cant make screenshots anymore

L

laika

Train Driver
Hi,

Afther a HD crash i had to install all again(because of new HD) Now i reinstalled TRS2006 but making screenshots isn,t work anymore. I know i need to press printscreen and afther that i can open these TGA files with irfan. But all i get then is a black screen in the irfan program. Irfan dont tells me something is wrong but it looks like i snapped a black picture in Trainz. never had this before. I have windows XP SP3 running. Some1 that can help me out?

Greetz:wave:
 
im running sp3 too
i guess u need to check the files to make sure certain files for Screenshots are available

until that i dont know what are the folders names,



p.s : do you have trainz 2006 service pack 1?



james
 
Hi,

James
Yes i have SP1 installed for TRS2006. Well i can see the files in irfan but when i open these i get a black screen with no shot. But irfan show,s the file and dont comes up with a error.

Greetz
 
Hi Greetz, Rather than use Irfan why dont you use Paint which comes installed with windows in 'All Programs - Accessories'? When you have Trainz running press the 'Print Screen' button and then press the 'windows' key on your keyboard (bottom left hand corner between Ctrl and Alt) to take you back to the desktop. Open 'Paint' then go to the menu at the top of the screen and click edit and then paste. I have XP SP3 but have no problems taking screen shots by this method

Andy
 
adadadl said:
Hi Greetz, Rather than use Irfan why dont you use Paint which comes installed with windows in 'All Programs - Accessories'? When you have Trainz running press the 'Print Screen' button and then press the 'windows' key on your keyboard (bottom left hand corner between Ctrl and Alt) to take you back to the desktop. Open 'Paint' then go to the menu at the top of the screen and click edit and then paste. I have XP SP3 but have no problems taking screen shots by this method

Andy
Click to expand...

One big tip, DON'T use any sort of file compression and this is from past experience. Try paint.net (http://www.paint.net/), its lightweight and more advanced. It requires the .Net distribute, hence why its called "Paint.NET" (and no, its not a Microsoft product, I'd be surprised if Microsoft don't include it into their next operating system!)
I could suggest "The GIMP" (http://www.gimp.org/), but with me being a Photoshop junkie, I hate the interface. Although it does feel like Photoshop!
 
Greetz Ron,

A lot of Trainzers also use FRAPS to take their screenshots and videos and you don't need to bother with Irfanview - http://www.fraps.com/
You would need to purchase the full version though, but, you have it FOREVER and you can take as many screenshots as you want......Just another idea.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman. :wave:
 
I've a similar problem with IrfanView. New screenshots are possible and can be watched with IrfanView but some older ones are only black pictures. This pictures can be opend with picasa-photo-viewer for instance, I've just noticed.

That's why I think the problem is with IrfanView.

Ron, try to open the files with an other picture-viewer.

Regards

Swordfish
 
Hi,

Thx alot all. Iwill try another viewer. The reson i made this post is before my HD crash i never had any problems with irfan for opening TGA files. But now i have. But i will try out all the other suggestions as given in this Thread. Thx again for help.

greetz Ron(Laika):wave:
 
LView is a graphics utility very similar to IrfanView. LView can also open TGA Trainz screenshot files and it has a free 21-day trial. That may help to indicate whether the problem lies in Trainz or IrfanView.

HTH, John
 
Crikey, what a can of worms we have here. Firstly, PrintScreen is a crazy way to take ScreenShots. You can only do one at a time, then you have to paste it somewhere.

Fraps is for motion screenshots or videos. Quite a waste for one-off's

I won't even comment on the others.

IrfanView is by far the best way to take screenshots and here's why:

1. The program is only a megabyte large. It uses virtually no memory, thus the screenshots are instant and accurate.

2. Irfanview allows you to take multiple screenshots almost as fast as you can press the hot key.

3. With IrfanView you can save the screenshot(s) directly to file as JPG's where they can be modified later to your heart's content.

Finally, IrfanView can be set to save screenshots at any compression. Why Wessex_Electric_Nutter says "don't compress" has me beaten. Every JPG used on the Internet should be compressed to at least 70% IrfanView won't introduce artifacts at that compression.

Okay, for those of you who don't want to read, to use IrfanView as a screenshot saver:
  • Go to Options Capture/Screenshot or Ctrl C
  • Choose the Saving options - Save in main window or save to file. Nominate a folder for the latter which allows you to take multiple screenshops also.
  • Click Stat - IrfanView will minimize.
  • Play Trainz and click CTRL-F11 to take your shot. If you nominated to save to file, it will be saved and you can take another shot immediately. IrfanView creates files using a time stamp.
For those of you who would like to become really proficient, go to my old PC Tutorials site and learn all about it:

Single screenshots: http://pctutorials.at3host.com/screenshots1_tut.php
Multiple screeshots: http://pctutorials.at3host.com/screenshots2_tut.php

Being able to take simple multiple screenshots without hastle is one of the reasons 15 or million or more use irfanView as their image editor.
 
Last edited:
PrintScreen is a crazy way to take ScreenShots. You can only do one at a time, then you have to paste it somewhere.
Click to expand...
With Trainz, that statement is incorrect.

When the PrintScreen key is pressed in most other programs, a copy of the screen image gets put into the clipboard (cut and paste buffer), then it can be pasted it into whichever program you wish. Each time the PrintScreen key is pressed, the previous screenshot image in the clipboard is overwritten.

Trainz is very different to most other programs in this respect. Whenever the PrintScreen key is pressed in Trainz, Trainz creates an additional TGA file in C:\Program Files\Auran\TRSxxxx\Screenshots. These files are given sequential numbers, so you can press the PrintScreen key numerous times to create numerous different screenshot images. Then after exiting from Trainz you can, if you wish (and there's no need to unless you wish), use a graphics utility program of your choice such as IrfanView to crop each of the screenshots, adjust the brightness, contrast, colour balance, etc, and/or convert to a compressed image file format. In most cases there will also be wish to delete redundant screenshot files.

John
 
Last edited:
Johnk said:
Crikey, what a can of worms we have here. Firstly, PrintScreen is a crazy way to take ScreenShots. You can only do one at a time, then you have to paste it somewhere.
Click to expand...

Johnk, it would be true for most programs, but for Trainz, that statement is:
WRONG!

If you pressed print screen, check your Drive:\path\to\trainz\screenshots folder. Your answers are there and it has been there since atleast Trainz CE 1.3, if not from Trainz 1.0! And you can certaintly take more than 1 at a time. Just mash the "Print Screen" button repeatly.

TC3 and before use *.tga images, which means they have to be converted before being published, TRS2009 ONLY goes one better, they are *.jpg files that are already ready for publishing, if your screen-res isn't too large for the forum rules.

I know its long winded, but check here for the relevant path. http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=2417
 
laika said:
Hi,

Thx alot all. Iwill try another viewer. The reson i made this post is before my HD crash i never had any problems with irfan for opening TGA files. But now i have. But i will try out all the other suggestions as given in this Thread. Thx again for help.

greetz Ron(Laika):wave:
Click to expand...

I have had the same problem. When I changed from Direct-x to openGL or vice versa, irfanview worked correctly again.
 
I had the same problem. Go to the trainz start up menu(before the game starts), then go to options. Change your graphics settings to the opposite of what it is now, Open GL to DirectX or vice versa. This should fix it.
 
Before you throw out IrfanView, just check Options, Properties.Settings. Look at the Extensions Tab to make sure TGA is ticked. Also there is a new version of IrfanView. It's now 4.23. To find out what version you're running, click Help/About IrfanView.

Of course if you followed the steps I outlined in my post above you wouldn't be having any of these problems.

To those who corrected me. I do apologise. I use IrfanView a hundred times a day to make screenshots. As such I just used it as a matter of course to take Trainz screenshots. I didn't even know there was a screenshot facility in Trainz (silly me!). Why they ever chose TGA as an image file has got me stumped.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
TAD monitor, TC3 and Windows7 problem.
Replies
2
Views
2K
brook
B
P
  • Locked
  • Sticky
Fwd: Making, Using and Posting Trainz Screenshots to the forums.
Replies
2
Views
66K
PerRock
P
Back
Top