Gimp and TGA files?

This might sound a little dumb but how does one go about editing TGA files in gimp. I have been fooling around for 2 days now I have converted a TGA into a BMP and have put it in MS Paint and change it but when I re-save it as a TGA it dose not show up in trainz it: A) It says it hase a faulty dependensy. B) it has a missing dependensy. or C) nothing wrong it just has its oringal skin. I have googled it and no answer. I'm trying to reskin Subpar Proudction's 2-8-8-2 & tender. The TGA looks like a checkbord in the backround to start with and when I'm done and take it from ms paint back into gimp the backround is black. If somone can tell me how to edit TGAs in gimp That would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

I do not like gimp for reskinning. It kept causing me problems. So I went out and got Adobe Photoshop Elements 8. Just as good as CS4 and cheaper ($100 and at some places less.)

Using APE8 is (I think) much easier to reskin with. I have had no problems with it.

Well, the first step would be to associate TGA files with GIMP. From My Computer, select Tools->Folder Options->File Types and find the TGA extension and Change it to associate clicking on TGA to open up GIMP. The file will open in GIMP as normal. When saving a file, I think GIMP automatically saves to the same directory/folder as the file you opened but, if not, navigate to that (assuming you're using TS2010, it's C:\Program Files\Auran\TS2010\userdata\editing\{asset name} (the drive letter may be different if Trainz is installed on another drive.)

When you save, just be sure the file extension is .tga *is not* highlighted (the rest of the name will be.) GIMP figures out the format you are trying to save to, which should be TGA. Then a box will pop up. In the top left it will usually by default have RLE Compression checked UNCHECK THIS! Trainz cannot handle compressed TGAs.

FWIW, I do believe Irfanview saves TGAs compressed, which makes it useless for asset fixing in Trainz, but it handles other formats pretty well.

Irfanview

RRSignal wrote := FWIW, I do believe Irfanview saves TGAs compressed, which makes it useless for asset fixing in Trainz, but it handles other formats pretty well.

I use this utility a lot to format or resize files and obviously have to save out as a tga for gmax. I have never had a problem with it. Just be sure that the file is saved uncompressed, that's all.

Angela

I use Irfanview and Paintdotnet and have no problems with them.
Paintdotnet is used mainly for reskins.

I use GIMP and have had no problems with it really.

If you follow RRsignal's advice on getting GIMP to associate the tga files that's the first thing to do.

Once you've done that, open your cloned asset in file manager and find the folder containing the texture you wish to edit. Typically it will be in a folder marked body and they should all have the extension .tga. They should all show the GIMP icon so it is a case of double clicking and GIMP will open the file.

From there, make whatever changes you need to using GIMP until you get the result you're happy with.

It is important to remember that when you are saving an edited file, to select .tga as the file format hit 'save' and uncheck the box marked with RLA compression which will then pop up. If you don't do this, the edited texture will not display. This may be why you are having problems.

Hope that makes sense to you.

This tutorial uses GIMP for reskinning.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Trainz/Basic_Reskinning_for_beginners

Basically the normal problem with any graphics program is the default is usually to compress the .tga file in some way so check the file size of the copy you made before you started and then the file size of the edited file. If they vary by more than byte or two then you probably have the compressed option on.

This applies to PaintShop Pro, GIMP, paint.net which can edit .tga format directly by the way.

Cheerio John