Basemapz is a Windows™ application that allows you to quickly transfer a model railroad track plan image into the Trainz™ Railroad Simulator environment. Basemapz is compatible with Windows 7 through 10; and with Trainz versions TS2009 through TRS19.

Using an easy-to-understand process, Basemapz produces a complete Trainz Route containing the required arrangement of baseboards, plus a collection of auto-positioned basemap carrier objects that each contain the section of the track plan image that falls on one baseboard. The output of Basemapz is placed in a series of folders that can be imported into Trainz Content Manager in a single operation, where the Route is then immediately available for editing in Surveyor.

Click here to download the Basemapz installer.

NOTE: Basemapz requires the Microsoft .NET 3.5-SP1 Runtime.

RubyTMIX is a plug-in for SketchUp® that provides direct export of SketchUp models to Trainz, with all geometry, materials and textures intact and the polygon count minimized.  Using a combination of its own built-in functionality as well as fully-automated interaction with various freely-available external utility programs, the plug-in produces all files required to import a SketchUp model directly into Trainz Content Manager, where it is immediately available for use in Surveyor.

The plug-in is compatible with SketchUp 7 all the way up through SketchUp Make; with Windows XP through Windows 10; and with TS2009 through TRS19.  It’s named for the programming language in which it’s written (Ruby) and the intermediate file format used during the export process (Trainz Mesh Importer XML).

Click here to download the RubyTMIX package.

You can obtain PEV's Trainz Tools here (hosted on Shane Turner's Website).

Like many Trainz route builders who use TransDEM to model prototypical lines, I have Google Earth images that I would like to use to help me place items with some degree of accuracy.  As I explored the options for doing so, I found myself unimpressed with the way UTM tiles work in Trainz; and basemaps would have required too much effort given the size of my route.  What I really wanted was a way to put a fairly decent representation of my Google Earth images directly on the terrain; and after quite a bit of experimentation I arrived at the solution presented here.

This Tutorial is written for those who already have a good understanding of how TransDEM works.  This means that you know what a DEM is; what a georeferenced map and map group are; how to acquire Google Earth images and georeference them in TransDEM; and how to use TransDEM to generate a Trainz route.  I also expect that you will be comfortable using the free version of Google Earth, although the Tutorial does show you some settings and options that are either required or just happen to work well in conjunction with the techniques presented here.

Click here to download the Tutorial and the necessary Trainz assets.