointed Rail

Second Prize

First Class Ticket (6 Months) Courtesy the Trainz Resources Directory

Ten Dollar Voucher Courtesy Jointed Rail

IamKJVonly2

niartcar jadebullet

skidmark22

http://digital-junction.com/2010/gallery


by Eric Stork (Storknest)

Here’s a short tutorial that should help you keep all sorts of things in proportion. Using the human body to measure or scale complex objects makes sense and this tutorial shows you how it can be done.

John King Ed.

Paint Shop Pro 7 was used in this tutorial, however the procedures should work with other painting programs

There are different ways to measure scale in Trainz:

�On baseboards you have rulers.�In programs like gMax you have unit measurement

settings.�And now for ground texture images and possibly

others you have the human body.

Here’s an example.

I prefer to use figures with a hand positioned away from the body like this one for reasons to be described below.

Coal from a breaker comes in several sizes that can be found on the Internet. The largest I found is steamship grade, 4-6 inches across. If I make a fist, it measures 4 inches across. Considering I am about average height like a Trainz person, I can use a comparison between the Trainz person's hand to an image of broken coal to see if the scale is correct.

Since the broken coal I tried to do in the texture is smaller than steamship grade, each individual piece should be smaller than the Trainz person’s hand. A lot of the detail you see is individual pixels that represent the coal pieces and they scale correctly.

Another example with larger, mined coal. Searching the Internet I could not find exact sizes but there were a few pictures showing pieces roughly the size of a human torso. Also the provided a picture showing a piece rejected by a coal breaker. From these pictures, I determined that mined coal would be the size of a human torso or smaller. Trainz people don’t come with the ability to roll them for comparison but looking at one like the first picture I could use the mouse pointer to “measure” the torso at a certain camera distance and found his torso was 3 mouse pointers high. Without changing distance, I moved the camera to a top down view and with the mined coal texture on the baseboard, I used the mouse pointer to measure the rocks in the image.

American Coal Foundation

http://www.teachcoal.org/


While you cannot see the pointer, these are about the size I want.

So from these examples, you now can see how to use your own understanding of scaling things to your own body and using a Trainz person to assist in scaling images.

A PDF file with larger screenshots can be downloaded at the .

Right Click the link to Download.

More tutorials by Eric Stork will appear in the next issue of the Trainz Community Newsletter due on or about 15th April, 2010

Trainz Resources Directory

The Directory fell victim to a hacker in February. I’d just spent two weeks upgrading the Zen Cart scripts that run the site, but in my enthusiasm I may have used an older script instead of the most recent and less vulnerable one.

The hacker seems to specialise in programs that use Zen Cart, and in most instances he or she just leaves a calling card. No damage was done, but it was certainly a wake-up call.

I’m not sure how the site was hacked because there was no unusual activity recorded in the logs. During the revamp, I did add a facility for people to leave comments under each listing and this may well have been the hacker’s key to the door. As such, I’ve removed the facility and made other security fixes.

All this takes time. I’m also trying to produce this newsletter, establish a new Community web site and assist Ian Woodmore with his projects. I also moved to Melbourne to escape Cairns’ oppressive humidity during the wet season, so I've really l had no time to update the Directory with new listings at this stage..

Here are a few changes that have been made, but more may take place once the Newsletter is finished in Mid March.

Web SitesThe Erecting Hall

* Many thanks to Chris Hackworth for the following:

Billboards and Signs*Railway Logos*Freight Car Builder's Logos*Shop Logos

Photos - Detailed*Gladhands - Braking (Thanks to CH)*Identifying Box Car Manufacturers *3-Bay Low-Hip X-Post Covered Hopper *3-Bay High-Hip/Low-Slope Roof X-Post Covered Hopper

Interesting Links*Shop Code Key - Identification of codes for 341 shops

TutorialsHow to scale Images with your body

Removed Comments facility

http://trainzresources.com/directory/downloads/storknest1.pdf

TARM TIDBITSby Ian Woodmore


Introduction

You’ve just installed TS2009 or TS2010 and wait in eager anticipation as you launch Content Manager (CM). You have several favourite routes and sessions that you want to import from an earlier Trainz version. In dismay you see a constellation of red and yellow icons. You didn’t see those defects in your legacy Trainz version. You wonder if you have a corrupt installation, and contemplate re-installing TS2009/10, all the while cursing Auran.

Stop right there and focus: Re-installing will not fix those defects.

Most of the errors and warnings displayed in CM are real and have always been there, no matter which version of Trainz you have been using previously. Most of those errors were not of Auran’s making. The asset’s author caused those errors by not obeying the rules in the documentation. Having said that, documentation may have been quite sparse at the time, particularly on new features (sounds familiar doesn’t it). Because CMP, the forerunner to CM, wasn’t introduced until TRS2006, Tafweb provided a utility called TrainzObjectz to fill the void for TRS2004 users. Compared to the current CM3.2, the TRS2006 CMP wasn’t very discriminating. If CM3.2 had been available back then much of the mess we are currently in would never have eventuated. However, no use crying over spilt milk. We need to see what we can now do to redress the situation.

The current CM build 41615, used in conjunction with PEV’s tools, offers a host of powerful weapons to deal with the defective assets. Several articles showing you how to use PEV’s Tools will appear in this newsletter under the Toolman by-line. But before you start repairing defective assets you need a strategy to tackle

Repair Strategy and Building Custom Filters for Content Manager – Part 1

the problem. You need to concentrate your repair efforts on only those assets that are important to you and your specific Trainz interests, whether you are an author or a user. There are many defective assets that should not concern you because the assets have not been used in any of the routes/sessions that are in your Trainz Asset Database (TAD). So here is a basic strategy that you can adapt to your purposes. In addition, this article introduces Building Custom Filters for Content Manager – Part 1. This will assist you to focus on what assets you need to repair, and hide the ones you don’t need to touch.

You don’t need Obsolete Assets

Trainz will always load the latest version of a route/session/asset regardless of the asset version specified.(Note, there is currently a bug that results in allowing downloading of dependant assets that are obsolete in relation to your TAD.) You might be surprised how many obsolete assets are residing on your machine and one of your first tasks will be to delete them.

There are three categories of obsoletes:

�those that are on DLS and Trainz will not download,�those that are builtin to your version of Trainz and

are located in the ja files, and�those that are located in the local folder.

Unfortunately, Trainz does not know which are obsolete assets in your TAD, until it compares your assets to the DLS dump lists that are generated daily, weekly, and monthly. Correctly advising you of the assets status requires validation. This may occur


I have many custom filters using keywords

Bold text on a tab indicates the selected filter.

I have renamed the default filter.

This is the Obsolete icon

The size column can be used to visually determine whether obsolete asset is builtin (N/A) as this one is. If it shows unknown' then it is DLS. If it has a size (eg 1MB) then it is local but not builtin.

This is one of the default Auran filters

If you want a search filter in a TAB in Main View Save it.

It is then available as a saved filter. This is useful when you are constantly using it.

Beware that if you 'RMB 'Remove' an existing tab it is deleted as a filter unless it is an Auran default filter.

automatically after installation but can also be forced by using Quick Database Repair or Extended Database Repair.

DO NOT delete Assets.tdx or Assets.bku like you had to do in TRS2006 and TC. Similarly, do not use Steve Forget’s TAD MONITOR utility in TS2009 or TS2010. This is handled internally by a program

called TADDAEMON that runs at all times after Trainz or Content Manager has been launched.

You can see the total obsolete assets by viewing them with the Content Manager ’Obsolete True’ search filter. However, our strategy in dealing with each category is different and we need to build a set of composite filters for each type, based on the Auran provided filter.

This is a windowed display and can be scrolled vertically and horizontally.


I have added two other Auran default filters and saved it as OBS - BI.

Note that only builtin assets now appear in Main View.

Press the + button to add additional filters

And in this filter only DLS obsolete are displayed


Note we set Builtin filter to false to exclude builtin obsoletes from local.

We also can use these filters in conjunction with other Auran provided filters to narrow our search. One of the most useful is a modified Download Station filter that hides the OBS - DLS assets.

In the search filter we are using a boolean operator (AND NOT) to provide the equivalent of false.

Because this is a saved filter that we built earlier.

This icon indicates an out of date asset that has an update available.

And it’s on the DLS

This icon shows an asset on the DLS that we haven't downloaded yet.


This filter actually needs to include an Out of Date asset discriminator. In the same manner as we did for Obsolete we can develop a set of Out of Date(OOD) filters. The easiest way is to modify an existing Obsolete filter.

In this filter we are confirming whether we have Builtin assets that have an update.

As you can see the result is negative.

The Auran default Out of Date filter.

Here we see an anomaly in that the Out of Date assets are on the DLS, so they should really be displaying Obsolete icon.

This is a bug that appears to be caused by CM not resolving the obsolete asset versions correctly.

Note that we also get the MISC Type icon.

If a filter produces negative results, you may as well remove it.

Right click the Bold Listing and click Remove.

Here is an example of the Out of Date filter being used to check listings on the Download Station (DLS).



Note that for Local Out of Date assets we get a filesize.

We should also see its replacement shown in the CM Download Station filter and in the Game Main Menu Content Updates list.

Lets go back to the DLS – AVAILABLE NOBS filter and incorporate the OOD.

We've modified the DLS - OBS filter to also exclude Out of Date assets.

Here you see a config file tag username corruption caused by the infamous double quotes issue.

Ä”Scots_Pine_15m

This occurs when the author uses a word processor to generate the config file rather than a text editor like Notepad or Notepad++.


There are a number of assets that are stuck on DLS either because they have 0KB file size, cannot be found aka URL missing, have :127 Error, or cannot be committed.

So we build a filter that shows these. This requires a special trick so we can separate what we can download from what we can’t. For this we need to use a keyword. I’ve used dlsstuck and this next sequence shows how to do this.

If you leave the Author field blank this is equivalent to the name or ALL filter, but is useful for follow up action where you want to see a specific author's assets.

In order to complete this filter to show only those legacy assets that cannot be successfully downloaded we have to add a keyword.

First we need to Right Mouse Button (RMB) to bring up the sub-menu and then 'Select All'.


Then we select Edit Keywords.

Be aware that this keyword will be deleted if you subsequently use the OFE/Commit function. For most validation purposes use 'View Errors and Warnings' on multiple assets.

A safer option is to include the keyword via tag category-keyword in the affected assets' config files, but you can only do that one asset at a time.

And finally add a keyword. I've used 'dlsstuck'. You can use either upper or lower case, but it is better to use lower case.

Now we can incorporate that into our final composite filter.

Trainz Community News

Note that we now have only DLS assets that are downloadable without all the obsolete, out of date, and can’t download or commit garbage.

We are ready for our first tidy up of our TAD.

We cannot delete OBS - DLS items, nor would it be wise to delete the OBS – BI assets, but we do need to delete all OBS - LOCAL assets. This often gets rid of assets that are defective. See RED ALERT article concerning obsolete dependencies bug.

Voila! We should now see only the DLS assets that can be downloaded, without the garbage.

In my case I have already downloaded, and so nothing is yet available until more approvals for new or updated assets occur.

Page 17

In this composite filter we have used the keywords filter with our chosen keyword 'dlsstuck'.

As we want to exclude the DLS - STUCK group we use the boolean operator AND NOT.

We are now going to use one of the Obsolete filters we built to cleanup our CM.


Click RMB for menu

Click Select All.

Click RMB for menu

Click Delete.


As a final task we need to ensure that any KEYWORD filters are not still residing in the TAD for any OBS – DLS assets that we have just deleted.

There's one thing left to do if we want our custom filters to correctly report assets status. We need to purge the CM memory of the keywords that we have generated.

You should be getting quite good at this by now.

Click RMB for menu

Click Select All.


Followed by RMB

Click 'Edit Keywords'.

Note that CM has by default added part or full Name strings as filters.

We are only interested in the custom keywords we added.

In my case 'tarl'.


You don’t need to repair assets that have not been used in any of your routes/sessions. Repair Priority is Red Flagged Assets.

You will probably find that at least a third of all assets with red or yellow icons are in assets that are not called for in any route/session in your version of Trainz, or any imported or downloaded asset. There is no error category filter in Trainz so you will need to use Keywords in conjunction with the Content Manager search filter.

Next Month

Part 2 “Using KEYWORDs as Filters.”

Click Remove

Are you sure “Yes”

Click Close


a. Logon Problems

Logging into Planet Auran can be quite difficult at times. Staying logged in just as difficult. I believe the problem is that the maximum number of accesses allowed at any one time to the servers has not kept pace with the growth of the Trainz Community. In other words, it is a capacity problem.

Note that re-installing Trainz ain’t going to help, nor re-inserting your Username and Password. Only the passage of time until later in the day when the demand reduces below the capacity available.

Clicking on the red bar should BUT does not re-initiate logon procedure. Thus you may gain the impression that servers are down when in fact they have recovered. In my view this should happen without your intervention. This is a bug and has been reported.

Workaround:

If the red bar persists, do the following:

�You may have some of the following symptoms:�Red Bar across bottom of screen announcing unable to connect to Planet Auran.�Download Helper (DLH) says you are off-line.�You are told that you have 100MB or less download left when you have an FCT.�UserID in Settings is missing.

1. Exit Content Manager (Content Manager).2. Wait 60 seconds for TADDAEMON to do some housekeeping.3. Re-launch Content Manager.

This will re-initiate the logon procedure. It also cleans out the cache and searches for the DLS dump lists that are available daily, weekly, and monthly. Having found these, CM can carry out a comparison between what is available on the DLS and what you have in your Trainz Asset Database (TAD). It can then resolve what you need for your installed routes and sessions, as well as determining what is obsolete.

Note: The Feb 26th Auran Trainz Newsletter where a massive increase in capacity is happening as we go to press:

All of the Auran webservers are having a massive overhaul in the month of March. This will lead to increased performance of all our web based services as we gain five times the computing power of our current setup.

During this transition there will be periods of downtime for some of our services, most notably will be when perform our database upgrade, in order to avoid any database transactions being lost we will have to shut down all web services while the migration takes place. This should hopefully last no longer than a day.

We will be posting information regarding the downtimes on the forum in order to give you all heads up of when they might occur. The entire upgrade process should be completed by the 12th March.

b. File Access Error

File access errors are still prevalent in TS2010 SP2. Auran is aware of the issue.

Milestones

The major moments in Project TARM development. (This project is currently being developed on private computers. The results will be transferred to a Community website shortly.)

Dec 2009

Release of TS2010 SP1 build 41615 heralds the validation baseline against which all repairs are judged.

Jan 2010

�TrainzAuthor complete.�20,000 reworked config files in final stages of checking prior to uploading to TARL.�100 repair procedures in draft for TARG.�Refit Program defined for TARP.�10,000 Missing Assets named and the start of the RUMMAGE.�First TARM Tidbits and Red Alert articles published.

Feb 2010

�Start of TARL and MADE database development.�Work starts on Comprehensive Manual for Trainz and extensions to produce CCGTS and Wiki.�Updated to TS2010 Sp2.�Expanding capabilities of TrainzAuthor as a control document.�Survey of config file tag license and assess impact on TARM.�Had to move all assets to TS2010 clean instal and re-establish stable status.�Added 11,000+ assets from European external websites.�Found some missing assets.�Progressing red flag repairs.�Progressing repair procedures.�Prepare articles for Newsletter.

Mar 2010

Anticipate that all red flagged assets that can be repaired will have been completed. This is an important milestone in that it defines what can and cannot run in TS series native mode.

This may now be delayed due to addition of European assets significantly increasing red and yellow flags in Content Manager.

Trainz Community News

Are We There Yet?

MADE - Missing Assets Directory and Exchange. A list of missing assets that will form the basis for finding Missing Assets. RUMMAGE - is what you do when looking for something you have lost. In this case Missing Assets. TARG - Trainz Asset Repair Guide. The ABC of Trainz repair. TARL - Trainz Asset Repair Library. A repository for repaired config files. TrainzAuthor - Lists all authors that have TS2010 SP1 built-in assets, or that are faulty, obsolete, out of date, have warnings or missing assets.

What the Abbreviations Mean

Page 23

Jun 2010

Tentative target for TARL, TARG, MADE and TrainzAuthor to go live at Trainz Resources Directory.

TARDIS ODOMETER

Marks the monthly progress of Trainz and the elimination of defects shown in my Content Manager. This will be different for each Trainzer. Mine relates mostly to DLS in toto (275GB).

This month the figures include additional assets from European websites. Note the large increase in defective assets as a consequence.

Total assets shown in TAD – Builtins for maxi TS2010 - Obsoletes – Out of Date -

Faulty – Warning – Missing Dependencies – Missing Assets - >

TARG PUBLISHER

Tracks the progress in developing and writing the repair procedures and associated tutorials, tips and tricks.

Little progress this month due to backing up 275GB of data prior to upgrading to WIN 7 Ultimate 64 bit.

Repair Schemes:

Required - TBDDraft - 40Ready - 0

TARL ARCHIVER

Note these figures were also affected by the 11,000+ assets added from European websites, but the overall percentage of non-compliant assets has not significantly changed.

Fixits required – 29,451TARL ready - 19,168Total – 48,169 (~30% of Total assets non-compliant with CCGTC and wiki)

MADE RUMMAGE

The increase by 11,000+ assets from European websites was a mixed blessing. So far I have found 268 missing assets, but at the cost of having 1,000 more.

Missing Assets - >Found -

167,80723,785

18,657124

4,33426,610

4,19910,000

10,000268


Auran - N3V Games Trainz License AgreementsEither the Trainz Simulator 2010 Engineer’s Edition License Agreement was omitted from the Digital Download version, or it’s very difficult to find. For those of you interested in things legal, here are a couple of links to the Trainz Wiki where you will find the TS

2010 License Agreement and the License Agreement for the Download Station:

Trainz Simulator 2010: Engineer’s Edition

Download Station

http://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php5/TS2010_License_Agreement

http://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php5/Download_Station_License_Agreement


Software of the Month

From the web site:

With InSight, you can instantly search for files stored anywhere in your PC's harddrive.It's also a digital music jukebox, that features ability to search for music based on information like artist, genre, year, album etc. InSight also brings WikipediA:The Free Encyclopedia, right to your

desktop, allowing you to search and view articles within the application itself. It also automatically updates itself for any changes that might take place on your files.

Having had limited success with Google Desktop Search and Copernic, I decided to give this little program a try.

A very small window on your desktop allows you to enter a keyword or two and anything stored on your hard disks will be found instantly provided you index them when the program is first installed. Initial indexing only takes a few minutes for a terabyte of data, but subsequent indexing is done automatically as you add and remove stuff.

The Desktop Icon is quite unobtrusive. The above image is full size. It only appears on the desktop and sticks to the very top of the screen. You can remove the icon and run the search from the Quick Start Area if you wish.

Download Insite here

The program is reasonably unobtrusive, but you may notice short delays as it updates the indexes, especially when you delete something.

Like any other program out there, you will find good and bad things about this one, but please keep in mind that it's still under development.

Some of the good points are:

� You can search for files and folders in the usual way

�Search for music files by title, artist etc. As you scan over the search results, each song will begin to play.

�Search Wikipedia.

�Run programs from the Quick Launch feature.

I'm not trying to sell or promote this program and I realise that other similar programs may have more features. I like simple things and Insight Desktop Search is just that. I can put up with a little lagging when I delete a file, especially if I can search a terabyte of files in a second or two. I do far more searches than deletes, so I'm already miles in front.Hope you enjoy it.

http://www.insightdesktopsearch.com/


I described in a recent Newsletter how to make maps representing the ground topography (railroad tracks, buildings etc) from a track layout drawing, as scenery items to place on the baseboard in Trainz. These can be used for laying track and other objects in the correct locations.

For my City Cats and landing terminal models for the Brisbane River, I thought I would place the terminals in the correct locations along the Brisbane River from the University of Queensland to Apollo Road. I have done a model for each of the ferry terminals in Brisbane, perhaps I may get enthused to make a not very detailed demo map of Brisbane for the City Cat models.

Some Trainz users have used Dem data to make maps with the correct ground levels and contours, Google Earth can be easily used to give a flat representation of the city and river layout in Trainz. The technique briefly, is to capture images from Google Earth, join them together in Paint Shop (PSP) or Photoshop to make a mosaic of Brisbane, then copy areas from the mosaic into square texture segments that will fit on one baseboard in Trainz (after determining the correct scale of course). A 720 metres square plane (the area of one baseboard) is textured in Gmax with one of these texture images, and a scenery object is made for Trainz.

by Ian Manion (Vulcan)http://ianztrainz.com.au/

About Google Earth

Google Earth (GE) is a free download, that uses streaming data to show you anyplace on Earth. A fast broadband connection is useful. You type in search data, like “Brisbane River”, and the program will zoom to that location. Should there be more than one place in another country, you will be asked to select from a list of localities to refine the search. You can zoom in and out using the mouse scroll button, and freely move around the map. Left click and hold, to push the map around.

http://earth.google.com/

If the compass doesn’t appear,, clickView/Show navigation/Automatically.

You can also lower the view angle so you are looking nearly horizontally, but make sure you are looking directly down for this exercise – see the Help files for assistance.

When you locate a position on the map you wish to remember for later, you can place a marker pin, select the marker pin at the top menu, click the map, and move the pin to the correct location. Type in a name for the site. This is placed in the My Places at the left. Don’t forget

Last month we published a tutorial on Google Map Buddy, a small program that enables you to stitch (join) adjacent maps to make a single map covering a huge area. Although Map Buddy doesn’t do everything we need, the little program and the tutorial generated quite a bit of interest amongst Trainz Forum members.

This new tutorial by Ian Manion (Vulcan) from Ianz Trainz, carries on from my tutorial and explains how to use the Google Map and Satellite images in Surveyor. If this subject interests you, please visit the forum thread and leave your comments.

John King Ed.


Save the My Places entries from the top menu, so the markers are available next time you load GE. Double click on any marker in the list on the left, to go to that site.

Various displays that overlay the map can be turned off to get a clearer picture.

The measuring ruler is essential to get the scale of the images.

The picture opposite is a typical view in Google Earth, at a height of 1000 metres over Brisbane, showing some of the features described above.

Settings and Image Capture

Set the view height at 1000 metres.

Click the measuring tool, set units to metres, then click in the map near the left border, move the mouse to the right and click again when you have a horizontal distance as close to 1000 metres as possible.

To capture an image, you can use:

the file save option in GE, and load into PSP; the screen capture function from PSP, if you set it for multiple captures, you can take a number of screen captures in GE and then find them already loaded into PSP – see

Appendix for setup; the Printscreen key, then paste into PSP, whichever option works best for you.You may need to crop some images to eliminate unwanted graphics and symbols that were not hidden in GE, but you MUST have an overlap on all images so you can match and join them together in PSP.

Here is the measuring line drawn, at 1000.81 metres. When the image is captured into PSP, you can measure that line as 923 pixels, and calculate the scale as 1 metre = .922 pixels. Provided you do not accidentally zoom in or out in GE, this will be the scale of all your image captures.

Making the Mosaic of Brisbane

Decide on the area to be covered, say 5km by 5km, at .922 pixels per metres, this would equate to an image size in PSP of about 5000 pixels square. Create a new file in PSP of this size. Try to take screen captures in a sequence, start in the top right corner of the required area, and go horizontally for instance, making sure they overlap a small amount. Try to push the map in GE horizontally between shots.

When a number of images are captures into PSP start placing them, and move them so they merge correctly, pick a common building or feature in two images and move till they overlap correctly. You may find some small discrepancies.

Opposite: Two images showing overlap:

Below: The two images merged:


Remember we are working with large images, and if you have ten images 1000 pixels square and the master mosaic of 5000 by 5000, you can use up memory. My mosaic was 9000 pixels square, I noticed my computer was using all its 2gb memory at times, so I bought another 1gb memory.

Continue taking screen captures and making the mosaic picture, a tedious process. If you find you need to make a

bigger picture, you can make the canvas size larger - there goes some more memory .

You should end up with a picture something like this, part of the Brisbane River mosaic made from Google Earth. Notice I put the scale on it for later references, and I calculate an image segment of 666 pixels square (720 x 0.922) will fill a baseboard in Trainz of 720 metres square.


Cutting up The Mosaic

We need to take images of 666 pixels square from the larger picture, to make individual textures for each scenery “tile” to place on the baseboard.

In PSP, turn on the grid and set the grid size for the image as 666 each way.


This nicely defines the area required for each 720 metres square “tile”. Use a new layer and type in a name (Map1 etc) in each grid square, so we can identify each one in the Trainz map.

Once you have defined the grid, do not move the image relative to the grid. Select an area using the grid lines and copy (if you use different layers for the names, use the copy..merged option to copy all layers) and save it to a texture file, map1.jpg. Since we are using these files and tile objects as a temporary help in Trainz, we can use the more efficient jpg format for the texture. If you do notice degradation, use the tga format. Use a unique name for all the textures files (map1.jpg, map2.jpg to match the names used in the map.

Making the Tile Object in Gmax

In gmax, call the first texture file map.jpg and load it into the material editor, make a plane of 720 metres square, placed on the origin, and map the texture to the plane. I have the plane 1 metre above the ground, in the config file, add the height-range tag so you can bury the plane below ground when required.

Export the file as map.im. The config file is simple, as follows:

Make a duplicate of the first model for Trainz, use a new kuid and username (Brisbane Map 2). Copy the texture map2.jpg into the directory and change the name to map.jpg, so it will be loaded correctly by the mesh file. This way, we only make one gmax file, and for every new map tile, we just rename each map texture as map.jpg when placed in the relevant Custom directory of each model. If you have 50 tiles, you will need 50 different kuids and directories in Trainz for the complete mosaic, just a matter of cloning the first model, a bit tedious, and you must remember to change the map name to map.jpg in each.

This is the quality in Trainz, using the 1000 metre height, enough to determine details and place models. The names on each map tile make it easy to place and align correctly:

usernamekindlightregiontypeasset-filenamekuidheight-rangemesh-table { default {

meshauto-create

}}description

author

"Brisbane Map 1""scenery"1"SW""Scenery""map"<kuid2:60238:12001:1>-50,50

"map.im"1

"This a one of a set of ground planes for Brisbane"

"Ian Manion (Vulcan)"

You could use the snapgrid tag to make the tile snap exactly to the baseboard grid, but you can adjust it finely without that tag.

Load the model into Trainz and place the first tile on a baseboard, push it around to match the edges.

Appendix

To set up the screen capture in PSP, choose the following options, and use Shift C from within PSP to initiate capture. PSP iconises, allowing you to see the screen you


want to capture. F12 Hot key is the best selection – click in the screen area, drag an area to capture, and click again.

© Ian Manion Vulcan May 2008

Other Resources

for the Google Map Buddy Program

Download Page

Google Map Buddy

Trainz Forum Thread

Google Earth

Google Maps

Basemap Tutorial Page

DEM Tutorials

DEM Software Links

Vulcan's Tutorial

- old but useful tutorial

on the Trainz Resources Directory

also on the TRD

- Download as a PDF. Contains larger images.

by Ian Woodmore

Earlier this year a longtime Trainzer took the plunge and upgraded to TS2010, mainly because the Speedtrees excited her. However, like many of us she found the initial offering from Auran somewhat disappointing. Instead of griping about it she decided to have a go herself only to be brought up short by legal issues concerning use of the UDK version and distributing her creations. Hard to keep a good lass down when she's got the bit between her teeth though.

Recently after hundreds of hours of effort we were just starting to see the outcome in the shape of Ultratreez. Amid all the plaudits from her fellow Trainzers and creators there was one evil person who nearly broke Mcguirel will to continue. He downloaded her trees and then posted them on a bit torrent site. Some would call it piracy, others copyright infringement, but to Mcguirel and her friends this was a violation of the worst kind. A member of the Trainz Community, an insider, was the perpetrator.

Mcguirelon Trainz as a consequence of this malicious act of theft. The community rallied round to give her support. After a plea for help and a safe haven for her trees, an offer of hosting has been made. Hopefully, we may still see many more of Mcguirel's beautiful creations despite this saga of woe.

was teetering on the edge of turning her back

http://download.cnet.com/Google-Map-Buddy/3000-20426_4-10962144.html

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=52376&highlight=buddy

http://earth.google.com/#utm_campaign=en&utm_medium=ha&utm_source=en-ha-apac-au-bk-eargen&utm_term=google%20world

http://maps.google.com/

http://www.g0akh.f2s.com/Trainz/Basemap_tutorial.html

http://trainzresources.com/directory/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=7_310

http://trainzresources.com/directory/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=15_309

http://www.ianztrainz.com.au/UsingGoogleEarth.zip


Many thanks to Chris Hackworth ( ) for sharing these incredible links with the rest of the Community. Chris passes on all his great finds to the Trainz Resources Directory so that the entire Community can also enjoy them. Community spirit is all about Caring and Sharing, so we can’t thank Chris enough for all his unselfish contributions.

The Erecting Hall

The above image is from the web site.Five Chimes Consultants

ResourcesFive Chime Consultants

Ed Kaspriske's Horns Inc.

Locomotive Horns Info

Horn & Whistle Forums

How to Make a Sound File (Step by Step)

Audacity

The Trainz forums certainly get their fare share of requests for information about air horns and whistle sounds. With thanks to Chris Hackworth of the Erecting hall, many of the mysteries have now been solved. Chris has dug up a number of web sites that specialise in railroad air horns and he has kindly shared them with us.

Five Chime Consultants has information on dozens of horns. Each horn is represented with excellent photographs and several sound files.

Ed Kaspriske's Horns Inc. web site has a collection of sound files and information about horns on Pennsylvania Railroad horns.

Horn & Whistle Discussion Forum - This is a very busy forum with thousands of threads. If you have a question abot air horns, this is probably the best place to go.

Locomotivehorns.info - A well presented site with heaps of information, photos and wave files.

How to make a Sound File (Step by Step) - This excellent step-by-step tutorial by Jytte's Trainz shows you how to ad sound to an asset using a sound file and Content Manager Plus for TRS2006.

Audacity - This free audio editor is perfect for manipulating your sound files and converting them into any format you need.

http://www.theerectinghall.info/

http://atsf.railfan.net/airhorns/

http://atsf.railfan.net/airhorns/

http://www.dieselairhorns.com/

http://locomotivehorns.info/

http://www.hornwhistleboard.com/

http://trainzresources.com/directory/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7_283_53&products_id=690

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Documents

03 (March 2010) Trainz Community News