Railworks America

I am at a dead-standstill on developing assets for RW. The problem I am having has been seen before - objects that disappear when viewing at certain angles. Apparently, I have no idea how to fix this. I have done everything that i've read in the forums pertaining to this - centering the objects at 0,0,0, making sure the axis of the object is placed on the bottom of the object at 0,0,0, etc. Am I missing something here? I can't have a route where everything disappears when you approach it or look up and down it.

The most notable problems I am having are from a building that is 300' x 30' x 300' square, and a bulk liquids tank that is 15'x50'. The building is basically a box with a few child primitives attached, and it disappears when looking around the corner in a certain direction (left side if looking at it from the front). I have tried moving the center/pivot point around, but that just makes it disappear when looking at it from a different angle. The tank is just a simple decorated cylinder. The center/pivot is placed square in the center of the bottom of the tank. When I look up (y-axis) in the sim at the tank, it disappears when the view gets halfway up.

I noticed while building my route a few pieces I downloaded disappear when you move a little ways away from them. One inparticular was called the regency hotel. I placed it and moved away and it was gone, so I put another down and moved to the front of it and I had 2. I deleted that asset after fooling with the detail settings as it did nothing for it. I also notice my roads flicker and show the grass underneath them through it. If I raise the roads a tad the flickering stops. So the only suggestion I have for you is to raise them above ground a little and see if that helps you. Other than that I am bone stupid as far as modelling goes at this time.

Hiya,

I know that during the creation process that this kind of thing is annoying. Should it happen? No. In the game where you will be driving a train by at a certain distance does this effect still happen? Or does it only happen when you are right next to the object? When playing the game, will you be close enough to the object that it will vanish or is this only something that happens when placing the object?

This game is full of visual oddities from changing water colors to tree branches coming through the cab of the train and taking my animated head off. Step back and look at the object from the player point of view and if it looks ok, then I say you are fine. If this happens from all distances then I would say it is a really big issue.

Pikehkr

It's a big issue. The bulk tanks are located next to the track. When you look at them straight on, they're fine. Tilt the camera up and the tank disappears. The building is also next to the tracks, and it will also disappear if you turn in a certain direction while you are standing next to it.

I did find that moving the pivot point within the structure will move the point at which the asset disappears. I can move the pivot point outside the building onto the tracks so that it won't disappear while you are on or in the train. But get "off" the train and you might hit a vanishing point.

I will post pics of this later. I'm on a phone right now.

It's funny that I did not have this problem with the crossing signals, and I never moved a single pivot point or recentered any axis points on those. The only thing I can think of that is different (other than being larger) is that those were created with 3DCanvas 8.13, and the tank and building created with v.8.2. What I know for sure is that none of the default assets, which I assume were created with 3DSM, display this behavior.

I had the same issue with a large building I was working on, and then solved it by breaking the building into several sections - basically, split through the walls and centered those sections offset from the main. Before this, portions of the structure would vanish depending on the angle of view (LOD didn't make one hoot of difference).



This also solved a problem I was having with shadows on large objects. Broke them apart, and no more hair-pulling.

I hope you find a solution because I just love your creations.

Interesting and a great tip for everyone to break down their models if that is indeed the case. I will have to try and remember this.

Pikehkr

Hack, i've also tried splitting the model, but it hasn't helped. The original building was 900x300, very similar to the one in your photo, so I split it into three sections. Must I split further? Simiarly, I had another building that I split into two sections of 300x50x150, and I have no problems with it disappearing. It's so random that it's maddening!

I'm trying different things to try to solve this - splitting, textures, moving axis, and so on. I'm still just wondering if this is an export issue with 3DC. As soon as I find out what is causing this, i'll post it.

I'm using 3DC 7.2 and have exported buildings 1100' long for my steel mill with no disappearing issues. - Rich

Man Marc that route looks great.

The above building is nearly 200' x 1100', and upon further review, I see it's been "stitched" back into a single object (with exception to the shadows, which continue to be problematic if too large). FWIW, below is a copy of the hierarchy I'm using - perhaps it'll help:

Code: Select all

1_0256_lamps_day
1_0256_lamps_night
1_0256_main
    1_0256_maina_shadow
        2_0512_maina_shadow
        3_1024_maina_shadow
    1_0256_mainb_shadow
        2_0512_mainb_shadow
        3_1024_mainb_shadow
    1_0256_mainc_shadow
        2_0512_mainc_shadow
        3_1024_mainc_shadow
    1_0256_maind_shadow
        2_0512_maind_shadow
        3_1024_maind_shadow
    1_0256_maine_shadow
        2_0512_maine_shadow
        3_1024_maine_shadow
    1_0256_mainf_shadow
        2_0512_mainf_shadow
        3_1024_mainf_shadow
    2_0512_main
    3_1024_main
    4_2000_main

I don't recall when I put the main building back as one object, as it's been a couple of months since I tinkered with it (somewhere along the way I must have fixed it). I've been told that a hierarchy isn't needed in RW, but I've found fewer issues when using them. I double-checked the above in the sim, and all appears to be a-OK (I hope so too - I've got another dozen or so needed for the above scene).

I do notice that your heirarchy is a bit different. I picked up the heirarchy that follows early on from UKTrainSim

MAIN
Building Object
Building Object Shadow
Objects that are LODed the same as the Building Object
GROUP 1
GROUP 2
GROUP 3
GROUP SO ON SO FORTH AD NAUSEUM INFINITUM

I thought putting the groups outside of the MAIN group was a no-no, but if it's working for you, i'm gonna give it a go.

SMM, I think this is where 3d Canvas and Max go their seperate ways. I think in Max you can export multiple hierarchys, but I know you can't in 3dCanvas.

Alright, I ran a few tests to see what I could come up with.

1. Tried starting out with building that was 1100x200. Exported building and it was totally invisible in the Asset Editor.
2. Started over, modeling building in 200x200' sections, then duplicated sections four more times for 1000x200' building. Used a heirarchy similar to Hack'; building was still invisible in the Asset Editor.
3. Went back to old heirarchy - Main, with all five section and a sub-group called 1_2000_Building. Asset shows up, but disappears at certain angles, especially when looking up. Asset was totally unusable in RW due to disappearance when moving camera to ANY angle, including approaching the asset at a distance.
4. Did three more tests, moving centers, trying different heirarchies, all to no avail.
5. Rebuilt structure as 200x20x200 section. Building only disappears when standing next to it and looking up. So, is there a restriction in 3DCanvas on how large an asset can be both vertically and horizontally?

As far as the bulk tank goes, I noticed something very interesting. I had placed several of these beforehand next to another asset that I had built.



These did not disappear when viewed from any angle. Now, I looked at a couple that I had placed next to the Kuju/RS cement plant.



Moving the camera just a bit up...



Could it be that the bounding boxes from nearby assets are causing interference which makes these objects disappear?

This is very interesting. I never had this problem until I built the COA coal tipple. Then it showed up with one set of ladders. I tried moving centers, exporting and re-importing the part, re creating the part, and never solved the problem! If any of you are using the tipple, did you notice this? Actually, is anyone using the tipple? I haven't heard a peep out of anyone.

Pete Bauer