New BR Mk1 coaches - thanks N3V!

[robd]

Thanks Paul,(?) good to know.

Still some errors I can see from your photos - numbers in the wrong place, missing text, and a massive piece of angle iron for the rain strips. They could be better.

Once I get all the clones error free I will look at tidying them up. I don't think I can do anything about the rainstrips, that's a mesh issue for the original creator!

I've come by these assets by way of a free trial of TRS22 Standard Plus until March 19th 2024 - a very kind gesture by N3V in this season of goodwill. If I don't subscribe to TRS22 Plus from 19th March '24 I will lose the originals as they'll be deactivated, I'm not sure if my clones will survive after the trial expires though, just have to wait and see!

Rob.

 

[Paulsw2]

Some interesting work you've done there Rob. Did you manage to rectify the wheel rotation issue on the B4 bogie? If so, I'd be interested to know how you did it!

(Just goes to show that, if N3V trusted the community, we could fix this stuff for them and it wouldn't cost them anything.)

Paul

 

[robd]

Thanks Paul. Yes, it's been interesting and as I work my way through all the assets I'm becoming more convinced that these models are a port from some other train sim e.g. found some folders with *.dds texture files in some assets, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Trainz uses *.dds files. I deleted them with no apparent detrimental effects!

I can't correct the B4 bogie static wheels, it needs the original creators attention. In the meantime I've substituted another B4 bogie asset, namely peterdhicks <kuid2:116035:2050:2> thus:

Not as graphically good as the original for this model but at least the wheels go round! There's about another dozen B4 bogie models available, pick your own!

Rob.

 

[JCitron]

Here's something on those .dds files.

A DDS file is a raster image that’s saved in the DirectDraw Surface (DDS) container format. A raster (or bitmap) image is the typical graphics viewable on a computer display. DDS files are used for storing digital images, most often models for 3D video games.

My gut tells me they came from Rail Works or whatever they're called today. Since I don't have that sim, I can't tell for sure.

I agree, at least the wheels spin unlike the pretty ones.

 

[frogpipe]

Hmm. Well, TS does not use dds, but assets exported DO make dds files of the textures.

Wheels that don't turn are also a possible sign of a ported asset. Where the "author" didn't have the source files to redo the animations.

Circumstantial at best. Make of that what you will.

 

[robd]

Hmm. Well, TS does not use dds, but assets exported DO make dds files of the textures.

Wheels that don't turn are also a possible sign of a ported asset. Where the "author" didn't have the source files to redo the animations.

Circumstantial at best. Make of that what you will.

That's certainly true in this case. If you open for editing and read all three bogie assets *.kin files it soon becomes apparent that *.kin files for the BR B4 bogie are in a different format to the *.kin files in the BR B1 and the BR Commonwealth bogies. I think therein lies the problem with the B4 bogie, the animation *.kin files weren't ported correctly or just simply overlooked!

Make of that what you will!

Rob.

 

[Paulsw2]

The mystery deepens! Rob, I'd suggest swapping the (non-functioning) B4 bogie with the (functioning) B1 as it's what the SK and FK were originally mounted on in any case.

I wonder how N3V view people making revisions to these models? (obviously for personal use only and not for redistribution.)

Paul

 

[robd]

Yes, I will probably do that, although, as I've said previously, there are plenty of BR B4 bogies to substitute if I need or want to.

I'm not really sure what N3V people think, I'm not really bothered either!

I aquired these BR Mk1 coaches via the Tornado DLC pack which I gained access to by being treated to a free trial of Trainz Plus standard that is due to expire on March 19th '24. Installing the trial promoted my TRS22 standard install to TRS22 PE thus giving me access to the Tornado pack. I think it was very generous of N3V to sign me up for the TRS22 Plus trial especially considering I didn't actually have TRS22 PE initially! I discovered that the coaches were clonable and could be recommitted after some lengthy texture tweaks involving PEVsoft Images2Tga v. 1.34. If they're not DRM protected that's hardly my fault!

As you say, all my tweaks are strictly for my own use only and definitely not for public distribution but I hope it illustrates to others who may be interested that it is possible with these assets! I have absolutely no interest in the N3V Tornado A1 locomotive itself.

It will be interesting to see if my clones survive beyond the expiry date of the free trial, if I don't continue with paid subscriptions then all that free DLC will be disabled perhaps along with my clones - we shall see then!

As to the ethicality of what I'm doing, I console myself with the thought "Is it ethical of N3V to sell half baked unfinished content?" my answer to that is - NO!

Rob.

 

[JCitron]

It will be interesting to see if my clones survive beyond the expiry date of the free trial, if I don't continue with paid subscriptions then all that free DLC will be disabled perhaps along with my clones - we shall see then!

I was thinking about this. There's a possibility that these are aliased off of the original. If this is the case, then they will become inactive along with the other DLC.

 

[robd]

I was thinking about this. There's a possibility that these are aliased off of the original. If this is the case, then they will become inactive along with the other DLC.

Not too sure what you mean by 'aliased off of' ('aliased on' in UK terminology) but you may be correct - time will tell!

Rob.

 

[JCitron]

Not too sure what you mean by 'aliased off of' ('aliased on' in UK terminology) but you may be correct - time will tell!

Rob.

In Trainz terms. The physical model is the DLC with your copy being a reference to the original physical copy. The reference is the alias of the original. In the config.txt file, there's a tag that will point to the original, or the kuid in the kuid-table will reference the DLC model and not your own creation. This is how cloned DLC routes work, so I'm going on the assumption that this is how these assets will as well.

Once the DLC expires, so will your assets, because there will no longer be any meshes to back it up. That is, if this theory holds true - as you say, only time will tell.

 

[robd]

Thanks JCitron. I understand what you mean now, it will be interesting to see if your theory does hold true.

Rob.

 

[robd]

Not easy to reskin, needs more work but getting there! The Mk1 CK has substitute BR4 bogies.

Rob.

 

[Paulsw2]

Interesting work Rob! There's no evidence of aliasing anywhere in the configs for these assets as far as I can see. I'd assumed the textures might be encrypted, but obviously not. The only other issue is whether the textures are licensed by N3V/iliosin from a third party. If so, that would be tricky for reskins. Otherwise, let a thousand flowers bloom!

Paul

 

[Paulsw2]

Like this!

 

[robd]

@ Paulsw2: The blue/grey livery you're showing in post #55 is far more realistic than the blue/grey livery of the original models! Nice reskins! I presume they're clones and and the *.albd texture.txt files have been tweaked through PEVsoft Images2Tga?
PEVsoft Images2Tga v1.34 has a handy 'normal' map generator also in the File menu, some of the normal texture.txt files won't open in ImagestoTga. Hint: to make a mirror normal map then generate from a negative image (not sure if normal mirror maps are needed in these assets - I accidently deleted some mirror normals and recommited with no apparent detrimental affect on the asset)
Tgatool3 is another handy tool as it facilitates splitting the main and alpha channels for separate editing in a graphics prog., can also generate new alpha channel maps.

Not sure about the aliasing thing, as you say, no evidence of such or licensing and permissions etc. in the configs but there could be something in the trainsmesh files - don't know, beyond my scope, I'll find out on March 19th!

Good luck with your reskinning!

Rob.

 

[Paulsw2]

@ Paulsw2: The blue/grey livery you're showing in post #55 is far more realistic than the blue/grey livery of the original models! Nice reskins! I presume they're clones and and the *.albd texture.txt files have been tweaked through PEVsoft Images2Tga?

Yes, that's right. I was quite surprised they took. It's been fun working on these over the last few weeks. I've always dreamed of having Mk1 like this since I started with Trainz in 2005, so it's like a very nice Christmas present. I do hope they don't have some kind of 'internal detonator' in the mesh that will stop them working as some date in the future!

Paul

 

[robd]

I'm slowly getting through them all in making BR Maroon versions.

I must say, that as I work through them, I'm utterly astonished by the amount of 'stray' files contained in these assets, in 'View errors and Warnings' lots of unused meshes are reported, there's even some that report meshes for loco snowplows! Much can be deleted!

N3V quality control must have been on the razzle when they passed these as fit for sale! They're a real Hotch Potch!

Rob.

 

[Paulsw2]

I'm slowly getting through them all in making BR Maroon versions.

I must say, that as I work through them, I'm utterly astonished by the amount of 'stray' files contained in these assets, in 'View errors and Warnings' lots of unused meshes are reported, there's even some that report meshes for loco snowplows! Much can be deleted!

N3V quality control must have been on the razzle when they passed these as fit for sale! They're a real Hotch Potch!

Rob.

These are looking good Rob. Are they reskinned from the blue and grey?

Paul

 

[robd]

These are looking good Rob. Are they reskinned from the blue and grey?

Paul

Thanks for your comment... and encouragement! They've been reskinned from the crimson lake and cream (CLC) models.

The CLC models have the cantrail and waist lines in place which facilitates easier reskinning. I tried reskinning from the blue and grey models but I wasn't happy with the marroon shade I got from them. I don't 'fill' with colour, I use the Hue and Saturation tool in PSP2019 to change the original colour to the desired colour, far easier if the original colours are nearer to the desired colour hence the use of CLC livery models! I've also made the ends black to give them the pre 1964 maroon livery.

They're not perfect so far by any means and they will require a bit more detailed work to finish them off.

Rob.