Steamshots USA..Lets See Some Steam Shots..

Ken

Your mention of this "animdist" seems to have done the trick!

76yleZ2.jpg


I made the front drivers a slightly larger value than the rear and voila, they go in and out of synch making the whole experience much more enjoyable. Many thanks!!

I'm not quite sure what "gloop" reduction is, but it sounds intriguing. I have yet to use IMeditor. Next, I'll get a screen or two of Ben's original USRA 2-8-8-2. It's held up fairly well, I'd say, as have so many of his locos.

Best,
smyers
 
I would also be interested in hearing more about this "gloop" reduction (or increase). Am I right in thinking it affects the shine of the item? If so, that's something I'd like to be able to do in some cases.

Cheers,
Piere.
 
The N&W A-class and the PRR FG-1 artics by K&L have drives that come in and out of sync. Same with Ben Neal's VGN AG-class:


It looks lovely but I've never been able to get the Auran Y6b to perform satisfactory in Cab Mode. There is something quite weird about the way this locomotive is set up.

Phil
 
Another of Ben Neal's 2-8-8-2...

eXplaXn.jpg


Lettered for my home road. Also dirtied up the rods and valve gear, and reduced some of the leaking steam effects as I felt they hid the mechanism too much.

Best,
smyers
 
Ken, how does one go about removing the gloop? I have a locomotive that used to be one of my favorites but the lighting in 2019 makes it look weird. Just too shiny.

In the IMEditor window Ken is showing in post #6139 you'll note that object 16's material is shown as m.thumpev. My guess is that is the main body texture or at least one of them. The material needs to be changed to m.reflect which will require clicking on the click button at the end of the Reflection texture menu box. Find env_metal in the asset folder when the folder opens and click on that. You're almost done now, but make sure to change the reflection amount to between 0-5% depending on how much shine you want. Leave it at 100% and it will look like a star was shovelled into the boiler. Save everything and submit your edits, then take a look in the Preview window to see if it's what you want.

There's soooooo many nice screenshots been posted here while I've been all daft sleepy. The new Williamette is awfully tempting, but all these big articulated engines being posted are enough to turn a steam fangirl's head. Any routes with decent sized hills anybody could recommend for me try one out on with the steam controls.

And who could forget the Master of Grime and his brilliant and utterly unhygienic screenshots.


 
And who could forget the Master of Grime

Many thanks, KotangaGirl. You might try philskene's own Phootenote and Fourword. Quite a bit of formidable mountain scenery there. Jr's Coal Country is a good one, though it's set up in a contemporary era. Many run steam on it. Don't forget to grab the Big Boys over at Trainz-Forge, along with the ANL Late Challengers. All terrific.

Best,
smyers
 
Many thanks, KotangaGirl. You might try philskene's own Phootenote and Fourword. Quite a bit of formidable mountain scenery there. Jr's Coal Country is a good one, though it's set up in a contemporary era. Many run steam on it. Don't forget to grab the Big Boys over at Trainz-Forge, along with the ANL Late Challengers. All terrific.

Best,
smyers

Thanks very much smyers. I shall certainly give the Phootenote and Fourword a try. I've been looking at the big engines over at Trainz-Forge and wondering if I should.
 
I'd say go for it, KotangaGirl...

Wa7CtYD.jpg


Big Boy at the coal dock. Challenger behind. The Big Boy pack is outstanding. You even get 4014 specific, as converted to oil, the iconic smokebox chalk mark and so on. These are the kinds of packs you D/L just to have. The Challengers give you all liveries, elephant ears, oil or coal, Two Tone Grey, etc., very tough to top. I know, I sound like an ad, but really, grab 'em while you can. You never know...

Best,
smyers
 
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In the IMEditor window Ken is showing in post #6139 you'll note that object 16's material is shown as m.thumpev. My guess is that is the main body texture or at least one of them. The material needs to be changed to m.reflect which will require clicking on the click button at the end of the Reflection texture menu box. Find env_metal in the asset folder when the folder opens and click on that. You're almost done now, but make sure to change the reflection amount to between 0-5% depending on how much shine you want. Leave it at 100% and it will look like a star was shovelled into the boiler. Save everything and submit your edits, then take a look in the Preview window to see if it's what you want.

There's soooooo many nice screenshots been posted here while I've been all daft sleepy. The new Williamette is awfully tempting, but all these big articulated engines being posted are enough to turn a steam fangirl's head. Any routes with decent sized hills anybody could recommend for me try one out on with the steam controls.

And who could forget the Master of Grime and his brilliant and utterly unhygienic screenshots.



Thanks very much for the info Annie. I can see that there are fors and againsts to using it, but another trick to add to the toolbox.

Original on the right and new, slightly shinier and richer colours on the left. Thanks again.
My-Trainz-Screenshot-Image.jpg



Edit: and another thankyou.I had tried to reskin Togog's OAHU parlor car <kuid2:222925:266:7> to match cmoehrle's Osprey Lake coaches but couldn't, for the life of me, get the colours to really match. After modifying the reflectance with the info you provided, I'm now much happier with the result. New version on the left, my original reskin on the right.
My-Trainz-Screenshot-Image.jpg



Cheers,
Piere.
 
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Annie --

The Phootnote layout has been suggested for your North American big steam locomotives. Another more expansive layout that might be suitable is this one:

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/sho...ilroad-layout-The-Mann-Phrom-Laramee-Railroad

The grades are mostly not as demanding as in Phootnote, but the overall size is considerably greater.

I'm sure you will recognize the play on words of the title of a famous Western movie?

Phil

Edit:
I'm having problems downloading imEditor. I've found the link to a Russian site but when I click on Download a save screen appears in my browser, but when I click on "Save" nothing happens.

Edit 2:
I've tried using Edge (I'm a convert to Vivaldi) as a browser. I had to jump through a number of hoops (this file is dangerous / Defender / ... ) but I eventually managed to get it.
 
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Annie --

The Phootnote layout has been suggested for your North American big steam locomotives. Another more expansive layout that might be suitable is this one:

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/sho...ilroad-layout-The-Mann-Phrom-Laramee-Railroad

The grades are mostly not as demanding as in Phootnote, but the overall size is considerably greater.

I'm sure you will recognize the play on words of the title of a famous Western movie?

Phil

Edit:
I'm having problems downloading imEditor. I've found the link to a Russian site but when I click on Download a save screen appears in my browser, but when I click on "Save" nothing happens.

Edit 2:
I've tried using Edge (I'm a convert to Vivaldi) as a browser. I had to jump through a number of hoops (this file is dangerous / Defender / ... ) but I eventually managed to get it.

Hi Phil thanks for the suggestion. Ben Neal's old USRA Mallet looks like being the absolute maximum for Phootnote as the Trainz Forge Challenger and the Big Boy are just plain oversized and look awkward trying to fit between everything. I think I'll stick to running your sessions for Phootnote and not get clever.
'The Mann, Phrom, Laramee' looks like it might be the better choice, - and yes I did get the play on words and now I'm trying to remember when I last saw the movie.

If you'd got stuck I've got IMEditor on Google Drive, but it looks like you won through alright in the end.

#6150. Glad I could help Piere.

Annie
 
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To "GLOOP or not to Gloop"in TRS19
If your shiny loks were made using ".trainzmesh" files, read no further as I know no way of altering (you may be able to do something with the texture files).
So hopefully we may be in business when it come to ".im" files. I've found that it all depends on how the original model was made Gmax, Blender or what ever. Results can vary . Remember some authors may not like you touching their creations.
An excellent and so far IMHO the best example of Gloop reduction is the BR Ivatt 2mt (various) recently released on the DLS by 2995Valliant <kuid:248163>, compare it to the "Packaged" version in TRS19.

Tools you will need:
IMeditor https://contentcreation.trainzsimulator.com/im-editor-edit-im-files/
Trainz Mesh Viewer and PEVSoft Images2TGA http://trainz.shaneturner.co.uk/tut...d-party-trainz-utilities/pevsoft-trainz-tools
you might as well get the rest of his items while your there.
Paint.net or Gimp. I use Paint.net but Gimp may be better for alpha files.

You have to experiment, you can use an "env_metal" texture on one model but may lose detail at a certain angle when viewed in game. You can create a "normal" texture and add it via IMeditor to gain detail and the lok may look too dark. Create a "BMP" file from the original "TGA" file and use that as an ALPHA file in Images2tga when constructing "Normal" files. This list is endless.

Now having seen that UP Big Boy in Smyers's excellent screenshot............................................

Cheers, evilcrow
 
Many thanks, Ken. Those Trainz-Forge articulateds are so nice...I have them just to look at even if I don't really have the place to run them. Big Boy does need some room to look right.

I have had some success in reducing the shininess of the Greencoast C-16 by lowering the contrast of the parm (parameter) files. The model is so grotesquely shiny, especially for a work-a-day switcher, that it became much more of a burden than an asset. I use Photoshop. While it helped some, it's still not the answer as the loco is still way too "black" for lack of a better word. The soot-covered grey appearance of most K&L locos seems much more appropriate, especially for those big, dirty, freight engines and for the switchers. In the C-16, there several files that need attention and they all have to match to look correct. It still looks out of place next to the K&L locos.

I've used the same technique with normal files to reduce the moire effect present in some assets, particularly my JR Alco s-4 and RS-1. It was blinding till I lowered the contrast in the normal files. That worked really well. All of this can be overwhelming. The "other" sim, which I use quite a bit for my U.K. steam interests, has used the same texturing methodology since its' beginning. Very little seems to have changed and it seems to work.

Good Luck Everyone!
smyers
 
Hi Phil thanks for the suggestion. Ben Neal's old USRA Mallet looks like being the absolute maximum for Phootnote as the Trainz Forge Challenger and the Big Boy are just plain oversized and look awkward trying to fit between everything. I think I'll stick to running your sessions for Phootnote and not get clever.
'The Mann, Phrom, Laramee' looks like it might be the better choice, - and yes I did get the play on words and now I'm trying to remember when I last saw the movie.
...

Annie
Have you tried Colorado71's USRA Mallet 2-6-6-2 locomotive (<kuid:387564:300871>)? You can probably find some ways to update it too. C&O used 2-6-6-2s extensively in the coal fileds. H4, H5(USRA) and H6 classes were all similar size. The H5 class was rated 79000 lbf TE. While the H4 and H6 were about 67000 and 70000. The mine runs were often double headed with 2-6-6-2 locos. They look right at home on any eastern US coal route. Smaller than the H7 2-8-8-2 and H8 2-6-6-6 they were able to handle the sharper curves on the branch lines.

I have TrainzeForge's Appalachian Right of Way verison 1.0 route. But I'm still tracking down 30 missing deps and it doesn't look as good as in the shots evilcrow has posted. It's just a 7+ mile section straight thru the mountains but it captures the look and feel of the Appalachians. Here's a shot of Ben's H8 and Colorado71's H5 hauling empties in 1 direction and loads in the other.

My-Trainz-Screenshot-Image.jpg


Bob Pearson
 
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Do you have (payware) JR Legacy of the BN 2? I wonder if that's what's happening with Appalachian Right of Way.

Also KotangaGirl is the tiny JMB mallet at Trainz-Forge...

YmNiWjv.jpg


Best,
smyers
 
Re post #6154 smyers
Thanks for the tip on the parm files.
re post #6156 smyers
Smashing shot of the JMB mallet. I see that you are running it as a coal burner, please what tender you are using? . It looks a perfect fit.

re post #6155 RPearson
I seem to remember I had a bit of trouble tracking things down, what are you missing?

My-Trainz-Screenshot-Image.jpg


Cheers, Ken
 
Many thanks, Ken. Yes, I'm running it as a coal burner...

YqtM1Y8.jpg


The tender is from the K&L B&O Q3 Mikado. It's about 3 ' longer than the stock oil tender, but the deck plates lined up just right so I went with it. Just re-lettered for my home road, and dirtied up the mechanism a bit. It does make a credible coal burner. I wonder if a different USRA tender would also work.

Great image of #38. Lighting is perfect. If you do decide to weather the side rods, be aware that versions of the engine may share drivers, so re-skinning may affect engines you want to keep cleaner. Though non-JMB Sierra 38 does not appear to be one of them. In my case, it stayed clean.

Best,
smyers
 
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I downloaded The Eagle River Mallet pair rather than Sierra RR No.38 since No.38 is well outside my timeline for the Angels branch and I wouldn't use it. I copied your neat mod smyers with using the K&L Q3 Mikado's tender to use as a coal tender and I have to say it suits this small Mallet very well. So thanks for that.
These Mallets really are the ideal size for Phootnote & Fourword, but one fly in the ointment though is that the sessions don't work in TRS22 so I might have to bundle everything up and take it back to TANE.

Bob (RPearson), I did track down Railworks C&O H6 Mallet 2-6-6-2 pack, but I haven't really had a proper look at it yet. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.


Nervous-River-No-20.jpg
 
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