TRS19

TRS18 is the working title of N3V Games' next product in the Trainz simulator series. While not yet formally announced, certain content creation features targeted at this product are being documented on this wiki to allow early access. Please note that this feature list and any images or descriptions of the features are considered work-in-progress and may be changed prior to any product release.

Content Creation Features

• Physically Based Rendering.
• Asynchronous Route Streaming (Introduced in TANE SP2.)
• FBX file format (Introduced in TANE SP2.)
• Parallax Occlusion Mapping.

Content Creation Changes

The following changes are occurring which are likely to affect content creation workflows.

Mesh File Formats

As of TANE SP2, the FBX file format is now the preferred technique for importing meshes into Trainz. As of TRS18, the IM file format is considered obsolete. Meshes exported in this format will continue to function correctly within Trainz, and no restrictions have been placed on the use of this format within newer content, however new features may not be made available to IM files and updated versions of Autodesk 3ds Max will not be supported via the release of new exporters.

Post-Processing

It will no longer be possible to fully disable post-processing in TRS18.

Asynchronous Route Streaming

TANE SP2 introduced a number of script API updates aimed at supporting route streaming and larger routes. While the use of these APIs is not mandatory at the current time, it is expected that we will fast-track the adoption of these APIs.

Script authors should begin to familiarize themselves with these APIs and should begin to update their content to utilize these APIs. The changes are more likely to affect Rules and Libraries rather than individual traincars or scenery assets, but creators can check the script compiler output for warnings regarding obsolete API usage.

Route and session creators should begin to review the content (especially rules and script libraries) that they are using to ensure that it is compatible with the new APIs. While update these assets is likely to require substantial trainzscript knowledge, non-scripters should begin the process of determining which creators are updating their content, and consider whether they need to move toward excluding certain items from their routes/sessions.

As with the "compatibility mode" from TS2010, options will be provided for users and creators to test their existing content for compatibility with the new APIs well in advance of the APIs becoming mandatory.

New Material Types

New PBR Material Types (eg. m.pbrmetal) are available and should be used for any new content. Content created with older materials will continue to work as expected, but older materials (eg. m.onetex, m.tbumptex) should be avoided for new creations as they will look worse and bring no additional benefits.

"mesh-table-lod-transition-distances" tag

KIND Mesh (and all derived mesh asset types) now use the "mesh-table-lod-transition-distances" tag to control mesh-table LOD. This tag both controls the number of mesh-table LOD levels (which may be only single level if the asset relies solely on LM.txt file LOD) and also allows the transition distances to be influenced, giving the creator fine-grained control over LOD cutoffs and object draw distance.