Frustrated

[madncan52]

Still a noob and just upgraded to 12. Locos that worked just fine in 10, refuse to exist in 12. Wont show in Railyard, won't show in Surveyor. I know, I know, for specific advice you need a specific instance. This is a general inquiry. Here is an example of what is so confusing to me. This is a NS SD by sureshot28. No poke at sureshot.... your content is incredible. Here's the menu of issues:
Warning: This asset uses an obsolete trainz-build number. Trainz-build numbers below 2.7 are no longer supported.
Warning: Aliased meshes cannot currently be verified by Trainz.
Warning: Progressive meshes are no longer supported by Trainz. Though these meshes may work in Trainz, it is recommended that you switch to a LOD mesh.
Warning: Progressive meshes are no longer supported by Trainz. Though these meshes may work in Trainz, it is recommended that you switch to a LOD mesh.
Warning: Required container 'thumbnails' is missing.
Error: Unable to load primary texture 'nssd40-2_art/csxmowsd40-2_art_512.tga' for texture file 'nssd40-2_art/nssd40-2_art_512.texture.txt'.
Error: Unable to load alpha texture 'nssd40-2_art/csxmowsd40-2_art_512.tga' for texture file 'nssd40-2_art/nssd40-2_art_512.texture.txt'.
Error: The primary and alpha texture are not the same size for 'nssd40-2_art/nssd40-2_art_512.texture.txt'
Error: Binary conversion failed for texture resource 'nssd40-2_art/nssd40-2_art_512.texture.txt'.
Error: Unable to load primary texture 'nssd40-2_art/csxmowsd40-2_art_icon.tga' for texture file 'nssd40-2_art/nssd40-2_art_icon.texture.txt'.
Error: Unable to load alpha texture 'nssd40-2_art/csxmowsd40-2_art_icon.tga' for texture file 'nssd40-2_art/nssd40-2_art_icon.texture.txt'.
Error: The primary and alpha texture are not the same size for 'nssd40-2_art/nssd40-2_art_icon.texture.txt'
Error: Binary conversion failed for texture resource 'nssd40-2_art/nssd40-2_art_icon.texture.txt'.
Warning: An asset must be specified for tag 'alias'.

I don't even know where to begin. I've seen threads that address some of these issues, but can't ever find them again. Can one of you experienced hostlers, push me in the right direction. I am trying to expand my NS inventory. In 10 I had 15-18 NS locos. In 12 I've got 3-4 and they are not as good as some of the others. Help
Mark

 

[JCitron]

Not so hard as it seems.

You need some tools to fix a couple of things here, which will take care of the asset.

First download Peter V's tools from here:

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

Programs such as the texture2tga, and PM2IM are really helpful in fixing these problems.

First open the asset for editing in Windows Explorer. Right-click on the asset in your list, and chose this from the menu.

See if the textures actually exist in their folders. If not, remove the texture.txt files. This usually fixes the problem Sometimes too the textures are in the wrong folder, and this can cause the same problem. Simply move the textures to the correct folder.

There are more details on fixing the assets in the TS12 folder. There is a sticky on this.

Now for the most part, warnings can be ignored for now anyway. They will, or should not, cause any problems for you with this asset.

Once you've fixed your errors, whick keep things from running, commit the asset (press Ctrol-E at the same time). This will put the asset back into trainz. If there are still errors, you need to open the asset again and repeat the same process.

After awhile, you'll become quite adept at this process, and you'll be confident in fixing most anything that comes your way.

By all means, post here if you need more help. I'm sure others will jump in and help.

John

 

[martinvk]

Still a noob ...
I don't even know where to begin. I've seen threads that address some of these issues, but can't ever find them again. Can one of you experienced hostlers, push me in the right direction. I am trying to expand my NS inventory. In 10 I had 15-18 NS locos. In 12 I've got 3-4 and they are not as good as some of the others. Help
Mark

Don't worry, we were all there at one time.

As JCitron said,

After awhile, you'll become quite adept at this process, and you'll be confident in fixing most anything that comes your way.

Trainz' warnings can be postponed for now and you're lucky that the errors are pretty self explanatory, once you learn to understand the messages.
Ex: texture files have length and width, often expressed in pixels. "Not the same size" means exactly that. In the past, some people were careless and didn't size them the same and Trainz would struggle to match them anyway. Now, to stop wasting time doing that, the files must be the same size.

The same thing about being unable to find or load a file. This is often caused by references to non-existing files that may have been used during development but were not needed in the final product. Trainz used to waste time time looking for something that wasn't there at runtime. Now to not impact performance, those issues must be removed.

Etc.

Martin

 

[madncan52]

Thank you. That's a good start. That LOD thing really confuses me, but i will try your suggestions. Baby steps Mark, babysteps! I find my Trainz experience to be analogous to the biker decision. I f you want a bike to ride, buy a Jap bike or a Wing. If you want a bike to work on buy a Harley. Trainz seem to be the Harley of the trainsim world.....lol

 

[JCitron]

Very good analogy, Mark.

I think more in keyboard instruments, being a keyboard player. You want something to play all the time, buy a modern piano or a digital piano. You want something to fiddle with to get working, buy a real harpsichord. Trainz is like the harpsichord, which needs constant maintenance including a tuning even before playing a note anytime you want to play!

John

 

[llebrez]

So here goes my situation: PEV software shows in 09 and when you open a faulty asset, you can "open with PEV software". This renders the asset useless in 09 (before latest pack). Now you export the asset to TS12 and still does not work. In TS12 you don't see the "open with", so there I am lost as to what to do. Errors are the same as described above.

 

[Gavan0c7]

How do us noobs know if the texture is missing or not required? I'm guessing if it was missing and required then the asset will display but parts of it will appear in some horrid block colour. If its not required then everything will look normal.

Am I on the right track?

regards
Gavan

 

[baz66]

I know how you feel. I used to be able to repair some things but now, since I put asset x on, I can't get any of pev's stuff to work. I know it's me but the the tutorial leaves me in a daze. I am most definately not computer literate. Well, I know what a file is.
baz

 

[Euphod]

How do us noobs know if the texture is missing or not required?

Whether you're a 'noob' or not, there's no clear way to tell. If you find the issue in several peices of one author's content, that may be a clue, but otherwise it's best to remove the file first, then visually inspect the object. A missing texture should appear white, not black, as far as I know, but if the texture is required by the mesh, it probably won't load anyway. In that case, replace the texture.txt file and make a texture file to match.

 

[ShadyCadence]

So here goes my situation: PEV software shows in 09 and when you open a faulty asset, you can "open with PEV software". This renders the asset useless in 09 (before latest pack). Now you export the asset to TS12 and still does not work. In TS12 you don't see the "open with", so there I am lost as to what to do. Errors are the same as described above.

Instead of using "open with...", try using "open for edit", then launch the PEV tool you want from the desktop icon, and seek the asset through it.

 

[shaneturner12]

Actually, there is a way of checking, but it requires Asset-X (the Diagnostics menu, I believe the required option is in).

Shane

 

[madncan52]

Hey Shane, I dl'd Asset X and it doesnt work. throws up an error dialog that won't go away. You have to enter task mgr and stop the process. Any ideas. Oh yeah while we're at it, I spent a lot of time time today editing that SD45 and just seemed to keep creating more problems, worked my way through them and then more new probs. Very frustrating. Also I did a modification to a New England Coastal session I have been developing, tried to save the session and got a message that the file was saved but could not be committed, do it in CM. CM tried to commit and returned "file access denied", I just cant win, any ideas there, gurus....
Mark

 

[martinvk]

Since Asset-X is a stand-alone program, that not working would appear to indicate that there are deeper problems with your system. Do any of PEV's utilities at least open? What are your system specs. Shane has a little program on his web site that can help get you that data.

 

[madncan52]

AMD II X2 260 3.2 Ghz,2G ram, NvidiaGEForce 9800 I gig. WIn 7, 64 bit. system is more than adequate and all other Pevsoft titles work. Curiouser and curiouser

 

[rweber95]

If you can't fix your SD40 try this. I downloaded NS SD40-2,<kuid2:113556:88810:1> from http://esporbust.com/trs-2006-locos.html, unzipped the file and imported into TS2012 using CM3.6. Missing the hornsound but it's available on the DLS for download. Missing a graycoat texture which you can easily make with your graphics program. Just a 16 x 16 pixel square colored gray. Save as graycoat.jpg and make a graycoat.texture.txt file with Notepad. Saved and commit w/o error. Testing with driver revealed low power and an older interior. Edited the locos config.txt file to replace the interior and enginespec kuids with Auran's SD40-2 assets. Works and looks good now.

Bob Weber

 

[baz66]

Oh bob. Do you want to come and live at my place?
baz
OOps. Just noticed the washington thing. That makes it hard.

 

[shaneturner12]

madncan,

You may need to reinstall your Asset-X, but to be honest I'm also having trouble opening it since yesterday.

It should open if you keep clicking OK.

Have a look and see if you can find the Asset-X FAQ thread.

Shane

 

[madncan52]

Thanks Bob, I'll give that a try. Some of this is starting to make sense. I also fixed my file access error. Was not in administrator mode. Logged into admin mode and surveyor took the change, no problem. So happy, I did not lose dozens of hours. How does one save or duplicate a session. You know, a copy u periodically update and stow away, just in case?
Mark