Tren Layout P&E: Beginner Walkthrough

This is the easiest Play & Edit in the Tren template. It'll give you enough know-how to make simple track layouts, without diving too deep into more complex mechanics and logic.

Note: Try to avoid rewinding - the Play & Edits are designed to be played through in one sitting.

A Point of view#

First up, a note on camera positioning. In all the lessons, when you select More Details, we’ll put you in the best camera view for editing - usually side-on to what you’re doing. Try not to move the camera away from that view too much, and take note for editing your own scenes.

Guiding light#

Tren comes with a new Guide - Snap Points. They make it easy to put stuff together quickly and accurately. The lessons will repeatedly ask you to turn Snap Points on - they’re crucial in Tren and we need to be sure you have them on.

Show/Hide filters will become increasingly important when you’re editing so we’re just highlighting them now.

Mind the gap#

To start, press and select Edit Mode. The assembly menu will open automatically. The rest of the time you can open it with and close it with .

Select the Guides button and the Guides menu will open. Now select Snap Points. The button will expand with other options but ignore those for now - the tick below the Snap Points button tells you Snap Points are active.

Now we need to find a suitable piece to fill in the gap in the track. Hit the Search button at the top left of the menu. The current Play & Edit’s collection is always pinned at the top. Head on into it and then into Tren P&E Beginner: Track. Select the piece called Straight: 3 Units.

Use the left stick to move it into the guided area. As long as Snap Points are on, it’ll snap into place as it gets close. Press to stamp it in. Another one will appear on your imp - just drop it with or ignore it and press and select Play Mode.

Categorise me#

Here we’re just highlighting that there are different categories of Snap Points, defining which objects snap to which. One example are the pillar elements - these snap to the ends of track elements.

You should still have Snap Points on (as Guides stay on in a session until turned off) but do check. Head into Search again. You should already be in the right sub-collection (Tren P&E Beginner: Track) so grab yourself a Pillar: 6 Units. Move it into place with the left stick so that it snaps and stamp with .

To err is human#

A simple lesson about how to delete and how to use the Undo/Redo tool. Hover the imp over each of the three track pieces and press to delete them. It’s that easy.

We can’t leave it like that though, so let’s undo those deletions. Undo and Redo use the directional buttons - for Undo and for Redo. Press the directional button 3 times and the deleted track pieces will reappear. Press the directional button 3 times and they’ll disappear again.

As you use Undo/Redo, look at the feedback display at the bottom of the screen. It tells you what you’re undoing or redoing. Careful not to undo too far - it’s very easy to undo edits from the previous lesson!

When you’re done messing about with Undo/Redo (and the track is complete!) hover over the switch gadget and press .

Only connect#

Two pieces to snap and stamp this time. While most tracks will have one plug and one socket side, not all do. When you find yourself needing to snap together two socket connectors, you’ll need a Micro Connector.

Go to Search, where again you should still be in the pinned collection and the correct sub-collection. Grab a Micro Connector and use the left stick to move it till it snaps in place, then to stamp it. Then select a Straight: 3 Units and do the same.

Checkpoints#

You won’t always need Checkpoints - it depends how tricky or long your track is. The basics are simple - they become active when Tren drives past them, only one is active at a time, and the player is respawned at the active one upon crashing or on pressing .

Checkpoints are not always that simple. Later in the template we’ll look at other cases. For now head to Search again and find the Checkpoint element. You may have to back out of sub-collections with to find the Tren P&E Beginner: Contraptions collection. Snap and stamp the Checkpoint as guided.

Switch it up#

Track switches let Tren change lanes. They don’t require any setup at all - you just have to stamp them. In play, switch direction is controlled with the left stick when in range.

Head to Search and find the Curves & Switches sub-collection. Select Switch: Wide Straight, use the left stick to snap it in place and to stamp it. Then hit and switch to Play Mode.

Wagons ho!#

Now for one of the most important elements in Tren - wagons! There are lots of types, mostly used to transport cargo. Some are even dangerous. For this lesson we’re just going to snap in a PermaClamp wagon (these never lose their cargo) and get used to that.

Head to Search. Back out of the current sub-collection with and find the Vehicles & Wagons collection. Grab the PermaClamp Wagon (P&E) and snap and stamp it into place, then switch back to Play Mode.

Copy that#

Right, we should be down with snapping and stamping stuff from the Dreamiverse now. Let’s look at one of the most useful tools for assembly - Clone. This lets you copy any element you’ve already got in your scene, saving time and thermo resources.

In this lesson we want you to clone the highlighted track piece and put it in the gap. Hover over the existing piece to the right of the outline. Press and hold , then press and hold and move your imp upwards. You’ll be holding a clone. Keep holding but release . Move to the gap and let the piece snap in, and release to stamp it.

Do you copy?#

Sometimes you need to adjust the clone while holding it. This ramp will need to be the other way around once we’ve cloned it. So let’s try Clone and Flip.

Hover over the ramp. Press and hold , then press and hold and move your imp upwards. Keep holding but release . Now press and the piece will flip vertically. Move to the gap and let the piece snap in, and release to stamp it.

Note: Avoid flipping complex stuff with logic inside - it may not behave as expected once flipped!

Curves and swerves#

You can “cheat” this lesson by looking in the pinned collection for the Curve: 6 Units piece, or you can use the Clone tool and learn a bit more about adjusting a clone’s position.

Clone the existing curve with and as before. Keep holding , release , and press and hold . Push the left stick left/right. Notice the clone rotates. Get it roughly right and then move it into position - Snap Points will do the rest. Repeat for the next gap.

Note: You can also rotate with the right stick, but it’s best to rotate in one axis at a time and that’s not the axis we need right now anyway.

A select group#

When building you’ll inevitably find yourself needing to move stuff. Doing it one object at a time or selecting every object every time can be tedious. Grouping lets you make compound sections of track that can be moved as one.

Select each of the 3 track pieces with . You can do it individually, or you can hold and drag across them. Notice the hatched outline indicating they’re selected. Once you’ve selected more than one object, the Group button will appear on the right of the screen. The number on the button tells you how many objects are selected. It should say 3. Hit the Group button with . Now press to deselect the group, grab it with and snap and stamp it into place.

To the wire#

Plenty of elements in Tren need no wiring, but there are lots that do. Learning to connect elements with wires is the first step in learning to use logic in Dreams. We try to make this as easy as possible in Tren, using Node gadgets to expose properties or events to be wired.

Here we’re going to wire a Track Button’s Just Pressed event to a Cargo Loader’s Spawn Container node, so that when Tren runs over the button a cargo container is generated.

Hover over the Just Pressed node’s output port as guided and press . You’ll now be holding a wire. Move the imp to take the wire across to the input port on the Spawn Container node and press to place it. Job done.

Drop it!#

More wiring. First find yourself the Cargo Unloader (P&E) and stamp it in. Unloaders have an output to signal when cargo’s been collected. Here we’ll wire that up to a Cargo Quota Barrier. These block a player’s progress until they’ve delivered (or are carrying) the correct amount of cargo.

Hover over the Container Collected node’s output and press to make a wire. Take it across to the barrier’s Delivered to Collector node’s input. Press to connect it. Switch back to Play Mode and deliver the cargo to open the barrier.

You shall not backtrack#

One Way Doors are great for stopping a player backtracking. Notice that the Checkpoint here is on a spur of track that the player won’t have to pass through. So let’s use the event of passing through the door to activate the Checkpoint.

Find the One-Way Door and stamp it in. Now connect the door’s Door Passed output to the Checkpoint’s Force Activate input. The Checkpoint will activate when you pass through the door.

In limbo#

There’s a ton of ways you could build a wagon drop-off. This one uses a limbo barrier which a wagon can pass under but Tren can’t, as well as a Boost piece to pull the wagon away, shooting it at the Button End Stop. The wagon hitting the button triggers a Wireless Transmitter to open the barrier, allowing you to pass.

Grab yourself a Barrier: Limbo (P&E) from the pinned collection and stamp it in. Switch to Play Mode and drop off the wagon to proceed.

Happy landings#

Landing on standard track after a jump can be risky, so these landing pieces can be helpful. They’re wide and have a groove to catch Tren and realign it. This is great for fairly small jumps. Later we’ll look at helpers for larger jumps.

Find a Double Width: Merger and a Double Width: End and snap and stamp them in.

Sticking place#

This lesson is another chance to practise rotating elements into place. And also to go “woo hoo, magnetic track!”.

Search in the pinned collection for MagniTrak: 3 Units. To get it in the outline, hold and push the right stick to the left to rotate it so it’s vertical, then snap and stamp it in. Now hold and use the left stick to navigate your camera up to the next outline. Now find a MagniTrak: Ramp External and snap and stamp that in. It shouldn’t need any rotation.

MagniTrak uses clever logic to lock Tren to the track, so it can go vertical and even upside-down without falling off. Don’t forget to give your players PermaClamp wagons though, so they don’t lose all their cargo.

Swap it like it's hot#

Tren Swap Docks let you switch from one Tren to another. The docks are paired using colour and a number, so that when Tren docks and Square is pressed control passes to Tren at the corresponding dock.

Hover over the Dock Number slider and press and hold . Drag it to the right to set it to 2. Hover over the Dock Colour slider and set it to 4. Head back to Play Mode and use Square to switch Trens.

Repeat ad infinitum#

One final Clone lesson - let’s learn to use Repeat Clone. It's a bit fiddly to learn but it can turbo-charge assembly. Guides like Grid or Precise Move are often very helpful to use when performing Repeat Clone, and the Snap Points guides make it even easier.

Clone the highlighted track with and . Once cloned, keep holding and motion the clone to the right - it should snap into place. Keep holding and press the directional button 3 times. Each press creates an additional clone, and the clones will snap into place. When the gap is bridged, release to stamp them.

Getting down with lifts#

A basic stamping lesson again, just to show you the lifts and how they’re used. There are a few different lifts in the Tren Set. We have no wagons here so let’s get the smallest.

Search in the pinned collection for the Lift: Small and snap and stamp it in. Switch to Play Mode, drive onto the lift and push the left stick down to move the lift.

Do all the things!#

Let’s combine all we’ve learned in this P&E into one lesson. When you come to make your own tracks you’ll be searching, stamping, cloning, wiring… the lot!

So, start by stamping in a One-Way Door. Connect the Door Passed node to the Force Activate node. Clone the track piece to fill the gap. Find the Switch: Small Straight, rotate it with and the right stick and stamp it in. Bosh!

Buzz off!#

Let’s end with an easy fun stamp and a fun ride! Grab Small Popter and stamp it in.

Switch to Play Mode, drive forward and dock Tren, and swap with . Fly Popter to the exclamation Quest marker at the center of the level and land.

Well done! You completed the first Tren create project.