Railworks America

Can someone walk me through the steps of making distant mountains? I'm confused on what you have to import, how to import, ETC

Is this on a fictional route or in some real place?

I actually had the same question about how to create distant mountains/terrain.

It sounds like OP is asking in reference to realistic routes, but I myself am curious in terms of fictional routes.

I know I've seen a "generate distant terrain" button before, but it has never done anything before when I've clicked it.

If your route has DEM terrain imported, the generate distant terrain button will make lower resolution 'backdrop' terrain of it at distances greater than what the TS engine would normally draw it at. The distant terrain will also be textured to the terrain colour that the ground is painted there, so terrain features like snow capped mountains can be created.

The example pictures below show the dramatic difference this made on my route. In the first picture, the hills on 'the horizon' are at a distance of about 3 miles. Even though there is terrain generated beyond that, the TS engine (in combination with my route's fog settings) doesn't draw it.



The second picture is after I used the 'generate distant terrain' feature. Now, Mt Shasta which is 17 miles distant is drawn.



With this distant terrain imported, you can change your fog settings to take advantage of this increased viewing. The picture below shows the ad hoc terrain paint that I put on Mt Shasta being displayed. This is at a distance of 12 miles, and beyond the distance that this would normally be drawn. Note, the distant terrain will be coloured exactly as the ground at that point is textured at the time that you generate the distant terrain. ie: if you retexture any distant ground, you will need to go through the 'generate distant terrain' process again to add the changes to your route.



Important things to note:

You must have the low res (1 or 3 arc second) .hgt files inside your Railworks/DEM/SRTM folder for all of the terrain areas you are generating.
You have to be positioned within the 0,0 tile of your route at the time you press the 'generate distant terrain' button

I'm still having trouble with what to open in MicroDEM because it asks for a certain file that I do not appear to have.

In addition to PNWR's question, I have one also: If I'm building a route circa 1970 which features Mt St Helens, any DTM data will feature the post-eruption (May 18 1980) elevation data. Can I import the current DTM data, then use the elevation tool to "re-construct" the pre-eruption summit, then apply the "generate distant terrain" button? ...or will the DTM data over-ride any of my "sculpture" attempts?

Oooo..... Northwest route......

Rudi master of all things NW.

PNWR1854 wrote:I'm still having trouble with what to open in MicroDEM because it asks for a certain file that I do not appear to have.

PM me a screenshot of the message. Or start a new thread and post screenshot there. You're following the Searchlight tutorial referenced at the bottom of mine right?

RudiJaeger wrote: Can I import the current DTM data, then use the elevation tool to "re-construct" the pre-eruption summit, then apply the "generate distant terrain" button? ...or will the DTM data over-ride any of my "sculpture" attempts?

That's a great question Rudi. Unfortunately I dont know the answer. This may come down to trial and error

Buzz, thanks but I only wish that were the case; right now I can't even master joining track properly, but I'm working on it ..all the live-long-day.

Thanks Boosted. I figured that would be a rather uncommon scenario; not many active volcanoes along any of our existing routes. Once I work my way into that area, I'll give it a go and see what happens.

Colin, when I look at the tutorial, it says "Open every .flt file" and there are nil in the folders from USGS.

BoostedFridge wrote:You're following the Searchlight tutorial referenced at the bottom of mine right?

Would you be so kind and link this tutorial here?

DanSSG wrote:

BoostedFridge wrote:You're following the Searchlight tutorial referenced at the bottom of mine right?

Would you be so kind and link this tutorial here?

There is a link to the tutorial at the bottom of my "Downloading DEM/SRTM ... " tutorial which is stickied at the top of this forum.

OK, I thought there was a tutorial for distant terrain which I didn't know...