Moving curves - updated with Version 1.16.

 

This Chapter deals with moving curves only. Static curves have different rules and are described in another chapter.

 

The name of these objects is MCnddRrr. N stands for the number of lanes (n = 1 to 4), dd stands for the curvature angle (currently 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 45, 60 degrees) and rr stands for the radius of the curve in 100m units. So MC230R10 is a dual lane 30 degree curve with 1000m radius, an often used macro. Here you see MC215R05 called with %6 = 3, %7 and %8 unknown and, since no train is on the rail, %9 = 0.

In addition, curved bridges and viaducts exist. They allways bend 15 degrees and have the names MCnBrRrr and MCnTrRrr. They can be used exactly like all moving curves, only parameter %9 is used as with bridges or viaducts. It is a big advantage that you can exchange a 15 degrees curve always by a viduct ot bridge if you encounter a road or small river to cross.

All moving curved rails are called with the same parameters:

Parameter Value Meaning
%1   Geographical width
%2   Geographical Length
%3 0 Rail is placed on the surface of the FS terrain.
  Unequal 0 Absolute Altitude of the rail above sea level in m
%4 0.250 Scale. Should always be 0.250.
%5 Orientation Orientation of the rail on the terrain (0 = south-north direction)
%6 0-7

0-4 for 45 and 60 degrees.

 Wires, Pylons and lamps:

0 no wires, no night illumination

1 wire, no night illumination

2 wires, simple pylons, no night illumination

3 wires, massive pylons, no night illumination

4 wires, massive pylons, lamps, night illumination for FS2000

The following options are only available for 10 to 40 degree curves:

5 wires, no pylons, no lamps, night illumination for FS2000

6 no wires, no pylons, no lamps, night illumination for FS2000

7 no wires, pylons with lamps, night illumination for FS2000
%7   Train # for primary timing. If negative, trains run left.
%8   Timing of primary train in form dssnn

d=1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 fixes the number of slots the train uses to pass through the curve.

Ss = Time the train enters the macro southbound

Nn = Time the train enters the rail northbound

%9  
Curves 0 - 108 Embankment color or texture
Bridges 3 digit Substructure/Shape of bridge rail/color
Viaducts 5 digit Texture/2 digits for heigth at northen end/ 2 digits for height ar southern end
%10   Range in m

Rail is visible if within range. Typical value is 7000.

The last digit is used to encode the rail texture.
%11   Tilt in degrees

Each curve can be tilted along its logitudinal axis. See remarks below.

This parameter is positiv for curves rising as right curve, and below 360 for curves rising as left curves.
%13   Timing of secondary train in form ssnn

Ss = Time the train enters the macro southbound

Nn = Time the train enters the rail northbound

If %14=0, the train %7 is displayed twice per cycle
%14   Secondary train

 

The definition of the ends is as follows: End 1, the "northern end", is the end from which, when viewed, the curve is a right curve. End 2, the "southern end", is the end from which the curve appears as a left curve.

Curves are available with 1 to 4 rails, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 45 and 60 degrees, 50, 100, 200, 300, 500, 750, 1000, 1250, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000, 4000 m radius. A special interface in FSRail lets you select these parameters.

The following macros are only contained for backward compatibility:

In addition, for single and dual curves, there are ramps for the 3D scenery of FS2000 available with a curvature of 15 degrees which climb by 4m. These ramps differ by which end is the upper. The curved ramps ending with r climb upwards in a right and downwards in a left curve. The ramps ending with l climb upwards in a left and downwards in a right curve.

Orientation/Radius 500m 750m 1000m 1500m 2000m
Right climb McnRa05r McnRa07r McnRa10r McnRa15r McnRa20r
Left climb McnRa05l McnRa07l McnRa10l McnRa15l McnRa20l

Beginning with FSRail 116, the method to change height in curves has changed.

In the dialog which lets you select the orientation, you can also select the tilt in m. You should read this as follows: A +2 means, that the rail, if looked as right curve, is climbing by 2 m. If you enter +2 and attach as left curve, consequently the railway goes down.

Theoretically, you can enter any meaningful value, but:

In curves there is no way to avoid an internal distortion giving bad optical results. This effect becomes bigger with larger bending angle and larger tilt angle, so do not use large angles and large height differences. The result when attaching two curves of 15 degrees, climbing 4 m each, will be much better than the result with one 30 degree curve climbing 8 m. Bigger radii at a given difference improve the result. I recommend to use 20 degres bending maximal, and to let it climb less than 1% of the radius.