41 thoughts on “SCARM v. 1.9.0 Released”

1. After upgrading to 1.9 I seem to be unable to change track heights. I don’t even see the current elevation on the track sections. Am I missing something?

2. Perhaps, you need to activate them as the Track Heights are not enabled by default for blank track plans. Use “View” > “Show Track Heights” or just click the red “h” button next to the layers button in the Toolbar.

3. Thank you, that did it. I don’t think I’ve run into that previously.

4. Hi. Thanks for the latest update!
   I have a dual monitor setup, and SCARM insists on starting on one monitor, while I would like it to start on what is the primary monitor. How do I get SCARM to remember which monitor to use?
   Thanks, Robert

5. It is designed to remember its main window position and size and it should start again where it was closed. However, due some reasons, that may not working as intended on all multi-monitor systems. I am investigating that and hope to have progress on this subject in the next releases of SCARM.

6. Can you expect, if – or when, there will be a convenient conversion to *.dwg format?
   It would be very helpful to incorporate the layout into the room, and to build a proper landscape and track lines “on site”.

7. I can’t say for any time frame, but yes, that may come in some of the future versions of SCARM.

8. Any chance a future version could provide the option of red/black (or left/right) rail colors so it would be easier to see where reversing sections may be needed? Bonus if the program can automatically determine where reversing is needed and change the section color accordingly…

9. Yes, there is a chance for that, however, I cannot promise or tell when.

10. Thanks for the continued effort
    Two additional (ones from last version) whish list
    1. Being able to save in a Sketch UP readable format.
    I know its only for me but outputting the sleepers to stl would save so much time
    2. Ability to set the grid smaller than 1″ 1/8″ would be great but 1/2″ a must.
    3. Ok so I said two but this one is from my last request ability to add/edit track lib. In other words add a custom track section.

11. 1. I can’t promise that.
    2. I can consider that.
    3. That is in my To-do list and should be ready for some of the next releases of SCARM.

12. hi, has anyone come across this problem???? example: I designed part of a layout yesterday and when highlighted all the tracks highlight, today I continued on the design but when I highlighted the track to adjust height or to see the length of track only todays work gets highlighted, yesterdays tracks do not highlight with it, and vise versa if I highlight yesterdays tracks, todays tracks do not highlight.

    would appreciate to know if anyone came across this problem and a possible fix?

    thanks.

    paul

13. Excellent program, keeps me occupied for hours. I now can not find the sequence for hiding the track supports in the 3D view. Is there a help window you can type your request in “track supports – 3D view” & get the answer. I’m going through the Tips & tricks / advanced menu etc looking for the right area/subject.
    Rgds, alan

14. There is no dedicated build-in help search window in the program, but you can open the Help page (press F1 while in SCARM) in the browser and search there (using Ctrl+F). If you type “supports” and press Enter, that will highlight the Track Supports topic. In order to go there directly, just click here: http://www.scarm.info/index.php?page=help&topic=25

15. Thanks for the prompt reply, I’m now working my way through the help section as & when required. Is it possible to doublehead a large freight train & have this count as 1 of the 5 engines allowed in the simulator. This is only for appearance of the real train setup. I realise only 1 engine supplies the motive power in the simulator when doubleheading. Alternatively can you supply 2 engines setup as per, or increase the number from 5 to 10 engines. Rgds, alan

16. You can stack up to 5 engines in a single train in the simulator. And there is no need they to be one after another, i.e. two can be ahead, one in the middle and two at the end. No matter which engine is selected in the controller, all are controlled and moved together. An option for more than 5 engines is not available for now, but I will consider that for the future.

17. Thanks for your consideration re the number of engines. Re the track support changes. My mistake was not having the height selector on, with this on you can select the track then right click & a menu box comes up with the top entry to modify your support preferences. Hope this helps others who are still as I am on a very step learning curve.
    Rgds, alan

18. Michael
    Would be very helpful to be able to move a track (Or Block of tracks) limiting movement to the x or y axis.
    1. Same as rotate command select track then right click “Manual Move” track can now be moved with the arrow keys. Note being able to both rotate and position track with same tool Possible by use of Shift or Control would be past Great especially when using tracks like double slip or cross.
    2. Select as move command select track then right click
    “Move” Track is positioned same as now with mouse
    “Move X axis” Track is positioned same as now but only X axis movement possible
    “Move Y axis” Track is positioned same as now but only Y axis movement possible
    3. Same as standard move but use CTRL or Shift to toggle direction of movement.
    4. It could also be done using the Tool Box

    Also note when moving is limited to X or Y axis or with Arrow keys track should NOT auto connect.

    This feature would be very helpful with turnouts and way past very helpful with double slips.

    PS more than willing to Alpha/Beta test this for you.

19. Hello Jim,
    Please, take a look at “Translocation” function in the Toolbox – it does exactly what you want.

20. Hi Milen,
    Thanks for the continuing enhancements. A copy of new features would help with buildings and other structures we create:
    1) an option to rescale the size of a building built in a different scale, e.g., shrink a HO scale structure to N scale
    2) a feature to create walls as a 2D figure and rotate the figure around a selected bottom edge by 90 degrees to become a vertical wall (like tip-up wall building construction method). The height would be the wall thickness. Polygon figures with openings to create doors and windows could be used.
    Marty

21. Hello Marty,
    Requested feature 1) will probably come in the next major 2.0 version of SCARM, planned to be released next year.
    About feature 2) – that is not so easy. However, tilted items can be represented even now with the help of Ramp figure. See more details here: http://www.scarm.info/blog/advanced-techniques/using-ramp-figures-to-represent-tilted-details-in-scarm/

22. Milen
    Still love this the best after trying a few other layout packages it is by far the easiest and most flexible.
    Any chance you will be adding the rest of the FastTrack’s lib or at least Specifically the 3 way turnouts and a couple of the more common Curved Turnouts.
    And yes the Translocation allows moving limited to one axis I still believe it would be a great feature to be able to do this with the mouse instead of respective tinny steps.
    Just finished a large 24′x80′ HO sectional room layout came out great but I find myself still wishing for the Toolbox remembering last Starting point and being able to have a sequence of flex track more than just one straight section and one radius and auto Flex track selection And ability to define Custom Track/Section
    One new feature would be multiple base boards

23. Hello Jim,
    Thank you for your suggestions. I will consider them and some may appear in the next releases of SCARM.

24. I’m just learning SCARM and haven’t found this addressed anywhere (yet). Is there a way to increase the size of the track toolbar on the left in the program or is that strictly a function of my OS? I can’t read the labels of the track sections.

25. Hello Gerald,
    Yes, that is possible. See how here: QuickTip: Bigger Images in Selection Panel.

26. Hi Milen,

    thanks as always for the new release. The transparency options look great, I will likely put this to use.

    I have a pretty pressing question though. I am experiencing quite severe input lag with SCARM on my machine. The program takes almost half a second to react to *any* input in the editor pane, be that a click, a scroll, or typing. This is starting to become pretty frustrating, especially when trying to precisely position flex track. To try to give you a picture of what I am experiencing: I might scroll one step with the mouse wheel, and half a second later I see the scroll happening. If I scroll multiple steps, each step takes half a second, so I might have turned the mousewheel a bit more, and one or two seconds later the scrolling is still happening.

    It can’t be my machine or the size of my layout. I have an i7 2600k running at 4Ghz, and 16GM memory. SCARM uses barely any CPU, and only about 150MB of memory with my layout, which contains 14 layers and around 300 parts, plus a few objects. I am seeing the same input lag on empty files with just a handful of track objects.

    Is there anything that can be done to reduce this lag?

27. Hello Alex,
    You don’t say it, but I suspect that you are using Windows 10, right?
    The simple answer and explanation of these slow response times is just because Microsoft dropped the native hardware support for GDI from Windows 10 core with one of the updates back in 2018 or 2019. After that, all GDI primitives are rendered by the CPU (slower) instead of the GPU (as it was before and as it is still in all Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8 versions). I have done various tests ans such lag (half second) starts to appear on very complex layouts with 7-8 thousand parts in them on Windows 7.
    See more on this subject here: https://www.google.com/search?q=windows+10+slow+gdi
    The solution will come with the next major version of SCARM where I will use another sub-system for 2D drawing, which will be much faster, but not compatible with the older releases of Windows.
    However, if this lag appears on Windows 7, then that is not normal or expected and there may be some problem in the graphics drivers or video settings.

28. Hi Milen,

    thank you for your response, and yes, I should have mentioned it, I am using Windows 10.

    Your explanation makes sense, and I will eagerly await the next major version. If you need any beta testers, let me know

29. Again love the software.
    One other nice feature when moving a track section especially with Translocation would to be able to turn off the connection arrows so you could see rails to align sections.
    Ok second nice feature multiple flex track edit or ability to set flex track section length. Example trying to shape a 36″ radius 90 degree turn that actually needs to be 35″ radius. Using a 36″ and even 39.4″ flex track is just not long enough and Makes things time consuming

30. Hello Jim,
    For transparent connection arrows, just press “C” key.
    For infinite flex tracks, use the “Flex-tracks modelling” function in the Toolbox with “Add tracks automatically” option enabled.

31. Milen
    Thanks the C does the Trick. Don’t normally use the keyboard but it is a solution.
    “Add tracks automatically” does not help at all because it only “ADD’s” tracks you can only reshape the last track so if you add a 36″ radius 90 degree curve then need to change it to a 35″ radius you need to delete and start over. You also cant connect points that are over 36″ apart especially if there is a curve involved without a lot of trial and err.
    Jim

32. Milen
    Ability to snip off a turnout especially for yard ladder track layout I overlay the tracks but then the simulator doesn’t work.

33. Hello Jim,
    “Add tracks automatically” is feature of the Toolbox. It can make any radius and angle including 36″ at 90degrees and will use the required number of flexes automatically. Please, see how to use the Toolbox here: http://www.scarm.info/index.php?page=help&topic=32. If that does not satisfy your needs, see also this tutorial about creating very large radii with flexes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO5QxIyJvYI. If you are still not satisfied, write to and I will help you.
    The turnouts in general cannot be sniped as cutting of some real turnout pieces is just not possible and will make them unusable in the real life.

34. Hi Millen,

    I’ve recently started using SCARM, and like it quite a lot. I’ve been using it to model some ideas I have a for a new model railroad, and absolutely easy to use.
    I found a small issue, I now have a model (SCARM ver 1.9.0) that fails to render one particular 3d polygon every second time. In other words, go to 3D mode, it is there, press escape, go to 3D mode, it is gone, press escape, go to 3D mode, it is there, etc.
    Are you interested in the model file?

35. Hello Johan,
    Yes, I am aware of that bug – it is quite rare and depends on a specific configuration of the polygon sides.
    Please, send me the project file with it to .

36. Hi Milen,
    On my big layout, I lost the connection points on some parts. Any idea?
    Thanks, Hans

37. Hello Hans,
    Perhaps there are hidden tracks (in hidden/invisible layers). When a visible track is joined to a hidden track, it appears as not connected and with missing connection arrow.

38. I tried to find the answer to avoid your time but couldn’t find if a purchase is one time or annual? And once you buy do you get all upgrades included?
    Thanks so much.

39. Hello John,
    Yes, SCARM License Key is one time purchase and does not expire. All updates to the current 1.x.x versions are free of charge.
    However, when a new major version 2.0.0 gets released, you will have a choice to stay with the last 1.x.x version, or to upgrade to the 2.0.0 version at some reduced cost.

40. Is version 1.9… the latest I want the licensed version. Will it run on windows 11. Do I need to also purchase the simulator software. Does it merge with the scram layout software. Sorry to ask so many questions but getting exhausted following all the links

41. Hello David,
    The latest version is 1.9.2 – see more here: http://www.scarm.info/blog/general/scarm-v-1-9-2-released/
    Yes, it should run fine on Windows 11.
    You need to purchase the Model Trains Simulator, only if you need to perform complex simulations with 4-5 trains.

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