Trainz/refs/Hotkeys,Surveyor

=Surveyor Hotkeys= The KEY to operating most tools is to understand how and when, , , affect the active tool tip on the one hand, and when a secondary hotkey selects a class of asset on the other. The Primary hotkeys select the, which when pressed will toggle the tab and tool panels open or closed, as do mouseclicks as indicated. A selected tool in the tool panel is often still active, so a key sequence selecting the such as, then  will activate the 'Trackside Tools TAB' ([F4]), the 'T' for  sub-tool menu and then the 'M' for , which will allow you to drag track vertex elements around. The last closes the tool panel and lets the user have more screen while adjusting Tracks. The mouse button can instead be used to toggle the active tool menu open and closed.

In reality, a practiced route builder will likely be toggling back and forth between several tool panels and their respective active tool sub-menus and active tools while doing fine detailing of a section of map, say where a road runs beside a small stream (another spline asset) both of which parallel the tracks for a time, then the stream crosses under the tracks and perhaps so does the road&mdash; all running mostly together. That main scenery runs along side farmer's fields (fences being another spline, and crops often another; while farm equipment, vehicles, and animals are Objects, a different sub-menu); and down the street a few thousand meters&mdash;a row of rural housing (Objects, using ) which need individual placement ( and a likely adjustment of Height, Rotation, and a Move or two of its position, for each and every one, (not to mention their yard elements such as trees, swings, sidewalks, driveways, hedges and so forth). Creation of even a small detailed area becomes a marathon of intense concentration and takes a practiced eye and fore-planning.

A common enough circumstance, but integrating the Trainz assets with their respective heights, shaping the landscaping as you go means the route builder will be using a veritable flurry of hotkeys and mouse operations, perhaps switching tools as often as once every three-to-five seconds! TS12 is notorious for being responsible for slowing down that process, as the game can't keep up with the mind and hands of a practiced artist at their trade. Instead, with TS12, one often has to wait while the tool switch gets each tool to be reloaded into what seems to be the same patch of memory&mdash;a sloppy programmer assumption and bad effect for the Trainz Power user.