Railworks America

Well I must be about the only idiot that can't understand how to do terraforming.

I've been at this for about two weeks now and can not (or have not) produce anything that resembles terraformed anything.

I've been told that kml files can work inside railworks, seamlessly, yet I can not seem to manipulate the software to function as it should to be able to incorporate this kml formated stuff.

I've read a couple manuals, (both from Mr Simpson,) and both seem to be telling me two different things.

I guess I'm not cut out to make custom terraformed routes.

Anyone? I have my blueprint/folders set up and I have a copy of the kml file in a safe non-related folder ... I have no idea where to go from here. One manual says that I need another program called ReDem, and the other says I can just save the kml file as a cvs or some other ...

I have no clue.

Snuffy,
I'm sorry to say that terraforming cannot be carried out with kml files.
What you need is the SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) data for the area you would like to terraform. This comes in the form of hgt files.
When you have the files you need (and make sure that you have plenty of tiles around the edge of your designated area also) place them in the DEM folder.
When you're confident you have all the height data, start RW, go into edit terrain mode then press "r". This will render terrain for the tile you are on plus the eight surrounding tiles. Note the tile numbers at the bottom of the screen and navigate to all the tiles that you will be able to see from the cab of your loco and generate terrain.
I hope this explains it for you.

Andy

Thanks Andy.

I think you started to clear some things up.

I was under the impression from some of my reading (tutorials and the like,) that google generated paths could be used in a third party program like ReDem to extract the topography from the USGC. Am I wrong in this understanding?

I'm afraid so.
What you can do with GE kml files in conjunction with RW_Tools is to turn them into series and named routemarkers.

I'll explain by telling you what I did with my route.

Using GE I carefully (you don't want to do this a second time, trust me) drew a line over the (mainline) track and saved it as a kml file. When you pull this through RW_Tools, you can turn that into a line in RW over which you can now overlay track. This is a series routemarker.

Using GE I carefully (you don't want to do this a second time, trust me again) placed a marker over each quarter-milepost on my route. Again process this with RW_Tools and in RailWorks edit mode you will get a flag where each milepost should be in RW. I did a similar thing with gradient markers which meant that I could get pretty accurate track grades. I also did it with bridges, crossings and all relevant points of interest. These are named routemarkers. In edit mode, if you press F6, you can display the text you assigned which is great for gradients but since the text always faces you, be careful setting you track grades. Have your paper route documentation with you and put check boxes against each item. Tick them off as you do them. Track gradient changes have no undo so be careful. Add a gradient adjuster post for each gradient change on the track. Save profusely. And backup regularly. Go round after with the terrain magnet and suck the terrain to the track.

It's a bit like decorating a room, everything is in the preparation. If you now have all this geospecific information, you should be able to concentrate on creating your route without being concerned about where things should go. It's a painstaking process but should give you a good foundation on which to build a world class route.

I'm sorry to say that there are more pitfalls but I didn't want to turn this into 'War and Peace'. You will discover them as you try this out. Maybe just start with a couple of miles of track.

I did one further thing and used RW Decal for each of my station and siding areas for use with setting track and buiding positions.

I only have one thing left to do with my route and that is acquire some talent for adding scenery to 23 miles of route. Hmmm... I'm going to have trouble with that.

Have fun,

Andy

Thanks again Andy!

I appreciate the help.

So just what exactly do I do with these kml files? What do I convert them to? If I have to convert them etc.

You have RW_Tools, right? If you start on page 15 of the help file, all will be revealed.
You could also search the forums for routemarkers. I'm fairly sure that there's some good pointers out there.

Andy

It was the help file that confused me to start with.

So I was hoping for some fresh takes on it ...

You'll have to give me some time to work out why the help file isn't helping you. I need to look for areas where assumptions are made.
If you can wait a short while...

Andy

It all satars with the extenion file names. As I've mentioned, I've heard somethings can be done with kml files, but then I never found any information on kml files in the tutorials I've read. There is much said about other files, and I'm not certain I got all my types and where I'm supposed to get them from ...

I'm a mess.

If you have IM, PM me and I'll walk you through.

Andy,

Thanks, but I don't do IM ...

I will however be very happy and grateful if you wish to provide this wisdom via PM.

Sorry, sir, that's going to be too inefficient for the time I can allocate. I hope you can find your answers elsewhere.

Andy