Route and Session Basics

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The information in this Wiki Page applies to TRS19 and Trainz Plus. This page is intended to provide you with an overview of the properties and features of Routes and Sessions when creating layouts for Trainz. More detailed descriptions of these various features plus instructions on getting you started with creating Routes and Sessions can be found in the Trainz Wiki How To Guides - a link is provided at the end of this document.

Contents

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What is a Route?

A Route (also known as a "Layout") consists of most of what you will see on the screen when using Surveyor and Driver. A Route consists of two parts:-

  1. Route Data and
  2. Route Layers.


DotPoint.JPG When you save a Route, all the items in the Route Data and Route Layers will be saved


 Route Data: 

This covers all those assets that are "painted" into the Surveyor environment with a brush tool.

Route Data

Route Data consists of:-

  • Landforms or Terrain - baseboards and ground height
  • Water
  • Ground Textures
  • TurfFX and Clutter - found in the Effects Layers


 Route Layers: 

Layers give you a way of organising or grouping the assets displayed in your Route. All scenery assets are held in layers.

Route Layers

Route Layers have those scenery items that you want to always appear. Route Layers contain:-

  • Track and Track Objects (such as signals, switches, bridges, tunnels, speed signs, etc)
  • Most (or all) scenery items
  • Rolling Stock (including locos) -  Note:  In TRS19 Platinum Edition and Trainz Plus it is recommended that all rolling stock be placed into a Session Layer
  • Lineside and Fixed Cameras
  • Trackmarks, Triggers, Direction and Priority Marks
  • Measuring Rulers
LinkWiki.PNG

A detailed description of Layers can be found on the Trainz Wiki Page at:-
How to Use layers

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Loading (and Creating) a Route

Creating a New Route

From the Driver/Surveyor screen the Route options are shown as a set of buttons at the bottom of the screen.

Create a New Route

Click  Create Route . This will start Trainz Surveyor and open the New Route Dialogue Window.

New Route dialogue window

It is strongly advised that you enter some details before clicking the tick icon the create the new route. This will save you time and hassle later.

Route Details
 Route name:  Enter the name of your new Route (keep it simple)

 Session name:  Enter a name for your new Session (again keep it simple)

 Geographical region:  Select a region from the drop down list. If none of the installed regions are suitable you can download others from the DLS or create a region of your own - see WikiLink.PNG How to Create a Region Asset
NotePad.PNG Notes:
DotPoint.JPG You do not have to add the name of a Session but when you save a new Route without a named Session a default Session will be automatically saved with the name Default. This can later cause confusion if a multitude of different Default Sessions appear so it is recommended that a unique Session name be entered at this point.
DotPoint.JPG A Session can always be deleted later if you have no interest in creating one for your Route but a Route without a Session does have some disadvantages - see PageLink.PNG What is a Session? below.
DotPoint.JPG Setting a Geographical region sets some basic features of the Route - such as its latitude and longitude (only used to determine the season of the year), the altitude (in metres) of the first baseboard, the number and types of moving road vehicles (if any), the default junction switch lever.

Loading an Existing Route

You must first find and select the Route to load from those already installed. At the top of the Driver/Surveyor screen the Route search options are shown as a set of buttons.

Route Search

Type:  ROUTES  is the default selection. No need to change this.
Source:  PURCHASED  is the default selection, Click and change to  MY CONTENT  for a Route you have created (or already modified) or to  INSTALLED  for one you have downloaded from the DLS.
Region:  ALL  is the default selection. You can select a particular geographic region if required.
Search: You can narrow down the list of Routes by typing the first few letters of its name (e.g. SA) as shown in the image above.

This will produce a display of thumbnails at the bottom of the screen.

Existing Routes

Click on the thumbnail for the Route you want to load, end then click on the  EDIT ROUTE  button to load the Route into Surveyor.

Edit Route

Editing a Route

DotPoint.JPG When a Route is loaded or a new Route is created all the assets you add will be automatically placed into a Route Layer

When you create a new Route (with or without a named Session), or load an existing Route without a Session, and start adding scenery assets they will automatically be placed into a Route Layer. See WikiLink.PNG How to Use layers for more details.

Any ground textures, water, effect layers (turfFX and clutter) you add, or terrain changes (including new baseboards) you make, will be added to the Route Data.

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What is a Session?

DotPoint.JPG A Session is always a part of an existing Route - you cannot have a Session that does not belong to a Route

A single Route can have multiple Sessions, or none, but a Session must always belong to a Route. To put it into Trainz terminology, a Session has a Route as a dependency.

In general the Route provides the physical structures (or "hardware") while the Session provides the services (or "software") for the Route. While you can easily have a Route without creating a Session, it could be a very limited (or even a boring) experience.

DotPoint.JPG If you create a Route without a Session then ALL the active industries and rolling stock, time, environmental conditions, etc, will revert to their original (default) values. There will be no AI drivers and drivers will have a very limited set of available commands for manual driving

A Session consists of two parts:-

  1. Session Data and
  2. Session Layers.


DotPoint.JPG When you save a Session, all the items in the Session Data and Session Layers will be saved


 Session Data: 

Session Data are often the "invisibles" that control the operation of a Session.

Session Data

Session Data contains:-

  • Drivers (names, AI commands and assigned locos)
  • Driver Commands - those available for AI and manual driving
  • Session Rules
  • Environment Settings (weather, lighting, time of day)
  • Industry Settings (commodities consumed and produced)
  • Consist Settings (commodities carried)
  • Consist Locations (TRS19 Platinium Edition and Trainz Plus only)
  • Switch Settings (left or right) - but the default switch direction is stored in the Route


 Session Layers: 

Session Layers have those scenery items that you want to appear in that particular Session only.

Session layers

Session Layers can contain:-

  • Scenery
  • Rolling Stock (including locos) -  Note:  In TRS19 Platinum Edition and Trainz Plus it is recommended that all rolling stock be placed into a Session Layer
  • Trackmarks, Triggers, Direction and Priority Marks

A Session Layer can be left empty.

LinkWiki.PNG

A detailed description of Layers can be found on the Trainz Wiki Page at:-
How to Use layers


NotePad.PNG Notes:

Scenery, Rolling Stock, Triggers and Markers (Track, Direction, Priority) can be used in both Route Layers and Session Layers. Assets placed in a Route Layer will appear in all Sessions that are based on the Route. The vast majority of (if not all) scenery items will be placed in Route Layers. Assets placed in a Session Layer will only appear in the Session where they have been saved.

Examples of assets that would be placed in a Session Layer instead of a Route Layer would include:-

  • products waiting at a factory for pickup in an industrial Session
  • signallers holding lanterns in a night Session
  • trackmarks and triggers that are only required in one Session and not in all Sessions
  • crowds of onlookers alongside the track in a Session recreating an historic steam train run, together with
  • historic rolling stock in a vintage train Session running on a modern Route
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Loading (and Creating) a Session

Creating a New Session

DotPoint.JPG To creating a new Session you must first create a new Route or identify an existing Route

A new Session can be created in two ways:-

DotPoint1.JPG Automatically when a new Route is created. Follow the steps shown in the section PageLink.PNG Creating a New Route above by entering a Session name for the new Session.


DotPoint2.JPG From an existing Route (remember that a Route can have many individual Sessions). The first step is to find and load the Route as described in the section PageLink.PNG Loading an Existing Route above.

Once you have selected the Route from its thumbnail, click the  VIEW SESSIONS  button.

View Sessions

Then click the  CREATE SESSION  button. If no Session exists for this Route then this will be the only choice available to you.

Create Session

Loading an Existing Session

DotPoint1.JPG The easiest way to load an existing Session is to use the search tools at the top of the Driver/Surveyor screen.

Session Search

Type:  ROUTES  is the default selection. Change this to  SESSIONS .
Source:  PURCHASED  is the default selection, Click and change to  MY CONTENT  for a Session you have created (or already modified) or to  INSTALLED  for one you have downloaded from the DLS.
Gameplay:  ALL  is the default selection. There is no need to change this
Search: If required you can narrow down the list of Sessions by typing the first few letters of its name.

This will produce a display of thumbnails at the bottom of the screen.

Existing Sessions

Click on the thumbnail for the Session you want to load and then click on the  EDIT SESSION  button. This will load BOTH the Route and the Session into Surveyor.

Edit Session


DotPoint2.JPG Alternatively, you can also select the Route first as described in the section PageLink.PNG Loading an Existing Route above.

Then click the  VIEW SESSIONS  button.

View Sessions

This will display a list thumbnails for all the Sessions in that Route. Select the Session thumbnail you need and then click the  EDIT SESSION  button.

Edit Session

Again, both the selected Route and its Session will be loaded into Surveyor.

Editing a Session

DotPoint.JPG When a Session is loaded or a new Session is created from an existing Route, all the assets you add will be automatically placed into a Session Layer

When you create a new Session, or load an existing Route without a Session, and start adding scenery assets they will automatically be placed into a Session Layer. See WikiLink.PNG How to Use layers for more details.

Any changes made to the Session Rules (including drivers and their commands), the Environment Tools, Industry or Rolling Stock settings, will be added to the Session Data.

There are other changes that will be added to the Session Data.

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Saving a Route and a Session

Routes and Sessions are saved from the System Menu on the Surveyor screen.

Save
DotPoint.JPG Selecting  Save  or pressing  Ctrl   S  will save the Route, or the Route and the Session, with the previously entered names or the names used when they were loaded. You will be asked to confirm the name(s) and the Save command.

DotPoint.JPG Selecting  Save As...  will save the Route, or the Route and the Session, with new names. The original Route, or Route and Session, will not be replaced.

If you have created a new Route and select Save (or Save As...), then you will be presented with the following Save Dialogue Window.

This is a Work In Progress

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Trainz Wiki

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More Tutorials and Guides to Using Trainz


This page was created by Trainz user pware in September 2021 and was last updated as shown below.


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