Railworks America

Although this question is specifically about the VNHRR, it certainly applies to other routes as well.

The VNHRR has been part of my TS installation since the route first appeared and I recently removed version 1 and installed version 2. Although I've learned how to make the route and its picture visible and useable, I'd like to know whether there's a way to truly integrate it into all of the appropriate menus. Perhaps there's a list of route pictures somewhere that can be modified by a user?

One encouraging note is that a search for this route used to require typing in VNH, but now only the first two letters are needed . . . still . . .

A file was posted the other day in Accessories call Menu Route Pictures. I believe this is what you may be looking for?

I was about to ask a similar question.
I was wondering how to scale a screen shot to make an appropriate .png image for a couple of my route projects.
I've tried Paint but it looks pretty grainy.
It seems to be a simple matter of scaling and proper picture type, then putting it into a "Route Information" folder.

Actually it has to be in the route's PRELOAD folder.

Edit.

artimrj wrote:Actually it has to be in the route's PRELOAD folder.

The only thing I could find in the PRELOAD folder was consist fragments bins Bob.
It's in the RouteInformation folder that I find the Icon for the route that's labeled "image.png"
If it's a cloned route I have to add the Routes Information folder manually.

Do you have a file path for me?

My bust, it is not in the route's folder, it is in the route's asset folder. Where the environment and tracks and route template folders and stuff are. There is a preload folder in there. The route picture goes in there along with a bin file to call it up.

One of the new "features" in TS2015 is a new way to have a route picture, In the route's folder where you would find the RouteProperties.xml, make a folder if it doesn't exist called RouteInformation. In that folder put a picture of the route any reasonable size as long as it is 2 units wide and one unit high. It must be in PNG format.

And as mentioned above there is a file that has already done the work for you.
http://railworksamerica.com/index.php/d ... ccessories

Overshoe wrote:One of the new "features" in TS2015 is a new way to have a route picture, In the route's folder where you would find the RouteProperties.xml, make a folder if it doesn't exist called RouteInformation. In that folder put a picture of the route any reasonable size as long as it is 2 units wide and one unit high. It must be in PNG format.

And as mentioned above there is a file that has already done the work for you.
http://railworksamerica.com/index.php/d ... ccessories

That worked to get a picture for scenarios, but I'm still trying to figure out how to get the route to show up in the driving menu.

artimrj wrote:My bust, it is not in the route's folder, it is in the route's asset folder. Where the environment and tracks and route template folders and stuff are. There is a preload folder in there. The route picture goes in there along with a bin file to call it up.

After looking around a bit, I think you are referring to the route's "MetaData" bin?
And... the TgPcDx file must be the compressed pic of the route?

A good example would be found in Assets/RSC/CajonPass/Preload
If anyone wants to take a look.

Ericmopar wrote:

artimrj wrote:My bust, it is not in the route's folder, it is in the route's asset folder. Where the environment and tracks and route template folders and stuff are. There is a preload folder in there. The route picture goes in there along with a bin file to call it up.

After looking around a bit, I think you are referring to the route's "MetaData" bin?
And... the TgPcDx file must be the compressed pic of the route?

A good example would be found in Assets/RSC/CajonPass/Preload
If anyone wants to take a look.

This was the old way to get a route pic to show and I dont think it works anymore. I had seen the new RouteInformation folder in a download for some missing route pics off railsim.de and was chuffed as I never had got round to learning the previous method.

Ericmopar wrote:I was about to ask a similar question.
I was wondering how to scale a screen shot to make an appropriate .png image for a couple of my route projects.
I've tried Paint but it looks pretty grainy.
It seems to be a simple matter of scaling and proper picture type, then putting it into a "Route Information" folder.

I used this site http://www.picresize.com/ to resize my screenshots to 256 x 128 and you can then choose to save in png format. I didnt bother using the effects as I thought the resizing alone did a nice job. Depending on what resolution you use you might have to crop the image first (I especially found this to be the case if I was using the dsr feature from nvidia and had a 1.X setting, landscape pics dont seem to be affected as much as rolling stock as it can look off if your loco in the pic is short and squat, lol).

Regards

Jareb

OK, having previously delved into this in the past and thoroughly "learned" it, perhaps I can clear up some misunderstandings here:

1. The previous TS2014 menu used a pair of files - a TGPCDX file and a Metadatafile. A little fiddly to create, and held in a PreLoad folder. That PreLoad folder could be anywhere within the Assets structure, but typically would be within the main asset folder for the DLC or route concerned. (When TS2015 fires up, it searches for all files in all PreLoad folders, so technically it doesn't actually matter where it is as long as it knows where to find it). These legacy files may still exist in your TS2015 file structure, but no longer serve any purpose if you are using the new menu.

2. The new TS2015 menu switched to using an image.png file within a RouteInformation folder which sits within the Content\Route\[specific route] folder. This is now very similar in concept to the image.png file in the LocoInformation folder for locos. (This is why initially a lot of route thumbnails were missing even for common RSC/DTG routes, because they didn't update all the thumbnails upon launch of TS2015.

3. If (like me) you use the "hybrid" TS2014/2015 menu structure, you still need to use the "old" TS2014 structure for route thumbnails

4. Under (1) above, RW_Tools can be very helpful in adding the route thumbnail. Mike Simpson initially withdrew the function when TS2015 came out, but he kindly reinstated it when I pointed out that users of the hybrid menu would still make use of it

5. Despite the above, the new TS2015 menu does not display many routes correctly once you have selected something on the left side in particular. It is a built-in problem (maybe a bug, maybe DTG thought it was a good idea) with the TS2015 menu, and nothing to do with the thumbnail change. There have been a lot of threads about this, especially on UKTS, and it is this bad functionality that pushed me to the hybrid menu, and I haven't looked back. The one downside is the more fiddly method for the thumbnails on new routes.

Hope that helps clear things up!

If anyone reading this has no idea what the "hybrid menu" is, it is a mash-up of the new and old menu file structure in the Railworks\Data\scaleform folder. To create it you need to have copies of the old TS2014 files, and basically copy over the following "old" files into the new scaleform folder (after backing up the originals of course!). Note that they have to be re-copied after a Steam file verification or major update. The "old" files to copy over are:
RS_2013_MenuSystemMaster.swf
ScreenFrontEndCollection.swf
ScreenFrontEndDriveChoose.swf
ScreenFrontEndMenuBuild.swf
ScreenFrontEndSettingsMenu.swf
ScreenFrontEndStore.swf

By the way, various UKTS members dabbled in trying to get this to work, but I credit JustRight over on UKTS for getting the final optimized version!

Thanks for the replies, folks, but in a way this all reminds me of a line from an old Harry Belafonte song: "It was clear as mud, but it cover de' ground, and de' confusion made my head go round". Perhaps the most cogent reply so far is Eric's, "Edit".

However, I can now rephrase my original dilemma. In the first place, as I think I mentioned, a route picture does already exist for the VNHRR and, knowing where to look for it now, I've discovered that it does indeed reside in a folder named "RouteInformation". As also stated, I can make that picture appear by searching for the route's name--actually, the two letters "VN" do the trick. But the route and its picture do not show up, for example, when I open "Drive", select the "Routes" tab, and click on the route picture (in my case, "Castle Rock") that appears by default. Interestingly enough, the route's name and picture do appear as my "favorite" route, and in several other places such as the "Quick Drive" tab of the "Drive" menu.

So what I'm actually looking for is a way to have VNHRR appear everywhere it should throughout the menu system.

Which brings to mind the final line from the wonderful film Four Friends: "Why does everything have to take so long?"

Maybe this explains it:

ChrisOnline wrote:5. Despite the above, the new TS2015 menu does not display many routes correctly once you have selected something on the left side in particular. It is a built-in problem (maybe a bug, maybe DTG thought it was a good idea) with the TS2015 menu, and nothing to do with the thumbnail change.

Chacal wrote:Maybe this explains it:

ChrisOnline wrote:5. Despite the above, the new TS2015 menu does not display many routes correctly once you have selected something on the left side in particular. It is a built-in problem (maybe a bug, maybe DTG thought it was a good idea) with the TS2015 menu, and nothing to do with the thumbnail change.

Yes, exactly. It seems the TS2015 menu system is flawed, and no sign (as far as I know) that DTG are going to change it. As a matter of interest, the VNHRR Springfield Line displays perfectly in my hybrid menu. TaD have provided both "styles" of thumbnail - i.e. the Metadata and TgPcDx files in the PreLoad folder, and the image.png file in the RouteInformation folder (the same image in both cases)