Repainting in 09

Umm here comes my question, i am using trainz 2009 and from the contents manager i couldn't find how to repaint any train that's already installed on my game. (Yes i already checked the manual but the tab for the repaint is not there!!) Can someone help me please ? Thanks again..

The 'paintshed' utility was removed from TC/TS2009, since it is now an extremely out of date program.

That said, there are other ways of reskinning a locomotive.
You use an image editor (paint, paint.net, the gimp, paint shop pro, photoshop, and others) to repaint the textures. Not all locomotives can be repainted in this way (some have very simple textures that don't lend themselves to reskinning), same as only a very small number were able to be reskinned in paintshed.

A very basic guide to reskinning:
*Open CM2
*Locate the asset you want to reskin
*'Clone' the asset
*Open the asset in CCP, and edit the name, author, etc.
*Open the asset in explorer, and open each texture file (.tga and .bmp files, with the odd .jpg and .texture file sometimes) and repaint them.
*Commit the asset, and look at it in Trainz.

Others should be able to offer a more comprehensive explanation.
Zec

There is no Paintshed as in earlier versions of TRS. The only way to open texture files of inbuilt content is with "TgaTool2" you can download this off the net, just do a Google search. This will convert the files to TGA's. You can also reskin (repaint) downloaded locos or rolling stock using a photo editor like Photoshop or the Gimp. If you want to upload any of your work to the DLS you need to get the original creators permission probably. Have a look at the licence in the folder.

Thanks a lot but.. i can't open neither the .texture files nor .tga files with my 'gimp 2.6.6'

You need the TgaTool2 to open texture files, as far as I know all built-in content uses texture files not TGA's, at least that the way it is in TRS2004 and TRS2006. The Gimp should be able to open any picture file. I use gimp 2.0.

Thank you i've downloaded tgatool2 already but it seems like a mess there something called alpha channel what i did not understand and also i can load .texture files well, but they are all white(maybe it is becuse the model is template model) and don't know which part of the train it belongs to..

Aarow said:

Thank you i've downloaded tgatool2 already but it seems like a mess there something called alpha channel what i did not understand and also i can load .texture files well, but they are all white(maybe it is becuse the model is template model) and don't know which part of the train it belongs to..

Click to expand...

Can you give us an example kuid you are trying to reskin. I assume you have looked in the wikibook Trainz. http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Trainz

Some items use alpha channel, some do not, GIMP normally adds alpha channel which you may have to delete. Check the file size before and after editing to see it is roughly the same size. paint.net is simpler to use and free. Paintshop pro is easier to use than GIMP but not free and has a different feature set, Photoshop is also very capable in the right hands.

Cheerio John

I think you may be better off starting with downloaded locos as these will use TGA files not texture files, and can be easily opened and worked in gimp. Use "save as" and uncheck both small squares these will compress the file size otherwise. Using texture files is more complicated alpha channels can be added in tgaTool and opened with MS Paint as BMP. Really wouldn't reccomend trying without a bit more experience.

http://www.worldoftrainz.com/Pages/Tutorials.htm

You might want to have a look at the tutorials there.

I found it unnecessary to open a new topic for it. I am looking for some African diesel locos(SAR especially).. Is there anyone who knows of a good 3rd part internet site about it?