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Fat rails in OR Rate Topic: -----

#11 User is offline   Eldorado.Railroad 

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Posted 15 October 2019 - 05:11 AM

View PostCoolhand101, on 15 October 2019 - 03:50 AM, said:

I did have a look at route-riter, but failed to see any settings to do this automatically. That is the only program mod I have. Unless there are other program mods which can to do this.


Yes...you can do this with route-riter, it is under MSTS Utilities. This is easier than you think, but also just to do the "a" shapes takes time, more than you would think. Doing all (yes, not just the "a" shapes!!) the track shapes takes several hours on a fast machine. I did try this last night!

Once the shape files are decompiled, you can use a unicode editor like Notepad++. You will have to find a line in each shape file called "vtx_state" (sorry doing this from memory, so if I have it wrong don't castigate me here!). You will find a "vtx_state" with a "-6" (High Shine). Change this to "-5" (Normal) and you will have what you want. I used a 64 bit version of Notepad++ to open all the files at once. It is a simple "Replace" operation to fix all those rail tops, and it is VERY fast. Would I re-compile the shape files after this, dunno, you might want to if space is at a premium on your hard/flash drive?

BTW, Notepad++ is free and there are portable versions should you not wish to install it, you can run it from the zip file if needed.

You can use other rail systems like ScaleRail, but they are not as "low calorie" as Xtracks.

Steve

#12 User is offline   mopacfan 

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Posted 15 October 2019 - 03:15 PM

View Postcharland, on 15 October 2019 - 04:55 AM, said:

Maybe Open Rails can save the day!

Paul :-)


Or Goku:)

#13 User is offline   mopacfan 

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Posted 15 October 2019 - 03:19 PM

View Postlongiron, on 13 October 2019 - 03:25 PM, said:

What route and track system is used in the screen shot? Many of the replacement track systems (ScaleRail, X/M Tracks, DBTracks) have much thinner rail profiles and appear more realistic.



Hi,

A personal route project that has hundreds of miles of track. The route uses XTracks because there are many instances where there aren't equivalent ScaleRail/DB Track pieces.

#14 User is offline   Eldorado.Railroad 

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Posted 18 October 2019 - 01:21 PM

View PostEldorado.Railroad, on 15 October 2019 - 05:11 AM, said:

Yes...you can do this with route-riter, it is under MSTS Utilities. This is easier than you think, but also just to do the "a" shapes takes time, more than you would think. Doing all (yes, not just the "a" shapes!!) the track shapes takes several hours on a fast machine. I did try this last night!

Once the shape files are decompiled, you can use a unicode editor like Notepad++. You will have to find a line in each shape file called "vtx_state" (sorry doing this from memory, so if I have it wrong don't castigate me here!). You will find a "vtx_state" with a "-6" (High Shine). Change this to "-5" (Normal) and you will have what you want. I used a 64 bit version of Notepad++ to open all the files at once. It is a simple "Replace" operation to fix all those rail tops, and it is VERY fast. Would I re-compile the shape files after this, dunno, you might want to if space is at a premium on your hard/flash drive?

BTW, Notepad++ is free and there are portable versions should you not wish to install it, you can run it from the zip file if needed.

You can use other rail systems like ScaleRail, but they are not as "low calorie" as Xtracks.



Proof of concept, no shine, unfat rails including DynaTracks mod. I also gave a colour gradient to the rail tops.

Attached Image: UnFatRails.gif

QED

#15 User is offline   mopacfan 

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Posted 19 October 2019 - 06:27 AM

View PostEldorado.Railroad, on 18 October 2019 - 01:21 PM, said:

Proof of concept, no shine, unfat rails including DynaTracks mod. I also gave a colour gradient to the rail tops.

Attachment UnFatRails.gif

QED


Thank you for the presentation of this interesting concept!

While I would miss in certain respect the shininess of the rails, I would rather give up that look to get rid of the fat appearance of the rails when viewed at certain angles on my route project.

Note: the track texture shown in the screenshot I posted is a modified version of Norbert's DB track texture to create the illusion of finer rails. However, in OR and maybe that is the case in MSTS as well - I haven't checked, the shininess overcompensates for the finer rail look when viewed at certain angles.

On another related note, is Goku still updating his TSRE?

I wish there was a way to automatically replace hundreds of scale miles of XTrack pieces, including those that have no DBTrack/ScaleRail equivalents, with more realistic looking track. I wonder if procedural track/splines could be potential solution.

#16 User is offline   charland 

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Posted 19 October 2019 - 12:20 PM

"Fat Rails" I'm sure there's a rap hit single in there somewhere!

:-)

#17 User is offline   mopacfan 

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Posted 19 October 2019 - 12:31 PM

View Postcharland, on 19 October 2019 - 12:20 PM, said:

"Fat Rails" I'm sure there's a rap hit single in there somewhere!

:-)

http://www.elvastower.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rotfl.gif

Fat rails sounds like an oxymoron. Rails can’t be fat http://www.elvastower.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/sign_sorry.gif

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