DLS Screenies how about better images?

[falcon500]

This is an DLS screenshot for a VR tank wagon for TRS2009, bit hard to tell exactly what it is from this.

Similarly this is for TRS2004, both these item are by Vic Trainz members. one screenshot is just blank grey. Came across this a few years back while looking for a locos for an African route. Come on blokes most content creators manage to provide a reasonable screenie even in the small format.
Would be good to have some idea what your getting before downloading?

 

[S301]

Hi Falcom500
Both of those are mine

To me, the thumbnails are just that. A thumbnail to give a basic demo of the item. They are meant to supplement the description that is provided in the config file (this can be viewed either on the 'details' window on the website, or in the asset details panel in CM), rather than give a 'pretty picture'.

I also try to advertise VicTrainz, the track gauge (since a lot of my rolling stock comes in standard gauge and broad gauge versions) and where applicable my own site, ZecRail (the bottom left logo in both pics).

I am always happy to hear feedback. However, the thumbnails do tend to get less time spent on them. That said, these do have individual thumbnails, rather than the same image for every item

If you do have some specific suggestions on them, I would be very happy to hear about them. I don't have the time to sit and fiddle till I get it perfect these days (I don't even work on my models much at the moment ), which is what I had been doing, with each one improving a bit over the last


Thank you for bringing this up. It is a topic that I find useful
Zec

 

[hert]

I wish all the Items had images like what Zec does. You know exactly what you get. Most of the images show more then one rolling stock item, or just one long consist. Which doesnt tell what exactly your downloading.

hert:wave:

 

[SuperFudd]

It does not need to be perfect but visable would be nice.

 

[Dinorius_Redundicus]

There's not much excuse for unclear or non-existent thumbnails these days.

If you don't have time to create a nice thumbnail showing an in-game scene, just use PEV's Graphical Mesh Viewer to make an instant clear picture of the object against a background colour of your choosing. No need to even open Trainz.

It's sized at 240x180 by default, created in the same folder as the object's .im file and called $screenshot$.jpg, all ready to go.

 

[Smileyman]

I agree.

I've always tried to use the thumbnail image to give people a good idea of what they're downloading, with individual pics for each item, but it does take time to do.

Here's a few of mine:

.....

.....

.....

.....

Some people release a lot of content, and it would take a lot of time to do individual pics for each one, but some effort should be make some specific thumbnails, rather than generic ones that mean nothing.

Smiley.

 

[angelah]

Something else

Here is something else that is a little bit of a niggle. When I go to install a cdp (in 2004) I get the message "unable to find username tag in the package". Continue and there are no details at all about the object in the next menu. This might be fine if downloading from the DS because you have seen the title, but after my PC had to be replaced and I was reinstalling from backup files I had no idea what they were.

It may just be my PC of course, but the new machine does the same thing. The older assets and those from certain creators still have these details and it helps enormously, but new ones don't seem to.

And of course no thumbnail either....

Angela

 

[falcon500]

Smileyman, very clear thumbnails show your creations well.
Angelah, I think that started happening when the DLS was updated around the same time as the release of TRS2009.
Zec, I imagine that when Auran made the inclusion of thumbnails mandatory a few years back, the idea was to have clear pictures? Not that hard or time consuming to plonk a loco or wagon on a route, take screenie and resize. From these thumbnails you can't tell if the tanker is a 4 or 8 wheeler or the loco's wheel arrangement. Much of the available space is taken up with logos. I don't think promoting whatever group or website is the prime purpose of thumbnails.

 

[Dinorius_Redundicus]

Angela

You're not alone, the misleading 'username tag not found' and associated problems began when the system was 'upgraded' to be compatible with TC and TS2009. A part of Auran's highly successful campaign to ensure backwards incompatibility every time a new Trainz version is released.

I refuse to buckle. I use Trainzobjectz to extract thumbnail images from the CDP's, use Windows search function to find all .jpg files with dimensions 240x180. If some are not already called $screenshot$.jpg, I use an editor called ReNamer to run through them and change the names to $screenshot$.jpg so that TO can display them. TO can also rename all CDP files so you see both the kuid and username together. It helps to know both things when you're hunting stuff down or about to install it.

I know this doesn't address what you see in the CDP installer window - that seems to be permanently ruined. But we are getting a little off-topic now...

 

[StorkNest]

Zec, I can see what the item is but I can also understand why it might confuse someone.
Mainly that mirror effect under the items shown. The reflecting image may get confused as part of the actual item.
I always wondered if you did that in Trainz and if so how.

 

[JCitron]

Zec's icons are not as bad as using the same icon for various items. I know I shouldn't complain, but as a route builder this becomes confusing if all the items have the same icon.

To make matters worse, the item names are weird and the names are difficult to fathom out especially if the images don't have anything to do with what the object is.

John