[Garry]

I see from your profile that your simulator is MSTS. If this is correct I am sure that you are used to having problems when editing your route, and will have created a backup at least once a day.
So the solution to your problem is restore your backup.

Note that once you get used to TSRE you will have far fewer problems than occur with the old MSTS Editor.

Hope this helps
Garry

[FrannDzs]

Hi, I find it very interesting Steamer, the idea that veterans and experts can gather the knowledge in one place is a challenge, if we organize ourselves we will surely achieve it. I am willing to help in any way I can.

There should be a complete tutorial on Textures, including terrain, models and locomotive repainting. Some tricks/shadow effects, rust. Levels mip map, and other tips.

The route builder tutorial is fine, the experienced ones could draft a rough draft with info on signals for example, which is what is said to be more complicated.

I'm thinking of putting together a good PDF with everything we know ....

[Hendrik]

steamer_ctn, on 21 February 2022 - 09:33 PM, said:

To improve this offering and assist new route builders, I will be interested in any feedback from either experienced route builders or more importantly potentially any budding route builders who have given it a go.

Hi, I am new to Elvas Tower, OR and route building. I started a few weeks ago with the idea to build a route and actually have something going. You can find an introduction of me in the “about me” section on my profile.

Maybe I can help with “describing the whale” by sharing the challenges I ran into in the past few weeks and going forward while working on my route.

- Peter, I made this braindump before reading your route builders tutorial and some of my points have already been addressed in your info. Just wish I had seen the tutorial before!

After 4 weeks muddling around I just stumbled across this thread. I think Peter’s idea to have some kind of starter package is great and I wish I had found this post before. - it would be so nice to have a - beginning route builder page - that links to all kinds of useful info and resources.

On my journey I ran into an awful lot of new terms that experienced folk like yourselves live and breath but for a newbie like me meant absolutely nothing ( texture, tile, tsection, ref file, roads, paths, tracks, objects. terrtex, terrain maps, .sd, .s, .ace, .dds files dem data etc.) I started making my own glossary but - it would be great to have a link to a central glossary of terms for beginning OR and route builders.

I read the open rails manual, the tsre guide in progress by Goku and the tsre book ( which is also not very easy to find). Still I made many mistakes, which cost a lot of time digging around on the trainsim and elvas tower and other forums to find answers.

The Instructions for installing TSRE on the koniec.org page are confusing: Install the newest zip file… There is no zip file in the root folder and the zip file in appdata is not it. Btw, I knew zip and tar but what is .cab, do I need it (I think it is just another archive like zip and tar). One for the glossary. What are these 5.7.0, MinGW and other zip files in the tools folder. Are that the zip files referred to? Anyway, in the end got TSRE working, without zip.

I did not have Msts when I started a couple of weeks ago, so basically had an empty shell after installing OR. I loaded the demo route, zigzag and BNRL but made the beginner mistake to dump it all under one root, thinking it would be a nice source for objects. As a result it made my track objects in TSRE appear black, as if there were no textures. I should have known that you can’t do this. I believe there is some sort of disclaimer when installing but I missed a clear warning or direction that these Must be installed in their own folder/file structure. I posted a question about the objects that show all black, in the elvas tower forum but didn’t get a response and found the answers myself before getting an answer. As I never got a reaction or acknowledgement that someone at least saw my posts, I do wonder if this forum is still alive. Anyway, the answers are all in the documentation and on the forums but finding all the pieces of the puzzle and digging through forum discussions took a lot of time.

I understand now that, in order to build a route, TSRE needs a lot of rails, roads, and other objects, including their textures. There are only a few objects that come with the base install (templateroute 0.6) of TSRE. Once you figure out that a lot more is needed, and found some track, road and object .S and .sd files, you need to know where these files have to go in order to make it all work. The description on which files in MSTS are used is good but it misses a clear description of what goes where. What is the Root global tsection versus the Route global tsection. Also confusing is where to put the textures. The acleantrack.ace files related to the global track .s and .sd files in the root global folder seem to have to go in the Route and not in the Root global folder… so, some guidance on where to find object files (tracks, roads, scenery objects, etc) and where to put them in an OR folder structure would be helpful. In the mean time I did install MSTS, which is a great source for objects.

To recap, for me, as a complete route building newbie without MSTS route building knowledge, the key question is - all the answers are probably out there but - where do I find them?

My newbie route builder wishlist so far:
- A central starting point for route building newbies, like what Stephen started, but is a bit easier to find.
- A glossary of terms - that can grow as we go (is there one? If so it should be on that newbie route builders page).
- Clear instructions on how to install TSRE (installing OR was made easy btw).
- A to do list, like “read (not memorize) the OR and TSRE (book.pdf) manuals” to get a feel of what they have to offer. Links to the latest versions of these documents would be good as well.
- A description of how to set up an environment that is needed to build routes. What objects, tracks, roads, scenery are needed as a minimum, where do you more stuff and how to properly set it up in an OR folder structure. It should include where to put .S and .sd files, global and route tsection.dat files, textures, .ref file and how to edit it in order to make the objects available for the route.
- An overview of tools and what they can do for you, like Route Riter, 2D and 3D graphics tools for building objects and “painting” them. Links to sites like the nasa height maps, openstreetmap, the Arcgis elevation profile maker (very good info for a route through the mountains).
- … to be continued.

I now have a route with at least 10 kms of tracks around Lake Louise towards the kicking horse pass. Loaded height maps, gps markers and geo maps; the manuals give good instructions for the geo tools. My intent is to build the spiral tunnels which touches many other route building challenges, like water /creeks /lakes; tunnels, yards, and scenery. Although building the track and scenery is my first goal, I wonder about how to navigate a 2 kilometer freight train on a 2+ degree slope in the Rockies without overheating the brakes or derailing the train and how to manage the immense forces on the train that could break couplers and make you loose half of your consist. Very carefully is probably the answer.

Sorry for the brain dump (hey, it’s a whale) but hope this helps. Should I keep reporting newbie challenges that could help to make life easier for other starting builders?

Hank

This post has been edited by Hendrik: 21 January 2023 - 01:14 PM

[steved]

If you want a decent collection of shapes and textures you should get the Monon.

Randy

[steamer_ctn]

Hendrik, on 21 January 2023 - 01:03 PM, said:

Maybe I can help with “describing the whale” by sharing the challenges I ran into in the past few weeks and going forward while working on my route.

Thanks for the feedback, it is very enlightening.

[Genma Saotome]

The Vone book is very old and a lot of what is there is very MSTS specific but it does do a decent job of explaining terms and the best sequence of work. It was a payware book but I believe the author moved it into the public domain. I have the .pdf and if you think it is useful I could put it into the file library (if it is not already there).

[pwillard]

Genma Saotome, on 21 January 2023 - 10:26 PM, said:

The Vone book is very old and a lot of what is there is very MSTS specific but it does do a decent job of explaining terms and the best sequence of work. It was a payware book but I believe the author moved it into the public domain. I have the .pdf and if you think it is useful I could put it into the file library (if it is not already there).

Are people actually using the MSTS based route building tools these days? And if you are curious, I did start to write a TSRE document but was told to stop.

[steved]

Told to stop? Why?
Onrails is offline. Your TSRE guide is the only one out there and it's invaluable.

Randy

[Hendrik]

steved, on 21 January 2023 - 04:10 PM, said:

If you want a decent collection of shapes and textures you should get the Monon.

Randy

Thanks for the tip!
Hank

[Hendrik]

Genma Saotome, on 21 January 2023 - 10:26 PM, said:

The Vone book is very old and a lot of what is there is very MSTS specific but it does do a decent job of explaining terms and the best sequence of work. It was a payware book but I believe the author moved it into the public domain. I have the .pdf and if you think it is useful I could put it into the file library (if it is not already there).

Found it, Thanks!
Hank