what comes first?

[rudder]

Hi, Before I get to far into my route ( just laid 2 miles) should I follow the same rule as MSTS. track - terrain - roads then the other stuff. Never did get it right in MSTS.

[jp 4712]

Doesn't matter in terms of the program crashing (ie it's not a problem to lay interactives). The ability to use the World Editor in-game is a big step forward. The way I'm going is to import DEM, import Google .kml markers, start laying bare-bones track and we'll take it from there.

[PaulD]

Going on the assumption that you are creating a fictional route, there are two ways to approach it.

If you have specific track layout and operational features that you want in your route, then you would lay your track, then fit in all the scenery around it.

On the other hand, if you want to do it the way they had to do it in the real world, you import a DEM into the game ( doesn't have to be where there's an actual existing railroad) and then you have to "engineer" a route through the existing terrain. I think in the end, this would result in a much more realistic route. The tunnel is there becuase it MUST be there, not becuase you plopped a mountain down in that spot as an excuse to make a tunnel, etc. I've seen many fictional routes that look more like the Lionel trainset under the Christmas tree becuase all the scenery was made to fit the track instead of the other way round.

[rudder]

Thanks for your reply, It is a actual route ,about 30 miles long. I have all of the elevations and have taken many pictures of the route. I would like to see it somewhat as it is when I ride the train.