Route and Session Basics

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The information in this Wiki Page applies to TRS19, Trainz Plus, TRS22 and TRS22 Platinum. 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 - links are provided at the end of this document.


Contents

 Workflow Diagrams 

Route Workflow diagram

Session Workflow diagram


Trainz Worlds

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The virtual worlds that Trainz creates can be classified as:-

Route-Sessions-Games
DotPoint.JPG Routes

Routes are created in Surveyor and contain most (if not all) of what you will see in your virtual Trainz world. You can have many different routes, limited only by your storage space. They can be built to represent different geographical regions (real or imagined) and different periods of time (past, present, future). They also control the environment settings in your virtual world, such as your geographic location and altitude, the season of the year, lighting conditions and the weather. Each route can have multiple sessions.

DotPoint.JPG Sessions

Sessions are also created in Surveyor but are designed to be run in Driver. They contain the instructions that will control your trains when they are operating in automatic or "AI" mode in your route. They also control the goods your trains will carry, load and unload at industries along the way. You can create different sessions for different aspects of your railway - freight, passenger, shunting or a mixture - or for different seasons of the year or times of the day. Sessions are where you can program the behaviour of objects in your virtual Trainz world. A session can also contain scenery items that are specific to a particular railway operation, season or time of day. Sessions also control the environment settings in your virtual world, such as lighting conditions and the weather. Each session can have multiple saved driver games.

DotPoint.JPG Driver Games (or Driver Sessions or Saved Games)
Driver Games (also known as Driver Sessions and Saved Games) are created in Driver and save the "state of play" in a running session so you can restart it at the same point at a later time. They are optionally stamped with the date and time they were saved and the play duration.


What is a Route?

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A route (also known as a "Layout") consists of most of what you will see on the screen when using Surveyor and Driver. Things such as the landform or terrain, most (if not all) of the scenery items, the ground textures, the effect layers (TurfFX and Clutter), plus some "environmental" features.

A route consists of two parts:-
Ablue.png Route Data and
Bblue.png Route Layers


BlueDot10x10.png When you save a Route, all the items in the Route Data and Route Layers will be saved


Ablue.png  Route Data: 

BlueDot10x10.png The Route Data stores all those features that are painted into a layout using a brush tool and all the Environmental Data including the World Origin (latitude, longitude, altitude)

The Route Data includes the Terrain, Textures, Effect Layers, Legacy Water and the Environmental features.

Route Data

Route Data contains:-
DotPoint.JPG Landforms (Terrain) - baseboards and ground height
DotPoint.JPG Water height and spread for Legacy Water found in Surveyor Classic
DotPoint.JPG Ground Textures including the grid pattern which is a texture
DotPoint.JPG TurfFX, Clutter and Water - found in the Effects Layers (including the Water Effects Layer found in Trainz Plus and TRS22)
DotPoint.JPG Environmental Settings - World Origin (latitude, longitude, altitude), Water Surface (rough/calm/etc), Snow Altitude, Lighting (sun, ambient and water colours), Sky (clouds), Road Traffic (on/off), Date (day, month), Wind strength, Fog level, Weather (rain/fine/snow), Brightness level. You must edit and save the route for these settings to become part of the Route Data - see the Trainz Wiki page WikiLink.PNG How to Use the Environment Tools for more details.


Bblue.png  Route Layers: 

BlueDot10x10.png Route Layers are used to hold the scenery assets that you want to appear in all sessions created for the route


All scenery assets are held in layers. Route Layers (you can have many layers) give you a way of organising or grouping the assets displayed in your route.

Route Layers

Route Layers contain:-
DotPoint.JPG Track and Track Objects (such as signals, switches, bridges, tunnels, speed signs, etc)
DotPoint.JPG Most (or all) scenery items (e.g. buildings, trees, rocks, active industries/stations) and scenery splines (e.g. roads, fences, etc)
DotPoint.JPG Rolling Stock (including locos) -  Note:  It is strongly recommended that all rolling stock be placed into a Session Layer
DotPoint.JPG Lineside and Fixed Cameras
DotPoint.JPG Trackmarks, Triggers, Direction and Priority Marks


NotePad.PNG Scenery objects can also be stored in a session. This can cause confusion if you load a route without loading a session and find that some scenery items are "missing". See PageLink.PNG Loading an Existing Route below for how to deal with this situation.


LinkWiki.PNG

A detailed description of Layers can be found on the Trainz Wiki Page:-

How to Use Layers


Loading (and Creating) a Route

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The Main Menu screen is shown below. The first option (shown highlighted in the image) opens Driver/Surveyor with all its options including loading and creating a route.
TRS19 Main Screen options


NotePad.PNG Notes:

Routes:-
DotPoint.JPG are saved as entries in the Trainz Database, not as files on your hard drive. Loading a route will retrieve it from the database.
DotPoint.JPG can be loaded directly into Driver from Content Manager. See PageLink.PNG Loading a Route Into Surveyor From Content Manager below
DotPoint.JPG can be exported as files (in the Trainz .cdp file format) from Content Manager for backup or transfer.


In Driver/Surveyor a strip of thumbnails for all the installed Routes will be shown at the base of the screen. If there are too many thumbnail to fit in the available space, just move the mouse pointer onto any thumbnail to reveal the scroll bar device as shown below.

TRS19 Main Screen Route Selection

Left Click and Drag the scroll bar left or right to reveal the additional routes or use the Expand View button described below
DotPoint.JPG A Left Click on the  MAIN MENU  button (bottom left) will take you back to the starting or main screen.
DotPoint.JPG A Left Click on the  Sort By A-Z  button (top near right) will give you a drop down menu of sorting options for the thumbnail list.
DotPoint.JPG A Left Click on the Expand View MainScreenDownArrow.png button (top right) will expand the thumbnail list to fill the screen - Left Click it again to return the thumbnails to the strip at the bottom of the screen.


The thumbnail images are colour coded.

             Payware on DLC Must be purchased and downloaded, but some may be free - depending on your membership options. If you click a thumbnail with this colour a  DOWNLOAD  button will appear on the bottom right of the screen. If a price is included in the button then that is the purchase price (in $US)
             Payware installed Already installed from the DLC. DLC items cannot be deleted. To remove them use the Uninstall option in the Content Store from the Launcher. You can reinstall them later without any additional cost
             Installed Downloaded from the Download Station (DLS) or created by you. This includes any cloned DLC Routes and Sessions (see PageLink.PNG Cloning a Route/Session below)
             Multiplayer For simultaneous development by multiple players. Special conditions apply


Creating a New Route

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

 In Surveyor Classic (S10) 

Create a New Route

In Surveyor Classic (also known as S10), which is supplied with TRS19 and TRS22 and is an option in Trainz Plus/TRS22 Platinum, Left Click  CREATE ROUTE . This will start Trainz Surveyor and open the New Route Dialogue Window.
New Route dialogue window
PencilTips.PNG All these settings plus others can be easily changed at any time after the route has been created.
Route edit From the Edit menu select Edit Route or press  Ctrl  +  E 

For more details see PageLink.PNG Editing a Route below.

It is recommended that you enter some details before you click the Tick icon to create the new route. A bare minimum is listed below that will save you some time and effort later, and you can always change them at any time.

 Route name:  Enter a name for your new Route (keep it simple)
 Session name:  Enter a name for your Session (again keep it simple) - see Notes: below
 Geographical region:  Select a region from the drop down list


Route Details
NotePad.PNG Notes:
DotPoint1.JPG You do not have to add a  Session name  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.
  A session can always be deleted later if you have no interest in creating one for your route - see PageLink.PNG Deleting Routes and Sessions below. However a route with a session does have some important advantages - see PageLink.PNG What is a Session? below.
DotPoint2.JPG Setting a  Geographical region  sets some basic features of the route - such as its latitude (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) and the side of the road they drive on, to name a few. 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
DotPoint3.JPG The  Working scale  provides measurements that are comparable to model railroading dimensions, but the actual (physical) sizes of the layout and its assets are not altered or scaled down. It is only the Surveyor Ruler tool that will be affected. The choices are between Real scale (which is the default), G scale (100m real scale = 4.4m G scale), HO scale (100m real scale = 1.1m HO scale) and many other options.
DotPoint4.JPG The  Working units  provides a choice between Metric (metres, kilometres) and Imperial (yards, miles) which only affects measurements used by rulers and track distances, and for train speeds (km/h or mph).

Note that track speed signs are always locked at either metric (km/h) or imperial (mph) - there are separate speed signs available for each. The signs will not be altered by this selection but their values will be converted. So a track speed sign that is set at 40 mph, for example, will still be displayed as 40 but it will be read as 64.3 km/h in Driver if the Working Units have been set to metric. So it will be less confusing if you use speed signs that are in the same working units as your route, for example use one set for 65 km/h instead of 40 mph.

Altitudes are always measured and displayed using metric units (metres).


A Left Click on the Tick icon at the bottom right of the New Route window will create a new route with a single flat baseboard using the data settings you have entered.
A Left Click on the Cross icon on the top right of the New Route window will cancel the data entry and create a new route with a single flat baseboard using the default data settings (usually the settings entered for the last route you created).


 In Surveyor 2.0 (S20) 

In Surveyor 2.0 (also known as S20), which is supplied with Trainz Plus/TRS22 Platinum, Left Click  CREATE ROUTE . This will start Trainz Surveyor and move straight into the Surveyor World View screen.

If you wish to edit any of the Route settings then open the Route Editor (select  Edit Route ) from the Main Menu or press  Ctrl  +  E .
Route edit


The Surveyor World View

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Depending on the Route Editor settings and the version of Trainz you are using, you may see the following (shown below right but without the added yellow and white labels and descriptive objects).
DotPoint.JPG Each Baseboard is always 720m x 720m (2362.2ft x 2362.2ft) regardless of the Working scale and Working units you have entered
DotPoint.JPG Each baseboard will be made up of 10m x 10m (32.8ft x 32.8ft), 5m x 5m (16.4ft x 16.4ft) or 0.125m x 0.125m (4.9in x 4.9in) grid squares depending on the grid size setting used. The smallest grid size (0.125m x 0.125m) is HD (High Definition) and is only available in Trainz Plus
DotPoint.JPG The baseboard altitude (in metres) will depend on the Geographic region you have selected
DotPoint.JPG The Geographic region will also decide if the baseboard is covered in a grass (or other) texture or the grid pattern as shown


 In Surveyor Classic (S10) 

In Surveyor Classic the baseboards are controlled using the Topology Tools. To open the tools fly-out either Left Click the Topology Tool Tab or press the  F1  key.
Topology Tools

First baseboard
  The Key Topology Tools, as shown in the diagram above, are:-
DotPoint.JPG Add New Baseboard - Left Click (it will stay active until another button is clicked) and then Left Click in a blank area outside the baseboard to add a new baseboard in that position. Each click will add a new baseboard at the same altitude as the first
DotPoint.JPG Delete Baseboard - Left Click (it will stay active until another button is clicked) and then Left Click anywhere on a baseboard to delete that baseboard. You will get a warning dialogue window -  you CANNOT undo this operation to restore a deleted baseboard 
DotPoint.JPG Grid Size - a pop-out menu will give you a choice of 10m (the default) and 5m. This sets the resolution of the baseboard. It does not alter the size of the yellow grid squares which will always stay at 10m x 10m.
DotPoint.JPG With a 10m grid the smallest area (resolution) in which you can set a height is 10m x 10m
DotPoint.JPG With a 5m grid that resolution becomes 5m x 5m, so 4 different height values can be set in each 10m grid. This allows you to create  more accurate topology features  such as railway cuttings and embankments but it has a penalty,  significantly larger route map files 
DotPoint.JPG With a HD grid (Trainz Plus only) the smallest area (resolution) in which you can set a height is 0.125m x 0.125m
DotPoint.JPG Each new baseboard you add will have its grid size set to the selected value. You can have different baseboards set to each resolution - for example: baseboards used by the track at 5m and those further out at 10m This control is also used to change an existing baseboard from one resolution to the other.
DotPoint.JPG Advanced - this will open another window in the Topology Tab that will allow you to select a grey scale bit map image to set the height of each grid


 In Surveyor 2.0 (S20) 

In Surveyor 2.0 there is no separate Topology Tools fly-out. A single Tools Palette replaces all the separate tools "fly-outs" found in the original Surveyor Classic.

Marquee Tool
To add new baseboards:-
DotPoint1.JPG select the Marquee Tool from the Tools Palette (or press the  F  key).
Note that in S20 you can add and delete multiple baseboards in a single step, not just one-at-a-time.
DotPoint2.JPG Left Click and Drag (using the Left mouse button) to draw out an area where the new baseboards will be added. This area can include the current baseboard.
The Marquee area, shown with a green border in the image below right, shows the positions where 3 new baseboards will be created to add to the existing baseboard. The Marquee area has a Context Menu icon as shown in the image.
DotPoint3.JPG Left Click on the Context Menu icon or press the  T  key to open up the Marquee Context Menu.
S20 MarqueeContextTool.png Marquee drawn area
The Key Marquee Baseboard Operations, as shown in the Marquee Context Menu above, are:-
 Set Marquee to Brush Height  to create new baseboards in the selected area. The Brush Height is the value stored in the  Height  setting in the Tool Options palette. This value will be used to set the height of the new baseboards. Any part of the initial baseboard that is covered by the marquee will also have its height set to the brush height Tool Height
 Convert Baseboards to  a pop-out menu will give the options, 10m Grid, or 5m Grid or (for Trainz Plus only) HD Grid. Selecting one of the options will create the new baseboards in the selected resolution. This tool is also used to convert existing baseboards from one resolution to the other.
NotePad.PNG It is NOT RECOMMENDED that you mix HD Grid baseboards with 5m Grid or 10m Grid baseboards in the same route. It should be ALL HD or none.
See WikiLink.PNG S20 Tools - Upgrading a Route to HD for more details.
 Delete Baseboards in Marquee  to delete the selected baseboards. The Undo command  Ctrl  +  Z  will restore the deleted baseboards


Default Baseboard Ground Texture

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When a new route is created or a new baseboard is added in both Surveyor Classic and Surveyor 2.0 it will be covered with the ground texture for the selected Region or the default texture/grid if no region has been set. This can be changed to a different texture (including to the standard TRS19/TRS22 grid pattern).
MainMenuSetGroundTexture.png
Steps: To disable the current default ground texture (easiest method):-
DotPoint1.JPG open the SurveyorDisplayIcon.png Surveyor Display Menu
DotPoint2.JPG select the  Ground  option
DotPoint3.JPG select the  Grid  sub-option. This will use the current grid texture.
A more complex solution is to edit an existing Region or create one of your own to add your preferred ground texture (such as the standard TRS22 grid pattern) to each new route you create and every new baseboard that you add.
NotePad.PNG Notes:

The Baseboard Ground Texture, chosen from the Surveyor Display Menu or by specifying a Region, will become the default for every new route you create and every new baseboard you add, until you change it to something else.


LinkWiki.PNG

Information on creating and editing Region assets can be found on the Trainz Wiki at:-

How to Create a Region Asset


Loading an Existing Route

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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 and IF the route had a geographic region set when it was created.
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

Left Click on the thumbnail for the route you want to load, then Left Click on the  EDIT ROUTE  button to load the route into Surveyor.

Edit Route

NotePad.PNG Notes: Routes and Sessions - An Endless Source of Confusion
DotPoint.JPG Scenery objects that have been placed in a session will NOT APPEAR if the route has been loaded into Surveyor without also loading the session
DotPoint.JPG If scenery objects have mysteriously vanished when you reload a route into Surveyor it is highly likely that those objects have been saved in a session. You must load the session into Surveyor to make them visible again
DotPoint.JPG You can easily move most scenery objects from a session into a route if needed - see the Trainz Wiki Page WikiLink.PNG How to Use the Bulk Asset Update/Replace Tool for more details


Loading a Route Into Surveyor From Content Manager

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Trainz provides a shortcut that allows you to load an existing route directly into Surveyor for editing from Content Manager.

Load a route from CM
Steps: To load a route from Content Manager:-
DotPoint1.JPG in Content Manager select the filter Routes & Sessions
DotPoint2.JPG select the route to be edited
DotPoint3.JPG Right Click to open the Command Menu
DotPoint4.JPG select Open..., then select Edit Asset in Surveyor


Loading After an Unexpected Shutdown

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If you select a route for loading after an unexpected shutdown of Trainz then any route (or route and session) that was open and running in Trainz Surveyor or Driver will be left marked as Open for Edit. When you attempt to load this route into Surveyor or Driver you will see a message listing the route and session (if any) that were affected.
Load after CTD The message is saying that the assets in the list may have been changed since the last time you loaded them and exited Trainz normally. For example if you had been editing the route and/or session and had experienced a crash to the desktop or had used Windows Task Manager to terminate the program.

NotePad.PNG Note:

A similar message will appear when you load a Driver Game (see PageLink.PNG Saving and Loading Sessions in Driver below) after editing the original route or session that was used to create the Driver Session.

It is possible that the changes you have made may affect the operation of the Driver Session.


The options you will see are:-

 Use changes  Use the edited/changed versions that are in the open database assets.  Note:  there is a possibility that these assets may have been damaged during the shutdown and may be corrupted
 Revert changes  Ignore the edited/changed versions and load the previous versions instead
 Cancel  Cancel the Load and return to the Surveyor/Driver menu screen
You could also use the Content Manager program (select  Manage Content  from the Trainz Launcher) to Submit the open route or route and session assets. This has the risk of replacing the last good copy of that asset or assets with a possibly faulty copy.


Editing a Route

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BlueDot10x10.png 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.


Stop.PNG

WARNING: Do not edit track in a Route that is occupied by consists in any of the Sessions based on the Route

Moving or deleting a section of track in a Route that is occupied by a consist in a Session can cause the consist to become a "missing asset". This can happen if you load the Route only and not the Session. If a consist becomes a "missing asset" then the only immediate solution is to use the Delete missing assets command from the Tools menu in Surveyor.

Prevention:

if you have the consists placed in a Session then always load the Session, not just the Route, and move or delete any consists BEFORE editing the track they are occupying.


NotePad.PNG You can edit the Route Characteristics at any time by selecting the  Edit Route...  option from the Edit Menu or simply pressing  Ctrl  +  E .
This will bring up the Edit Route dialogue window (shown below).
Route edit
NotePad.PNG Route Characteristics:-

DotPoint.JPG Name and Description
DotPoint.JPG assigned Geographic Region, which sets a number of different features
DotPoint.JPG Thumbnail image
DotPoint.JPG Working Scale and Working Units
DotPoint.JPG Draw Distance
Edit Route dialogue window
DotPoint1.JPG You can edit the  Route name . This will change the route username in the config.txt file but it will not alter the route <kuid> value
DotPoint2.JPG You can select a new  Region . Depending on the region (the Geographic region) selected this could affect other features such as the moving road traffic, season of the year (through the latitude tag) and altitude
DotPoint3.JPG You can edit the  Route description 
DotPoint4.JPG You can change the  Route thumbnail . Left Click on the  Set Thumbnail  button to take a snapshot using the current camera view which will be used as the new thumbnail
DotPoint5.JPG You can change the  Working scale  which will only affect the measurement shown in the Surveyor Ruler tool
DotPoint6.JPG You can change the  Working units  to  Metric  or  Imperial  which will change the display of measurements using the Surveyor Ruler (to metres or yards) and how train speeds are calculated and displayed in Driver (in km/h or mph)
DotPoint7.JPG You can set or disable the  Draw distance cap  which will affect how far away from the camera that scenery objects will be drawn. A high setting, particularly the  Disabled  option (which means no draw distance cap), could affect the game performance, including the fps rate (frames per second), on some systems
DotPoint8.JPG Left Click on the Tick icon to save the entered values and exit back to Surveyor. Left Click on the Tick icon to cancel any entered values and exit back to Surveyor


Editing the Environment of a Route

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You can edit the Environment Controls of a Route by selecting the  Edit Environment...  option from the Edit Menu.
This will bring up the Edit Environment dialogue window, more commonly called the Environment Tools.

For more details on editing the Environment see the Trainz Wiki Page at WikiLink.PNG The Environment Tools
Environment edit
NotePad.PNG Environment Controls:-

DotPoint.JPG lighting conditions
DotPoint.JPG weather and cloud cover
DotPoint.JPG water color and water surface (rough, calm, etc) for Legacy Water only
DotPoint.JPG wind speed (for SpeedTree assets only)
DotPoint.JPG fog and snow
DotPoint.JPG season (by the date and latitude)
DotPoint.JPG road traffic (on or off only)
DotPoint.JPG world origin (latitude, longitude, altitude)
NotePad.PNG Notes:

It is possible (and sometimes even expected) that a Route and its Sessions will have different environmental settings - for example the Route may have been created for the summer season but one Session may be set in winter and will require an overcast sky, snow, fog and generally lower light levels. See the Trainz Wiki Page at WikiLink.PNG The Environment Tools for more details.


Edit Effect Layers

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BlueDot10x10.png The Edit Effect Layers menu option allows you to add, remove and edit the special effect layers


Effect Layers contain:-
DotPoint.JPG TurfFX - 3D animated grasses including crops (e.g. wheat)
DotPoint.JPG Clutter - rocks, stones, small clumps of plants (grasses, flowers, etc)
DotPoint.JPG Water - a layer of water that covers the entire route but its height can be set to different values to be hidden or revealed throughout the route. It is possible to set a slope on the water (perfect for a water skiing scene 😀)
You can have multiple effect layers of each type in a route.
NotePad.PNG Notes:

DotPoint.JPG Currently, there are differences in the Effect Layers between Windows and MacOS versions of Trainz. Some of these differences are hardware (GPU) dependant. This means that some of the effect layers or features will not work on the MacOS platform.
DotPoint.JPG TurfFX is hardware dependent and requires an Nvidia graphics card. TurfFX is an Nvidia software product and is not from N3V.
DotPoint.JPG The latest versions of Trainz are starting to eliminate these differences and, for performance improvements, are moving the implementation of some effect layers from the CPU to the GPU.


Merging Routes

BlueDot10x10.png Two (or more) separate routes can be joined together (merged) to create a new route


There are some important restrictions on the merging of two routes:-

DotPoint.JPG Payware (DLC) routes cannot be merged with Freeware (DLS) or other Payware routes
DotPoint.JPG The Session Data and Session Layers in the first route can be saved in the merger (if required) but those in the other route cannot
DotPoint.JPG There may be a significant height difference between the two routes and this may not be easy to overcome
DotPoint.JPG The orientation of the two routes (East-West or North-South) cannot be changed (it is possible but will usually require a lot of time, effort and patience)


LinkWiki.PNG

A detailed description of the process of Merging Routes can be found on the Trainz Wiki Page:-

How to Merge Routes


What is a Session?

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BlueDot10x10.png A Session is always a part of an existing Route - you cannot have a Session that does not belong to a Route
BlueDot10x10.png 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


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

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.

A session consists of two parts:-

Ablue.png Session Data and
Bblue.png Session Layers


BlueDot10x10.png When you save a Session, all the items in the Session Data and Session Layers will be saved


Ablue.png  Session Data: 

Session Data are often the "invisibles" that control the operation of a session. Session rules, driver orders and loco assignments, commodities (loaded, unloaded and carried) and most of the Environmental Settings are examples of Session Data.

Session Data

Session Data contains:-
DotPoint.JPG Drivers (names, AI commands and assigned locos)
DotPoint.JPG Driver Commands - those available for AI and manual driving
DotPoint.JPG Session Rules
DotPoint.JPG Industry Settings (commodities consumed and produced)
DotPoint.JPG Consist Settings (commodities carried)
DotPoint.JPG Consist Locations - this is stored in the session even if the consists are placed in the route
DotPoint.JPG Switch Settings (left/right) - but the default switch direction is stored in the route
DotPoint.JPG Environmental Settings - Water Surface (rough/calm/etc), Snow Altitude, Lighting (sun, ambient and water colours), Sky (clouds), Road Traffic (on/off), Date (day, month), Wind strength, Fog level, Weather (rain/fine/snow), Brightness level. You must edit and save the session for these settings to become part of the Session Data - see WikiLink.PNG How to Use Environment Tools for more details. If both a route and a session have saved Environmental Settings, which do not have to be the same, then those in the session will be used. If the session does not have any saved Environmental Settings then those in the route will be used


Bblue.png  Session Layers: 
BlueDot10x10.png Session Layers are used to hold the scenery assets that you want to only appear in that particular Session and not in all Sessions. The Session Layers can be left empty and the Route Layers can contain all the scenery assets

Session layers

Session Layers give you a way of organising or grouping the assets displayed in your session.

Session Layers can contain:-
DotPoint.JPG Scenery
DotPoint.JPG Rolling Stock (including locos) -  Note:  It is strongly recommended that all rolling stock be placed into a Session Layer
DotPoint.JPG Trackmarks, Triggers, Direction and Priority Markers
PencilTips.PNG While it is possible to add track and track objects (bridges, tunnels, turntables, signals, switches, etc) to Session Layers it is not recommended. These fixed assets should be placed into Route Layers.

However, it is common to place invisible AI control objects such as Trackmarks, Triggers, Direction Markers and Priority Markers in a Session Layer


LinkWiki.PNG

A detailed description of Layers can be found on the Trainz Wiki Page:-

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 currently loaded session.

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

DotPoint.JPG products waiting at a factory for pickup in an industrial session that would not be present in a weekend or holiday passenger session
DotPoint.JPG signallers holding lanterns in a night session only or standing alongside manual track switch levers in a daylight shunting session
DotPoint.JPG trackmarks and triggers that are only required in one session but not in all sessions
DotPoint.JPG crowds of onlookers alongside the track in a session recreating an historic steam train run, together with
DotPoint.JPG historic rolling stock in a special vintage train session running on a modern route


Loading (and Creating) a Session

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Creating a New Session

BlueDot10x10.png To create a new Session you must first create a new Route or identify an existing Route

A new session can be created in two ways:-

Ablue.png  Automatically When a New Route is Created 
Route Details


Follow the steps shown in the section PageLink.PNG Creating a New Route above.

Steps: To create a new route and session enter or select:-
DotPoint1.JPG a Route name for the new route
DotPoint2.JPG a Session name for the new session  Note:  This step IS important
The following steps are optional, but are recommended
DotPoint4.JPG a Geographical region
DotPoint5.JPG Working scale and Working units


OR


Bblue.png  Adding a Session to an Existing Route 
NotePad.PNG A route can have many individual sessions so a new session can be added to a route that already has sessions
Steps: To add a new session to an existing route:-
DotPoint1.JPG Locate (but do not load) the route as described in the section PageLink.PNG Loading an Existing Route above
DotPoint2.JPG Once you have selected the route from its thumbnail, Left Click on the  VIEW SESSIONS  button
View Sessions
DotPoint3.JPG Then Left Click on the  CREATE SESSION  button. If no other session exists for this route then this will be the only choice available to you
Create Session


Both Ablue.png and Bblue.png will load or create the route in Surveyor and create a new session with all its values/parameters set at the default levels.


Loading an Existing Session

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There are two different ways to load existing sessions into Surveyor.

Ablue.png  Search For the Session 
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. Left Click on the button to change it to  SESSIONS .
 Source:    PURCHASED  is the default selection, Left Click on the button to change it 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.
NotePad.PNG Notes:

Sessions:-
DotPoint.JPG are saved as entries in the Trainz Database, not as files on your hard drive. Loading a session will retrieve it from the database.
DotPoint.JPG can be loaded directly into Driver from Content Manager. See PageLink.PNG Loading a Session Into Surveyor From Content Manager below.
DotPoint.JPG can be exported as files (in the Trainz .cdp file format) from Content Manager for backup or transfer.

This will produce a list of session thumbnails at the bottom of the screen. As with the route thumbnails, the list can be scrolled horizontally.

Existing Sessions

The same colour coding system used in the route thumbnails also applies to session thumbnails.

  Payware on DLC Must be purchased and downloaded, but some may be free - depending on your membership options. If you Left Click on a thumbnail with this colour a  DOWNLOAD  button will appear on the bottom right of the screen. If a price is included in the button then that is the purchase price (in $US)
  Payware installed Already installed from the DLC. DLC items cannot be deleted. To remove them use the Uninstall option in the Content Store from the Launcher. You can reinstall them later without any additional cost
  Installed Downloaded from the Download Station (DLS) or created by you. This includes any cloned DLC Routes and Sessions (see PageLink.PNG Cloning a Route/Session below)
 
 
Multiplayer For simultaneous development by multiple players. Special conditions apply


Left Click on the thumbnail for the session you want to load and then Left Click on the  EDIT SESSION  button. This will load BOTH the route and the session into Surveyor.

Edit Session

NotePad.PNG

If the  EDIT SESSION  option is not present then the selected session is a saved Driver Game (a "game" saved when in Driver) and cannot be edited. See the section PageLink.PNG Saving and Loading Sessions in Driver below.


OR


Bblue.png  Select the Route First 
Steps:
DotPoint1.JPG Select the route as described in the section PageLink.PNG Loading an Existing Route above. Then Left Click on the  VIEW SESSIONS  button.

View Sessions

This will display a list of thumbnails for all the sessions in that route.
DotPoint2.JPG Select the session thumbnail you need and then Left Click on the  EDIT SESSION  button.

Edit Session


NotePad.PNG

If the  EDIT SESSION  option is not present then the selected session is a saved Driver Game (a "game" saved when in Driver) and cannot be edited. See the section PageLink.PNG Saving and Loading Sessions in Driver below.


Both Ablue.png and Bblue.png will load the route and session into Surveyor.


Loading a Session Into Surveyor From Content Manager

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Trainz provides a shortcut that allows you to load an existing session directly into Surveyor for editing from Content Manager.

Load a session from CM
Steps: To load a session into Surveyor:-
DotPoint1.JPG in Content Manager select the filter Routes & Sessions
DotPoint2.JPG select the session to be loaded and edited in Surveyor
DotPoint3.JPG Right Click to open the Command Menu
DotPoint4.JPG select  Open... , then select  Edit Asset in Surveyor 
Both the route and the session will be loaded into Surveyor for editing.


Loading a Session into Driver From Surveyor

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To start Driver simply select a session as described above in Loading an Existing Session and Left Click on the  DRIVE SESSION  button.

Driver Game

This will load both the session and the route into Driver.

You can save your "game play" in Driver at anytime. See PageLink.PNG Saving and Loading Sessions in Driver below.

Loading a Session into Driver From Content Manager

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Trainz provides a shortcut that allows you to load an existing session directly into Driver from Content Manager.

Load a session from CM
Steps: To load a session into Driver from Content manager:-
DotPoint1.JPG in Content Manager select the filter Routes & Sessions
DotPoint2.JPG select the session to drive
DotPoint3.JPG Right Click to open the Command Menu
DotPoint4.JPG select  Open... , then select  Open Asset in Driver 

Both the session and its parent route will be loaded into Driver and the simulation will be started.


Editing a Session

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Stop.PNG WARNING:
When a Session is loaded into Surveyor or a new Session is created all the assets you add will be AUTOMATICALLY placed into a Session Layer. To place them in a different layer, for example a Route Layer, change the Active Layer to the required layer before adding them to the route. See the Trainz Wiki Page 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 also be added to the Session Data.



You can edit the Session Characteristics at any time by selecting the  Edit Session...  option from the Edit Menu or by simply pressing  Ctrl  +  R .
This will bring up the Edit Session dialogue window which is more commonly called the Session Editor (shown below).

For more details on editing a Session see the Trainz Wiki Page at WikiLink.PNG The Session Editor - screenshot shown below.
Session edit
NotePad.PNG Session Characteristics:-

DotPoint.JPG Name and Description
DotPoint.JPG Session Rules which set:-
RedDot10x10.png drivers and their consists
RedDot10x10.png driver commands
RedDot10x10.png time of day/night
RedDot10x10.png events
RedDot10x10.png and much, much more
Edit Session dialogue window


DotPoint1.JPG You can edit the Name of the Session. This will change the session username in the config.txt file but it will not alter the session <kuid> value
DotPoint2.JPG You can edit the Session Description
DotPoint3.JPG You can add, delete and edit the Session Rules


Editing the Environment of a Session

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You can edit the Environment Controls of a Session by selecting the  Edit Environment...  option from the Edit Menu.
This will bring up the Edit Environment dialogue window, more commonly called the Environment Tools.

For more details on editing the Environment see the Trainz Wiki Page at WikiLink.PNG The Environment Tools
Environment edit
NotePad.PNG Environment Controls:-

DotPoint.JPG lighting conditions
DotPoint.JPG weather and cloud cover
DotPoint.JPG water color and water surface (rough, calm, etc) for Legacy Water only
DotPoint.JPG wind speed (for SpeedTree assets only)
DotPoint.JPG fog and snow
DotPoint.JPG season (by the date and latitude)
DotPoint.JPG road traffic (on or off only)
NotePad.PNG Notes:

It is possible (and sometimes even expected) that a Route and its Sessions will have different environmental settings - for example the Route may have been created for the summer season but one Session may be set in winter and will require an overcast sky, snow, fog and generally lower light levels. See the Trainz Wiki Page at WikiLink.PNG The Environment Tools for more details.


Saving a Route and a Session

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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 name(s) when they were loaded or created. You will be asked to confirm both the names (and can change them if you wish) and the Save command.

DotPoint.JPG Selecting  Save As...  will save the route, or the route and the session, with the previously entered name(s) when they were loaded or created. You will be asked to confirm both the names (and can change them if you wish) and the Save As command.

NotePad.PNG Notes:

Routes and Sessions:-
DotPoint.JPG are saved as entries in the Trainz Database, not as files on your hard drive. Loading a route or a session will retrieve it from the database.
DotPoint.JPG can be loaded directly into Driver from Content Manager. See PageLink.PNG Loading a Route Into Surveyor From Content Manager and PageLink.PNG Loading a Session Into Surveyor From Content Manager below.
DotPoint.JPG can be exported as files (in the Trainz .cdp file format) from Content Manager for backup or transfer.


NotePad.PNG Notes on Saving DLS/DLC Routes and Sessions:

 
 DLS  Routes and Sessions can be modified and saved as new routes and sessions
DotPoint1Blue.png Modifying and Creating:-
DotPoint.JPG if you have modified a DLS route then you can delete the original route if you no longer need it and your modified version will not be affected
DotPoint.JPG if you have modified a DLS session then you can delete the original session if you no longer need it and your modified version will not be affected. However, if you delete the original DLS route then your modified session  will not work 
DotPoint.JPG you can create a completely new and original session for a DLS route but it  will not work  if the original DLS route is deleted
DotPoint.JPG the original DLS routes and sessions will not be altered or replaced by your modified versions
DotPoint2Blue.png Saving:-
DotPoint.JPG when saved, modified DLS routes and sessions will become Your Content and can be found using the  MY CONTENT  search option in Surveyor/Driver
DotPoint3Blue.png Uploading:-
DotPoint.JPG you can only upload your modified DLS route and session to the DLS if you have the permission of the original creator
DotPoint.JPG if you have created a completely original session based on a DLS route then you can upload the session as it is your creation
 
 DLC  Routes and Sessions can also be modified and saved as new routes and sessions ONLY if the creators of the original DLC content have allowed it - see PageLink.PNG Cloning a Route/Session below for more details
DotPoint1Blue.png Modifying and Creating:-
DotPoint.JPG some DLC routes and sessions are encrypted and cannot be modified - that is a decision made by the content creator
DotPoint.JPG your modified DLC route or session will become an alias of the original and will need the original route and session to be present on your system to work
DotPoint.JPG if you delete or disable the original DLC route or session then your modified versions  will not work 
DotPoint.JPG you can create a completely new and original session for a DLC route but it  will not work  if the original DLC route is deleted or disabled
DotPoint.JPG the original DLC routes and sessions will not be altered or replaced by your modified versions
DotPoint2Blue.png Saving:-
DotPoint.JPG when saved, a modified DLC route or session will become Your Content and can be found using the  MY CONTENT  search option in Surveyor/Driver
DotPoint.JPG the original DLC route and session will not be altered or replaced by your modified versions
DotPoint3Blue.png Uploading:-
DotPoint.JPG you can upload your modified DLC route or session to the DLS but it can only be used by those who also have the same original (unmodified) DLC version installed


Saving a New Route and Session

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

First Save First Save As
In both cases the name of the route that was entered when it was created will be shown and you can change the name, even in the Save option. However, there is no option in either case to change the name of the created session because the other options have been greyed out and cannot be selected.


Saving an Existing Route

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If you have loaded the route only and not the session and HAVE NOT edited any Session Data or Session Layers, then selecting Save will produce the following Save Route Dialogue Window.

Save Route with no Session

Gears.PNG Settings:

 Option  Ablue.png Overwrite Route Only. This is the default selection so there is nothing to change.

White Select Dot.png Overwrite existing route and:
White Select Dot.png Do not save session
BlackDot10x10.png the route will be saved (overwritten using its current name) but no session will be saved.

 Option  Bblue.png  Overwrite Route and Create a New Session. Tick the box Grey Select Dot.png Create new session.

White Select Dot.png Overwrite existing route and:
White Select Dot.png Create new session:
BlackDot10x10.png enter a name for the session (the suggested name Default is NOT recommended).
BlackDot10x10.png the route will be saved (overwritten using its current name).
BlackDot10x10.png a new session will be created using the name you enter and it will be added to the route.
BlackDot10x10.png because you did not originally load a session, the new session will be saved with default values for all its settings.

 Option  Cblue.png Create a New Route and a "Default Session". Tick the box Grey Select Dot.png Save new route and session.

White Select Dot.png Save new route and session:
BlackDot10x10.png enter a new name for the route. The route will be saved with its new name.
BlackDot10x10.png the original route will not be changed.
BlackDot10x10.png a new session will be created using the name Default and it will be added to the new route.
BlackDot10x10.png because you did not originally load a session, the new session will be saved with the default values for all its settings.
After you have made your selections, Left Click on Tick.PNG to Accept or Cross.PNG to Cancel


If you have loaded the route only and not the session and HAVE edited Session Data or Session Layers, then selecting Save will produce the following Save Route Dialogue Window.

Save Route with Session

Gears.PNG Settings:

 Option  Ablue.png Overwrite Route and Create a New Session. This is the default selection so there is nothing to change.

White Select Dot.png Overwrite existing route and:
White Select Dot.png Create new session:
BlackDot10x10.png enter a name for the session (the suggested name Default is NOT recommended).
BlackDot10x10.png the route will be saved (overwritten using its current name).
BlackDot10x10.png a new session will be created using the name you enter and it will be added to the route. The new session will have the settings and changes you have made.

 Option  Bblue.png Overwrite Route Only. Tick the box Grey Select Dot.png Do not save session.

White Select Dot.png Overwrite existing route and:
White Select Dot.png Do not save session
BlackDot10x10.png the route will be saved (overwritten using its current name) but no session will be saved.
BlackDot10x10.png if you have edited the session and later exit the program without saving those edits (you will be prompted to save the session) then any changes you have made to the session will be lost.

 Option  Cblue.png Create a New Route and a "Default Session". Tick the box Grey Select Dot.png Save new route and session.

White Select Dot.png Save new route and session:
BlackDot10x10.png enter a new name for the route. The route will be saved with its new name.
BlackDot10x10.png the original route will not be changed.
BlackDot10x10.png a new session will be created using the name Default and it will be added to the new route. The new session will have the settings and changes you have made.
After you have made your selections, Left Click on Tick.PNG to Accept or Cross.PNG to Cancel


NotePad.PNG Notes:

DotPoint.JPG If you have edited any session Data or Layers but have selected the option Do not save session then later, before you exit the program, you will be prompted to save the edited session by the appearance of the Save Session dialogue box (see below).
DotPoint.JPG If you decide to create a new session and leave its name as Default then a new Default Session will be created to add to any others also named Default that may already be present in a route and this will cause confusion. This is why it is not a good idea to use Default as a session name.


Saving an Existing Route and Session

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If you have loaded a route and a session and have edited the route or the route and the session then selecting Save will produce the following Save Route Dialogue Window.
Save Route and Session

Gears.PNG Settings:

 Option  Ablue.png Overwrite Route and Session. This is the default selection so there is nothing to change.

White Select Dot.png Overwrite existing route and:
White Select Dot.png Overwrite existing session:
BlackDot10x10.pngboth the route and the session will be saved (overwritten using their current names).

 Option  Bblue.png Overwrite Existing Route and Create a New Session. Tick the box Grey Select Dot.png Create new session.

White Select Dot.png Overwrite existing route and:
White Select Dot.png Create new session:
BlackDot10x10.png enter a new name for the session.
BlackDot10x10.png the route will be saved (overwritten using its current name).
BlackDot10x10.png a new session will be created using the name you enter and it will be added to the existing route.
BlackDot10x10.png the original session will not be changed.

 Option  Cblue.png Overwrite Route Only. Tick the box Grey Select Dot.png Do not save session.

White Select Dot.png Overwrite existing route and:
White Select Dot.png Do not save session
BlackDot10x10.png the route will be saved (overwritten using its current name) but no session will be saved.
BlackDot10x10.png if you have edited the session and later exit the program without saving those edits (you will be prompted to save the session) then any changes you have made to the session will be lost.

 Option  Dblue.png Create a New Route and a New Session. Tick the box Grey Select Dot.png Save new route and session.

White Select Dot.png Save new route and session:
BlackDot10x10.png enter a new name for the route.
BlackDot10x10.png the route will be saved with its new name.
BlackDot10x10.png a new session will be created using the same name as the original session and it will be added to the new route.
BlackDot10x10.png the original session and route will not be changed.
After you have made your selections, Left Click on Tick.PNG to Accept or Cross.PNG to Cancel


NotePad.PNG Notes:

DotPoint.JPG If you have edited any session Data or Layers but have selected the option Do not save session then later, before you exit the program, you will be prompted to save the edited session by the appearance of the Save Session dialogue box (see below).
DotPoint.JPG If you decide to create a new session and leave its name as Default then a new Default Session will be created to add to any others also named Default that may already be present in a route and this will cause confusion. This is why it is not a good idea to use Default as a session name.


If you have loaded a route and a session and have edited the session (Data or Layers) only and not the route, or have already saved the route but not the session, then selecting Save will produce the following Save Session Dialogue Window.
Save Session

Gears.PNG Settings:

 Option  Ablue.png Overwrite the Session Only. This is the default selection so there is nothing to change.

White Select Dot.png Overwrite existing session
BlackDot10x10.png the session will be saved (overwritten using its current name).
BlackDot10x10.png the original route will not be changed.

 Option  Bblue.png Create a New Session. Tick the box Grey Select Dot.png Create new session.

White Select Dot.png Create new session:
BlackDot10x10.png you can enter a new name for the session or use the suggested name which will include the date, time and session runtime.
BlackDot10x10.png a new session will be created using the name you enter and it will be added to the existing route.
BlackDot10x10.png the original route and session will not be changed.
After you have made your selections, Left Click on Tick.PNG to Accept or Cross.PNG to Cancel


Saving a Route and Session Using the UDS

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BlueDot10x10.png The UDS feature is available in TRS19 Platinum Edition, Trainz Plus, TRS22 and TRS22 Platinum

The UDS (Unified Driver Surveyor) Interface allows you to quickly switch from Driver to Surveyor and back to Driver again without having to restart the session from the beginning. You can edit a route and session while in Surveyor and then switch back to Driver to continue the session where you left it.

Stop.PNG WARNING:

This powerful ability does come with a warning. If you save the edited session before switching back into Driver then all the moving consists will be saved in their new positions. Other changes, such as the status of Session Rules, will also be saved in their new states. See the Trainz Wiki Page WikiLink.PNG How to Use the UDS Interface for more details.


Most of the problems users seem to be experiencing with the UDS, judging from the posts in the Trainz Forums, is when saving their edited Driver session after switching to Surveyor mode.

DotPoint.JPG Using Driver Mode involves driving consists (either manually or through the AI) and activating rules. These will change the session parameters
DotPoint.JPG Overwriting the Session will save the consist locations and Session Rules in their new positions/conditions

When you are in Driver Mode at least one of the consists will probably be moving. Some of the Session rules may have already been completed while others may still be running or waiting for events (e.g. triggers to be activated).

If, after switching to Surveyor Mode, you then choose to save using the Overwrite existing session option then you will be replacing your original starting Session with a new one with the consists saved in their new positions and the Session rules saved in their new states. So when you later load and restart the Session things will not be the same as they were in the original or starting Session.
 Unless you have a particular reason for overwriting the original Session then the recommended save options are:-

Line740.png
Option Ablue.png Do Not Save the Session
  UDS-DoNotSaveSession.png
Steps: To save the Route only:-
DotPoint1.JPG Left Click the checkbox  Do not save session 

This will save the Route only, using its existing name and it will overwrite the original route. This will save any edits that you have made to the Route but not to the Session.

Line740.png
Option Bblue.png Create a New Session
  UDS-CreateNewSession.png
Steps: To save the Route and a NEW Session:-
DotPoint1.JPG Left Click the checkbox  Create new session 
DotPoint2.JPG Enter a name for the new session

This will save the Route using its existing name and it will overwrite the original route. It will also save the Session using the name you enter in the text box below the checkbox (Stage 3 in the example shown). The original Session will not be altered. This is useful when you want to test out changes to consists, industry settings, Rules, driver commands, etc but do not want to destroy the original Session.

Line740.png

If you have NOT edited anything while in Surveyor and select  Save  then you will be shown the Save Driver Session dialogue window to save the session in its current state as a Driver Game (also called a Game or Driver Game). This is exactly the same as pressing  Ctrl  +  S  while in Driver.
alte=Save Driver Session

The Driver Game will appear in the Select Session menu for the route. Loading it will resume Driver at the point where it was saved.


Exiting Surveyor

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BlueDot10x10.png If you exit Surveyor after editing without saving then you will be prompted to Save.
MainMenuExitSurveyor.png
Steps:
DotPoint1.JPG Open the Main Menu
DotPoint2.JPG select the  Exit Surveyor  option
Another option is to exit Trainz completely
DotPoint3.JPG select the  Exit Game  option
Regardless of which option you take, if you have unsaved work you will be prompted to save before you exit


Unsaved  Route  Unsaved  Session 
Exit Route Save Exit Session Save
Options:
Ablue.png  Don't Save  will exit Surveyor to either the Main Menu Screen or to your OS Desktop without saving. Any changes you have made will be lost.
Bblue.png  Save  will exit Surveyor to either the Main Menu Screen or to your OS Desktop after saving. You will be prompted to select what to save as described in the section PageLink.PNG Saving a Route and a Session above
Cblue.png  Cancel  will cancel the Exit command and return you to Surveyor.


Exiting Driver

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BlueDot10x10.png If you exit Driver after running a session you will be prompted to Save a Driver Game.
MainMenuExitDriver.png
Steps:
DotPoint1.JPG Open the Main Menu
DotPoint2.JPG select the  Exit Driver  option
Another option is to exit Trainz completely
DotPoint3.JPG select the  Exit Game  option
Regardless of which option you take, if your Session Data has changed then you will be prompted to save before you exit


DriverExitSessionSave.png

Options:
Ablue.png  Don't Save  will exit Driver to either the Main Menu Screen or to your OS Desktop without saving. The current state of the session (positions and movements of the consists, commodity levels, time of day, etc) will be lost.
Bblue.png  Save  will exit Driver to either the Main Menu Screen or to your OS Desktop sfter saving. You will be prompted to enter a name for your saved Driver Game. See the section PageLink.PNG Saving Driver Games below for more details.
Cblue.png  Cancel  will cancel the Exit command and return you to Driver.


Cloning a Route/Session

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BlueDot10x10.png A Clone is an exact or duplicate copy of an asset. Some Payware routes and sessions cannot be cloned
BlueDot10x10.png Cloned routes and sessions can be edited and saved as Your Content


Cloning a Route or a Session allows you to work on a duplicate copy of the original. All changes that you make will be saved in the cloned copy leaving the original copy unchanged.

Stop.PNG Cloned assets are subject to copyright laws and they remain the property of the original creator


Ablue.png Freeware routes, that have been downloaded and installed from the DLS, can be cloned and saved as new routes.
DotPoint.JPG They are saved with a new <kuid> that will include your personal identity code, so they will become Your Content and can be found using the  MY CONTENT  search option
DotPoint.JPG The original route from the DLS will not be altered or replaced by your new version
DotPoint.JPG You can delete the original DLS route if you wish and your cloned version will NOT be affected
Bblue.png Payware Routes, that have been downloaded and installed from the DLC, can also be cloned as new routes if the creators of the routes allow it.
DotPoint.JPG Some Payware routes are encrypted and cannot be cloned
DotPoint.JPG When an approved DLC route is saved it will be given a new <kuid> that will include your personal identity code, so it will become Your Content and can be found using the  MY CONTENT  search option
DotPoint.JPG The original Payware route will not be altered or replaced by your new version
DotPoint.JPG If you delete or disable the original DLC route then your cloned route  will NOT work 
DotPoint.JPG You are allowed to upload your edited clone of a Payware route to the DLS but it can only be used by other users who also have the same original (unedited) DLC Payware installed
Cblue.png Sessions that have been downloaded and installed from the DLS (freeware) or DLC (payware) follow the same rules as described for DLS and DLC routes above
DotPoint.JPG Some Payware sessions are encrypted and cannot be cloned
DotPoint.JPG When an approved DLC session is saved it will be given a new <kuid> that will include your personal identity code, so it will become Your Content and can be found using the  MY CONTENT  search option
DotPoint.JPG The original Payware session will not be altered or replaced by your new version
DotPoint.JPG If you delete or disable the original DLC session or the original DLC route then your cloned session  will NOT work 
DotPoint.JPG You are allowed to upload your edited clone of a Payware session to the DLS but it can only be used by other users who also have the same original (unedited) DLC Payware installed.


Cloning Using Surveyor

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Routes and Sessions that have been loaded into Surveyor can be cloned using the  Save As...  command from the Surveyor  System Menu 

RouteSaveAsMenu.png CloneSaveAs.png

Enter a new name or edit the original name (as shown above) for your cloned route or session.

Options:
Ablue.png If the first option (White Select Dot.png Save new route and session) is selected then the Route will be cloned using your new or edited name. The Session will be also cloned using its original name but it will use the newly cloned Route as a dependency instead of the original Route.
DotPoint.JPG If the original route is Freeware (e.g. from the DLS) and you do not want to keep it then it can be safely deleted, which will also delete the original session but the new cloned route and session will remain active on your system
DotPoint.JPG If the original route is Payware (e.g. from the DLC) then deleting or disabling it will disable your cloned route and session. When Payware is cloned it must remain active on your system for the clone to work.
Bblue.png If the second option (White Select Dot.png Save new session) is selected then only the Session will be cloned using your new or edited name (make sure that you change the "Default" to something else) but it will still use the original (uncloned) Route as a dependency - so it is vital that you DO NOT DELETE the original route.
DotPoint.JPG If the original session is Freeware then it can be safely deleted if you no longer need it
DotPoint.JPG If the original session is Payware then deleting or disabling it will also disable your cloned session


Cloning Using Content Manager

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DotPoint1.JPG  Select the Route or Session to Clone 

Cloning a route
Steps:
DotPoint1Blue.png In Content Manager select the filter Routes & Sessions
DotPoint2Blue.png select the route or session to be cloned
DotPoint3Blue.png then either:-

Options:-

Ablue.png from the Content Menu select  Clone  OR
Bblue.png press  Ctrl  +  D 


A Task Window will open to display the result.
Clone task completed

In the image above the original Route has been cloned and given a new <kuid> value.

The newly cloned Route will be shown in Content Manager as a New Asset that is Open for Editing.

Steps:
DotPoint1Blue.png close the Task Window
DotPoint2Blue.png select the Open for Editing filter.

New Asset

DotPoint2.JPG  Rename the Clone (an Optional Step) 
You can give the cloned Route or Session a new name and a new description. Note that these changes will not appear until after the New Asset has been submitted.

Steps:
DotPoint1Blue.png Right Click the New Asset
DotPoint2Blue.png select  Open... 
DotPoint3Blue.png select  Edit Config File Text 

The config.txt file will open in your default text editor. You can then edit both the Title (username) and the Description of the Route or Session

DotPoint4Blue.png locate the line that starts with username
DotPoint5Blue.png edit the text on that line between the Quote (") marks (but do not delete the quote marks) to change it to the new name of this Route/Session
DotPoint6Blue.png locate the line that starts with description
DotPoint7Blue.png edit the text on that line between the Quote (") marks (but do not delete the quote marks) to edit the description of this Route/Session
DotPoint8Blue.png save (usually  Ctrl  +  S )
DotPoint9Blue.png exit the text editor


DotPoint3.JPG  Submit the Clone (a Necessary Step) 

BlueDot10x10.png When submitted a cloned DLC Route or Session will be described as Payware, Modified while a cloned DLS Route or Session will be described as Modified
Steps:
DotPoint1Blue.png Right Click on the New Asset
DotPoint2Blue.png select the option  Submit Edits 

The New Asset entry will vanish from the Open for Editing display. Open the Content Manager filter Today to check that it has been correctly submitted. If you have renamed the clone then it should appear using its new name.


NotePad.PNG Notes:

You can rename a cloned Route or a cloned Session in Surveyor but the clone would still have to be submitted in Content Manager first using its original name and then loaded into Surveyor. You would then have two Routes or Sessions with the same name to select from - one would be the original and the other the clone, and telling them apart may not be simple. You can use the Driver/Surveyor main screen  MY CONTENT  source filter to locate and load the correct cloned Route or Session because the clone will have your <kuid> code and not its original code.

Route edit

Load the cloned Route or Session into Surveyor, then

DotPoint.JPG to rename a route open the Edit menu and select Edit Route, or press  Ctrl  +  E  - see PageLink.PNG Editing a Route above
DotPoint.JPG to rename a session open the Edit menu and select Edit Session, or press  Ctrl  +  R  - see PageLink.PNG Editing a Session above

Both will also allow you to edit the Name and Description of the cloned Route/Session.


Saving and Loading Driver Games in Driver

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BlueDot10x10.png Driver Games (sometimes called "Saved Games" or "Driver Sessions") are "Game States" saved while in Driver Mode


NotePad.PNG Notes:

Driver Games:-
DotPoint.JPG like routes and sessions, are saved as entries in the Trainz Database, not as files on your hard drive. Loading a driver game will retrieve it from the database.
DotPoint.JPG can be loaded directly into Driver from Content Manager in exactly the same way that Sessions can be loaded directly into Driver from Content Manager
DotPoint.JPG can be exported as files (in the Trainz .cdp file format) from Content Manager for backup or transfer.


Saving Driver Games

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Driver Games save the "state of play" in Driver - the position of consists, the commodities and levels in rolling stock and industries, the state of the Driver Command queues, Session Rules, clock time, etc. Once saved, the Driver Game can be loaded back into Driver to continue the play at the point where it was saved.

When you are in Driver select  Save  from the System Menu or press  Ctrl  +  S .

This will display the Save Driver Session dialogue window showing the name of the current session with a date and time stamp (shown left below). If you Left Click pn the Tick then this will be the name used for the saved game. Alternatively, you could enter your own unique name (shown right below).

The space below the entered name will display any other saved driver games for that session.

Save Menu
Save Driver Game Save Driver Game


Loading Driver Games

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Saved driver games will be shown with their sessions for a selected route. The section PageLink.PNG Loading an Existing Session shows two different methods of displaying saved sessions and their driver games.

Method Ablue.png will display ALL the saved sessions and driver games which may be a very long list.
Method Bblue.png will display ALL the saved sessions and driver games for a selected route, which should be a much shorter list.

If using Method Ablue.png select the route first and then click the  VIEW SESSIONS  button. This will display a list of thumbnails for all the sessions and driver games in that route.

Load Driver Game

NotePad.PNG Notes:

DotPoint.JPG Where a route has multiple sessions and driver games they will all be shown by their thumbnails with no way of telling which driver games belong to which session.
DotPoint.JPG It can also be difficult to tell which thumbnail is a session and which is a Driver Game, especially if you have removed the date/time stamp Trainz automatically adds to the name of a Driver Game. A simple way to tell is to Left Click on a thumbnail to see if the  EDIT SESSION  button is still visible. If it is not, because driver games cannot be edited, then the thumbnail is for a Driver Game.

Where there is only one session in a route, the session will be the first thumbnail shown in the list followed by the driver games. Note that the session is selected by default.

Select (hightlight) the Driver Game you want to load and then Left Click on the  DRIVE SESSION  button.

Driver Game

This will load the Driver Game, the session and the route into Driver.

Stop.PNG If you load a Driver Game after you have edited the original route or session that was used to create it, then you will receive a message warning you that changes have been made to the original assets. The changes could affect the operation of the Driver Game.
 
Warning assets have changed Options:-
Ablue.png  Cancel  - the Driver Game will NOT be loaded, OR
Bblue.png  Ok  - load the Driver Game wirh the changes


If the changes to the route or session have been:-

DotPoint.JPG minor and non-operational, such as scenery assets (trees, buildings, etc) then the Driver Game can be safely loaded.
DotPoint.JPG more significant operational changes, such as triggers, trackmarks, active industries, consists, tracks, etc, then it may NOT be wise to load and run the Driver Game.


Only you can be the judge but I would err on the side of caution


Editing Driver Games

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It is possible to load and edit a saved Driver Game in versions of Trainz that have the UDS (Unified Driver Surveyor) interface - these versions are TRS19 Platinum, Trainz Plus, TRS22 and TRS22 Platinum. However, when you save your edit, it will NOT be saved as an update to the loaded Driver Game. Instead it will be saved as a Session. You can select to create a new session or to overwrite the original session.


The Session will be saved with all the:-

DotPoint.JPG consists in their positions and states (stationary or moving) at the time of the save
DotPoint.JPG industries and rolling stock in their conditions (e.g. product levels) at the time of the save
DotPoint.JPG switches in their state at the time of the save, and
DotPoint.JPG session rules in their state (completed or not completed) at the time of the save


Deleting Routes and Sessions

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BlueDot10x10.png Deleting a Session will delete that Session and its Driver Games (if any), not the Route it was created from or any other Sessions
BlueDot10x10.png Deleting a Driver Game will only delete that Driver Game, not the Route or Session it was created from or any other Driver Games


All the Surveyor and Driver screens for loading routes and sessions have a  DELETE ...  button as an option.

  WARNING:
Stop.PNG If you delete a Route you will also delete all the Sessions and Driver Games created using that Route
Stop.PNG If you delete a Session you will also delete all the Driver Games created using that Session


If you need a more selective way of deleting routes, sessions and driver games, then use Content Manager from the Trainz Launch Screen. Select the Filter Routes & Sessions.

CM list of routes and sessions

The Type column will identify each entry as a route, session or Misc. Misc in this case means a saved Driver Game.

You can delete routes and/or sessions individually but if you delete a route by itself then its dependant sessions and driver games will be shown as faulty with Missing dependencies. Likewise, if you delete a session by itself then its dependant driver games will be shown as faulty with Missing dependencies.


 

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Trainz Wiki

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Route and Session Building Guides

 

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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