Train Drivers

[rhban]

I noticed the other day that, for the first time, all my drivers had their own names in Map View. This is definitely a step forward, but I still wonder why they messed with the drivers in the first place when they were working on so many other complicated things. The animated portraits are utterly creepy, and most of us don't use them, but we still have duplicate driver portraits.
On the route I am currently working on, I have four pairs - 8 names, 4 pictures. I note these are all female drivers, so this looks like a sexist issue (that was a joke!).

 

[JCitron]

The 3d animated drivers sure are creepy! You can change them to 2d still images by clicking on the gear icon in the lower left corner and then unchecking the box called "Animated Portraits which is found under Driver Portraits.

You can change your drivers out to any one you want from the massive list of drivers we have in Trainz.

 

[pware]

I have gone one step further and have created my own driver icons.

Instead of a graphic image of a person, I use a simple (non-animated) graphic showing just the number of the loco being driven (e.g. 201) and I set the driver name to the same as the loco number (e.g. Driver T 201). This makes it very easy to identify a particular loco from the driver list and a lot easier than trying to remember names.

 

[JackDownUnder]

I like this idea and will have a think about incorporating into my session.

I have gone one step further and have created my own driver icons.

Instead of a graphic image of a person, I use a simple (non-animated) graphic showing just the number of the loco being driven (e.g. 201) and I set the driver name to the same as the loco number (e.g. Driver T 201). This makes it very easy to identify a particular loco from the driver list and a lot easier than trying to remember names.

 

[rhban]

I already said that most of us don't use the animated portraits. Sure there is a long list of drivers, so why do I get the same portraits for different names? It only seems to be with relatively new, female names.

 

[rhban]

I quite like it, but I suppose over the years I've grown attached to these fictitious faces.

 

[BummerDude]

And the occasional, not so fictitious, ones.

 

[pware]

Here is a fictitious one I GIMP'd from a photo of my cat.

She looks good in the drivers seat of a Pacific class steam loco.

 

[chili46]

I made my own drivers from family and friend's pics. Nice to see the wife driving a train.

 

[OddRails]

Here is a fictitious one I GIMP'd from a photo of my cat.

She looks good in the drivers seat of a Pacific class steam loco.

That's worth a smile. I like it.

 

[rhban]

I made my own drivers from family and friend's pics. Nice to see the wife driving a train.

I do like that idea, but how do you do it? Is it very complicated?

 

[pware]

The image you create must be 64 pixels x 64 pixels in .jpg or .tga (better) or .png (even better) formats.

Find an existing installed driver character asset and open it in explorer to see the files you will need (the 64x64 image itself, a .texture.txt file, a thumbnail and a config.txt file).

Open the .texture.txt file to see its very simple contents. Then open the config.txt file to see the tags needed.

I have just added a Wiki Page on this topic - see https://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php/How_to_Create_a_Driver_Character

 

[zomb1eslayer2346]

Here is a fictitious one I GIMP'd from a photo of my cat.

She looks good in the drivers seat of a Pacific class steam loco.

I was trying to follow your tutorial for making custom drivers like this with images but it keeps asking for a mesh, and i was wondering how to solve this as your tutorial makes no mention of mehes or mesh creation for the 2D driver images.

 

[pware]

but it keeps asking for a mesh, and i was wondering how to solve this as your tutorial makes no mention of mehes or mesh creation for the 2D driver images.

After a bit of experimenting in the latest Trainz Plus I discovered that there is a mesh that is required. This must be a new requirement because I never had one before.

The mesh is <kuid:-3:10128> which is listed in my CM as <unknown> - very strange. However, listing its asset versions reveals that, in a past life, it was

<kuid:-25:1011> DriverAlastair

So I followed my tutorial and created a new driver character in the latest Trainz Plus version. I kept the asset build number at 4.1 but added a "mesh" tag set to <kuid:-25:1011>

Submitted - got an error message due to a typo I made in the config.txt file and the new asset was labelled "faulty" as a result. I fixed that, resubmitted but the asset was still labelled as faulty. Viewing its faults and warnings revealed nothing. I did a DBR (probably overdue anyway) and the asset is no longer faulty.

You learn new things all the time in Trainz. I will update the tutorial.

Thanks for the report.
Peter

 

[JCitron]

Aliases no longer work like they used to.

I would clone an existing driver downloaded from the DLS and substitute the components for your own. By keeping the texture names the same, there will be no reason to edit any of the files except for the config.txt file to update the username and other details as needed.

 

[PGibbons]

Peter
Thanks for the great tutorial on Drivers. I will now attempt to repair a few of the Drivers copied into TRS2022 from TANE which are showing as an error. Most were payware drivers and had the old version number below 3.5 no longer supported.
PG

 

[Ghost42]

Having many consists on my route I use a cargo identifer, Ami_coal, Fred_crude etc. helps to keep track of them.

 

[JCitron]

Having many consists on my route I use a cargo identifer, Ami_coal, Fred_crude etc. helps to keep track of them.

I used to name the drivers based on their route from portals. Ami became Ami - Rockport to Boston, etc.

 

[pware]

I use a system where the driver name and the driver character/avatar match the name of the loco - no need to remember that Alistair is the driver of SAR T 250

(image doctored for the post)