Trainz/Fundamentals

Trains need a place to operate. Since they don't float nor fly, they need terrain. Terrain holds up tracks for trains to run on. Of course terrain and track is hardly enough to create an interesting place to run trains. We need to locate some interesting features on the terrain. Trainz provides Surveyor to create interesting places to operate trains. Most users will want to create a new railroad eventually. This section introduces Surveyor along with concepts and techniques for creating those places to run trains.

Starting Surveyor

• Start TRAINZ
• Select the Start menu
• Select Surveyor
• Select an existing route then Load or
• Select Create New

So Surveyor is running. Now what?

Terrain

Let's start with a definition. Terrain is the surface of the earth. Think of it as the dirt and rock that covers the planet. Anything that isn't part of the surface isn't terrain. Water, roads, trees, buildings, cars, tracks all rest top of terrain thus they are features. We need terrain to put all the really interesting things on and, sometimes in, so we start by making some dirt.

Baseboards

The basic unit of terrain in Trainz is called a baseboard. For reasons known only to Auran, baseboards are 720 meters on a side. New baseboards are flat land at sea level. File:Baseboard

Each baseboard has a 10 meter grid marked out on it. Each intersection of the grid is an elevation point. The 10 meter elevation interval effectively limits the slope of terrain. Exactly vertical cliffs are not possible. Nor are undercut faces. Mathematics necessary to support either are far too complex to perform in real-time. File:10 Meter Grid

Some Essential Surveyor Hints

These hints have a temporary home. They will be incorporated in this section as appropriate.