How to Create a Region Asset

The information in this Wiki Page applies to TANE, TRS19 and Trainz Plus.

What is a Region?

	A Region defines some of the characteristics of a geographic location (e.g. a country or a province) that is represented in a route
	A Region Asset is a config.txt file that contains the region data

Region Data: When a Region has been assigned to a route, it will set:- the default switch lever to be used in the route the colour of the water (lakes, streams, ponds, ocean) the side of the road, left or right, used by all moving road vehicles the latitude of a point in the route the longitude of a point in the route the altitude of a point in the route the number and types of moving road vehicles

How to Create a Region Asset

Steps	Create the Asset: From the Trainz Launcher select Manage Content in Content Manager open the Developer menu select New Content This will create a new asset and open it for editing. A message window will appear that will (hopefully) report on the successful creation of a new asset. Close the message window
	Find the New Asset: Set the CM Search Filter to Open for Editing This will display only those assets that have been opened for editing (hopefully only your new and as yet unnamed asset will be shown)
	Open the Asset in Windows File Explorer: Right mouse click on the entry New Asset Select Open Select Show in Explorer
	Open Config.txt File in Notepad: There will only be a single item in the asset, its config.txt file Double click on the file to open it in Notepad
	Edit the Config.txt File: You will need to edit the contents of this file. The next section, The Config.txt File, identifies the changes you will need to make. The new name you give to the asset will not take effect until after it has been committed. After editing, save the changes and exit Notepad. Warning: Unless you know exactly what you are doing*,  DO NOT ALTER THE KUID NUMBER  that has been added to the file * but even if you do, think twice before you change it !
	Add a Thumbnail: You will need to add a thumbnail image as described in the section The Thumbnail Image. The thumbnail and the config.txt files are the only two items required in this asset. The thumbnail does not have to be added immediately but must it be present before the new asset can be used. You can reopen the asset for editing later to add the thumbnail before it is committed.
	Finish Up: Close the Asset window Commit the asset in Content manager Right mouse click on the asset Select Submit Edits Hopefully there will be no errors. Notes: Because you still have the Filter Open for Editing in operation, the now closed and committed asset will vanish from the window display. To check that your asset has been correctly created and renamed, set the CM Search Filter to "Today". Some of the most common errors that can occur when creating and committing a new asset are:- no thumbnail image in the asset typing errors in the config.txt file poorly formatted tags in the config.txt file incorrect file types added to the asset folder files missing from the asset folder incorrect kuid value (despite the warning you changed it in Step 5)

The Config.txt File

This file should follow the same (or a similar) format as the example below.

• entries in  red  must not be changed
• the indenting of the lines and the spacing ("tabbing") between the "tags" on the left and their contents on the right are purely to make it easier for humans to read
• the use of the {} braces is to group tags into common "containers". These containers must not be broken up and the number of { characters must match the number of } characters
• the order of the "tags" is not important

kuid                              <kuid:this is an auto-generated number>
kind                              "region"
username                          "Region data for Tasmania 1950 to 1969>"
category-class                    "YX"
category-era                      "1950s;1960s"
category-region                   "AU"
ontheright                        0
water-color                       75,128,255
defaultjunction                   <kuid:61119:24120>
longitude                         147.0,26.0,1.0
latitude                          41.0,50.0,-1.0
altitude                          212
car0                              <kuid:329364:1568>
trainz-build                      4.3
thumbnails
{
  Default
  {
    width                         240
    height                        180
    image                         "Tasmania-Region.jpg"
  }
}
description                       "Vehicle, road, water and geographic data for Tasmania (Australia) in the 1950s and 1960s"
kuid-table
{
  0                               <kuid:61119:24120>
  1                               <kuid:329364:1568>
}

	Settings: For the above example: The  kuid  is unique to every asset so it is  not a good idea to choose your own . This will be automatically generated by the Content Manager program when a new asset is created The  kind  identifies the type of asset and the types of files that Trainz will expect to find in the asset. It also tells Trainz how to render and error check the asset. A list of asset kinds can be found at KIND Hierarchy The  username  is your name for the asset and the name that other users will see. It is a good idea to make it short and meaningful. The  category-class  identifies the intent of the asset and is important in classifying it for filtering and searching. For region assets, the category class is "YX". A list of category classes can be found at Category-class The  category-era  identifies the decade or decades in which the region is based (e.g. "1950s"). See the section Category Era Tag below for more details. The  category-region  identifies the country or countries in which layout is based. See the section Category Region Tag below for more details. The  ontheright  identifies which side of the road is used by road traffic. See the section On the Right Tag below for more details. The  water-color  identifies the the colour used by water surfaces in this region. See the section Water Color Tag below for more details. The  defaultjunction  identifies the junction lever or switch that Trainz will use as its default lever asset whenever a lever is added to a track junction in this region. See the section Default Junction Tag below for more details. The  longitude  identifies the geographic longitude of a point in the region. See the section Longitude Tag below for more details. The  latitude  identifies the geographic latitude of a point in the region. See the section Latitude Tag below for more details. The  altitude  identifies the altitude or base height of the starting baseboard in the route. See the section Altitude Tag below for more details. The  car0  identifies the first moving car that will appear on roads in the region. Upto 15 different cars can be specified. See the section Car Tags below for more details. The  trainz-build  identifies the minimum Trainz version needed for this asset. A list of asset trainz-build numbers and their corresponding Trainz versions can be found at Trainz build numbers The  thumbnails  container holds the preview images of the asset shown by the Content Manager program, the Web version of the DLS and, for some assets, the Surveyor main menu image(s). Information on thumbnails can be found at Thumbnails The label  Default  is the container ID or placeholder for the thumbnail used by CM and the Web based DLS. While its exact label (or number - eg. "Default", "00", "01", etc) is not important, it must be different from any other labels that might be present in the thumbnail. Default and 0 are commonly used placeholder labels for the 240 x 180 thumbnail image The image is the name of the thumbnail image. It does not have to be called thumbnail.jpg but it must be a JPG format image The width of the image in pixels must be 240 The height of the image in pixels must be 180 The  description  provides more details for users than the username The  kuid-table  contains the kuid values of the defaultjunction asset (if used) and all the carN assets. See the section Kuid Table Tag below for more details.

	Language Options:
	All Trainz assets have a language facility built into their config.txt files that allows other language translations to be added for certain tags, such as the username and description tags. A full description of the process can be found on the Trainz Wiki at  Localize an Asset and a list of all the supported languages with their two character codes at  Localization (country) Codes. At the very basic level any creator can easily provide other language translations for the username and description tags in the assets they create. Examples are shown below for this sample asset.
username "Region data for Tasmania 1950 to 1969" username-c2 "塔斯马尼亚州1950年至1969年的区域数据" username-es "Datos de la región para Tasmania 1950 a 1969" username-fr "Données régionales pour la Tasmanie de 1950 à 1969" username-gr "Regionsdaten für Tasmanien 1950 bis 1969" username-nl "Regiogegevens voor Tasmanië 1950 tot 1969" username-ru "Данные по регионам за Тасманию с 1950 по 1969 год"
	Translations to Chinese (simplified), Spanish, French, German, Dutch and Russian, perfect or not, were provided by Google Translate.

Category Era Tag

This identifies the decade or decades in which the region is based. The tag data contains text surrounded by quote (") characters. Each decade name ends with an "s" (e.g. "1950s") and multiple consecutive decades can be specified by using a semi-colon (;) as a separator (e.g. "1950s;1960s"). A list of category-eras can be found at Category-era tag.

Category Region Tag

This identifies the country or countries in which the region is based. The tag data contains text surrounded by quote (") characters. Each country has a two letter code (e.g. "AU" for Australia) and multiple countries can be specified by using a semi-colon (;) as a separator (e.g. "AU;UK;US"). If no country is to be specified then the two character code "00" (double zero) is used. A list of countries (category regions) can be found at Category-region tag.

On the Right Tag

This identifies which side of the road is used by road traffic in this region. The tag data contains a binary value (0 or 1). 0 = left side, 1 = right side. This tag is compulsory in a Region asset.

Water Color Tag

Warning:
	The water-color tag in a Region asset has been superseded by the Water Color Lighting Setting used in TANE and TRS19  Environment Tools

This identifies the colour used by water surfaces added by the Surveyor Terrain Tool in this region. The tag contains three integers separated by commas (e.g. 75,128,255). The integers specify the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) colour values to be used and each value is from 0 to 255. This tag is compulsory in a Region asset with an asset build number of 3.4 and higher.

Default Junction Tag

This identifies the junction lever or switch that Trainz will use as its default lever asset whenever a lever is added to a track junction in this region. The tag data contains a single valid kuid (e.g. <kuid:61119:24120>) and is compulsory in a Region asset with an asset build number of 3.4 and higher.

The kuid value of the switch lever must also be added to the kuid-table container of the config.txt file.

Longitude Tag

This identifies the geographic longitude of a point in the region. The tag contains three floating point or decimal values separated by commas (e.g. 147.0,26.0,1.0). The first value is the longitude degrees, the second value is the longitude minutes and the third is the East/West value (1.0 = East, -1.0 = West). For example: 147.0,26.0,1.0 would represent longitude 147 degrees 26 minutes East. This tag is compulsory in a Region asset with an asset build number of 3.4 and higher.

Latitude Tag

This identifies the geographic latitude of a point in the region. The tag contains three floating point or decimal values separated by commas (e.g. 41,0,50.0,-1.0). The first value is the latitude degrees, the second value is the latitude minutes and the third is the North/South value (1.0 = North, -1.0 = South). For example: 41,0,50.0,-1.0 would represent latitude 41 degrees 50 minutes South. This tag is compulsory in a Region asset with an asset build number of 3.4 and higher.

Altitude Tag

The altitude can be set by selecting a Region:- when a new route is created - the route base height will be set to the altitude shown in the selected region so the first baseboard will have its height set to that altitude instead of the usual starting height of 0 metres when an existing route is edited by assigning it a new region - the route will have its base height set to the altitude shown in the new region and all existing heights (terrain, splines, objects) will be set relative to that value

This sets the initial altitude (height above sea level) of the route. The tag data contains a single integer that represents the altitude in metres. All terrain and object heights will be set relative to that altitude. For example: if the first baseboard of a route is manually raised to a height of 20 metres and the route is then assigned to a region with an altitude set to 100 metres, then the first baseboard will have a height above sea level of 20 + 100 = 120 metres.

The altitude is needed in the display of snow effects, for those assets that support snow, and works with the Snow Altitude Setting used in TANE and TRS19  Environment Tools. This tag is compulsory in a Region asset with an asset build number of 3.4 and higher.

The Default Region has an altitude of 0 metres. If you change the assigned region for an exiting route to the Default Region, then the base height of that route will be set to 0 metres and all other heights will be adjusted relative to that height. In many cases this will revert the route to its original terrain heights when it was created in Surveyor and before it was assigned to a region.

Car Tags

This identifies the moving cars that will appear on roads in the region. The tag data contains a single valid kuid (e.g. <kuid:329364:1568>) . There are restrictions and requirements:-

• Up to 15 different cars, each as a separate tag from car0 to car14 with their kuid values, can be specified in a region. The car tag numbers must be consecutive with no missing or duplicated entries
• The cars must be configured as moving vehicles and not as static vehicles - static car assets cannot be used. See  Build a Car for Traffic for information on how to configure a static car asset for road traffic
• car tags are not compulsory. If not used then no moving cars will appear
• Not all roads are configured to carry moving vehicles
• The  Environment Tools has a control that will enable and disable all road traffic
• The kuids of the cars must be added to the kuid-table container of the config.txt file

For example, the following entries will specify just 4 moving vehicles for the region.

car0                                    <kuid:329364:1568>
car1                                    <kuid:309161:100599>
car2                                    <kuid2:329364:1689:1>
car3                                    <kuid2:329364:1707:1>

Kuid Table Tag

This must contain the kuids of the Default Junction asset and all the cars specified in the car tags. The kuid order is not important and the tag numbers ("0", "1", etc) do not have to match those used in the car tags. Using the examples shown above, the kuid-table would be as shown below.

kuid-table
{
  0                                     <kuid:61119:24120>
  1                                     <kuid:329364:1568>
  2                                     <kuid:309161:100599>
  3                                     <kuid2:329364:1689:1>
  4                                     <kuid2:329364:1707:1>
}

The Thumbnail Image

A thumbnail image MUST be present in the asset

Notes: The thumbnail image:- must be in JPG format. must be 240 pixels wide by 180 pixels tall. does not have to be named thumbnail.jpg as long as the name used is in the Thumbnails container in the config.txt file.

Using the Asset

Once the new asset has been committed it will be available for use as a Region.

The region is specified when a new route is created and it can be altered by selecting Edit Route from the main menu in TANE or the edit menu in TRS19.

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Trainz Wiki

More Tutorials and Guides to Using Trainz How to Guides Driver Commands List Session Rules List (Alphabetical) with Parameters Session Rules List (Categories) With Parameters

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This page was created by Trainz user pware in April 2020 and was last updated as shown below.

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