Re paint tutorial for XML - BIN files

[imnew]

Thanks for putting this "out there" mdurdan ! Hope some lurkers find it useful - and post their work in the file library

[buzz456]

I think this is very good. Wish I had it back when this was all very mysterious to me and I kept screwing things up. XDriver was beginning to think I was retarded when I finally "got it".

[bnsf9580]

Decided to put this together this morning after being asked by a few people about re painting. Hope this helps anyone who might be a bit confused

Also a note to admins, I wasn't sure where to post this, I'm sure there is a better place for it, feel free to move it as you see fit

I'm going to see if I understand this completely.
1: Copy file to repaint and rename it to something else.
2: Open XML with Notepad
3: Edit and replace, here's where I get lost. Do I rename the loco type to what I want the repaint to be called? And the "New Folder", does that have to match what I copied it to or is that something different?
4: Convert with serz. And then am I done?

[bnsf9580]

It all had to match sand yes that's all. Simple as that

Ok, so I'm free to repaint. Any idea where I can get a simple tutorial for beginners that doesn't use RW Tools? I'm stuck with the free version and can't pay for the full, just wondering if there is a way to not use it. I would love to repaint locomotives myself though. I have my own custom schemes I want to take for a drive

[bnsf9580]

Notepad. just scroll to the top of this page for the tutorial

Oh wait..i think your referring to textures. RS bin tool (in the library) and paint.net work great

Awesome. I'll give it a try! I'm downloading Paint.Net right now. Do I have to use RS Tools? I would love to but I don't have a way of purchasing it. I don't see any tools in the Railworks folder (which I assume you're talking about). I mean I see the RWAceTool, serz, that kind of stuff, but nothing by the name of RS tools.

[arizonachris]

I think Mike was talking about "RS bin tool" which is in the file library here.

[bnsf9580]

That makes much more sense! Thanks. Downloading it now.

[bnsf9580]

So I've downloaded the Bin tool, installed it and got it working. Now what? :p I feel like I may have to convert files to edit them with Paint.net? That would be my guess. I feel like I'm making progress either way though! Nice to see locomotive textures without running the game lol

[bnsf9580]

Oops. Didn't read the entire read me. I gots dis!!

[bnsf9580]

Ok, so I'm following the general idea from SW1200 Reskinning Kit for RailSimulator from the SW1200 add on from Dick C. and I'm at the point where I did everything as listed in the first post, and I turned the files I want to change into dds files. Edited and exported as tga through Paint.Net. I then open the RW Ace Tool, add the tga files and then I get this message. Any fixes?

[bnsf9580]

Once there in dds you open then with paint.net and edit them there. Don't use the ACE tool

You will need the dds plugin for paint.net. if that doesn't work try cs2 with the dds plugin

Ok so I saved them as dds. The tutorial I am (or now, was) following says this:
6) Now the fun starts!!! Double click on the shortcut to ToAce.exe (This should have been downloaded from the
Rail Simulator web site and installed) Load any edited tga files and save them. This produces the required ace files.

7) Double click on the shortcut to the previously downloaded and installed BlueprintEditor.exe Navigate through
the Britkit folders to Engine. Double click on the 00-SW-textures file and
Press export.

Would I do step 7 as it says, fit for my folders or should I ignore that and do something else? I kept the file name the same as it was in the regular folder, and I just realized I wasn't painting off of a default locomotive, mostly because I didn't think about it hahaha. If I had painted off a default locomotive I could have copied everything and put it in a separate folder in Assets correct? I assume this to be right.

[NSrailfan6130]

Ive successfully done this but no paint skills so i stopped trying , i can put smiley faces, that's about it lol

[bnsf9580]

Nope just open it in paint.net or cs2 (you will need the dds plugins either way) edit them and reverse the process to get them back to tgpcdx

I don't see any way to Import DDS in the Bin tool. The only thing the read me says is Tools>Import Data. Tools only has Options and Add In Manager...

[buzz456]

Let's try a little different approach to this. Make and save your bmp file. Open DXTBmp. Open your BMP. Import a alpha file. If you don't have one just make a dark grey one. Tell it to save as DDS file. You must save as the original format ie. such as DX3. You should have had RSBinTool open with your texture folder. As soon as you saved the DDS you should now be able to 'import DDS data'. Then click save and your new texture should be in game. To get to see it tell the scenario where your object is sitting to quit. Then when it asks if you want to play again say yes. Your most recent changes should show up.

Questions?

[bnsf9580]

Let's try a little different approach to this. Make and save your bmp file. Open DXTBmp. Open your BMP. Import a alpha file. If you don't have one just make a dark grey one. Tell it to save as DDS file. You must save as the original format ie. such as DX3. You should have had RSBinTool open with your texture folder. As soon as you saved the DDS you should now be able to 'import DDS data'. Then click save and your new texture should be in game. To get to see it tell the scenario where your object is sitting to quit. Then when it asks if you want to play again say yes. Your most recent changes should show up.

Questions?

Alright, I did everything up to the Import, which worked, except it told me I must add a DDS with MipMaps..
For somereason I feel like this is more complicated than it needs to be. Just glad ya'll are being patient with me hahaha. I really appreciate it :)