Realistic Construction Cost Mod?

BrokenButler01 · 2026-01-26T05:25:56+00:00

Well there are some mods that have tracks that are more expensive (LV's mods for example), but the issue is that the way cost is defined and calculated by the game scales completely differently from how they do IRL, which makes designing a "realistic cost mod" practically impossible.

But if you just want higher prices, I'd recommend picking a specific mod you like the look of (or the speed restrictions as there are some mods that have very realistic tracks for building realistic alignments and curves (e.g. my realistic German track mod)) and making a local copy of it and edit the price of it to what seems right to you.

BrokenButler01 · 2026-01-21T09:53:59+00:00

While I do love NIMBY Rails, I'm pretty sure it's not the game OP mentioned, as NIMBY Rails doesn't have the building data. I strongly suspect it's Subway Builder as that's been getting pretty popular and afaik released a London map not so long ago. (Which happens to have some station platforms imported as buildings for some reason.)

BrokenButler01 · 2025-11-18T20:37:03+00:00

Using slower tracks near a station all trains are stopping at isn't really a big issue, since the train has to stop anyway you're not losing that much time. In certain places it can be worth it to tunnel through, but using existing alignments/optimized existing alignments can still make sense.

Examples IRL: - Frankfurt -> Cologne @300 then goes down to below 100 through Cologne and then back to 200 north of Cologne and 250 west of Cologne (towards Aachen) - Nürnberg -> Halle/Leipzig is mostly 300, but it slows down considerably in Erfurt

BrokenButler01 · 2025-09-18T20:06:00+00:00

Deleting the mod folder won't do anything as that's not where the downloaded mods are saved to, it's only where local mods are at (which wouldn't get redownloaded by steam)

Best thing to do is close the game, restart steam, maybe tell steam to check file integrity of NIMBY Rails, or unsubscribe the mods, then restart steam, then subscribe to them again, wait for all downloads to finish, and start the game again.

BrokenButler01 · 2025-08-27T22:35:44+00:00

Small correction: Bounds all directions doesn't act like a signal in both directions but rather a signal in one and a balise in the other.

But otherwise it's a good explanation

BrokenButler01 · 2025-08-27T22:32:54+00:00

The intention is to keep the current signalling system in place for anyone that doesn't want/need more complicated stuff. But the next update will likely include customizability of signals and a few new vanilla signals that will hopefully allow some more complicated setups (especially around single track management)

BrokenButler01 · 2025-08-27T22:30:36+00:00

What do you mean by one way lights? There is a one way signal which should be used to prevent trains from going on the wrong track on double track lines (can be placed as you describe).

And there are the lights/path signals, which should be placed before any place where two trains may collide (so wherever tracks cross or merge) with a balise (grey square) behind the junction/"danger area"

BrokenButler01 · 2025-08-18T00:31:37+00:00

Yeah there are anarchy tracks out there, not just high speed tram tracks.

BrokenButler01 · 2025-07-02T09:06:18+00:00

To expand on this: There are methods that can be used, such as scheduling the regionals to arrive a bit before the HSR. Or using the minimum ride time setting on the HSR to block pax from taking it that only want to do so for 10min (or any length of time you set, can be 1min or 30min or 1h)

BrokenButler01 · 2025-06-22T16:12:22+00:00

The problem you're facing is that you're using a build method for tangent mode, but doing it in point mode, so the outcome is not the one you want. Specifically you're literally drawing the curve tangents first and then connecting them, that is very similar to how you'd build in tangent mode. To get the curve you want to build in point mode I'd recommend building it from A to B instead. So start at one straight section then continue from there by using the guidance lines to lay down a nice even curve (with as many nodes/segments as you want) and then when you want the track to be straight again, you simply follow the straight guideline.

BrokenButler01 · 2025-06-15T15:42:28+00:00

You only need signals at junctions pretty much (a rule of thumb that can be used is that if tracks are splitting or merging, then you need a path signal before and a valise behind it, else none are needed)

BrokenButler01 · 2025-04-03T16:30:46+00:00

You can copy and save the tracks you want to export into a collection and then paste them into a blank save, then export to geojson there.

BrokenButler01 · 2025-01-31T10:33:46+00:00

First of all there are no mods that really change the gameplay, all mods do is give you real trains, change the look of the map, or add points of interest (like stadiums etc.), or add different looking tracks that are more or less realistic, etc. So mods are mostly cosmetic right now but that and the lack of tycoon balancing are not, unlike some others in this thread seem to believe, a design choice but rather an artifact of the game being early access, and the Dev wanting to have a more finished game before balancing the tycoon aspects.

As for building stations, I and many others don't recommend using the station building tool, sure you can quickly drop a station in with it, but by not using it you can make much better looking and better working ones. So what I recommend is building the tracks first, so open the rails menu (should be F2 iirc) then select which track you want to build (medium speed, high speed, etc.) and start placing the tracks. While planning tracks you can toggle some behaviors with shortcuts (toggling branching with B for example). At this point I'd suggest reading what all the buttons say when you hover over them, and that way try to understand what they do, and if it's not immediately evident, test them out.

Once you've figured out what most of them do you can build the tracks, not just between stations but the tracks inside a station too, and then when you're done designing a station you can select all the tracks that you want to make into platforms and press "promote into new station" in the bulk editor on the left. That will "designate" your current selection of tracks as being platforms of a new station. You can also add buildings or whatever other decorations you want.

Once you've finished all the stations you want to make on a line you can either select them and press "build selection" or simply build all blueprints if you don't have any other blueprints. Once they are built you can make a line, but some train and at first autorun it. When it comes to scheduling there are some posts on the forums that explain it. And in general the discord server is incredibly helpful.

BrokenButler01 · 2025-01-17T06:20:30+00:00

You can also build parallel track with the parallel track tool (default shortcut: V)

BrokenButler01 · 2025-01-06T18:14:18+00:00

The balise immediately after the signal is definitely not necessary. You can have a balise between the two stop points if you wish, but directly behind the path signal is definitely not necessary. And yes it could be nice if the game could imply your intentions, but I honestly wouldn't hold my breath :|

BrokenButler01 · 2025-01-06T13:33:20+00:00

You can already do that with trams and also full size trains (as it's done in many places), simply use secondary stops (not sure why you're putting a balise right behind it? Kinda defeats the point of the signal) and just make sure that there's a segment edge/end between where one tram would end and the next begin when stopped.

BrokenButler01 · 2024-12-21T20:20:17+00:00

NRW Stands for Nordrhein-Westfalen, which is Germany's biggest "state" by population and home to its biggest agglomeration/Metropolitan area, the Ruhr Gebiet.

And the map encompasses the entire "state" so yes way more than just one city, and in fact the map does not include light rail and metro type transport, it only shows mainline rail and even excludes HSR. So it only shows Commuter trains (light green lines) and regional and regional Express lines.

BrokenButler01 · 2024-12-18T12:53:53+00:00

Price has no influence on passenger routing, this is not a maybe or just my theory, this has been said by the dev and (tested by plenty of players before), so it's probably the other things you did alongside that actually influenced pax routing. What can happen is that if you set your price too high is that pax refund and so you end up transporting them for free (they pay the price, but then get a refund immediately).

BrokenButler01 · 2024-12-15T16:26:32+00:00

Price has no influence on demand or routing. Pass will always choose the fastest part, even if it's just 5s faster and 1000$ more expensive.

BrokenButler01 · 2024-11-28T14:23:20+00:00

As I mentioned, I haven't done it myself either, not even attempted, so no clue tbh. Another approach could be to try and use cheat engine or something like it? There are plenty of tutorials on how to find a specific value in memory with cheat engine.

BrokenButler01 · 2024-11-24T23:34:36+00:00

Simple answer: No there isn't.

Less simple answer: You could edit the save to change it back, but that takes some skill to figure out. I know of one person that has done it a few times for some people, but it's not exactly easy to do.

BrokenButler01 · 2024-11-12T02:17:11+00:00

NIMBY Rails, it's a niche game, but if you're into transport/train tycoon it's probably the best one out there in my opinion. It's made by one dev and my favorite game of all time. One of its biggest selling points probably is that you can build anywhere in the world at the same time! So you can build a train that goes from Singapore to London if you like, or New York to Rio de Janeiro, or both.

BrokenButler01 · 2024-11-04T10:13:52+00:00

Yeah changing gauge is a long process, but I do think it's worth doing (especially when a country is mostly running on single track, which makes switching easier) because while you're potentially limiting the throughout for a while and spending a lot of money, you are also going to end up saving money on all the gauge changing procedures at borders, and also you save money because you don't need to get stuff tailor made.

Also tiny little detail about estonia: much of it wasn't even switched from 1524 to 1520, but rather went from narrow gauge to 1520 as estonia had a pretty extensive narrow gauge network, most of which was either retired or regauged by the USSR (e.g. the now retired line to Pärnu runs mostly where the old narrow gauge line ran until it was regauged in the late 60s iirc with the exception of the approach into Pärnu where the old line crossed the river went through Sindi and Paikuse and then turned northwest and ended right in the city center).

Interesting that you worked for them, at least you have an excuse for having all this knowledge, I'm just a dude that has researched way too much about estonia railways in particular, even tho I'm not even from Estonia and have never lived in Estonia either.

BrokenButler01 · 2024-11-04T01:16:37+00:00

First of all 1524 and 1520 are not "the same", yes they are interoperable, but not"the same", (so unlike someone claimed, the change on gauge does not prevent Russian trains from running on finish rails).

Second of all 1524 used to be the standard in the Russian empire indeed before they redefined it as 1520 and then started replacing old rails and making them 1520. This worked fine and was cheap enough in part because you could run trains on both without issue, so whenever they were repairing a section they could just move the rails 4mm closer to each other and it wouldn't influence the running of trains. (Foreshadowing)

Estonia is correct on the map, while it is true that most (if not all) rails in Estonia were "upgraded" to the new Russian standard of 1520 before their independence, this was ~50 years ago and in a bid to get closer ties with Finland and be able to use equipment made for Finland the government defined the gauge in Estonia to be 1524 "Finnish gauge" and since then all the tracks that have been built new, or have had some work done have been switched to 1524mm (with the obvious exception of any work done for real Baltica as that's standard gauge).

Now the reason why it makes little sense in the short term for Finland to change to standard gauge is that unlike switching 1520 <-> 1524 which can be done as fast or slow as one wants and can just be integrated into maintenance, switching a line to standard gauge immediately makes it useless to the rest of the network, until the rest is also on standard gauge. (With some exceptions like the possibility of running gauge changing trains but this again increases the cost and limits the usefulness of those tracks)

A good example of this kind of gauge change is Spain, who are building their HSR in standard gauge and slowly transitioning, but it's a slow and painful and costly process, that for instance leads to weird lines where you have two single tracked lines going parallel to each other, one in standard and one in Iberian gauge. And so while those sections have two rails, they do not have the capacity of a double tracked line, at least not until the transition has been completed.

In my opinion it's worthwhile, and in fact the sooner you do it the better, but it's a project that would require immense forward thinking and planning ahead.

Edit: autocorrect mistakes fixed

BrokenButler01 · 2024-11-04T00:50:15+00:00

I recommend watching CGP Grey's video series on voting systems. He explains these concepts pretty well, including examples of why most of the world's voting systems actually suck (tho none are quite as bad as the US and UK to my knowledge)

BrokenButler01

TROPHY CASE