TRAX3D community

Ask questions. Share ideas. Build better layouts.

A home for the TRAX3D community — from track planning questions and troubleshooting to inspiration, tips and layout building stories.

Photo: Kabelleger, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped

Model railway talk

Questions and conversations from the community

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Forum categories

TRAX3D4 topics Track planningno topics Track libraries2 topics Hardware & setupno topics Ideas & feedback12 topics Model railway talkno topics TRAX Controlno topics

Layout showcase

Explore layouts made by TRAX3D users and join the conversation about planning, track systems and scenery.

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Something wrong?

Report a problem with the editor and its event log comes along, so we can see what happened.

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Frequently asked

Account

Do I need an account?

Not to try the editor. Yes to save a layout and find it again, because it has to live somewhere.

I lost my password.

Ask for a new one on the sign-in page. You get a link that is valid for an hour.

Can I change my email address?

Yes. Sign in and open the page “Does your address still work?” (account/verify-mail). Enter the new address and follow the link in the mail we send to it; until then your current address stays. You sign in with the new address afterwards.

How do I delete my account?

On your account page, at the bottom: "Delete my account". Your account, your photo, your layouts that are not shared and your comments are deleted at once, for good. Layouts you shared with everybody and your forum posts stay, without your name. Want those removed as well? Ask us on the contact page and we will do it. Only donation records are kept as long as tax law requires.

Where are my layouts from TRAX2?

They are still on the old site. Sign in here with the same email address and we can bring them over.

The editor

Which browser do I need?

A recent one that can do WebGL: Chrome, Firefox, Edge or Safari from the last few years. The editor runs entirely in your browser and there is nothing to install.

Can I mix two track systems?

Yes. You can have several libraries open at once; the list grows rather than being replaced.

Why is a piece of track ruby red?

That piece has changed or gone since you saved the layout, usually because we corrected a mistake in the library. Replace or remove it; the layout cannot be saved while it is there.

My layout looks different from when I saved it.

A piece is stored as an article number, not as a shape. If we correct a measurement in the library, your layout follows. We mark those pieces and say what changed.

How do I share my layout?

Set it to shared in the layout's information. It then appears in the showcase for anybody to look at. Make it private again and that stops at once.

My work is gone after a fault.

Report it through the form beside this and tick the box that sends the log. It records what the editor did, and it usually shows what went wrong.

The editor crashed or closed before I saved. Is my work gone?

Usually not. While you work, the editor keeps a spare copy in your browser every three minutes. Open the layout again in the same browser: if a copy there is newer than the version on the server, the editor offers to restore it before anything else. Or click the clock with the arrow in the File group of the Project tab to see the last ten copies. They exist only in that browser on that device, and a restored copy reaches the server when you save.

TRAX is slow. What can I do?

TRAX draws everything in 3D on your graphics card, so first see whether your browser really uses it: type chrome://gpu (Chrome), edge://gpu (Edge) or about:support (Firefox) in the address bar and look at GL_RENDERER. "SwiftShader", "llvmpipe" or "Software" means hardware acceleration is off, which can happen in any browser: switch it on in the browser's settings (Chrome and Edge under System, Firefox under General, Performance) and restart it. The built-in graphics named there while your computer also has a separate card? Set the browser to "High performance" in Windows' graphics settings, and on a desktop computer check that the monitor cable is plugged into the graphics card and not into the motherboard. In the editor, the CAD look on the View tab is much lighter than Realistic, and switching off the textures (T) and the ink lines (I) helps most. Using the Linux app from the Snap Store without Vulkan? Use TRAX in Chrome or Firefox instead. Still slow? Tell us through the support form which computer, graphics card and browser you use.

Can I go back to an older version of my layout?

Yes. Click the clock with the arrow in the File group of the Project tab. Under "On the server" are the versions our server kept each time you saved (the recent ones all, older ones one a day, a week and a month); under "On this device" the last ten spare copies in this browser. Click Restore on one: what was on the screen is kept as a spare copy, and nothing changes on the server until you save. Can't find what you need? Tell us through the support form which layout and which date, and we can restore it for you.

TRAX Control

What is an "agent", and why is that what the editions count?

An agent is whatever drives a train. That can be a person with a throttle — a real one in the hand, one on a phone or one on a screen — or TRAX Control itself, driving that train automatically. Both are an agent, because for the railway it makes no difference who gives the orders: a train is under control or it is not. So the editions count trains under control at the same time, not locomotives you own. A locomotive standing in the shed costs nothing; a train somebody is driving, or one running its route by itself, is one agent.

And what is a controller, or a screen?

A controller is a place from which somebody drives: a phone, a tablet, a computer, or a monitor showing a throttle. A screen is a monitor that only SHOWS something — the layout, a station, a yard, the dispatcher, a departure board. A screen with a throttle on it counts as a controller as well, because somebody can drive from it. Every edition allows several people to drive at once, up to its number of controllers; who may do what is what the Club edition adds.

Do I need TRAX3D for this?

No. TRAX Control works on its own, and from the Run edition you draw the schematic in it yourself. But a layout you drew in TRAX3D already knows the track, the turnouts and the blocks, so importing it saves the whole drawing job — that is what the two programs are for. Importing a TRAX3D layout is in every edition, the free one included.

Does it need internet?

Not to run the railway. TRAX Control runs at home or on its own machine, and operating the layout never asks a server anything. Internet is wanted twice: once to activate your licence, and now and then to fetch fixes and content. Both can be done another way when the railway’s computer has no connection at all — see the question about activating.

Is this a subscription?

No. You buy a major version once and it keeps working, for good. There is no period that runs out and nothing switches itself off. The only thing paid for by the year is a club’s member licences, and that is the club’s choice, not a home user’s.

What about updates and a next version?

Fixes — faults and security — are free for everyone who owns the version, for as long as that version is looked after; there is no shorter, separate security period. New features go into the next major version. A next major version appears no sooner than two years after the one before it, and costs half for anyone who already owns one.

What does a licence do, and on how many computers?

A licence decides which FEATURES an installation has — never whether the railway can be operated. Whatever the state of a licence, a train that is running keeps running: a licence never stops a moving train. You activate an installation once; a licence allows a small number of active installations at the same time, and you can release one yourself, in the program or on this site, to move it to another computer.

The railway’s computer has no internet. Can I still activate?

Yes, three ways, in order of ease. The phone you operate the layout with usually has mobile data, and the page TRAX Control serves asks the licence service itself — you notice nothing. Otherwise TRAX Control shows a QR code you scan with any phone, and the answer comes back as a file, on a memory stick if need be. And as a last resort the answer can be typed in, in short groups with a check character, so a typing error is reported in its own line. It exists so that nobody is ever stuck.

What can the free edition really do?

Everything that makes a railway run: driving by hand from a phone, a tablet or a screen, automatic driving between two points and shuttling, automatic turnouts and signals, block protection, routes, and your TRAX3D layout imported and set up with its addresses, detectors and blocks. What it does not have is room — three trains under control, two controllers, one screen — and it does not draw a schematic of its own. The core is never taken out of it.

I need one or two trains more. Must I buy the next edition?

No. A Extension Pack buys room, once, like everything else: more trains under control and more controllers, in the edition you already have. It never adds a feature — whoever needs a function of a higher edition moves to that edition. One pack per installation.

How does it work for a club?

The club buys the software once and owns it. On top of that come member licences, by the year, at €20 per member, and always with the latest version. A member licence is the Pro edition, so a member can take their own rolling stock along to the clubhouse and home again. A member brings their own phone; the club links it to the installation and decides what that phone may do — which trains, which turnouts, which station or yard. When the club stops, or a member leaves, that member may take a permanent licence of their own at half price within three months.

Decoder data, rolling stock catalogues — do those cost extra?

No. Content — decoder definitions, the list of decoder makers, rolling stock catalogues and drawings — is free for everyone, customer or not, and needs no account. It comes as content packs, published separately from the program and more often, so new decoder data never waits for a new release. A layout without internet can import a pack as a file.

Which command station do I need?

Your own. Every protocol and system sits behind an adapter, so the rest of the program does not know what is underneath, and a command station can be reached over the network or by USB. It works on your ordinary home network — no separate network for the railway, and where the protocol allows it the command station is found by itself, so you need not know any addresses. Which systems are supported is announced at launch, and support for a new one comes with a program release, not as content: an adapter commands trains.

What happens when a licence with an end date runs out?

A bought licence has no end date. The ones that do — a club’s member licences, and test licences — warn four weeks ahead, in the program and on its licence page. At the end the installation becomes the free edition, and never during a session: the change takes effect at the next start, so nothing stops at an exhibition. Renewing online works at once, and the program fetches the renewal by itself the next time it has internet.

Donations

Do I have to pay to use TRAX3D?

No. The editor is free and there is no advertising. A donation is voluntary.

TRAX3D is free — so what does it cost?

Free for you does not mean free to run. It takes web servers and support, development tools, licences for textures and 3D models, and above all time. The donations page sets it out cost by cost.

Where does my donation go?

To the feature you give it for. Every feature has a description and a budget, and we only ask for money once it is going to be built.

Do I get something in return?

You are not buying anything. You do help decide what gets built first: on a feature that is still open, your donation counts as a vote.

Can I get my donation back?

As a rule no. A clear double charge, an obvious typing mistake in the amount or a demonstrable administrative error do count. The Refunds page says how to ask.

How can I pay?

Through Mollie. Which methods you can choose is shown when you pay; every amount is in euro.

Can I donate anonymously?

Yes, tick the box when you donate. Your name is then not shown with the feature. We do need your email address for the confirmation.