Problem with Auto Numbering not showing in game

[Kariban]

I can't remember; does the asset editor copy the model files to a different location than the developer folder in assets? if it does then check all the number files including the blueprint are in the texture folder, first ( also check all the other files are up-to-date and there's no permissions problem stopping them being overwritten by new ones ). I would also try adding one digit at a time in the scenario flyout.

[gopher]

Geoff I always delete blueprint cache and replace stock in the scenario editor . The last few occasions I have deleted the model folder in assets just to make sure all files are re-written as well. Kariban I can't find any modified files in any folder in Assets during preview op. In the scenario editor flyout adding one digit at a time and pressing enter has no effect, until the last of the four required digits is entered when the number panel appears on the model but without figures.

Did a verify game cache and 15 files replaced but made no difference. Checked Windows updates but nothing stood out, only a couple of security fixes for Excel. Just about run out of ideas now.

If I get time tonight I'll try numbering a simple model.

Gordon

[gopher]

Update on above :- It seems the asset editor does store files for preview. Found them in Assets\Kuju\Shapeviewer. Not had a chance to look at them yet though.

Gordon

[gopher]

Having a rest from the number system I decided to adjust the coupling parameters. Now even though I made adjustments using RW Coupling Util, after exporting the wagon blueprint the adjustments did not appear on the model, even after completely deleting it in the asset folder and re-exporting. Checked in the asset editor after making a large adjustment and it shows up. Re-exported again but no adjustment in couplings in the sim!!!. The model couplings and numbers do update in the asset editor, but are not updated in the sim, though adding a part to the model does work . Does anyone have a clue why? Is this anything to do with Windows 7 User Account Control? I have heard of similar problems where it stops files being updated. I'm using Win7 64 bit.

Gordon

[Kariban]

That does sound like there's no permissions to overwrite the files in your developer folder ( which is why I asked those specific questions ) ... I disabled UAC some time ago so I have no idea about that . Once you've checked in the asset viewer copy the files to your developer asset folder by hand and see what it says.

[gopher]

Sorry Kariban forgot the permissions, got bogged down in other checks. Copied the files from Kuju\Shapeviewer and put them in my Asset\.\.\wagon folder. Selected Copy and Replace in the Windows dialog. Some files from Shapeviewer where newer but some where older. Checked to make sure time stamps where the same as shapeviewer files then Started Railworks, cleared cache and went into Scenario editor. Replaced all stock and saved. No changes appeared, still the same old settings on the coupler etc. Obviously changes that appear in the Asset editor are not making it to the sim. Is this a UAC problem and should I turn off? Must be something to do with a recent Windows update, because I had no problems with my previous item of rolling stock a couple of weeks back.

Gordon

[gopher]

That solved it. thanks Kariban. Not had that happen since I used Vista. Hope it's not going to keep occuring in Win 7.

Gordon

[Acorncomputer]

Hi Gordon

Good to hear that you have sorted this out.

I still use XP for everything so that is a problem I have not come across before.

[gopher]

Good job I retired early, if I was still in business and editing my accounts with the data not being updated every time I saved, I'd have soon gone bust. Something to be aware of when/if you upgrade to Win 7. Strange it never happened before in Win 7, just occured following a set of Windows updates a couple of weeks back.

Gordon

[Kariban]

I have heared about problems with permissions with apps in \Program Files in the past too ( can't remember if it was UAC related or not ). My steam tree is in \games, so I bypassed any of that even if I had UAC on. Glad it's sorted now though!

[bwalker]

You might like to know that I have solved my numbering problem but in a different way !! After much examination of the various files etc I decided to use a small model made a year or more ago and swapped csv files between the (old) working model and the latest failing model and found that the new model csv file ran perfectly in the old model. The old model csv file failed in the new model. Triple checks on file identification in the blueprints revealed nothing wrong, so concluded that there could be a problem with the textures for the numbers. I replaced all the number textures in the new model with those from standard Kuju 7F model , ran the blueprints and lo and behold everything worked !!
I can find nothing wrong with the original texture files that I was using, size was the same as those for the 7F, so just what was the problem ? I have checked that on my 64bit Win 7 I am running with a low setting of the UAC though not switched off completely. So solved for me in a different way.

brian walker

[gopher]

Brian my textures where only updated after I fully turned off UAC and re-booted. You need to re-export them too following reboot. Not happy leaving UAC off all together, but it's the only way at the moment to allow certain files to save and update.

Gordon

[WickedMouse]

Sorry for the intrution/thread necro-ing, but I have a few questions regarding the numbering system in RW:
What needs to be setup next to the CSV file and texture set BP?
What has to be made on the model?
Are the textures 64x64 px with transparent background or using alpha layers?
Can you make a digit " "?
What does "numberings" stand for in the main BP? Amount of carriage numbers or amount of digits in a given number (including spaces)?

I'd like to make auto numbering on my carriage. And those numbers have the format: xx xx xx-xx xxx-x

[Acorncomputer]

HI

It is quite complicated to create autonumbering and it took me a lot of research to get this to work on the wagons I was building. There is some information on this in the RailWorks WIKI and perhaps a better explanation in the Rail Simulator development documents and other information scattered around the UKTS forums if you look.

I usually make notes to myself when I try something new so that I can do it again and the following is an extract of my notes on autonumbering for my wagons. For longer numbers just add extra sections. These are notes to myself and not a tutorial but may help to describe the general principle of autonumbering. The formatting is not showing exactly correctly in this post, particularly the hierarchy diagram, but you should be able to work out how it is laid out -


We now come to the Render Component section.

Expand this to show the Primary Named Texture Set and the Blueprint Set ID.

The three fields in this section show where the textures are located in relation to the numbers that are auto generated on the wagons. This is a good place to describe how to create the number plate in 3DC.

Remove all wagons from the game when doing numbers. The numbers are generated on placement and faulty ones on wagons left in the game will not update and display properly.

We first need to create some textures that will show up as numbers in the game. These textures need to be 32 x 64 each and each one will be a number or letter to be used in the numbering sequence. You will need to add a mask layer to each texture (greyscale is all that is required) before exporting as a .tga. I did my letters on a pure black background colour and this will ensure that the texture around the actual number is transparent. Each texture needs to be named so that the last part of the name is number_0, number_1, etc. We need to create only three numbers being 1, 2 & 3 with respective names for our wagon of -

Wagon_number_0.tga
Wagon_number_1.tga
Wagon_number_2.tga

Note that they are referred to as .ace files in the Blueprint as they need to be converted before export.

Make these textures available to use in 3DC.

If all numbers are prefixed by the same number or letter, this fixed number/letter can be permanently textured in the model numberplate and the others left floating.

We also need a set of placeholder textures for the numbers. These are named

primarynumber_0.tga
primarynumber_1.tga
primarynumber_2.tga

They could have been named Wagon_primarynumber_0 as the program only reads the last two parts of the name.

Make these textures available in 3DC.

Again these will be .ace files for the blueprint but need to be .tga files first for 3DC. We are using just three digit numbers on our wagon but there could be any number if required. Note that the CSV file created earlier will list all possible combinations of our three digits for the program to select from.

Paul Gausden has already created some placeholder numbers that can be found in my RS Sundry folder under Paul Gausden Wagon Folder but it seems that the placeholder textures can be just 32 x 32 in size in a plain grey colour and it is just the naming that is the important bit.

Now in 3DC create 3 single face polygons (or one object with three faces) with a ratio of 1 wide by 2 high, say 0.5m high x .25m wide. Temporarily paint each face to check that the real number textures show up correctly and are centred. Move the faces around so that they are aligned together in the right position on the wagon and just a little off the wagon itself.

Now use the merge tool to merge the first poly with the second and then with the third to create a yellow cube with just one brown cube incorporating all three polys.

Rename this yellow cube primarydigits_3 and the brown cube inside as Number Plate.The 3 indicates to the program that it is looking for three digits/letters.

Now pick up this yellow cube and drop it on the Body yellow cube so that it remains a group with the single brown cube Number Plate attached.

In the heirarchy there will now be -

Scene - (Yellow) Body ----------------- (Yellow) primarydigits_3 --------------- (Brown) Number Plate
(Brown Number Plate 1
Point Light (Yellow) Wheels1 ------------------------(Brown) Wheels01
Camera (Yellow) Wheels2 ------------------------(Brown) Wheels02
(Brown) Wagon
(Brown) Cylinder
(Brown) Extrude Object
(Brown) Extrude Object

If there are to be more than one number plates then clone the first brown cube group and place the brown cube on the primarydigits_3 yellow cube. Rename the brown cube Number Plate 1 or something like that. Locate the second plate first before grouping with the original. There should only be one yellow cube named primarydigits_3 with two brown cubes in it but further plates can be added this way.

We now need to retexture the name plates with the placeholder textures starting from the right hand face of the plate texture it with primarynumber_0 and the next with primarynumber_1 and the last one with primarynumber_2.

Select the materials properties for the number plate and it will show the three textures. They should show up in the order of 0 at the top, 1 next and 2 at the bottom. If Paul Gausden’s numbers have been used then they will show up as numbers but if the placeholders are just plain then that is all that will show in the second texture slot along from the left.

For each texture -
Second slot shows the placeholder texture.
Blend tr =100
Diffuse = 60
Ambient =20
Specular = 0
Trans = 0
RailsimX = blank
TXAlpha = transparency
Alpha Pr = blank
Rail Sim = TrainBasicObjectDiffuse.fx

Now re-export the model using the Wagon brown cube as the base object.

We need to create a blueprint for the numbers and this is done by right clicking on the Textures folder in the model source folder blueprint tree and chosing a Named Texture Set Blueprint. This will appear and I renamed the blueprint in the tree as WagonNumbers.

In the blueprint itself the first field is the name of the blueprint which I put as WagonDigits. I am not sure if this should be the same as the Blueprint in the tree but it seems not to matter although it does seem to matter that this name ends in ‘Digits’.

Create three new texture sections in this blueprint.

The first section has entries -

TEXTURE NAME = 1
TEXTURE ID = RailVehicles\Freight\Coal_Hopper_Acorn\Textures\Wagon_Number_0.ace

The second section has entries -

TEXTURE NAME = 2
TEXTURE ID = RailVehicles\Freight\Coal_Hopper_Acorn\Textures\Wagon_Number_1.ace

The third section has entries -

TEXTURE NAME = 3
TEXTURE ID = RailVehicles\Freight\Coal_Hopper_Acorn\Textures\Wagon_Number_2.ace

The texture name would not work with a 0 so the names cannot match the actual texture names but some experimentation might help here.

Now save the blueprint in case you have to go back to it and then export. This places a blueprint .xml file IN THE TEXTURE FOLDER

Do not forget to convert all three wagon numbers and all three placeholder numbers into .ace files and place them in the source /Textures folder for the model.

Going back to the main Blueprint we are naming our Primary Named Texture Set thus -

PROVIDER = Acorn
PRODUCT = RWFreeware
BLUEPRINT ID = RailVehicles\Freight\Coal_Hopper_Acorn\Textures\WagonNumbers.xml

The last field is completed by right clicking on the number texture blueprint in the tree texture folder, selecting copy file name and then pasting in the Blueprint D field by control+V

The section for the Second Named Blueprint refers to the main texture sheet for the model.

PROVIDER = Acorn
PRODUCT = RWFreeware
BLUEPRINT ID = Leave Blank
GEOMETRY ID = (Right click on the geometry file in the tree called Hopper_Coal_ Acorn, select copy path ad then paste into this field)

RailVehicles\Freight\Coal_Hopper_Acorn\Hopper_Coal_Acorn

COLLISION GEOMETRY ID = This is exactly the same as above

RailVehicles\Freight\Coal_Hopper_Acorn\Hopper_Coal_Acorn
CREATING A SIMPLE WAGON IN RAILWORKS - Page 11

PICKABLE = True
SHADOW TYPE = Shadow Type Blobby
VIEW TYPE = External view

Heat Haze, Tex Text and Projected Light Element all remain as default with no changes.

Detail Level Generation Rate will be -

HIGHEST LEVEL = 10
LOWEST LEVEL = 10

[WickedMouse]

Thanks for quite the explination. However I still have a few questions, if I may:
Since I work in 3DS Max and need all 10 digits, how would I go around and make that exactly? I've been trying to look for answers myself, but the RS wiki hardly answers any of the questions I am having. Do I make 1 plane with a 17 faces next to eachother, calling 1_0000_numberplate1 (and a copy on the other side calling 1_0000_numberplate2) or since I have 3 spaces and 2 dashes in the number maybe make 6 planes with 2 or 3 faces? Giving them the TrainBasicObjectDiffuse.fx shader of course. Namely a number would look like this: 50 84 10-77 601-9

And in your explination you do not mention what should happen with the "numberings" and "numbering format" text fields at the numbering list section.