Point Comfort & Northern sw1500

[Railroy19]

Has anyone downloaded this engine?
I have it showing up on the tracks but it's painted in NS paint sheme
Just wondering if anyone has it showing up in the Point Comfort paint scheme.

Thanks,
Bob

[buzz456]

The problem is that she only did the nmc textures. You are seeing the nm ones which didn't get changed. What you need to do is copy all of the nmc textures to your desk top and rename them all nm. Then paste these back into your engine folder. Make sure that it overwrites doesn't make them a (2). If it won't do that get rid of your originals and then paste them in there. Now it should show up correctly.

[Railroy19]

Thank You buzz456.
I will give that a try and see if I can do it right and get the right paint scheme to show up.

Thanks, again.

[ChrisOnline]

The problem is that she only did the nmc textures. You are seeing the nm ones which didn't get changed. What you need to do is copy all of the nmc textures to your desk top and rename them all nm. Then paste these back into your engine folder. Make sure that it overwrites doesn't make them a (2). If it won't do that get rid of your originals and then paste them in there. Now it should show up correctly.

This was first raised by tinknocker on the Steam RW forum. I identified that the problem was that only the nmc files have been retextured, and already tried this suggestion. Unfortunately, It doesn't work. I agree that logically it should, but I am guessing it is maybe because the Geo file also calls some true nm (not renamed nmc) files from the default loco folder, and maybe (again, I'm guessing) you can't mix nm and nmc (even if the nmc are renamed nm?). All I know is, it produced an "invisible" loco with visible couplers.

So what I did was to edit the Geo file so that it references the nmc texture files instead of the nm. That works in that I get the correct red & white textures, HOWEVER the old (Norfolk Southern) loco number is still showing cabside and above the front grill, and I can't work out how to lose those.

I did send a PM to the dev (Sibell) with a detailed explanation, but the response was: "I don't know which problems you or tinknocker now have, all problems are edit and the loco is operating fine...I reupload it. The only mistake was the bin file which was reset after the latest rw update. I only had to edit one line and all works fine. I don't edit or renamed or overwrite any existing _nmc or _nm file. I really don't know what you mean."

So I followed up with a further attempt to clarify the problem, and didn't hear back. A shame, because clearly from the dev's pictures the original is done correctly (and looks good!), but apparently not correctly packaged and uploaded. It just needs that to be readdressed.


Chris

[buzz456]

Well it worked for me. What I told him to do is exactly what I did AFTER he said he had a problem.

PCN.jpg

[buzz456]

"So what I did was to edit the Geo file so that it references the nmc texture files instead of the nm. That works in that I get the correct red & white textures, HOWEVER the old (Norfolk Southern) loco number is still showing cabside and above the front grill, and I can't work out how to lose those."

Go into the scenario with the locomotives. Go to world scenario editor and double click on the locomotive. Open the right upper flyout and change the locomotive number to 0000. The NS numbers should disappear.

[ChrisOnline]

Well it worked for me. What I told him to do is exactly what I did AFTER he said he had a problem.

PCN.jpg

Well that's just weird, because I tried it twice, then downloaded again and retstarted with the original file again. Also tried again after the dev said the files had been re-uploaded (though I am sure that was referring to an earlier issue). Now I'm totally confused :)

[ChrisOnline]

"So what I did was to edit the Geo file so that it references the nmc texture files instead of the nm. That works in that I get the correct red & white textures, HOWEVER the old (Norfolk Southern) loco number is still showing cabside and above the front grill, and I can't work out how to lose those."

Go into the scenario with the locomotives. Go to world scenario editor and double click on the locomotive. Open the right upper flyout and change the locomotive number to 0000. The NS numbers should disappear.

Thanks for that, I'll check it out. Though it would be better to get the original code right for all instances of using it.

[ChrisOnline]

Well it worked for me. What I told him to do is exactly what I did AFTER he said he had a problem.

PCN.jpg

Well that's just weird, because I tried it twice, then downloaded again and retstarted with the original file again. Also tried again after the dev said the files had been re-uploaded (though I am sure that was referring to an earlier issue). Now I'm totally confused :)

EDIT: BTW I think there's also an error in some of the cab files. I had to copy some others over beyond what was in the instructions. Your #12 should have the same cab colrs as #14, not all black (per Dev's own pics)

[buzz456]

Chris,
Somewhere in the back of my fevered brain it seems that I remember that it depends on your settings which of these files the game is looking at to render. The only way to fix this right is to export the nmc to something like DXTBmp and then save it back as a 32bpp ARGB to the nm. Then it will be in the same format and I'm sure it will work. As far as the numbers go there is probably something in the bin file that's still looking at the default numbers.

Too bad we are even talking about this. It appears that Sibell has left the room.

[ChrisOnline]

Well Buzz, I've astonished myself . . armed with your guidance, and Mike Simpson's invaluable RW_Tools, I have fixed it!

Using RW_Tools and Photoshop Elements, I converted each nmc file into into a DDS file, and then back into an nm file using the format you suggest below - 8.8.8.8 ARGB 32 bpp - and it works!

The numbering problem using the flyout within the scenario World Editor not only worked in the scenario itself, but mysteriously seems to have cured the problem overall (maybe some form of blueprint cache issue?) . . I closed down TS2014, booted up again, and opened a new Free Roam in the RWA Lakeside route with pristine new PCN liveried SW1500's, and no numbering problems - see pic below

The cab files sill need copying over though - as downloaded, everything is ok from the outside, but from inside there was no view looking out, just the "missing texture" error textures

If anyone wants the revised nm files, I assume I'm allowed to freely share them? Not sure of the protocol.

Many thanks for your help

[buzz456]

Yes you can. The only thing prohibited is sharing GeoPcDx files. Let me take a quick look at the cab view.

[ChrisOnline]

It's ok - it just needs the two Geo files from the Norfolk\CabView folder copied over into the PCN\Cabview, overwriting the Geo files that originally downloaded. Then it works fine.

Chris

[buzz456]

Shazaam! That worked. Good catch.

[ChrisOnline]

I spoke prematurely about the cabside numbers. They reappeared in another test install. I checked the bin file and it definitely points to the dcsv file within the folder, and that file still contains all the original NS numbers!

So I have edited the dcsv file to contain only one number - 0000 - and it seems to have fixed it. (However I found that deleting the dcsv file completely also works, but that may be considere bad coding, as the bin file is still looking for something, and it may perhaps even cause unexpected problems in some cases?)

So in summary, there were three things to resolve with this:

1. re-engineering the nmc texture files into correctly formatted nm files
2. copying over the Geo files from the Norfolk\CabView folder and overwriting the Geo files provided in the download
3. editing the dcsv file to remove the legacy NS numbers from the bodywork

I learned a lot in this process, thanks for all your help, Buzz!

Would it be appropriate to upload a full revised corrected package, with revised instructions on Geo files, making it clear that all the textures were created by Sibell and that I only corrected the file structure?

Chris