Reskin Blueprints

[wacampbell]

I was asked recently to explain Reskin Blueprints. This is a little used feature of Railworks ( TS2020 ) that allows you to substitute a new texture into an existing model to create an entirely new scenery object. For example, a route builder wants to use the water tower from the BNSFChicago route, but wants to replace the Naperville name on the tank with his own city name. Another example is the 1950s cars I distributed with the RWA Lakeside route. The color variations of each model are done with Reskin Blueprints rather than having a separate .geopcdx file with each model.

TOOLS

Here's what you will need:

BlueprintEditor2.exe in the Railworks folder. I'll refer to it as BPE.
RSBinTool, or another program to convert tgpcdx files to dds files.
An image editor for dds files.

FOLDER STRUCTURE

1. If you haven't been using BPE, you may not have a source folder. Create a folder called 'Source' in your Railworks directory.

2. Run the BPE.

You will need a Provider and Product folder ( P/P ) to place your new asset in. See here:

https://sites.google.com/a/railsimdev.com/dtgts1sdk/reference-manual/content-basics/provider-product-setup/developer-setup

Reskin2.jpg

If you don't have Provider/Product folders set up, here's how to do it.

2.1 In BPE, right click on the Source folder, choose Add, New Folder, and enter your Provider name. In my example its WACampbell.

2.2 To set up your Product name, right click on the Provider folder, and Add, New Folder. I named it Reskins.

2.3 In Reskins, I used the same method to create another folder called Textures.

Note: The reskin blueprint must NOT be in the same folder as the model you are reskinning. Make your own P/P folder for it unless you actually have the source for that model.

CREATE RESKIN BLUEPRINT

Now you are ready to create your reskin blueprint.

2.4 Right click on your product folder ( Reskins in my case ), choose Add, New Item,
2.5 Blueprint,
2.6 Reskin Blueprint.
2.7 And give it a name, in my case my new scenery object will be called CampbellvilleTower.xml.

Note: I've put the reskin blueprint directly in my Product folder. But there is no problem if you want to organize a structure of subdirectories in your Product folder for your reskins.

Reskin3.jpg

Now fill in the Reskin Blueprint. Here's what I used:

3.1 Name = CampbellvilleTower
3.2 Display name, English = Campbellville Water Tower
3.3 Category = Misc ( you can choose something else )

The Reskin Asset BP ID points to the original water tank model that I am reskinning.

3.4 Provider = Barnez
3.5 Product = BNSFChicago
3.6 Blueprint ID = scenery\structures\cd_tower03.xml

I examined the cd_tower03.bin file and figured out it references CD_Tower03.GeoPcDx which uses the texture file, napervilletower.tgpcdx. Thats the one I want to replace.

The Texture Entry section contains the texture substitutions. Click on 'Add Element' and fill in:

3.7 Texture name = NapervilleTower ( this is the name of the original texture, exclude any prefix pathing, and the file extension )
3.8 Texture ID = Textures\CampbellvilleTower.dds ( this is the new texture file that I will create )

CREATE NEW TEXTURE

Next we have to actually create the new CampbellvilleTower.dds file from the original NapervilleTower.tgpcdx file.
I used RSBinTool to open ASSETS\Barnez\BNSFChicago\scenery\structures\Textures\NapervilleTower.tgpcdx
Exported as DDS to SOURCE\WACampbell\Reskins\Textures\NapervilleTower.dds ( 3.10 ). See Buzz's instructions here.

http://railworksamerica.com/index.php/l ... and_dxtbmp

Open NapervilleTower.dds in your image editor, ( PaintshopPro 9 in my case )
Use its paint tools to change the name on the water tank texture file.
And save the modified texture as CampbellvilleTower.dds ( 3.9 )

Reskin3a.jpg

EXPORT BLUEPRINT

Now you are ready to export your new Blueprint to your asset folder.

3.11 Click on the blueprint to ensure it is selected.
3.12 Hammer on F7 ( Export With References )
3.13 Look in the Output box for 'Export Succeeded'


ADD IT TO YOUR ROUTE

You now have a new asset in your Provider/Product folder that reskins the BNSFChicago model.

Use the reskinned model in your route just like any other asset.

Reskin4.jpg

In the Route Editor, ensure both your Provider/Product, and the source model's P/P are enabled.

4.1 Open the Object Set filter.

4.2 Ensure Barnez/BNSFChicago and WACampbell/Reskins are enabled.

Find the object in the browser.

4.3 Our reskin blueprint specified the Misc category.

4.4 The object was called Campbellville Water Tower

4.5 And place it in your scene.

DISTRIBUTING YOUR RESKIN

If you wish to include your reskin with your route, you should ship only the reskin blueprint (.bin) and the new texture (.tgpcdx) from your own ASSET P/P folder. All the other file types, xml, tgt, cost etc, are not needed and can be deleted from your ASSET folder.

LIMITATIONS

It works for static scenery models. Not fully tested on other types of scenery.

A reskin blueprint may be limited to a single texture substitution per ET44C4's comments below.

I have seen occasions where the skin substitutions get mixed up. It occurs when many assorted reskin models are placed close to each other - say a dozen assorted barrel reskins in a stack. They will all take on the same texture.

In all the assets I've downloaded and purchased I've never seen reskin blueprints used by DTG themselves. It makes me wonder if its actually supported.

[ET44C4]

Excellent tutorial, Wayne! Thank you so much for putting it together and for the time spent making it. Can't wait to try it out.

[buzz456]

Wow! Maybe we can get rid of that darn turquoise and white pickup that sows up waaaay too often and make some other colors.

[thegevo5k]

Thanks for this! I'll start using these more often.

[ET44C4]

Not sure why I keep getting hung up here, but my textures are not showing up in the Textures folder I created inside my Product folder (in BPE). I follow each step closely and repeated it several times but I'm not sure why it's not working. Here are two screenshots showing my file structures:

bandicam 2019-11-06 14-30-44-355.jpg

bandicam 2019-11-06 14-31-07-732.jpg

Is it possible to just add "Textures\Chesapeake_Tower.dds" inside the .bin (I exported it from BPE without the Texture ID entry) so it looks like this?

<TextureName d:type="cDeltaString">Brookfield</TextureName>
<TextureID d:type="cDeltaString">Textures\Chesapeake_Tower.dds</TextureID>

bandicam 2019-11-06 14-32-39-912.jpg

[wacampbell]

Not sure why I keep getting hung up here, but my textures are not showing up in the Textures folder I created inside my Product folder (in BPE).

You are putting the .dds files into the Asset folder. They should go in the SOURCE folder tree. Review step 3.10

[ET44C4]

That went right over my head lol. That's what happens when you try to do stuff when you're tired! Thanks for clarifying, Wayne.

[ET44C4]

I've been having some trouble with trying to repaint the DTG Miami swing bridge. Basically all I'm doing is painting any silver textures to a dark grey. Anyhow, the swing bridge has three textures that I have repainted and have saved the .dds files inside the Source folder tree. One of the textures came from "Bridges_Tunnels\Textures," while two textures came from "Generic\Textures." The texture from "Bridges_Tunnels\Textures" correctly appeared on the repaint in the sim, but the other two did not. Here is a screenshot of the file structure in BPE:

bandicam 2019-11-06 21-26-07-800.jpg

I'm not sure why they refuse to show up. Perhaps I'm just doing something wrong....

[wacampbell]

The texture from "Bridges_Tunnels\Textures" correctly appeared on the repaint in the sim, but the other two did not.
...
I'm not sure why they refuse to show up. Perhaps I'm just doing something wrong....

I don't see that you are doing anything wrong. But I've never done a reskin with multiple textures like this. Such a shame if these reskin blueprints are limited to a single texture substitution.

[ET44C4]

Ah okay, I was wondering if that was the case.