Modifying BDANEAL's Older Content

[Thad09]

Not sure if this is possible (excluding the copyright minefield that this thread could become), but is there a way to remove certain parts of a mesh/asset without having the original source file(s) or go about a way to "cover up/mask out" the parts I do not want?

I'm wanting to modify some of BDANEAL's older Generic series of SG locomotives by updating them to use the USRA Headlight/Whistle libraries, for now being the Baldwin Generic 2-6-0 (kuid:96914:4800,4801)

I've seen some folks modify similar models in the series by including new meshes for the whistles/animated bell/new headlight/new pilot and even swap out pistons to older style, but I am not sure how they went about doing it.

I can figure out the config file side of things along with attachment maker to add in the library assets onto the locomotive I want to modify, however, I want to remove or at least "cover up" the original headlight/pilot/bell/whistle that is built in on the asset.

Of course, this is all for private use and will not be redistributed. Just looking to try and improve my kitbashing skills some more and don't really have the gray-matter to handle Blender to make my own models.

Is this something I could do on my own, or am I better off asking Ben in private about it?

 

[wreeder]

As long as it is for your own use then there isn't a copyright issue that I can see. Take a shot at it and enjoy yourself.

 

[evilcrow]

You need IM Editor, the late Clam1952 placed it on his Google Drive https://forums.auran.com/threads/narrow-gauge-screenshots.1131/page-178
after it became unavailable from https://contentcreation.trainzsimulator.com/category/software/. Look for the entry by clam1952 dated 19 Oct 2022
The link that clam1952 provided still works at the moment albeit very slow. clam1952 died a few months after, so the link may not be available for much longer

You will also need all the tools from PEV Soft http://trainz.shaneturner.co.uk/tutorials/index.php/home/utilities/pevsoft-trainz-tools

Hope this helps.
Cheers, evilcrow

 

[JCitron]

You need IM Editor, the late Clam1952 placed it on his Google Drive https://forums.auran.com/threads/narrow-gauge-screenshots.1131/page-178
after it became unavailable from https://contentcreation.trainzsimulator.com/category/software/. Look for the entry by clam1952 dated 19 Oct 2022
The link that clam1952 provided still works at the moment albeit very slow. clam1952 died a few months after, so the link may not be available for much longer

You will also need all the tools from PEV Soft http://trainz.shaneturner.co.uk/tutorials/index.php/home/utilities/pevsoft-trainz-tools

Hope this helps.
Cheers, evilcrow

I have a local copy of the program in my downloads. Is it okay for me to share it? If so, I'll put it up on my One Drive.

 

[Thad09]

You need IM Editor, the late Clam1952 placed it on his Google Drive https://forums.auran.com/threads/narrow-gauge-screenshots.1131/page-178
after it became unavailable from https://contentcreation.trainzsimulator.com/category/software/. Look for the entry by clam1952 dated 19 Oct 2022
The link that clam1952 provided still works at the moment albeit very slow. clam1952 died a few months after, so the link may not be available for much longer

You will also need all the tools from PEV Soft http://trainz.shaneturner.co.uk/tutorials/index.php/home/utilities/pevsoft-trainz-tools

Hope this helps.
Cheers, evilcrow

Thank you for the lead. I was able to (eventually) download from the google doc link.

I'm poking around on the IM editor tool, and not sure how to go about actually viewing and editing things on it.

 

[evilcrow]

Hello JC and Thad09,
As for the download of IM Editor on Google, Clam1952 had no negative reports from anybody for putting it on his Google drive.
H e did it no doubt as a service to fellow N3V Trainzers.
It is after all a N3V item and one would hope that they would repair their link.
Hard to say on that one.

As to using the IM Editor, use professional mode.
For a learning tool, download from the DLS "Wood_Platform_5 BRD 3V7" <kuid:255503:103918> by evilcrow
and compare it with the original by bendorsey <kuid2:210518:11753:1> "Wood_Platform_4"
Have a look and study what I did.
p.s. don't for get the PEV tools.

Cheers, evilcrow

 

[JCitron]

Hello JC and Thad09,
As for the download of IM Editor on Google, Clam1952 had no negative reports from anybody for putting it on his Google drive.
H e did it no doubt as a service to fellow N3V Trainzers.
It is after all a N3V item and one would hope that they would repair their link.
Hard to say on that one.

As to using the IM Editor, use professional mode.
For a learning tool, download from the DLS "Wood_Platform_5 BRD 3V7" <kuid:255503:103918> by evilcrow
and compare it with the original by bendorsey <kuid2:210518:11753:1> "Wood_Platform_4"
Have a look and study what I did.
p.s. don't for get the PEV tools.

Cheers, evilcrow

I was offering the download in case his link was no longer working. I should've been clearer in my post. Given the circumstances, this can happen at any time.

 

[Thad09]

Hello JC and Thad09,
As for the download of IM Editor on Google, Clam1952 had no negative reports from anybody for putting it on his Google drive.
H e did it no doubt as a service to fellow N3V Trainzers.
It is after all a N3V item and one would hope that they would repair their link.
Hard to say on that one.

As to using the IM Editor, use professional mode.
For a learning tool, download from the DLS "Wood_Platform_5 BRD 3V7" <kuid:255503:103918> by evilcrow
and compare it with the original by bendorsey <kuid2:210518:11753:1> "Wood_Platform_4"
Have a look and study what I did.
p.s. don't for get the PEV tools.

Cheers, evilcrow

Thank you for the examples.

After digging around on the 2 models, they do not really help on what I am trying to do. I am already familiar with adding in additional attachment points and updating/tweaking textures. At least that's what those 2 examples were showing to me via config files and IMeditor.


For an example, lets say I want to try to remove the whistle portion of the main mesh off of a locomotive, so there is no physical whistle showing on the model. (The whistle is built into the main mesh of the model. The only whistle related attachment on the mesh is for the smoke container.)

There is no way to physically disable whistle via the config file (only thing I could do is remove the hornsound, but that is irrelevant). The whistle mesh is built into the main model and the main texture .tga file. If I were to go to the main texture .tga file and remove the portion that contains the brass texture for the whistle (so there is absolutely no texture to where it shows on the model), the model will only show the whistle as black (since there is no other actual texture assigned to its place on the main texture map).

The thought process is if there is no actual texture assigned to a portion of the mesh, then nothing should be showing making it "invisible". However, things default and show black where the "missing" texture is.


That is the crude way I could think of on going about removing certain portions off of a mesh, yet, this way does not work at all, at least by my attempts. The only other alternative I could think of is trying to obtain the original .obj files, modify them in a CAD program, and re-export back into Trainz and go on from there.

Is there anything on the IMeditor I should be checking/adjusting if my "delete texture" method is partly the right course of action? Is there anything else I should be adjusting on the main texture file or related to it to hide portions of the mesh I do not want to use?

 

[evilcrow]

Hello Thad09,
If the whistle is part of the body mesh than I'm afraid IMeditor will not help you.
Sorry about that.

Cheers, evilcrow

 

[JAGG]

Not sure if this is possible (excluding the copyright minefield that this thread could become), but is there a way to remove certain parts of a mesh/asset without having the original source file(s) or go about a way to "cover up/mask out" the parts I do not want?

I'm wanting to modify some of BDANEAL's older Generic series of SG locomotives by updating them to use the USRA Headlight/Whistle libraries, for now being the Baldwin Generic 2-6-0 (kuid:96914:4800,4801)

I've seen some folks modify similar models in the series by including new meshes for the whistles/animated bell/new headlight/new pilot and even swap out pistons to older style, but I am not sure how they went about doing it.

I can figure out the config file side of things along with attachment maker to add in the library assets onto the locomotive I want to modify, however, I want to remove or at least "cover up" the original headlight/pilot/bell/whistle that is built in on the asset.

Of course, this is all for private use and will not be redistributed. Just looking to try and improve my kitbashing skills some more and don't really have the gray-matter to handle Blender to make my own models.

Is this something I could do on my own, or am I better off asking Ben in private about it?

If mapping of the mesh is not using parts of the relevant texture more than once, it might be done by alphing it out, if the whistle is separate chunk of the mesh, it could be made invisible even easier....

 

[Thad09]

If mapping of the mesh is not using parts of the relevant texture more than once, it might be done by alphing it out, if the whistle is separate chunk of the mesh, it could be made invisible even easier....

Eureka!!!

All I had to do was add the alpha tag to the texture.txt file.

I both love and hate how simple that was. It did not occur to me to add that line.

Now, the fun begins

 

[rwk]

There are lots of modified Ben models on sites with headlight position changed, different smokestack, etc. Ben will probably give you permission to release modified models with your kuid.

 

[Thad09]

There are lots of modified Ben models on sites with headlight position changed, different smokestack, etc. Ben will probably give you permission to release modified models with your kuid.

For now, I will be keeping things private. I am using some 3rd party textures/meshes on my little kitbashes, so that is another extra thing I will have to account for on releasing things. (I am lazy and do not want to seek permission from multiple people or have to swap things out to comply with permissions)

 

[rwk]

I just got a model of a Chinese SY and I was wondering how to add a bell mesh to the front of the smokebox to Americanize it for a US tourist railroad. How do people modify Ben Neal locomotives? I have some from external sites with headlights swapped, headlights and bells moved to different positions, etc. How is that done? And, I want to remove the horns from the cab roof, the Chinese SY's on US tourist railroads do not have horns. Apparently the ones in China had airhorns and steam whistles.

 

[fourteen]

using a alpha channel to make it disspaer , and ading a new horn etc using attachment maker program to put new one where you want, both can take a lot of work to get right

 

[rwk]

I tried asking for somebody's modified Chinese SY on deviant art and he said no, he won't send it out, and today I asked him in the comment section on the locomotive picture how he deleted parts and added new parts and he blocked me. I can't send him any more comments either private or on his comment section and his pictures are blocked unless I log out. And Deviant Art takes block evasion very seriously and will ban you from the service if they catch you trying to contact someone through another account. At least I can view his reskins/mods when logged out. I have the original Chinese SY though by someone helping me out by posting a working link because he has a baidu account. How do you alpha out something? I read that you can do it on the tga file and paint.net can alpha out. I'm a dummy with mesh modification.

 

[Fierogt87]

I just got a model of a Chinese SY and I was wondering how to add a bell mesh to the front of the smokebox to Americanize it for a US tourist railroad. How do people modify Ben Neal locomotives? I have some from external sites with headlights swapped, headlights and bells moved to different positions, etc. How is that done? And, I want to remove the horns from the cab roof, the Chinese SY's on US tourist railroads do not have horns. Apparently the ones in China had airhorns and steam whistles.

Is that Valley RR 3025 you're working on? Ex-K&K 58...

 

[rwk]

Susquehanna 142. I think I'm fine the way it is but on the tender you can't stretch the railroad name all the way across or else the letters appear on other parts of the tender. I did the K&K 58 already, the way it looked on the K&K in it's final paint scheme. The lettering on the tender changed from 1987 to 2000.