Create: Trackwright

Track laying and train fixes for Create: a placement guide, track through blocks, tunnel boring, undo, and trains that keep their speed and passengers.

Usage

Laying track

• Placement guide on screen: offset, length, reach, turn and radius, the real climb, track cost, and whether it will connect.
  • Names the turn and says "walk N blocks closer" if you're too far away.
  • Shows markers for which heights connect when a slope is too steep.
  • Says what's in the way and why a placement is refused.

• Lock the widest turn: keeps Create's maximized curve on. (Unbound by default)
• Radius lock: press R with track in hand for exact quarter circles, hold R and scroll to change radius.
• Straight track through solid blocks: a blocked straight line becomes one connection.
• Bore mode: with a pickaxe, shovel, axe or hoe in your off hand, a blocked straight, curve or slope gets mined into a real tunnel with normal track.
  • Drops go to your inventory and the tool takes durability.
  • Respects claim mods and won't break chests or unbreakables.
  • 3x3 tunnel by default, hold Left Alt and scroll to extend.

• Blocked curve ends: without a tool, a curve or slope whose straight end runs into blocks is refused. (default on: refuseBlockedTrackEnds)
• Convert: lay the two ends of a straight-through-blocks again, and it turns into a normal track.
• Clear the track bed: sneak and right-click a laid curve with a tool in your main hand to clear blocks poking through it. (clearTrackBed)
• Unbreakable markers: sneak and right-click a block with a honeycomb, or /trackwright mark, so the bore and train drills leave it. (default off: unbreakableMarkers)
• Connections up to 128 blocks, without long track keeping distant chunks loaded.

• Undo: press U while holding track, or type /trackwright undo, to take back your last 3 placements within 2 minutes. (Bored tunnel stays)
• Client options:
  • always show the placement squares
  • preview from farther away
  • turn the height markers on or off

Trains

• Full speed on straights: trains no longer slow down on straight connections as if they were curves.
• Safe passengers in rock: seated riders and conductors stay in their seats when a train passes through blocks and take no suffocation damage. (default on: protectTrainPassengers)
• Drills on trains clear their whole face on curves, diagonals and slopes, sand and gravel. (default on: trainDrillsFullFace)
• Drills, saws and rollers on trains no longer break track, stations, signals or Create machines.
• Rollers stop breaking cargo when crossing water.
• Optional roller settings: break powder snow, and ignore water.
• Roller Terrain box: pick Everything or Reshape.
• "Switch Train Actors" schedule step: turns a train's drills, rollers, etc. on or off between stops. (default on: contraptionControlsSchedule)

• Train control keys: sneak and right-click a Contraption Controls block on a train to bind. (Unbound by default)

Fixes to Create

• Stations on curves can't build or take apart trains by any route, which stops trains being rebuilt in the wrong place.
• Splitting a track network no longer leaves a stray copy on the client.

Works with

• Steam 'n' Rails gauges (wide gauge gets a wider tunnel) and Create Connected paving.
• Some features need both client and server to play, but can be installed on only one side.
  • A player with the mod on a server without it gets the guide, squares, height markers, client options, both lock keys and the train control keys. Undo and clearing need the server.
  • Players without the mod can still join with access to everything except:
    • Trackwright's guide, squares, height markers and marker outlines
    • Lock keys, train control keys and the U key (/trackwright undo still works)
    • Tunnel shaping, they get the 3x3 default
    • The roller Terrain box
    • Passenger protection
    • Switch Train Actors
    • They get refusals as a red chat line
    • Clearing the track bed asks them for a second click

Config

config/trackwright-server.json config/trackwright-client.json

Known Issues

• Straight track through blocks: stations on it can't build trains, branches only at its ends
• Clearing the track bed can't be undone. Undo is lost on logout, dimension change or restart
• On steep slopes a 2-high carriage can clip a 3-high tunnel's ceiling
• Markers don't stop saws felling trees, falling sand, harvesters or deployers
• Players without Trackwright see a Switch Train Actors step as an empty "Travel to"
• The bore leaves XP orbs, water can flow in, and sand or gravel above the line stops it
• 26.3: make a backup before upgrading worlds from older versions

Planned

• Looser track geometry: minimum turn radius, maximum angle, steepness and S-bends
• Very tight road turns
• Curves that climb while they turn
• Moving track end points

Requirements

• Optional: Steam 'n' Rails, Create Connected, Create: Gravis's Flying Config Menu (26.2 only)

Credits and licence

• E-Thang for testing and ideas.
• Create Fly by ZurrTum. Create by the Create Team
• Licence: GPL-3.0-or-later.