Moving ground textures from one route to another

[mindenjohn]

I am working on a coal road, based in the UK (for a change), using East Midlands Coal dlc as a basis (basically I am backdating it to 1962 - Steam plus green BR diesels). Strangely for a coal route EMC does not have coal as a ground texture! Ever seen a coal mine without some coal spilled on the ground? Well look on EMC and you will.
Question 1 Where do I find ground textures in the assets? or are they somewhere else?
Question 2 once found, how do I place them in the ground textures of another route?
Your guidance would be appreciated.

[SAR704]

I am working on a coal road, based in the UK (for a change), using East Midlands Coal dlc as a basis (basically I am backdating it to 1962 - Steam plus green BR diesels). Strangely for a coal route EMC does not have coal as a ground texture! Ever seen a coal mine without some coal spilled on the ground? Well look on EMC and you will.
Question 1 Where do I find ground textures in the assets? or are they somewhere else?
Question 2 once found, how do I place them in the ground textures of another route?
Your guidance would be appreciated.

I am personally unsure of international coal routes for TS, as I don't tend to drive that often in the game. But, your best bet is to search your library, or the internet for a coal texture. The former can even be done via loading any route, navigating to the terrain texture selection, checking the icon that shows visuals of the textures, and trying to identify one that suits you. It is fairly simple in my opinion, but the process can come across as ridiculously complex.

If you find one, this is what you do (provided that your route is freeware only). I would recommend downloading RW tools from http://www.agenetools.com/downloads.html for this procedure.

Identify the texture correctly. (IE Coal36 (example only))
Identify the .xml file that references the terrain (usually found in (provider/name of route/Environment/Terrain)
Navigate to the texture in question. It will look something like:

<MixTex>
<cMixTexDescriptor d:id="(three to four digit value)">
<BaseTextureName d:type="cDeltaString">(provider)\(name of route)\Environment\Terrain\(name of texture)</BaseTextureName>

Once you've done this, you will need to do a copy and paste process. You will need to copy the exact group of lines that you find referencing your preferred texture.

You will then need to copy it into your route's .xml file that references the terrain. Be sure to copy it to the BOTTOM only, otherwise everything goes out of whack. It is comparable to disrupting the current space-time continuum in a way.

The field will look something like this (will most likely contain multiple fields, nothing unusual).

<cMixTexDescriptor d:id="(four to five digit number)">
<BaseTextureName d:type="cDeltaString">(provider)\(name of route)\Environment\Terrain\(name of texture)</BaseTextureName>
<BaseSpringTextureName d:type="cDeltaString"></BaseSpringTextureName>
<BaseSummerTextureName d:type="cDeltaString"></BaseSummerTextureName>
<BaseAutumnTextureName d:type="cDeltaString"></BaseAutumnTextureName>
<BaseWinterTextureName d:type="cDeltaString"></BaseWinterTextureName>
<DisplayName d:type="cDeltaString">(Texture name here, no brackets)</DisplayName>
<LocalisedDisplayName>
<Localisation-cUserLocalisedString>
<English d:type="cDeltaString">(texture name)</English>
<French d:type="cDeltaString"></French>
<Italian d:type="cDeltaString"></Italian>
<German d:type="cDeltaString"></German>
<Spanish d:type="cDeltaString"></Spanish>
<Dutch d:type="cDeltaString"></Dutch>
<Polish d:type="cDeltaString"></Polish>
<Russian d:type="cDeltaString"></Russian>
<Other />
<Key d:type="cDeltaString"></Key>
</Localisation-cUserLocalisedString>
</LocalisedDisplayName>
<Wang d:type="cDeltaString">eTrue</Wang>
<FloraIndex d:type="sUInt32">0</FloraIndex>
<FloraDensity d:type="sFloat32">0</FloraDensity>
<Category d:type="cDeltaString">eGrass</Category>
</cMixTexDescriptor>
</MixTex>

Now, you need to be very precise with copying the texture info over. What you do is highlight what you find in the .xml with the mouse, regardless of it's position. You highlight it from the very line that I mentioned, down to the one that says <DistantTerrainColour>. This will ensure that the entry is the last one in the file.

That should cover the .xml part. The other requirement is to identify the textures (whether or not they have a positive wang value) and drag them to your route's environment/terrain folder. There will be four .TgPcDx files if it is not wang. If it is, there will 32 .TgPcDx files. You need to be sure that EVERY one of these is copied to your routes folder for it to work, otherwise you will see 'texture missing' when you try to texture the terrain.

In lieu of this (relatively easy) procedure, you could create your own terrain textures. It's not a nightmare by default, but it can turn into one if you get things wrong.

Then load the route, and continue on.

Hope this helps.

[mindenjohn]

Thanks for your reply, I’ll give it a go later today. Happy New Year.

[mindenjohn]

I tried various files and got nowhere. It appears to me that CreativeRail who developed this DLC used a different pathway to everyone else! I have now resolved my problem and have a coal texture to spray where needed.
What I did was to "repaint" the texture of "Rock 2" to a black base in Paint.net with an Opacity index of 213 and then converted it back to a DDS and then to the Rock001_A.TgPcDx file it started as. Rock 2 is actually Rock001A-H so I "saved as" the files Rock001B thru to H so that they were all the same shade, I tried to alter one to something lighter and it came out as a square (stood out like a sore thumb!). This gives me what I wanted, there may be a better way, and if there is please advise..., but this works for now. Thanks for your help.

[SAR704]

Good to know that you're moderately satisfied with the outcome.

Creating your own terrain textures isn't as nightmarish as some make it out to be. But you will need an imaging editing program like Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, or something.

I'm not sure of Gimp's capabilities, but I use it to save overwrite .tga textures, as RWace tool doesn't like ones fresh from PSP (anything with an alpha channel). They are compulsory with terrain textures, despite having no obvious purpose to me.

But I don't get what you mean by square. Was it a stand alone square with a group of wang textures that shouldn't have been there? You seem to have reasonable knowledge of how to play around with textures at least.