To Ace utility

[Acorncomputer]

I have been reminded that the ToAce conversion utility that came with Rail Simulator (and possibly early versions of RailWorks) is now no longer readily available and people following my Loading Screen tutorial are getting stuck.

It is possible to use the RWAce Tool that is readily available from the RS.com website instead but this does not convert .jpg files to .ace files for some reason. The solution seems simple in that Loading Screens need to be created in a .tga or .bmp or another format that RWAce Tool supports but does anyone know of another utility that will include a .jpg conversion to .ace in a suitable form of .ace that RailWorks understands.

I still use the ToAce utility and have back up copies of it but I am not sure if this can be distributed. Any ideas on this ?

[pjt1974]

Just for reference Geoff, RWDecal has RWAce tool included aswell to produce the decals. Found within the Nobkins\RWDecal2 folder.

[Acorncomputer]

Hi

I have done a little more research and see that ToAce came with Rail Simulator but does not come with RailWorks. This is not a program in the normal sense as it does not have an 'About' button when it is running, but with the cursor held over the program icon it is revealed that this was authored by Paul Gausden (decapod). I guess he created this program originally for distribution with Rail Simulator and as there is no copy to download from his own website I assume that RS.com now have the distribution control even though they no longer include it with RailWorks.

Anyone who has a copy of RailSimulator should be able to find and use ToAce, which is located in the Rail Simulator folder, but not be able to distribute this to anyone else. Also a word of warning that I think the original ToAce program that came with early copies of Rail Simulator did not work properly every time so a later version is what is required. If you updated Rail Simulator and still have it loaded then you should have the correctly working copy of ToAce.

[darkdj]

I've found a way around easily making loading screens and converting them to ace:

I found, I think from the RS website, an adobe photoshop plug in that allows me to save files as .ace. As long as the image is the correct size, I can just copy the ace file made by photoshop into my source folders, job done! I also keep a backup of RWAceTool just in case.

I gather that some people might not have Photoshop, but I beleive there were a few more ace plugins on the site,

Dark.

[mikesimpson]

If you use RW_Tools to set up your Route Loading Picture, you do not need to use ToAce or RWAceTool, there is no need to use .ace files at all. The Route Loading Pictures are .TgPcDx files and if you provide a suitable picture in .DDS format saved as DXT1 - ARGB with 8 mip maps, RW_Tools will convert it to the correct .TgPcDx file for you (no need to fiddle with Blueprints etc).

See the last item in http://www.rstools.info/tutorials/Setti ... _Route.pdf for instructions.

Mike

[Acorncomputer]

Hi Mike

It is not just for loading screens but general conversion of images/texture file, etc to use with blueprints when exporting from the source folder to the assets folder.

I have searched for a plug in for GIMP to enable export as an.ace file but I cannot find one. The save as .dds plug in is fine but no save as .ace.

Mike, perhaps you can include a file conversion utility in RW Tools to convert a variety of images to suitable .ace files for RailWorks, particularly .jpg to .ace.

[deadly]

...
I have searched for a plug in for GIMP to enable export as an.ace file but I cannot find one. The save as .dds plug in is fine but no save as .ace.
...

I've stated using GIMP, so that would be handy, but I guess (hope) the bmp + RWAceTool isn't much more complicated. I need into look into all this for my route.

[partyspiritz]

I found this

GIMP Adaptive Contrast Enhancement
This is the development site for the GIMP plug-in version of Alex Stark's Adaptive Contrast Enhancement.

Things to look at here:

•The Gallery of Example Images
•The help page for version 0.6.x.
•A discussion of colour issues we run in to when processing RGB images with ACE. We haven't got this quite right yet, so input is appreciated here.
Current project status:
Version 0.6.3 was released on Wednesday, August 30th, 2000. This is just another development-libgimp-compatibility-thing. There is more interesting work going on for the upcoming 0.7, but it's not quite ready yet.

Version 0.6.2 was released on Sunday, July 9th, 2000. The main reason for this release is to get it to compile with libgimp 1.1.24 (they changed a function name on me).

Version 0.6.1 was released on Sunday, June 18th, 2000. This is GIMP-ACE's first real stable release. It's got a preview window, and on-line help, it doesn't spew junk all over the console, and it is, of course, BugFree. Enjoy!

Version 0.5.1 was released on April 24th, 2000, which includes a functioning PDB interface so the plug-in may be used non-interactively (e.g. called from a script in script-fu, gimp-perl, or py-gimp). If you create a script which uses this plug-in, please let me know, mostly so I can have a script to test the plug-in with when I think I might have broken non-interactive mode.

This project is on the back burner for me, and Alex has largely retired from it. We each look at it from time to time, but progress seems to move in short bursts spaced far apart. If you send us large sums of money, patches, or just write inspirational songs or movies for us, we'll probably spend more time on it.

The problem with stretching the contrast of color images is sometimes colors result which your monitor cannot display. Alex and I are playing with different methods of coping... The plug-in now gives you a choice. Other brilliant ideas are welcome.

I have attempted to provide internationalization support for the plug-in. There's not a whole lot to translate so far, but if you are a polyglot, please feel free to submit translations.

Download
Check the "ace" module on the download page. Files with names ending in .sign are cryptographic OpenPGP signatures (generated by GnuPG) verifying the integrity of the archives.

In addition, it is said that there is a Win32 binary available (courtesy of Holger Isenberg), but I haven't used it myself.

To do:
•Friendlier memory usage (tile-based or something).
•GIMP version (script-fu, perl, or python) of the tutorial (see the Tcl/Tk version).
•Check for open tasks on the task list.
Questions, comments, patches? Write to acapnotic@users.sourceforge.net. Or catch Acapnotic on #gimp.

[ GIMP homepage | Plug-ins at SourceForge | Plug-in registry ]

The image at the top of this page (talmadge-ex.png) is derived from a photo by Zach Beane. Half of it has been processed with Adaptive Contrast Enhancement, detail size 16 and colour method "limit".




http://gimp-plug-ins.sourceforge.net/ace/home.php3

Regards

John

[RiscaStation]

Hi,

Is this any help to you; "Martin Wright" MWGraphics\DXTBmp\DXTBmp.htm.
I can't see any reference to .jpg listed on his site but there may be a possibility of using images.
Have a look if you have not already done so, see if its of any use to you.

Mike

[Acorncomputer]

Hi Mike

This is the viewer that RW Tools uses and can be used on its own to manipulate images. It has an option to save an image as .ace DTX1 but not DTX3 as far as I can see which is what I think is needed.

[decapod]

I still have the source code for ToAce. I could put the MSI file for it somehwere.

RW needs the V2 32bit RGBA - older MSTS V1 ACE files don't work.
There is no difference between file from ToAce or RW Ace Tools, they both export the same format.
ToAce just has more format options for the V1 MSTS ACE files.

[Acorncomputer]

Hi Paul

It is probably just me but I use .jpg format a lot for simple textures (particularly photo textures) and ToAce consistently converts these correctly to the .ace format that RailWorks requires. The RW Ace Tool will not convert .jpg to .ace.

[USRailFan]

I still have the source code for ToAce. I could put the MSI file for it somehwere.

RW needs the V2 32bit RGBA - older MSTS V1 ACE files don't work.
There is no difference between file from ToAce or RW Ace Tools, they both export the same format.
ToAce just has more format options for the V1 MSTS ACE files.

A bit O/T but is there any chance of your MSTS/Trainz Shape File Viewer being upgraded to handle Rail Simulator/Railworks files as well?

[decapod]

A bit O/T but is there any chance of your MSTS/Trainz Shape File Viewer being upgraded to handle Rail Simulator/Railworks files as well?

Probably quite unlikely, I generally don't use RS/RW.

The shape viewer is also quite old technology now (VB6, DirectX8), I would need to move it to .NET, DX9+ - Which is mostly already done with my MS FSX model viewer.

[woods45]

Hi
What ever .jpg image I try and load into To Ace it comes up with File Load Error. Is there any way I can resolve this please?
Kind Regards
Adam