D&RGW SD40T-2 weathering and head end striping correction

[MontanaRails]

Slight modifications to and weathering of the new D&RGW SD40T-2 included with Soldier Summit. Also corrected the spacing of the low hood chevrons (not perfect, but better).







Right now I'm struggling with a strange issue - as soon as I edit a texture, I get some strange compression issues with (presumably) the alpha channel, which changes the reflectivity of the textures - only at some angles in relation to the "sun". See attached for an example. Not sure how to solve this. I'm using Photoshop and RW_Tools to edit textures btw.

It's been quite a while since I've painted something...maybe I'm forgetting something simple. It was suggested already to make sure I'm saving the file with mips - and I am. Thanks for any help!

[buzz456]

RU saving it to DXTBmp? If you are just import a darker alpha before you save it as a DDS .

[MontanaRails]

RU saving it to DXTBmp? If you are just import a darker alpha before you save it as a DDS .

I am not using DXTBmp - maybe I should give that a go. I'm just opening and converting the file in RW_Tools (latest version), editing in Photoshop, and then saving the file with the same settings, and converting back to TgPcDx.

[CPRailfan34]

I use DTXBmp and it's really easy to use, I highly reccomend using it.

[OpenRailer90]

Looks awesome. Drop-in replacement?

[imnew]

Looks great

[MontanaRails]

Looks great

Thanks!

Looks awesome. Drop-in replacement?

Thank you - and yes, that's how it will be intended. I've only modified two texture files believe it or not, so it will be really easy to install and remove if you want to revert back to the default for some reason.

I finally figured out how to fix the alpha channel issues, by basically creating a new alpha channel from scratch. It looks much better. I never figured out why it was importing into Photoshop (and DXTBmp for that matter) and changing/corrupting the alpha channel in the first place, so unfortunately I wont be able to slightly darken the dynamic unit numbers because I dont have time (or the fonts) to create new alpha channels for all the digits. I think it still looks ok as is, though.

But, it's pretty much done I think, unless anyone has last minute suggestions which I have time to implement.









Weathering based on these photos:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 98&nseq=16

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 3&nseq=241

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 0&nseq=276

But I tried to keep it rather generic (without too much dirt and grime detail) and somewhat on the lighter side, so multiple units running together wouldnt look like clones of each other.

[qrfan3]

Beautiful work...superb weathering!!

[tbundy1982]

Man, those weathered units look great!
I wanted to ask if you use any intermediate programs to open dds files or do you import them directly into Photoshop?
I've had problems with the very same issue and the fix for me was to use a program like TGATool2A (for MSTS) and a program called DXTBmp for RW. These programs are basically the same: they separate the main image from the alpha and allow them to be viewed and edited independently, as well as export a working version of the new file to tga and dds respectively. If you're not already familiar with these programs it might give you a work-around to preserve the alpha channel.

Tyler

[MontanaRails]

Man, those weathered units look great!
I wanted to ask if you use any intermediate programs to open dds files or do you import them directly into Photoshop?
I've had problems with the very same issue and the fix for me was to use a program like TGATool2A (for MSTS) and a program called DXTBmp for RW. These programs are basically the same: they separate the main image from the alpha and allow them to be viewed and edited independently, as well as export a working version of the new file to tga and dds respectively. If you're not already familiar with these programs it might give you a work-around to preserve the alpha channel.

Tyler

Thanks, I'll try DXTBmp again with the digits and see what happens - but it was no help with the alphas the last time I gave it a go. I'm using the Nvidia DDS plugin in Photoshop.

[MontanaRails]

So....

What Im planning is this. A three pack of Tunnel Motors.

1) The above moderately weathered unit, 2) a clean unit, and 3) an EXTREMELY dirty and worn out unit.

The clean unit will replace the default loco textures, the other two will be separate locos (maybe?).

The clean unit (WIP below) improves on the default loco with a new alpha channel for slightly more shine, pilot/plow D&RGW orange instead of dirty yellow, and the short hood chevron striping spacing corrected.

[OpenRailer90]

The clean unit looks great! Will you also create alternate .bin files that alias the engines to Anthony Wood's SD40T-2 Tunnel Motor sounds? The proper horn for this is the Nathan M3 which is made by b737lvr in the Horn Mega Pack, although some units sported P3s or RS3Ls. If any horn from the sound pack would be used the P3 sounds best.

[MaineLines]

That's a very nice and welcome improvement on the nose striping. Is it just me or are the cab side numbers a little too large as well?

[MontanaRails]

The clean unit looks great! Will you also create alternate .bin files that alias the engines to Anthony Wood's SD40T-2 Tunnel Motor sounds? The proper horn for this is the Nathan M3 which is made by b737lvr in the Horn Mega Pack, although some units sported P3s or RS3Ls. If any horn from the sound pack would be used the P3 sounds best.

Thank you for the compliment! I actually don't own Anthony Wood's sounds, so I wont be able to help there. I'm using the freeware sounds in the library here. This project has already gotten a little bigger than I intended, and I dont have much free time to work on it. I'm hoping to finish it up on Sunday and submit it to the library here, but it will likely only be an updated texture pack, not sounds.

That's a very nice and welcome improvement on the nose striping. Is it just me or are the cab side numbers a little too large as well?

Thank you! And yes, they are a little large, but that's how DTG implemented them. I'll see if I can do something about it - but I dont have a lot of time to spend on reworking the positioning of the digits.

[MontanaRails]

And here's the finished clean unit:









I finally found all the bits and pieces on the texture sheets!

Based on the photos I could find, there was a variance in D&RGW "orange" color, from very deep pumpkin orange (usually in photos from the 1990's), to a light yellowish orange. This is on the lighter side, as most photos seem to show.