Fixing faulty assets

[tangofoxtrot]

I have a number of kuids that I have either downloaded or imported as CDPs that show up as faulty in CM. When I check the warnings&errors, all show up as missing mesh files. All the missing files (.pm) have names fitting the same pattern: Asset_name_shadow/Asset_name_shadow.pm

For example: Error: Unable to load mesh file: '37-2 Shay_bogey_shadow\37-2 Shay_bogey_shadow.pm'

What do I need to do to fix these faulty assets?

 

[Dreadnought1]

I've had similar problems occasionally with some CDPs.

Sometimes it's possible that there's another similar asset by the same creator which is not faulty. Check it out to see if there is the same mesh/animation exists in the other asset and if it does, copy the missing item over to the "faulty" asset. Commit the fixed asset and see if it runs OK. This has worked for me on many occasions.

Cheers,
Dreadnought1

 

[JCitron]

I've had similar problems occasionally with some CDPs.

Sometimes it's possible that there's another similar asset by the same creator which is not faulty. Check it out to see if there is the same mesh/animation exists in the other asset and if it does, copy the missing item over to the "faulty" asset. Commit the fixed asset and see if it runs OK. This has worked for me on many occasions.

Cheers,
Dreadnought1

That's one way to do it, and I've had good luck with this, but there's an easier, but not as kosher way, I suppose.

I simply copy the object mesh file, the *.pm file to a directory required for the shadow. I then rename the copied mesh file to the shadow, and the asset loads fine. It's a matter of following the naming convention required for the asset.

I don't bother loading in any texture for the shadow because I don't care if there's one or not. Now PEV (Peter Vincent) has made a shadow creator utility, but I've never used it.

If anyone can think of an easy fix for creating the missing shadows, I'd appreciate it, but it's not a big deal if you don't care whether you see the shadows or not, and it solves the missing shadow mesh problem.

John

 

[Scitimar]

...

but not as kosher way, I suppose.

...

That's one way of looking at it .... I've an alternative description for that piece of advice that I can't post here .

Might be best if the OP ignored it entirely and contacted whoever made that asset for a possible usefull fix . Failing that , deletion or build from scratch is the best option.

Sci

 

[p-dehnert]

This usually happens when the asset has no mesh-table. Add the following lines to the file config.txt:

mesh-table {
  default {
    mesh  "name of the mesh"
    auto-create  1
  }
}

'name of the mesh' is the name of the meshfile including fileextension and path relativ to the file config.txt (example: asset_name_body/asset_name_body.im).

Peter

 

[EdrickV]

Another way to fix this (which might be easier for some people) would be to open the asset for edit in CCP. It'll create the mesh table for you. Find and right click the shadow mesh entry on the left and choose remove. Save the config file and commit the asset.

 

[itareus]

Useful tools for fixing Trainz content may be found here:

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~villaump/pevsoft.htm

They are made by Peter Villaum and are all freeware.

For the shadows problem you can use PM2IM and QuickShadows.

There are various ways of overcoming the 2010 shadows problem which have been posted on these forums, you will generally need to edit the config file as described by peter D in post No 5 of this thread.

Cheers

 

[AussieNightcrawler]

I have a number of kuids that I have either downloaded or imported as CDPs that show up as faulty in CM. When I check the warnings&errors, all show up as missing mesh files. All the missing files (.pm) have names fitting the same pattern: Asset_name_shadow/Asset_name_shadow.pm

For example: Error: Unable to load mesh file: '37-2 Shay_bogey_shadow\37-2 Shay_bogey_shadow.pm'

What do I need to do to fix these faulty assets?

If the error is like what your saying, more then likely it is because Trainz cannot load the .pm file as it is not there or it may have a spelling error in the filename.

Open the asset for edit in explorer and go into the asset_name_shadow folder, then make sure the asset_name_shadow.pm file is actually there.

That is a good start, if Trainz is still having problems, maybe the file asset_name_shadow.pm file is in another folder, maybe it is corrupted, there are other reasons why you could get this error.

 

[whitepass]

Most of the missing "shadows" are old content that the maker did not make a shadow for as few ran with shadows on. I know I did that on some old content and the old Paintshop models never had shadow ether.

 

[tangofoxtrot]

Thanks guys

Thanks guys for all the inputs. Yes, the shadow files were missing. I downloaded the tools and generated shadow files and converted .pm to .im files. That seemed to work for all the narrowgauge vehicles that were complaining in CM.

Two more questions: 1) with the PEVSoft tools, is there a way to have them start the files dialog in the Trainz edit directory. The shortcuts are on my desktop and the file dialog starts in the "My Documents" folder - many clicks away from where I want to start. 2) What does one do about illegal tag in container errors?

 

[itareus]

1) with the PEVSoft tools, is there a way to have them start the files dialog in the Trainz edit directory.

Most of the PEV tools can be started from within Content Manager. See the readme.txt files that are in the PEVSoft directories (under Program Files) where the apps are installed.

2) What does one do about illegal tag in container errors?

Depend on the tag - but generally these can be deleted. Make a backup copy of the config.txt first, just in case.

 

[waylo51]

Missing shadow mesh

I have followed the thread above, and attempted to create the missing shadow mesh files for 2010, but it doesn't seem to work for me. Do I need to rename the shadow mesh or do some other operation to get Content Manager to accept these assets?

 

[Paul_Bert]

I have followed the thread above, and attempted to create the missing shadow mesh files for 2010, but it doesn't seem to work for me. Do I need to rename the shadow mesh or do some other operation to get Content Manager to accept these assets?

I had problems also getting QuickShadows to work for me until I realized you had to have the file 'TrainzMeshImporter.exe' in the same folder from which you are running QuickShadows. The 'exe' file is part of the download package.

This may solve your problem also.

 

[waylo51]

RE: Missing Mesh Shadow

No, the TrainzMeshImporter.exe is in the same folder. When completed, I find a new file titled "Shadow.im" in the correct asset directory along with the original <assetname>.im file. However, I find no change in the Config.txt file, so it appears that I have either missed a step or this process isn't working for 2010.

 

[narrowgauge]

CM only moans about shadows if you have a .pm file in an asset name. Set it up as

mesh-table {
default {
mesh "name of the mesh"
auto-create 1
}
}​

and the error goes away. No need to change from .pm to .im although it would be preferable.

Peter

 

[Paul_Bert]

No, the TrainzMeshImporter.exe is in the same folder. When completed, I find a new file titled "Shadow.im" in the correct asset directory along with the original <assetname>.im file. However, I find no change in the Config.txt file, so it appears that I have either missed a step or this process isn't working for 2010.

I have found you need to add manually to the config.txt file the following lines in bold below.

mesh-table
{
shadow
{
mesh "shadow.im"
}
default
{
mesh xxxxxxx,im
}
}

Several points. I move shadow.im to the root directory so that I do not have to reference a subdirectory in config.txt. Also the added lines must be directly under the mesh-table reference and not under any 'default' lines.

It took me a bit of tinkering around with this but I finally have it working.

 

[waylo51]

Missing shadow mesh

CM only moans about shadows if you have a .pm file in an asset name. Set it up as

and the error goes away. No need to change from .pm to .im although it would be preferable.

Peter

There are no .pm items in these assets. There does seem to ba a common theme in the ones that have problems, though. The ones without problems have a simple mesh table, such as you indicated. The ones with problems have extra items, such as attachment points and labeling. FYI, look on the Download Station for YVRR assets by bendorsey for what I am working with. The "YVRR_Log_Car-12" is one example. Also, for reference, I am using the 2010:EE if that makes any difference.

 

[waylo51]

That looks like what I needed. Thanks, Paul

 

[EdrickV]

CM only moans about shadows if you have a .pm file in an asset name. Set it up as

and the error goes away. No need to change from .pm to .im although it would be preferable.

Peter

In some cases TS2010 will throw up an error message (rather then a warning) if you add a mesh table to an asset that uses a .pm file. I haven't tried that with QuickShadows though, just using CCP to automatically create a mesh table for me and then deleting the reference to a shadow mesh. I think this mostly happens when the item is a train car (or component of one) and the main mesh is in progressive format.

Edit: Figured out why it complains, CCP changes the build number to 2.9 which causes the progressive mesh warning to become an error message instead so obviously CMP has different standards for different versions.

 

[eld78]

It happened on my NYC Mohawk #3124 LOD... I need to fix it.