How to force straight rail, roads?

[Sabomoth]

I have become seriously annoyed when trying to place rails or roads that needs to go straight, even 10 tries it looks ok, other times the bezier curves the heck out of it. Is there a way to make it go straight.. straight away?

For rotation i found that you can hold shift to get a more clean rotation, something that annoying me as well. But haven't found anything for straightness, in the options there is something called construction options 5 and 6, but they do nothing what i could see? (1,2 rotation, 3,4 height)

[SoftwareSimian]

Road and tracks snap to straight, as long as you're aiming with 1° or so of where "straight" is. In this, Shift will disable straight-snapping if you want to place something almost-straight-but-not-quite. There is no key to force straight, you just need to look for the subtle auto-snapping.

If you're trying to build a road straight away from an existing intersection you will have problems, the direction of the road will be mostly random, especially if your join point is a 90° intersection and you want to extend one leg into a T-junction. In this case I would usually delete a small segment of one side of the intersection (possibly creating a small dummy road near the intersection to break up the road segment if it's too long). Then extend the road you want to extend using the auto-straight-snapping, then rebuild the road segment to form the intersection. Another small tip: if you extend a road segment through an intersection you can make use of the straight-snapping. Even if you just want a T-junction, extend the road through the intersection to get it straight, then delete the stub street you didn't want.

[H]

I like to just place the 'straight segment' without either end of it attached to it's connections, then put the curved connections onto it after because when the road isn't snapping to anything it is perfectly straight.

[grapplehoeker]

Plop a straight piece of country road at 90 degrees and in front of whatever you want to lay straight, and drag the rail/road onto or over it... it will snap to the crossover giving you much better control of the straightness.

[Isaiah53six]

a modifier key to make any piece straight should be part of the game

[CunkFeatures]

Originally posted by Isaiah53six:

a modifier key to make any piece straight should be part of the game

This

Already been said, but I either try try try again with a steady hand. Or build from grass dragging over wanted roads then bulldoze the overhangs.

[Isaiah53six]

Originally posted by tomtalk24:

Originally posted by Isaiah53six:

a modifier key to make any piece straight should be part of the game

This

Already been said, but I either try try try again with a steady hand. Or build from grass dragging over wanted roads then bulldoze the overhangs.

will try, thanks

[CashonWheels]

Originally posted by grapplehoeker:

Plop a straight piece of country road at 90 degrees and in front of whatever you want to lay straight, and drag the rail/road onto or over it... it will snap to the crossover giving you much better control of the straightness.

This

[Doc Savage]

Also remember to use your UI as a straight edge... It's a bit cumbersome at times, but you can use those corners and that long straight edge on the road UI quite nicely. Colonel Failure uses this in his vids on occasion if you want to see how it works. (which one??? I dunno. watch them all...?B)

Always start NOTconnected, in the center or off the edge of a block. Starting from a connection will always be at least 1 degree off.

grapplehoeker's method works well but can lead to some issues on hills. If you want it pretty make sure the area of the intersection is level.

Cheers..!

[StarStreak2109]

What annoys the heck out of me, since TpF1, is that if you want to diverge a set of roads off an existing road, that it snaps to some random angle. I would like to have a similar building tool as in C:SL!

[Isaiah53six]

Originally posted by StarStreak2109:

What annoys the heck out of me, since TpF1, is that if you want to diverge a set of roads off an existing road, that it snaps to some random angle. I would like to have a similar building tool as in C:SL!

agreed

[Kniff]

sometimes also helps a helper track (with no connections on both sides) which you only place to snap to it and finally remove it again

[grapplehoeker]

Originally posted by StarStreak2109:

What annoys the heck out of me, since TpF1, is that if you want to diverge a set of roads off an existing road, that it snaps to some random angle. I would like to have a similar building tool as in C:SL!

Try a different method ;)
Instead of dragging away from a road to diverge it. Lay the road section down in the location and at the angle you want it to be first, but stop a little short of where they will join. Then, link it up. Drag it on and over the road if you can to get a really straight join.

[StarStreak2109]

Originally posted by grapplehoeker:

Originally posted by StarStreak2109:

What annoys the heck out of me, since TpF1, is that if you want to diverge a set of roads off an existing road, that it snaps to some random angle. I would like to have a similar building tool as in C:SL!

Try a different method ;)
Instead of dragging away from a road to diverge it. Lay the road section down in the location and at the angle you want it to be first, but stop a little short of where they will join. Then, link it up. Drag it on and over the road if you can to get a really straight join.

That is the work-around I am using, but even then, it is still a guessing game. It may be my OCD, but I like my right angles to be 90°...

[Gregorovitch]

Originally posted by StarStreak2109:

What annoys the heck out of me, since TpF1, is that if you want to diverge a set of roads off an existing road, that it snaps to some random angle. I would like to have a similar building tool as in C:SL!

This is of course because the road/rail build algorithms in TF pay close attention to gradients, curve radii etc which matter in this game but don't in C:SL. Without those algorithms it would be incredibly hard to lay good track or roads from a vehicle performance point of view. We would not like it.

The most effective antidote to this, and many other road/rail building issues, is to follow the principle that if it won't do what you want in one direction it probably will if try from the other direction. That coupled with the second most effective principle which is if won't do what you want in one step it probably will in several small steps.

Combining both principles will answer almost all situations in my experience.

[grapplehoeker]

Originally posted by StarStreak2109:

Originally posted by grapplehoeker:

Try a different method ;)
Instead of dragging away from a road to diverge it. Lay the road section down in the location and at the angle you want it to be first, but stop a little short of where they will join. Then, link it up. Drag it on and over the road if you can to get a really straight join.

That is the work-around I am using, but even then, it is still a guessing game. It may be my OCD, but I like my right angles to be 90°...

Oh you want a T junction? Is that what you meant by a 'diverging road at an angle'?
Well, that's even easier, just follow my first directions to the OP above... Start the road behind the section of road at a point that is perpendicular to it, and just drag it across. You'll be able to create a perfect 90 degree crossroads and the road will be straight. Just bulldoze the starter stub and now it's a perfectly square T junction ;)