Help talk:TANE General FAQs

This page is designed to give users a central location to find out more information about current "known issues" with Trainz: A New Era or useful hints and tips about how to use the product.

TANE "Community Edition" V1.0

This version was release in December 2014. It was released to provide Kickstarter backers and pre-order customers a "sneak peak" at the current state of development of T:ANE and as a goodwill gesture since we had to delay release of the full version they were suporting.

This version included initial implementations of many of the new T:ANE features including shadows, train motion, procedural junctions, Test Track physics tools, multiplayer, pfx collisions and much more.

It did not include:

• Superelevation
• Interlocking Towers
• Merge Route
• In-cab controls (do not operate using mouse but hotkeys work)
• Alt y and alt u (additional camera options in surveyor)
• User Message (Driver reporting dialog)
• Engine Features:
  • Post-processing effects (HDR, bloom, depth-of-field, SSAO etc)
  • New shaders to add animated water effects
  • Mirror reflections on water
  • Environment cube-map support for "basic" reflections
  • DirectX texture extraction (ie. screenshot)
  • Extended scene shadow culling
  • Differential shadows

A list of known issues was posted at: http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?116149-Your-T-ANE-Community-Edition-questions-answered-(Incl-Known-Issues

For people that understood this was not a final version of the product, it provided a great opportunity to see the work-in-progress and to help N3V Games identify the key issues that needed addressing.

TANE "Community Edition" V1.1

This version was released on Jan 28, 2015. It provided a huge list of updates to V1.0 (although a number of key features still needed to be implemented).

Updates included work on procedural junctions, content manager, shadows, basic post-processing effects, and a huge list of bug fixes and content updates: http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?117145-Community-Edition-V1-1-Update-Now-Available

TANE "Community Edition" V1.2

This version is currently in final testing with our Kickstarter backers. It will be released in early April to all pre-order customers. It will continue the overall improvement process as we head towards our release day version of T:ANE on May 15, 2015 and delivers the "target graphics" feature set including per-pixel lighting, full world shadows, post-processing effects, water reflections and environmental fogging.

Updating to CE v1.2

There are two options available to update to CE v1.2 (build 74539).

• Full install - this will be available via your MyTrainz login
• Patch from build 73706 (4MB) - start build 72079 and you should be prompted to download the Trainz patcher.

You will be advised via email when you are able to upgrade to the latest version.

Trainz Patcher

The auto patcher appears when a new update is available on the patch server. If you cancel this the first time, you will need to manually trigger the update by clicking Launcher > Trainz Settings > Install > Check for T:ANE Updates You will be notified if a patch is available. Click OK to begin the process.

Once the Trainz Patcher is downloaded, it will begin the updating process.

• Waiting for Trainz: A New Era to safely shut down... (this step may take a minute or so. If tane.exe does not close in the first few minutes, you can close it manually and the patch should then continue)
• Checking for available disk space for patching.
• Searching for patches...
• Downloading patch file... (this step depends on your Internet speed - a 4.4GB patch may take several hours to download)
• Unpacking patch file...
• Patching from xxxxx to xxxxx... (this step depends on your hardware and will take from 10 minutes to an hour or more)
• No (more) patches at server for version: xxxxx
• Updating Trainz asset database... (this may take several minutes)
• Patch Complete

If you do not receive the Patch Complete message, your update has failed and you are likely to have problems. We suggest that you reinstall the game and begin the process again.

You may also get some error messages such as: TADClientHandleNotification> unsupported notification code 0x7 IsAssetAccessorWithinBuildFilepaths> ignoring bad filepath: C:/Program Files/N3V Games/TANE - 73706/Resources/builtin/base/content/kuid 30501 1009.tzarc

As long as the patch shows as Complete, then there shouldn't be any problems with these errors.

V1.2 Known Issues

• Installer shows as "Not responding" for 10-30 minutes during install. Please be patient - it is working.
• "Starting TANE..." window appears for 1-3 minutes on first "Start Trainz" (compiling graphics shaders for chosen performance settings)
• Game pauses occasionally for 10-30 second when first loading a session or when moving to a new location or placing a new loco (this is due to compiling new material shaders which is done only once for each new material type in the scene)
• Performance can vary dramatically from one start-up to the next (for some hardware configurations using the same settings each time). We are looking into this issue as a priority but encourage users to check for more information on performance tuning at Help:Video_Settings
• Procedural Junction currently supports single turnouts only (the basic 1 track in, 2 tracks out junction)
• Still some minor issues with blade gaps, blade length, sleeper spacing, level of detail, moire effect that we are fine tuning
• Speedtrees not lit by train headlights
• Session loading can stall for several minutes (this is usually fixed on subsequent loads).
• Superelevated track is supported but not included in built-in routes (additional tools to come)
• TS12 built-in content that is NOT on the download station cannot be imported into TANE due to file formatting issues. We will be updating the DLS with additional TS12 content to ensure broad compatibility
• Older DLC items are not supported yet but we aim to have most existing DLC supported by release day.
• After downloading the Deluxe Routes you may need to exit the game window and click Start Trainz to see all the content in the Routes and Sessions menu.

Questions from the forums

This section is to highlight questions that are asked frequently on the Trainz forums. This link can then be used to provide people a central point to see answers to a variety of questions.

Q. When will T:ANE be released?
A. The retail version will appear in store in Europe, USA and Australasia on May 15, 2015. These releases are being handled by our various publishing partners. The retail version will be released on the same day via Simulator Central, MyTrainz and STEAM store.

Q. Can I upgrade from my "Community Edition" version of T:ANE?
A. There will be a patch from CE V1.2 to the "release day" version of T:ANE.

Q. I have pre-ordered T:ANE. How do I access the pre-release version?
A. Log in to your MyTrainz account and click on the TANE-CE link then choose your download location.

Q. Will T:ANE run on Windows 10?
A. T:ANE currently works well with Win10 Pro Technical Preview 10049. We expect performance to generally be better on Win10 that Win7 or 8 but of course we won't know for sure until Microsoft release the product officially (expected later in 2015).

Q. What are the system specifications for T:ANE?
A.
Minimum: OS: Windows 7 64bit, Windows 8 64bit CPU: Intel i-series, AMD K10 or higher with at least 2Ghz Dual Core GPU: NVidia GT 430 or ATI 5550 or better, at least 1GB dedicated VRAM supporting DirectX 11 Memory: 4GB Hard Disk: 30GB free space Soundcard: DirectX-compatible Internet connection required

Recommended: OS: Windows 7 64bit, Windows 8 64bit CPU: Intel i5 3330, AMD FX 8350, QuadCore 2,3 Ghz or better GPU: NVidia GTX 660 or AMD HD 6950 or better, at least 2GB dedicated VRAM supporting DirectX11 Memory: 8GB Hard Disc: 30GB free space Soundcard: DirectX-compatible Internet connection required

Q. Performance is not as good as I would like - what are my options?
A. T:ANE delivers a huge update to the graphics capabilities with a range of new options that can be turned off and on or tweaked to suit your needs. The Help:Video_Settings page details the various performance options available to adjust for either better performance or better graphics - the key is that you cannot have both. In addition to these settings, the next best thing to do is to ensure your hardware is performing optimally (a fresh install of Win10 when it is released later this year is likely to boost things). The final step is to upgrade your hardware (use google to compare your current hardware benchmark versus the latest hardware).

Q. How do I import content from older version of Trainz?
A. Not all content from older versions is "built-in" to T:ANE. Due to file format errors, you cannot import "built-in" content directly. We suggest that you import the route and sessions and then use the Download Station to import the missing dependencies. Note that locally modified content can be imported directly.

Q. Where are the in-game screenshots located?
A. Currently, there is no in-game screenshot mechanism. We are adding this function for release.

Q. Do splines and track sit directly on top of the terrain now or there is still a 0.2m offset?
A. There is no longer an offset applied when smoothing splines. This was originally coded to avoid z-fighting when floating point accuracy was a problem for computers. Now the problem is that legacy track will "float" and show a shadow. This is a small price to pay for the ongoing benefits and resolves one of the most talked about "problems" with older Trainz versions.

Q. Doew the smoke from ANY locomotive (steam or diesel) have collision or do they need to be edited?
A. By turning on PhysX (in the Launcher settings) you automatically get smoke collisions without further effort. Content creators, please check HowTo/Configure_a_spline_for_collisions for more info on creating the appropriate spline config tags.

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General Hints and Tips

• When laying procedural track, use the straighten tool to lead into the junction to improve the junction shape.
• Turn PhysX ON to enable particle effects collisions (with supported splines and scenery assets)

See Also

TANE Performance Settings