I have used TRS and found it to be east to use but limiting. I have been trying to use X Trk Cad and after four days managed to get a piece of sectional 24" R turn conected to a section of streight track, it only took 45 minutes. I am finding this design program very hard to use. Is there anything else out there that might be a little more user friendly and still allow the use of diferent manufactures track like X Trk does or must I take mounths to design a 24' X 5' layout?
HELP Please
I haven't done this since the 60's
Lee
Lee,
If you haven't already done so, I'd strongly suggest you run the tutorial before jumping into trying to design a layout. You can also view demos on particular subjects by clicking on "Help", then "Demos" and then pick which topic you need help on. Once the topic is opened, click "Step" and you'll see the process step by step. If you click the "Next" button, you will advance to the next topic, not the next step.
Don Z.
Research; it's not just for geeks.
Absolutely go through the tutorial if you have not already done so. Here is a link to the XTRKCAD wiki.
I know of nothing else that is free other than RTS 7.0 and XTRKCAD4. If you want to buy something there are others such as CadRail, WinRail and more.
It took me a few hours after going through the tutorial to get up to speed with the software but now I am having fun with it but I'm still really only scratching the surface. Using elevations is eluding me yet and if there is a 3D view I can't find it so far. It would be nice to see more thorough documentation for the program one day.
BlueHills,
The demo for setting elevations is pretty good....what problem are you having?
Reality...an interesting concept with no successful applications, that should always be accompanied by a "Do not try this at home" warning.
Hundreds of years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove...But the world may be different because I did something so bafflingly crazy that my ruins become a tourist attraction.
"Oooh...ahhhh...that's how this all starts...but then there's running...and screaming..."
Don-Maybe you could help me out with something. I know how to get track elements from the parameter files into the tool bar in the program, but how do you add things like more turnouts from the Yahoo group into the parameter files? Specifically more HO Atlas code 83 turnouts. I know where they are in the Yahoo group, but they just look like lines of code. How do you transfer those to the program?
Loathar,
I'm not a member of the Yahoo XTrkCad group yet - let me see what I can find out for you....
Don Z wrote:BlueHills,The demo for setting elevations is pretty good....what problem are you having?Don Z.
Hey Don, LOL, the problem I was having is that I was using the tutorial at the XTRKCAD wiki site I found and the sections beyond the basics, including elevations are not finished. After reading your post I realized there had to be more help available in XTRKCAD so I clicked the help menu and actually paid attention to what all was there, saw the demos and said DOH!
I'm going through the elevations demo at the moment. It is all becoming clear to me now.
Thanks for waking me up!
This is going to be even more fun now than it was when I was fumbling around in the dark! Thanks again!
loathar wrote:I know how to get track elements from the parameter files into the tool bar in the program, but how do you add things like more turnouts from the Yahoo group into the parameter files? Specifically more HO Atlas code 83 turnouts. I know where they are in the Yahoo group, but they just look like lines of code. How do you transfer those to the program?
Download the parameter files you want. They have a .xtp file extension. Copy the file into the params directory within the XTRKCAD directory and then browse for the parameter file in the parameters window accessed from the file menu and load the parameter file. That should do it.
The only way I could figure out how to do so was open the xtp file on the Yahoo Group page - it displays all of the lines of code. Right click and choose "Select All", then right click again and select "Copy".
I then opened Notepad and pasted the code into the Notepad window. I then used "File, Save As" and then browsed my way to my parameter folder within XtrkCad, selected "All Files, named the file and saved the file. I then opened XtrkCad, selected Parameter Files, hit browse and found the new file. I double clicked the file name, clicked on the turnout icon on the toolbar and scrolled down until I found the new components I saved.....clear as mud, right?
As per my post above, I right clicked on a parameter file and chose save as...
downloaded the file and placed it in the XTRKCAD/params directory. Then it is available to load just like the parameter files that came with the program.
Okay...that worked, except I was prompted "Save target As"....browsed to the Parameter File, created a new name since the older version that I have won't allow me to overwrite the existing xtp file.....
Opps...right. Save target as... my mistake.
I actually saved the file to another folder, renamed it and copied it to the params directory so I might have had the same issue as you did with overwriting the original file. You can download the latest version 4.02, which has been given to public domain here btw.