Problem seeing ground textures

[AntonyVW]

I recently had to reinstall Trainz 2012 due to the updates. As a result of this I transferred over a copy of a route I had been making which I had been working on (making a .cdp file from the original installation). The route transferred without error but when I came to view the map all I had was the normal grid - not the map. The hills and track that were done was there but the only way I can see the map is if I zoom out. I do not see the map when zoomed in to a working distance. I have looked at the documentation which states the following:

Settings (CM2/3 only)
Content Manager for TS2009 and above offers an option for hardware accelerated texture
compression. Using this option may lead to textures not being rendered at all. If you
experience black or completely transparent surfaces in Trainz Surveyor or Driver you may
wish to switch this option off. Do not forget to re-import all content affected. For TransDEM
this comprises of:
● the TransDEM ground textures,
● any custom ground textures,
● any TransDEM UTM tile objects.
To find this option select Settings from the File menu and go to the Miscellaneous tab. It is
called “Enable hardware accelerated texture compression”.

While I understand what this is telling me and suspect it may be the reason for my problem - I cannot correct it, as in CM3.7 the option is not available. “Enable hardware accelerated texture compression” is not available where it should be and I cannot locate it anywhere else. I have made sure that I have installed the colour file but as I said I only see the map when zoomed out. Can you help please? (Im using version 2.2.0.1 of Transdem).

[geophil]

The route transferred without error but when I came to view the map all I had was the normal grid - not the map. The hills and track that were done was there but the only way I can see the map is if I zoom out. I do not see the map when zoomed in to a working distance.

Did you reinstall the TransDEM ground textures? If not then this would explain the behaviour you describe. In TS12 (and possibly in other recent versions as well), zooming out automatically switches to the mini-map view at a certain viewing distance. The mini-map is stored separately per baseboard and will only be updated for a particular baseboard if you change something on this baseboard and save the route. So, if you transfer a route but forget the TransDEM ground textures, the mini-map still reflects the situation with the ground textures present. And as long as you see the mini-map everything appears correct.

[AntonyVW]

I have checked that the ground textures are installed. I even reinstalled them just to be sure and got 20 warnings - all stating that the asset had been reinstalled. But still I get the same issue. My feelings are that somewhere in the transfer from one installation to the other that some information was lost or corrupted along the way. Reason I state that is because the reason I reinstalled was because SP1 and hot fix !&2 messed up the original installation making it almost impossible to use.
When I go to CM and look at the route it has a yellow jigsaw piece with a question mark in it under status. When I check the dependencies for it everything is ok - except that all of the files related to the ground textures all have a question mark next to them. If I then click the button to view in main menu - none of these ground textures show up there.

[geophil]

Did you check the route's dependencies?

I suggest to fire up TransDEM and create new small route from some geo data just for testing. Will this new one show the ground textures?

[AntonyVW]

I have built a small test route following the video tutorials to make sure I didn't forgot anything and that has come out ok. I can see the map images (tiles) just below the surface as I expected to. so the ground textures are there. But the original route still does not show these at all. I did wonder if I had missed anything in packing up the .cdp to transfer but I have been through it again and got the same results. So I am convinced that this is something to do with how trainz sp1 and hotfixes 1&2 have corrupted it.

[geophil]

I can see the map images (tiles) just below the surface as I expected to. so the ground textures are there.

Not necessarily. Ground textures and UTM tiles are not related. If you are in standard Surveyor mode (not wireframe mode), you should see a painted terrain surface (unless you explicitly disabled this option when exporting in TransDEM).

Regarding the transferred route, all UTM tiles referenced by the route (if any) are separate objects. They also must be included in the cdp. You will find them in the dependency list.

One other idea: You may have used a custom ground texture set when building the original route. What does the dependency list say?

[AntonyVW]

First things first. In the new map I have not used WMS as I cant remember how to access UK maps so that may account for the ground textures not showing in the new map. Second at this point I cannot remember if I used them in the earlier - faulty - map as it is a while since I started it. As for the dependencies that have a question mark next to them all follow the same kuid starting at <kuid2:6060261> going to <kuid2:6060261> According to the report there are 103 unknown dependencies. I was guessing that these were the UTM assets though my kuid id does not begin with those number but with 596321, so I doubt that. One thing that puzzles me though is that if I click on the "view in main list" button when looking at the asset dependencies - they are not there at all. This is confirmed as I have just compared the dependencies on the new map and that same range of dependencies is missing there also. So now I am confused.

[geophil]

To test ground texture existence the easiest way would be to create the "Muengsten" route from the TransDEM Trainz manual again.

KUID ranges like yours <kuid2:6060261> to <kuid2:6060261> look like UTM tiles indeed. Since TransDEM does not verify your user ID you could have set it to 606026 in TransDEM with noticing the outcome.

If theses assets were not in your cdp then it's quite unlikely that you will find them the main list. If they were there, Content Manager would have found them as well.

[geophil]

Antony, I think I found the explanation.

606026 is the user ID of ModelerMJ. And he is the one who created the custom ground texture set adapted to the colour range of aerial images. You most probably used that texture set and did not reinstall it after you transferred the route.

[AntonyVW]

I have installed the ground textures several times - it tells me they are there but I have no explanation for this. However I do have some more information to add. When following the tutorial for Muengsten I noted an error message at parts 2 and 3. The error message reads as follows:

Inconsistent file names and/or missing files for one or more map folders:
"F:\TS12\userdata\editing"
These maps will not be available in the selection list.

In part 2 the folder being refereed to as fas as I can tell is the scenery folder . It physically exists as I have checked it manually, but in the dialog box to export to Trainz at the bottom where it shows the destination folder - this is greyed out. When I come to import from that folder, Trainz does not show the folder as being there even though a manual search shows it is present.