CSX Folkston Funnel

[nikos1]

Hi all,
im posting the announce my new project (well not new since ive been working on it for awhile)
The CSX Folkston Funnel is CSX's artery between its too southern hubs, Waycross, Georgia and Jacksonville,Florida. In the small town of Folkston the CSX Nahunta sub and the CSX jesup sub combine for 25 up to Callahan Florida. The line see's up to 70 trains per day including the Amtrak Autotrain and the Tropicana Juice train. The town of Folkston has constructed a train watching platform and the town has become a popular destination for railfan's.
http://www.folkston.com/trains/trains.htm
I have visited Folkston twice so far and cant wait to go back, if your in the area i cant recommend it more!
Here are some preview shots of the route and some of the assets i have reskinned for it, the items will be released before the actual route. so far i have just begun with a small portion outside of Folkston on the Nahunta sub to figure out how to get the right look. The route will be DEM with basemapping in important areas
Juice train coming down the grade at Newell,ga, this roller coaster profile of typical of lines in georgia.
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/568fda68aab791c13080f2e11d008833.jpg
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/b7c5bae085c850e0dd63a7fe29e2d571.jpg
a close up of the Tropicana's, almost ready for release!
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/8966bdde813ed1fcfd0692e90d63e673.jpg
note the proper US road in the foreground, ready for release will upload soon
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/c29b5c5111efabf8df61aaade9b78869.jpg
a better view of the CSX ES44DC's, still a little work left on these.
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/5cdf809fb40d9f8f11134b6507082636.jpg
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/158b0c1c7d63ba0b29e2020d07d9edf0.jpg

[nikos1]

Here we see T109 screaming up the grade behind two ES44's
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/5386acd4313746014c376234fac4bbec.jpg
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/728c35a73186162c7be58e60f85cdb4a.jpg
a dogs breakfast consist of a few years ago negotiating the sag, FXE's need a bit of paint here and there and they should be done
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/afad655517200f407e5343c42dc0ed41.jpg
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/192e0bed80eb7097c793cf8e74746bb0.jpg
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/81cea4a12388025606ae5bf0f05b8332.jpg
a closeup of the track you have been seeing in all these shots, still a few issues that need to be worked out before release
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/171dfdaf53ab4b5bcea4ebb499170d1c.jpg
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/efdf0123027849f58b64398fdd2b6092.jpg
i love this 1024 res track, i can actually put rail dates on it!
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/83bf76d927c279f8acaf23019105c642.jpg
Ok now that i have posted pics, i need help with a few things.
before i can release the GEVO's i need to know where the nose door edges are mapped, since there have been many skins of the GEVO surely someone must know. also where are the nose and nose top grabs mapped too?
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/cc4b17d2907353d020d830515b7283a6.jpg
For the tracks can someone point me to how i get rid of the regular textured ties on switches, none of the default tracks have this issue.
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/78d18d18ece46d4bde94da5cd4704d5a.jpg
Hopefully i can get some of these items released soon.
In addition if anyone is willing to do some structures for me send me a PM and ill send you some pictures to work from, ill even take care of the texturing if you prefer.
Enjoy,
Nikos

[jamesc25313]

Nice route! Heres the fix for your door. As you probably know thats the first out of the three engine files.

[GreatNortherner]

Fantastic!!!

This looks superb, all of it, the route, the engines, and the track texture!!! With the latter I think you are about to establish a new standard in RS.

Great work, keep it up!

Cheers!
Michael

[OwainGlyndwr]

Fully agree, track texture is excellent. Route looks very good, loco looks great.

What would be the end to end mileage of the route please ?

Nice work. :)

regards,
Mike.

[seaboardairline]

Looks fantastic even down to the hurricane bent telegraph poles! Had you MSTS version and loved it. Y'all down in my neck of the the woods!

Arthur

[bs rr co]

Let me know when you get my PM

michael

[nikos1]

Thanks everyone for your comments!
jamesc25313 thanks for pointing out the mapping location, the ES44 map can get a bit confusing at times.
as for the route length i do not know how much of it i am actually going to model, i have track layed for a good stretch of the Nahunta sub but not much scenery, i have folkston basemaped with some of the track layed, i want Folkston to be as close as possible so iam going to take the time to do it right. SAL: i didnt do the MSTS version but thanks, another guy did that i forgot his name but i met him in Folkston on my first visit and he's a very nice guy. If not for his route i probably wouldnt have been doing this. After seeing his MSTS route i tried doing this route in TRS, i got a good bit done but i wasnt too happy with the way it was looking.
bs rr, got your PM, ill try and get those shots of the buildings in Folkston up for you to use as a reference.

[djt1]

I have visited Folkston twice so far and cant wait to go back, if your in the area i cant recommend it more!


I worked in train service out of Southover yard (Savannah, GA) to Waycross, Savannah to Moncrief and Baldwin (Jacksonville, FL), and Waycross to Manchester in the late nineties. We called this area of CSXT, the “triangle” because of the arrangement/location of crew change points. I still have all my track profile data/timetables on these sub divisions from my qualifying trips.

From what I can remember some of this trackage used concrete ties and the portion from Jacksonville to Savannah is double track. Some of the worst undulating territory is the portion between Waycross and Manchester, GA.

By the way, where’s the Georgia pine and red clay that is so predominate in this area?

[zbobg]

For the tracks can someone point me to how i get rid of the regular textured ties on switches, none of the default tracks have this issue.
There are two base texture files used for the track roadbed. You'll find these listed in the XSec files in the <Name d:type="cDeltaString">Ballast</Name>
blocks of the xml format file. One of the textures is only used for regular straight track, the other is only used for switches.

The whatever_track.XSec file uses a whatever_track_comb.TgPcDx texture file that has the ties already in the texture (ex: us_track01_comb.TgPcDx), this is for regular straight track.

The whatever_track_cap.XSec file uses a whatever_track_ballast.TgPcDx texture file that has no ties (ex: us_track01_ballast.TgPcDx), this is for switches.

The whatever_track.bin file specifies the sleepers that are automatically drawn on the switches. Your example picture shows the sleepers being drawn over the ties from a whatever_track_comb.TgPcDx texture file which (texture) should not be used for switches, which means your whatever_cap.Xsec file is referencing the wrong texture file or the whatever_ballast.TgPcDx texture file is incorrectly including the ties.

Or... I suppose it is possible to edit the whatever_track.bin file so as to have a null (empty) reference to the sleeper texture file, that way the automatic sleepers would not be drawn on the switches. Example line below from SanB_Bars_track01.bin:

<SleeperTextureID d:type="cDeltaString">Kuju\RailSimulatorUS\RailNetwork\Track\textures\[08]US_track_supersleep01</SleeperTextureID>

It may or may not work to simply edit out the filename. The switches may also not look very good.

The stock solution is to use a texture file for the switches that has no ties - just a plain gravel roadbed with some shadowing. The sleepers on switches are automatically drawn by RailSim from the texture file specified in the whatever_track.bin file.

[els1223]

Wow....Now your talking...This route looks great...

[nikos1]

OK the CSX ES44 is now released as beta, tell me if you find any problems with it, then ill upload to Train-Sim.
http://uslw.net/content/members/nikos/CSX%20GEVO.zip


Responding to a earlier post of djt1: I have found that the wet soil texture makes a good Georgia clay and that Nettle makes a good kudzu, just havnt got around to adding much of it.
The pine trees present a bigger problem, the Kuju Pine is a reasonable facsimile for a Slash pine (well atleast for default content) but it is a high poly tree and therefore i cannot cover the landscape with giant tree farms of them. I may try reskinning one of the defauly trees if i find the right one, there is a texture from TRS that i can use.
As for concrete track, i think the only concrete in the Folkston area is for the second track switch which was layed more recently, i bet there is more somewhere though.
If you still have those track charts and could scan them that would be greatly appreciated.
zbog: ill give it a look, i thought i had the right files referenced but i guess not, i remember clearly doing a texture without ties too, ive already made my own supersleeper file so the ballast is the only thing left to fix. well that and the bump maps.

[jamesc25313]

Only thing that has jumped out at me is cosmetic, otherwise its fine so far.

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/attachment.php?attachmentid=4106&stc=1&d=1212200770

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/attachment.php?attachmentid=4107&stc=1&d=1212200774

[nikos1]

Ah yes the interior, i was looking at the files today trying to remember if i had painted that, ill be sure to do that before final release.
Btw: you use Mike Simpsons RS TMB for packaging right? I need to try that out as i the official packager wont let you pack things in the Kuju folder.

[jamesc25313]

Ah yes the interior, i was looking at the files today trying to remember if i had painted that, ill be sure to do that before final release.
Btw: you use Mike Simpsons RS TMB for packaging right? I need to try that out as i the official packager wont let you pack things in the Kuju folder.

I used his RS_Tools for packaging assets. Its very handy.

[OTTODAD]

Example line below from SanB_Bars_track01.bin:

<SleeperTextureID d:type="cDeltaString">Kuju\RailSimulatorUS\RailNetwork\Track\textures\[08]US_track_supersleep01</SleeperTextureID>

Hi Bob !

As you seem to know a lot about tracks, switches and their textures, is there a way to stop B-SB switches changing their appearance as one gets closer to them ?

Very noticeable when driving and looking at them from the driver cab.

O t t o

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/attachment.php?attachmentid=4111&stc=1&d=1212232524

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/attachment.php?attachmentid=4112&stc=1&d=1212232524

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/attachment.php?attachmentid=4116&stc=1&d=1212234395

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/attachment.php?attachmentid=4117&stc=1&d=1212234395

[nikos1]

back on topic................
Heres some shot of Folkston, mainly just trackwork so far, btw: if anyones actually been there opinions on the distances would be appreciated, to me it kind of seems that the overpass and love street are too far apart but the DEM/marker lines say otherwise. This is NOWHERE near done, and dont worry thats not the real texture just a basetile layed out so i can accuratly place objects. might look good if it were higher res.
Folkston Turnout, looking south
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/b1a5d12eea7226ab227c2f424be26857.jpg
Folkston Turnout looking north from overpass
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/7c3b6d80116c40d1c5ce8fd5fa39cd9c.jpg
Folkston turnout looking south from overpass
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/1f6a033596306a2f9026a9f31f0372e7.jpg
real life http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=102213&nseq=114
looking north from MOW shed
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/a353e7943403a3c6b79affbe5fe05ca2.jpg
Turnout Signals looking north
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/8c2ac2534455a955b401541f22b73664.jpg
Love street looking north, still iffy on that distance
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/1455e8a8275907e182694a1f52adfa90.jpg
Main Street
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/2c3a9ffc4454db1296922ded2e7d445a.jpg
My crude attempt at the railfan platform
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/d82a4afcf4df73cb9d24279d39b85faf.jpg
Martin Street.
http://uslw.net/content/screenshots/4d02a00d94ff8203fca6c897cea0bec2.jpg

[ozark]

This will be one great route when your done, good job man.

[obo]

...to me it kind of seems that the overpass and love street are too far apart but the DEM/marker lines say otherwise.

Possibly just a field of view issue? The default is pretty wide and that can really mess up the perception of distance.

Rob.

[nikos1]

BUMPTY BUMPTY BUMP !

not much progress on the route but the tracks and road are available to download!
http://uslw.net/content/members/nikos/USTracks_and_roads.zip

This includes the track seen earlier with functioning switch textures, winter mode and bump maps
Also included are two roads that more accurately match those found in the US.
A trackrule is included so you can use the euro tracks, cajon and mine all in one route, it is called "US all track tr" in game.
If you find any problems post them here, just unzip the folders and place the files in the appropriate folders. Please no redistribution without my permission (with exception of the trackrule) you may freely use them in your routes however.
Enjoy!

[ILoveTrainz]

Question? Why can't I see the tracks and roads in my tracks list? To I have to enable them or something? I used them once but they went away... ??? Please don't tell me I have to add RailSimulator to my filters, I just got that fixed...

[tomkat41]

Question? Why can't I see the tracks and roads in my tracks list? To I have to enable them or something? I used them once but they went away... ??? Please don't tell me I have to add RailSimulator to my filters, I just got that fixed...

You have to delete the Blueprints.pak file then restart RailSim.



BUMPTY BUMPTY BUMP !

not much progress on the route but the tracks and road are available to download!
http://uslw.net/content/members/niko..._and_roads.zip

This includes the track seen earlier with functioning switch textures, winter mode and bump maps
Also included are two roads that more accurately match those found in the US.
A trackrule is included so you can use the euro tracks, cajon and mine all in one route, it is called "US all track tr" in game.
If you find any problems post them here, just unzip the folders and place the files in the appropriate folders. Please no redistribution without my permission (with exception of the trackrule) you may freely use them in your routes however.
Enjoy!

Hi Nikos,

I downloaded your file and I got everything to work. I have a problem, when I make
a switch track for a siding the ties at the switch track have Yellow/Black colors
on the ties something like safety colors or it may say missing textures not found probably
under the ballast I can''t tell. Is there a missing texture in the files? I already have my
track laid, is there a way I can convert your textures to the existing ones instead of
relaying the track?

[USRailFan]

OK, Rail Simulator may still have its problems. But graphics wise, it kills MSTS stone dead. Hell, I even like the Rail Simulator screenshots better than the MSTS-X ones, dunno why...

[ILoveTrainz]

I just figured out I could put the roads & tracks in my US folder too, but now I cant see the roads...?

One more thing...do you delete the Blueprints.pak file in the RailsimulatorCore folder?

[Christoff]

I also get the yellow and black ties on switches. The roads and track look good other than that. Please advise.

[nikos1]

I screwed up sorry :(
Forgot to add the new supersleeper files, hence the no texture ties on switches
New file: http://uslw.net/content/members/nikos/USTracks_and_roads.zip

@tomkat41: The easiest way to do that is to open your routes "track.bin" file in your routes folder (under networks) with RSTMB and change the routes trackrule to my trackrule that is supplied in the zip, that way you can then in game change the track type without having to relay it.

@ILoveTrainz: The tracks go in the RailSImulator folder, the roads go in the RailSimulatorUS folder, i cannot be responsible if you decide to place them somewhere else. delete the blueprints.pak from both the RailSimulator and the RailSimulatorUS folder, you dont need to delete it from RSCore.

[djplus2]

What is RSTMB?

[tomkat41]

What is RSTMB?

It is in the file library. RSTMB is RS Tools by Mike Simpson

[tomkat41]

I screwed up sorry :(
Forgot to add the new supersleeper files, hence the no texture ties on switches
New file: http://uslw.net/content/members/nikos/USTracks_and_roads.zip

@tomkat41: The easiest way to do that is to open your routes "track.bin" file in your routes folder (under networks) with RSTMB and change the routes trackrule to my trackrule that is supplied in the zip, that way you can then in game change the track type without having to relay it.

@ILoveTrainz: The tracks go in the RailSImulator folder, the roads go in the RailSimulatorUS folder, i cannot be responsible if you decide to place them somewhere else. delete the blueprints.pak from both the RailSimulator and the RailSimulatorUS folder, you dont need to delete it from RSCore.

Hi Nikos,

The switch track textures looks nice, Thanks.
I looked at the tracks bin file and there is a lot of track rules in that file. Do I have to
change them all and do I have to convert your track rules from a bin file to an xml file?

[nikos1]

Thanks tomkat,
to replace the track rule, open the search box and type the name of your trackrule (ex: -All TrackTR-.xml , SanB_Bars_ Mainline) and then in the replace box type in "Track rules blueprint000" , shouldve renamed it but at that point i was just happy to get the damn thing working! Alternatively you could try directly replacing the track, im not sure how well that would work as it has some times and not others for me but it is worth a try. To do that open the tracks.bin file and search for the name of the track you used.
(ex: bath_temp_track01.xml, SanB_Bars_track01.xml) and in the replace box type in "Mainline_light_track01.bin"

[tomkat41]

Hi Nikos,

I got it to work. I made a copy of the cajon pass main track rule and the yard track rule
and renamed the copies to WesternMaryland_Main and WesternMaryland_Yard. I had these
track rules point to your track and track textures. I also forgot that RSTools had a Find and
Replace function. I used that to replace the cajon track and placed the westernmaryland
info in the tracks.bin file and it worked. For some reason the newer version of RStools
won't load the track.bin file, if I load it, it locks up and if I go into the taskmanager the
memory keeps adding up, I think at one time it was 313,560kb. The older version 3114
doesn't have this problem the task manager was reading about 21,313kb and didn't lockup.
Now I'm going to do the roads.bin file and change them.
Thanks for the great looking textures of the tracks.

[seaboardairline]

This track download, where does it start and end. I am assuming it starts in Jacksonville, Fl and goes north into Georgia someplace.
Arthur