KIND Groundtexture is an extension of KIND Texture. A ground texture is tiled in Surveyor to color and cover the base grid.

This page describes content format v4.6.

KIND Hierarchy

Parent Classes

KIND TrainzBaseSpec

Child Classes

none

Supported Tags

The KIND Groundtexture config.txt file supports the following tags. Each tag is show here with its default value.

season-selector
{
  ...
}
texture-variants
{
 0
 {
   diffuse-texture ""
   normal-texture ""
   parameters-texture ""
   albedo-detail-texture ""
   normal-detail-texture ""
   detailtexturescale 0.09
 }
 ...
}

season-selector

The "season-selector" container allows the ground texture asset to adapt its appearance based on the current environmental conditions. This container provides selection logic to determine which seasonal variant to display.

texture-variants

The "texture-variants" container supplies one or more numbered texture variants, which correspond to the seasons defined by the "season-selector" container.

diffuse-texture

The "diffuse-texture" tag specifies a texture file located within the asset folder. See the discussion on the ground material below for more information on how this image is utilized.

normal-texture

The "normal-texture" tag specifies a texture file located within the asset folder. See the discussion on the ground material below for more information on how this image is utilized.

parameters-texture

The "parameters-texture" tag specifies a texture file located within the asset folder. See the discussion on the ground material below for more information on how this image is utilized.

albedo-detail-texture

The "albedo-detail-texture" tag specifies a texture file located within the asset folder. See the discussion on the ground material below for more information on how this image is utilized.

normal-detail-texture

The "normal-detail-texture" tag specifies a texture file located within the asset folder. See the discussion on the ground material below for more information on how this image is utilized.

detailtexturescale

The detailtexturescale tag specifies a scaling value to use for the detail textures relative to the primary texture coordinates. 1.0 means that the detail texture uses the same mapping as the primary texture (which is basically pointless) while numbers below 1.0 mean that the detail texture is mapped over a larger area at lower texel resolution, and numbers above 1.0 mean that the detail texture is mapped over a smaller area with higher texel resolution. This tag is only relevant where detail textures are in use.

Material

Two variations of the ground material may be used. The selection is automatic based on the provided tags in the selected texture variant:

PBR

The PBR ground texture material is similar to m.pbrmetal. Only the following config tags should be supplied:

diffuse-texture - The albedo texture.

Albedo Texture Example

normal-texture - The normal texture.

Normal Texture Example with no Alpha Channel (ie. no displacement map)

Normal Texture Example with Alpha Channel (ie. displacement map)

parameters-texture - The PBR parameters texture.

Note that it is frequently possible to reduce the size of this texture without compromising the visual results. It is recommended to try a 512x512 or even 256x256 resolution.

Parameters (Emissive - Red Channel) Texture Example

Parameters (Roughness - Green Channel) Texture Example

Parameters (Ambient Occlusion - Blue Channel) Texture Example

Parameters (Metallic - Alpha Channel) Texture Example

To read more detail about the functionality for each of the textures and their channels click here: m.pbrmetal

PBR Detail

The PBR Detail ground texture material is similar to m.pbrmetaldetail. All of the following config tags should be supplied:

diffuse-texture - The albedo texture.

Example, see above.

TBD: Clarify the use of alpha here.

normal-texture - The normal texture.

Albedo Detail Texture

TBD: Clarify the use of alpha here.

parameters-texture - The PBR parameters texture.

Example, see above.

albedo-detail-texture - The detail albedo texture.

Note that it is frequently possible to reduce the size of this texture without compromising the visual results. It is recommended to try a 512x512 or even 256x256 resolution.

Detail Texture

normal-detail-texture - The detail normal texture.

detailtexturescale - The detail texture scaling factor.

(As described above.)

Scale

When choosing your image, make sure it is the proper scale so details does not look too large or too small in game. The smallest scale setting in surveyor corresponds to an image 10 meters across, while the largest scale setting corresponds to 24 meters across.

Videos

HERE is a how to on converting your previous Trainz ground textures to take advantage of the new PBR / Parallax ground texture format.

Downloads

Attach sample files here?

KIND Groundtexture

Contents