Talk:Trainz/Trainz: Ultimate Trainz Collection

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Ultimate Trainz Collection

Copyright Strategy First Inc. All rights reserved

Copyright Auran Games Pty Limited 2002

Release Notes

1. System Requirements

2. Release Notes

3. Custom Content

4. Custom Content Credits

5. Troubleshooting

6. Technical Assistance

1. System Requirements

Minimum

Adjusted details: no shadows, low draw distance, low draw detail, low train detail. Intel Pentium II 400mhz processor 128 megs RAM Nvidia TNT2 16mb videocard usable settings: 640x480 display resolution 32 bit color depth

Recommended

Adjusted details: shadows enabled, medium draw distance, medium draw detail, high train detail. Intel Pentium III 733mhz processor or equivalent 256 megs RAM Nvidia GeForce2 32mb videocard usable settings: 800x600 display resolution 32 bit color depth 2. Release Notes

Features/improvements and new content in Ultimate Trainz.

NEW CONTENT

6 new scenarios 9 new locos in 12 liveries 1 new train car set New cab interiors Paint Shed templates for each new loco New passenger car Paint Shed templates New German and Swiss scenery object and track sets New Maps Numerous updates to existing maps and assets Paint Shed - UTC edition

NEW KEYS

Surveyor

Options	Ctrl o Tunning	Ctrl t Find named object	Ctrl f Contentual info	Alt o Randomise	Alr r Edit project	Ctrl e Minimap	Ctrl m New Map	Ctrl n Save	Ctrl s Wire frame	Ctrl w Driver

Internal Camera	1, F6 External Camera	2, F7 Tracking Camera	3, F8 Internal Cab camera	[ = previous  ] = next Internal Cab camera	Ctrl [ or Ctrl ] to snap to next camera Change consists	Ctrl 0-99 Move to prev car	- Move to next car	= Change Fwd junction	\ Change Rear Junction	Ctrl \ Auto-pilot toggle	Ctrl-a Switch dual cabs	c Decrease Speed, or z Increase Speed	. or a Stop	/ or s Handbrake	' or x Scenarios

Work Orders	k Most driver keys except when disabled by script NEW FEATURES

Driver / My Collection

'Favorites' selection added for My Collection and Driver Dual Cab support Multiple in-cab cameras New external cab camera views Change junction hotkey Select consist hotkey Change car focus hotkey End-of-track buffer physics added Horn, Pantograph and Lights can be operated in My Collection Horn controllable on AI trains Imperial or Metric Surveyor default settings used in Driver New "load saved game" button on main menu New Presets to load consists, settings and terrain with one click Variable tunnel camera positions Movable tunnel camera Improved locomotive performance physics Improved rolling stock resistance equations Signalling and trackwork improvements to original layouts New keyboard shortcuts

Surveyor

"All Regions" sort option added to Surveyor for easier object sorting Info boxes increased in size for more text Particle Effects slider added to performance settings Increased texture limit to ~252 Compass movement improved (slight pause before moving) Trackside cameras now easier and more accurate to position Display cursor x,y location Improved copy/paste function in Surveyor Added ctrl key modifier to select whole area or baseboard Hotkey in advanced menu works if menu not open Option added to keep title bar visible Ruler text improved Added hot key info to tool tips Fixed get curve function Join height of merge maps now fixed See through ground texture fixed Can't name duplicate trackmarks Cars driver on correct side for region Mini-map loads dynamically to speed up loading times New keyboard shortcuts

General

New interface appearance Particle Effects slider added to performance settings Mini-map zoom limits increased Mini-map scroll speed increased Mini-Map signalling display improved Mini-maps scrolling keys added New Save/Don't Save dialogues on exit Sound fixes Improved object lighting. Keyboard settings file added Added caching for dispatcher folder

Trainz eXchange

New in-game html window Dynamic loading of html pages for news, reviews etc Seamless download station integration Auto-download of missing assets

Content Manager

New custom content management application Group, disable, delete custom content Export KUIDS function Search for content Display KUID dependancies of map content

Script Functions

Control particle effects on and off in scenarios Ability to interact with user through html mini-browser New function to fade screen to black New function to create entire consist through config file Debugging error window Call stack logging Script Exception Handling Add -script option to trainzoptions.txt Hookup ThreadException callback to script. Show exception dialog on exception Show stack and all threads. Handle continue and end scenario

Content Creation

Improved particle effects control. Can now specify start and end color and set emission cone size. Splines can now be lit by ambient lighting. Fixed case-sensitivity of aliased asset textures Paint shed templates can now be packed into .cdp files True type font support for easy translations

3. Custom Content

Your Trainz installation will include a variety of folders designed for use by your very own content. Choose to make your own textures and objects, or download free content from the Auran Trainz website: www.virtualtrainz.com Using Windows Explorer, Browse to your TRAINZ installation and locate the CUSTOM folder. Opening it will reveal a folder for each of the user-created elements Trainz supports.

A word of warning: some of the objects you can create yourself and include within Trainz are complex, requiring a high level of 3D modelling experience and technical understanding.

Many of the custom content folders will require the use of a config (configuration) file. This is always called CONFIG.TXT and should be located in the folder of the asset you've created.

The CONFIG.TXT file contains a few essential fields and parameters, provided in the examples found in the Custom folders.

DISPLACEMENT MAPS

TRAINZ\World\Custom\Displacements

The easiest user-created element you can create is a Displacement Map. By placing a square grey-scale bitmap image in this folder, you'll be able to select the image in Surveyor > Topology > Advanced> Displacement maps.

Image restrictions are:

.bmp format 128*128 pixels 256*256 pixels 512*512 pixels 1024*1024 pixels 8-bit greyscale or 24-bit

You may keep as many displacement maps as you like.

GROUND TEXTURES

TRAINZ\World\Custom\Ground

Each ground texture is a 24-bit bitmap image requiring their own folder. Check out the example: World\Custom\Ground\MY_TEXTURE

You'll find an example .bmp file, MY_TEXTURE.BMP, and a CONFIG.TXT. The .bmp image MUST be located in a folder which MUST be named identically. Trainz searches for folders first, then automatically looks within for the same name with the correct file extension, so if named wrongly, the texture will fail to appear.

The .bmp must be 128*128 pixels. Any difference to this will result in a white block appearing in place of your created texture.

The Config.txt file need contain only one line:

KIND groundtexture

'Kind' is the field requirement for Trainz, and 'groundtexture' the parameter for a ground texture... !

Once you have created the folder, have a texture and a config file ready, it will appear in Surveyor > Paint > Regions menu > Custom.

To have your custom texture show in the minimap as another color (other than black) add the line

rgb 0, 0, 0

Replace the 0’s with red, green, and blue values. The range is from 0 to 255. eg 255,255,255 is white. 0,0,0 is black.

ENVIRONMENT TEXTURES

TRAINZ\World\Custom\Environment

Skies

Each sky is produced as a 'set' of sky maps, providing you with the ability to create your own main (clear day) sky, storm clouds and a night time sky. To accomplish this, your folder within the Environment folder should contain all the variants, along with a CONFIG.TXT to define the names of the individual skies. Check out the example: Custom\Environment\SKY_EXAMPLE

You'll find three .tga files, .texture.txt files and the CONFIG.TXT.

The SKY_EXAMPLE_STORM.TGA is used to varying degrees dependent on the weather conditions set within Trainz.

The last image, SKY_EXAMPLE_NIGHT.TGA is a 32-bit targa whose alpha channel determines how many stars can be seen through the cloud (black areas of the alpha channel will show stars through).

All sky images are 256*256 pixel 24-bit targa format, with only the _NIGHT image including an extra alpha channel, making it a 32-bit targa.

You'll notice in the example that an additional .texture.txt accompanies each texture. Each of these contains the following:

Primary=NAME_OF_TEXTURE.TGA Tile=st

When creating your own sky sets, you will need to create these in order for TRAINZ to load the texture.

The Config.txt file contains the following lines:

KIND environment NORMAL sky_example STORM sky_example_storm NIGHT sky_example_night

Following the 'Kind' field is the parameter for an environment element. The 'Normal', 'Storm' and 'Night' fields are each followed by the name of the appropriate image file (minus the .tga extension which the field assumes).

When creating your own sky set, create a folder inside Custom\Environment that you want to appear in Surveyor > World > Sky Set menu. Within this folder, place your config.txt, .tgas and .texture.txt files as described above.

Water

You can add your own water textures for use in your layouts. As with skies, your water will need a unique folder name inside Custom\Environment. Check out the example: Custom\Environment\WATER_EXAMPLE

Two images are needed and referenced in the CONFIG.TXT file.

WATER_MUDDY.TGA is a 128*128 pixel 24-bit targa file. Again, the .texture.txt file must accompany the texture. The second image file is an 8-bit bitmap called WATER_MUDDY_R.BMP.

The Config.txt file for this water folder looks like the following:

KIND water NORMAL water_muddy REFLECTION water_muddy_r

The field 'Kind' is followed by the 'water' parameter to declare how this folder is used by Trainz. The 'Normal' field is followed by the name of the targa image file (minus the .tga extension). The 'Reflection' field is followed by the name of the reflection map for the water, so should only be an 8-bit .bmp file.

You'll notice in the example that an additional .texture.txt accompanies each texture. You will need to create one of these for each of your textures.

3D OBJECTS

IMPORTANT NOTE: To create your own 3D models of any sort, you will need to install the Trainz Asset Creation Studio or the Trainz Exporter plugin for your version of 3DStudio Max (versions 3.1 or 4). This provides you with the ability to export your objects as .im and .pm file formats. These are the model formats used by JET - the engine architecture behind Trainz.

To find out more about the exporter and JET, visit the Auran website (www.auran.com). Keep visiting for news about other 3D application plugins and support.

GMax and the Trainz Asset Creation Studio Your Trainz CD includes a free custom content editor called GMax. This editor is from Discreet™, and when installed with the Trainz Asset Creation Studio Gamepack, allows you to create custom objects, both static and animated, and export them to the Trainz 3D format. For information on Gmax, please refer to www.discreet.com/products/gmax/

NOTE: Running GMax on its own will not allow you to export Trainz assets. You must also have the Trainz GamePack correctly installed, and use the shortcut created by the GamePack.

To install the Trainz Asset Creation Studio, refer the the readme file in the GMax folder on your Trainz CD.

3DSMax If you already own 3DStudio Max, and are more comfortable using it, you only need to install the plugins for your particular version which can be found on your Trainz CD.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Any reference to .max files and .gmax files below relate directly to which editor you are using. The Trainz CD includes examples in both formats for your specific editor. If you are using 3DStudio Max, use the .max files, if you are using the Trainz Asset Creation Studio, use the .gmax files. The export process from both editors is identical.

ADDITIONAL CUSTOM OBJECTS Further information regarding the creation of trains, bogeys, pantographs and splines will be released in the coming months. Check back regularly on www.virtualtrainz.com

PREPARING YOUR MODELS

3D Studio Max r3.1 Set-Up

Before beginning to create a model in 3DSmax, a few settings need to be set to ensure consistency of scale and orientation. The first and easiest recommendation is, have a look at the example. This is a working example and should be referred to when troubleshooting.

Under Customize / Preferences / General, ensure the unit is set to meters. Under Customize / Units Setup, select either Metric or US Standard, according to the measurements provided in your source material. From this point on, you should ensure that your objects are made to real scale. Often, especially when building a locomotive, you will be handed measurement details in feet/inches or meters, so by ensuring the above set-up, you can use the provided figures directly.

With the JetExporter installed to your version of 3Dsmax r3.1, choose File / Export / Save As Type: .im (Trainz format) to use.

Of critical importance is the Export Selected option within max. This allows you to select a single object in the scene and export that object alone.

A useful plug-in is 'Resource Collector'. COLLECT.DLU should be installed in your local 3dsmax\Plugins directory. When installed, it's found under the Utilities panel in 3DSmax.

Collector allows you to specify a directory to copy all of the textures being referenced in your current scene to. Extremely handy for moving from working max folders to in-game Custom folder.

It is free and available on the 3DSmax r3.1 bonus CD.

Trainz Asset Creation Studio (GMax) Set-Up

Before beginning to create a model in Trainz Asset Creation Studio, a few settings need to be set to ensure consistency of scale and orientation. The first and easiest recommendation is, have a look at the example. This is a working example and should be referred to when troubleshooting.

Under Customize / Preferences / General, ensure the unit is set to meters. Under Customize / Units Setup, select either Metric or US Standard, according to the measurements provided in your source material. From this point on, you should ensure that your objects are made to real scale. Often, especially when building a locomotive, you will be handed measurement details in feet/inches or meters, so by ensuring the above set-up, you can use the provided figures directly.

Choose File / Export / Save As Type: .im (Trainz format) to use.

Of critical importance is the Export Selected option within max. This allows you to select a single object in the scene and export that object alone.

A useful plug-in is 'Resource Collector'. It's found already installed under the Utilities panel in GMax.

Collector allows you to specify a directory to copy all of the textures being referenced in your current scene to. Extremely handy for moving from working max folders to in-game Custom folder.

Textures

.TGA images for the main 'diffuse' mapping channel. Must be uncompressed, 24-bit. .BMP images for the 8-bit grey-scale opacity channel. Textures can only be a maximum ratio of 4 to 1, i.e. 32 by 128 or 128 by 512 etc. Only ONE multi/sub-object material per object. Double-sided materials are supported. Do NOT use bump-maps and procedural textures, they are unsupported. Do NOT tile a cropped texture. Recommendations for polygon limits: 300 triangles maximum per large building 200 triangles maximum per average building 120 triangles maximum per person model Textures can use any of these dimensions: 32 64 128 256 512 1024 Failure to use these dimensions exactly will result in non-appearance in Trainz.

All objects should be built and centred to the World axis (0,0,0). A proviso is that the bottom of the object must actually rest ON the World XY plane, as if centre XY plane is the ground. A rolling stock object should be “facing” down in the Top view of 3DSmax.

You can construct your object whichever way you feel most appropriate. Ultimately, it is dealt with as a series of polygons, so MUST be converted as such come export time. Currently there is no support for directly using Patch Grids or Nurbs.

4. Custom Content Credits

Please see 'Community Content Credits.doc' in the Trainz Docs folder.

5. Troubleshooting

Q. Trainz will not run. What should I do?

A. This means that either your video card does not meet the minimum requirements or your video card drivers are not up to date. You can download these drivers from your video card manufacturer. For help on installing video card drivers, click here. Windows XP does not install OpenGL drivers by default.

Please ensure that you have downloaded and installed DirectXv8.1.

Please also try the following; when the auto run launches, choose configure Trainz, select advanced options, set vertical synch and frequency to AUTO, click ok and start the game.

Check you have the latest Service Pack installed.

Q. I cannot see out of the cabin window of a train.

A. Your card does not support multiple overlapping transparent polygons in OpenGL mode, please use DirectX mode.

Q. What can I do to improve the performance of Trainz on my PC?

A. Hardware:

Make sure your computer system matches or exceeds the minimum specifications on the back of the Trainz box (insert link to minimum specs) Download and install the latest drivers for your video card from the manufacturer: www.ati.com www.matrox.com www.nvidia.com Ensure your AGP controller is installed correctly. Download and install your latest main board chipset drivers according to your manufacturer: www.asus.com www.abit.com www.amd.com www.intel.com www.viahardware.com If you have installed all the latest drivers and still experience performance issues with Trainz, please visit Advanced Technical Support Software:

Using the settings sliders to tune the graphics in Trainz can make a significant difference to performance. Speed improvements of more than 3-4 times can be gained. When you are not texturing, turn texture passes to one or even zero. Turning down this setting will have a large effect on frame rate in all parts of the game and it's a good place to start if you're after more speed. When texturing, reduce the draw distance. Make layouts one baseboard at a time and merge them later. Rather than populating an entire baseboard with objects, concentrate on areas close to the tracks. The number of objects in a scene has a significant performance hit. Rather than making a 100mile route that takes 3 hours to traverse, make 4 x 25 mile routes and simply drive in sections.

Q. What Video Cards are supported?

A. Trainz has been designed to take advantage of the latest video card technology and will subsequently look most impressive on PCs with newer cards. It is essential to get the best performance from your video card that you download the latest drivers.

Tested and supported:

Geforce4 Geforce3 Herc Geforce3 Ref Geforce2 GTS Geforce2MX Geforce1 TNT2 m64 Tested and found to work:

Radeon 9700 Radeon 8500 Radeon 64 and 32mb Kryo 2 Tested and found to work with various graphical issues:

Xpert 2000 Xpert 2000 pro Matrox Line Untested and unsupported:

Voodoo Cards Supported means that if there is a problem found with that graphics card using the latest released drivers then we will perform fixes to resolve the problem.

If you are currently using an unsupported video card, you may experience some performance degradation, as it may not be capable of displaying some of the graphics features of Trainz.

Q. My video card is not in the supported list for Trainz can you help me?

A. If your video card is not supported by Trainz this means that we have not tested it and can not provide technical support about it. You may be able to get it to work with Trainz however you use it with Trainz at your own risk.

Q. Trainz crashes on launch with a trainzlog.cpp error, what can I do?

A. Either your video card does not meet the minimum requirements or your video card drivers are not up to date. You can download these drivers from your video card manufacturer. You need to also install DirectX 8.1, which you can find on the CD in the Diag\DirectX8.1 Folder. You will have to select which version you want, as there is one for Windows 9x(95/98/ME) and one for Windows NT (NT/2000/XP).

Q. When using my Matrox card I see yellow artifacts in Trainz, what do I do?

A. This is a problem with your current drivers or hardware. To counteract this problem, you will have to use DirectX. Enter ‘Configure Trainz’ click the DirectX check box

Q. I see black artifacts when running Trainz on my ATI video card, how do I solve this?

A. This is a problem with the current ATI drivers. We have a work around. Enter ‘Configure Trainz’ select the Advanced Options and check Ground Polygon Offset (ATI Fix)

Q. My Kryo 2 video card have yellow artifacts in OpenGL, what do you recommend?

A. This is a problem with your current drivers or hardware. To counteract this problem, you will have to use DirectX. Enter ‘Configure Trainz’ click the DirectX check box

Q. None of these options are available, I can not find them anywhere!

A. The Version of Trainz you have is old, you need to update to the new version.

Q. DirectX mode does not work in Trainz.

A. Trainz only uses the new 8.1 DirectX if you need to use DirectX mode in Trainz you must have DirectX 8.1 from Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/directx/)

Q. How can I fix the appearance of 'deformed' graphics on my GeForce 3 card?

A. Go to the performance panel in driver or the configuration tool on the launcher and increase the 'Trains Poly Count'.

Q. My Voodoo card does not work with Trainz, what can I do?

A. Since 3dFX Voodoo cards do not have official driver support Trainz will not be supporting or testing the range of Voodoo cards.

Q. My video card does not support hardware T&L and runs slowly how can I improve its performance?

A. Check the 'Disable Hardware T&L' checkbox under Advanced Options in the Trainz Launcher

Q. The screen goes black when I launch Trainz. What does this mean?

A. Either your video card does not meet the minimum requirements or your video card drivers are not up to date. You can download these drivers from your video card manufacturer. Windows XP does not install OpenGL drivers by default.

Q. What do the Advanced Options in the Launcher do?

A. Below is a description of all the options that are available to you.

Texture Quality If you are looking for ways to increase the speed of Trainz on your computer, then you can decrease the Quality of Textures used in the game.

Disable Hardware T&L Uses System Memory instead of AGP to render Vertex Buffers. Use if you are having problems with your AGP card.

Shadows This option can enable and disable the Shadow System in Trainz. Only use if you have a powerful system.

Fix Geforce3 Textures In Version 5.13.01.2181 of the Geforce3 drivers, mixing software and hardware lighting sometimes resulted in a funky landscape. This will overcome the problem if you have that version.

Disable Environment Map Disable reflections and Environment Maps in order to increase Trainz framerate

Ground Polygon Offset If you see black artifacts when running Trainz on my ATI video card, then enable this option.

Frequency Allows you to select the refresh frequency for your monitor. Some monitors will not display certain frequencies. 72 is a good setting for most monitors.

Vertical Sync Allows you to set the Vertical Sync for your Monitor. Changing this setting can help reduce the appearance of "jerkiness" on some computers. Some video drivers may have options which override this setting on a system-wide basis.

Vertex Offset Some video cards may require you to change this setting in order for the fonts to appear crisp, the correct setting varies depending on your video card and drivers. This slider has no effect on OpenGL.

6. Technical Assistance

Use this form (http://www.auran.com/trainz/techsubform_f.php ) for technical assistance.

Fill in all fields with as much info as you can gather.

Please do not say "I have the latest drivers" state the driver version you have.

Explain the problem as clear and concise as you can.

Description example:

Description: When rotating the oz_house1 object clockwise in surveyor it appears to flash red. Screenshot attached.

Captured HTML page ends // Fra nkB 20:23, 21 February 2015 (UTC)