How do i repaint a loco?

[Macan92]

Hello, i wounder how i re-paintlocos and wagons and what program i need to do that, pleas respond, i wanna get somthing that looks a bit swedish on the tracks, and one more thing, what do i need to do so i dont replace the original locomotive ?

[jivebunny]

OK - this seems to be a question which crops up quite frequently but has no definitive, easy-to-find answer. So as an example I'll write a quick tutorial on how to reskin the Intercity Swallow Class 47. I'll make sure it's easy to follow for the less computer-savvy among us and I hope those with more of a technical background don't feel too patronised by my wording This is actually very easy to carry out and simply requires a long-winded explanation, so don't be too daunted by the masses of text you'll see below!

First off, you'll need three things:

1) RSBinTool - download and install this to a location of your choice.

RSBinTool v0.9 [64638 bytes] - RSBinTool.zip File ID: 17703 Date: 08 Nov 2007 - 4834 Downloads

2) A graphics package such as Photoshop or Paintshop Pro. Alternatively there are some very good free packages such as The GIMP or Paint.NET

3) Patience. If you have not reskinned before you will need to learn to use the various features your graphics package has on offer. For this there are plenty of tutorials available on the net if you search about. If you have, then there are still .bin files to get to grips with. Once you know how it's easy though.

Now for the gritty stuff

- To start with, you'll need to make a copy of the folder containing the locomotive, carriage, wagon or object you want to reskin. These can all be found under Rail Simulator\Assets\Kuju\RailSimulator - Railway vehicles are contained within the aptly-named "RailVehicles" folder, which is itself subcategorised into Diesel, Electric, Steam etc... In this case I need to go into "Diesel\Class47 and select the folder "ICS".


Make a copy of the folder and rename it to whatever you want, in this case I'll name it IC_Exec, since I'm reskinning the loco into Intercity Executive livery.


Now, before you start to reskin you will need to alter the name of the locomotive. To do this you need to find the .bin file located within the "Engine" subfolder, which in this case is called "class47_ICS.bin". No need to rename it, simply copy it and then paste it into your main Rail Simulator directory.


Now, in your Rail Simulator directory, locate the file serz.exe and drag the .bin file onto it.


This will convert the .bin file to a .xml which we will then be able to edit using RSBinTool. A black DOS box will pop up for a second, after which you should see a new file in the folder called - in this case - class47_ICS.xml. If you want you can now delete class47_ICS.bin. If you need it again you'll still have a copy in the IC_Exec folder you just created.


Now you are ready to launch RSBinTool. If it's the first time you've used it, you'll need to tell it where your main Rail Simulator directory is. Once you've done that you're ready to start. Go to File>Open>XML File and select your newly-created .xml file.


To many, this will look like a pile of gobbledegook. It is, essentially. But thankfully the bits we need to change are in plain English. The first part is the "Name" section. This can be whatever you like, but should not be changed once you have started distributing the asset or using it in scenarios, as changing it is likely to cause "scenario failed to load" errors since the sim will no longer be able to find the asset. The second part is the "DisplayName" section. Again this can be whatever you like, but in contrast to the "name" section can be changed by the user to suit their tastes. For example I have renamed all my Class 47s to be listed as "Class 47 - Operator - Livery". Choose carefully as this is the name that will be displayed within the sim, for example in the editor's rolling stock list. Once you're done, go to File>Save and select "yes" when asked to overwrite.


You will now need to go back to your main Rail Simulator folder and drag the .xml file (not the .bin file) onto serz.exe. This will reverse the process and convert the .xml to a .bin file. If you didn't delete the original .bin file, it will simply be overwritten. Once that's done, copy or drag the new .bin file to your IC_Exec\Engine folder, and overwrite the old one. Your locomotive now has a new name. If you want to check it in the editor, simply delete the blueprints.pak file from Rail Simulator\Assets\Kuju\RailSimulator and launch the sim

[jivebunny]

Now for the slightly more fun part

Before you can reskin, you will need to ensure your graphics package can open and save .dds files. For Photoshop, the Nvidia plugins offer this capability and are available here. For the GIMP, there are some here. For any other packages, a google search should throw up a few results. Once you've installed the plugins you're yet again ready to go.

Launch RSBinTool and go to File>Open>Serz file... Go to Rail Simulator\Assets\Kuju\RailSimulator\RailVehicles\Diesel\Class47\IC_Exec\Engine\Textures or to whichever folder your asset's textures are located in. Here you will see two main texture files and a bunch of number textures. A lot of the time you will simply need to open each file in turn to see which texture does what. Every asset is different so a lot of trial and error will be needed to find the relevant textures when reskinning. In this case, the files we are interested in are class47_01.TgPcDx and class47_02.TgPcDx, open the first one for now.



You can zoom in and out using the zoom dropdown menu above the image to see exactly what area of the locomotive the texture covers. In this case it covers one side of the 47, the fronts, and some other bits. Once you're happy you have the right texture, go to the DDSTool menu in the top left corner, and choose Export DDS Data. This will save the textures in .dds format so that you can open them with your graphics package. When saving, I would recommend saving them to the same location as the .TgPcDx file you just opened, and also giving the .dds file(s) the same name(s) as the .TgPcDx files so that you know what's what. In this case I'd save it as "class47_01.dds". Repeat the same procedure for the other texture, class47_02.TgPcDx. You're now ready to open them up in your graphics package of choice.


Depending on which graphics package you're using, to save the texture files once you've altered them you'll need to choose either File>Save or File>Save As and select "D3D/DDS .dds" from the "Format" dropdown list. Alternatively, you may have to find a File>Export option or similar. I can't cover all packages so I'm just going with what I know from Photoshop. If prompted, you will need to ensure the file is saved as a DXT3 file with explicit alpha and set it to "Generate MIP maps". This is what the Photoshop export plugin looks like when correctly set up:


Back into RSBinTool we go, and we need to go to DDSTool>Import DDS Data, where we will select our newly-saved texture file to open. We can now go to File>Save As and select "Zoom (*.TgPcDx)" as the format. Once again, select yes when prompted to overwrite the original file. Remember to repeat this for all the texture files you've edited.


Once you've saved the files, hop into RS and go and admire your efforts


JB

[777fred]

Jivebunny thanks for that post(s), are you able to Identify the problem I get here: .

[jivebunny]

No problem I'm not really familiar with GIMP but from the screenshot it looks like there's a missing or corrupt file (rather than it being a problem with the .dds file). It might be worth either re-downloading the DDS plugin, searching around to see if you can find an alternative plugin, or simply reinstalling both GIMP and the plugin. Sorry I can't be of more help!

JB

[777fred]

No problem I'm not really familiar with GIMP but from the screenshot it looks like there's a missing or corrupt file (rather than it being a problem with the .dds file). It might be worth either re-downloading the DDS plugin, searching around to see if you can find an alternative plugin, or simply reinstalling both GIMP and the plugin. Sorry I can't be of more help!

JB

Thanks, Can I ask if I reskin the IC 43 (blue n grey) with the 47 logo would I be able to use paint.net for it?.

[jivebunny]

You should be able to, there's a DDS plugin for Paint.NET here, the installation just requires you to place a couple of files in the Paint.NET\FileTypes folder. The file you need from that page is "DdsFileType_binaries_1_10.zip".

As for the reskin, I think RSDL are releasing the IC Swallow HST set in January with the rest of the GAME stock (NSE 166, BR Green Deltic etc). Might be worth waiting until then before starting a reskin of your own!

JB

[777fred]

You should be able to, there's a DDS plugin for Paint.NET here, the installation just requires you to place a couple of files in the Paint.NET\FileTypes folder. The file you need from that page is "DdsFileType_binaries_1_10.zip".

As for the reskin, I think RSDL are releasing the IC Swallow HST set in January with the rest of the GAME stock (NSE 166, BR Green Deltic etc). Might be worth waiting until then before starting a reskin of your own!

JB

Ok, Hmm do you think a GNER HST would be pushing it? .

[Death783]

No, i think a GNER would be great!

[jivebunny]

Found this whilst searching for something else

Thanks to Matt for testing the textures...

Very much just a test to see if it would work, so ignore the inaccuracies. When I get time, I may do a full repaint...

JB

[mjt222]

This is an excellent post, and thanks for writing it - its so much easier to understand that plain writing

One question though, how do you change the loco numbers, I can see all the individual numbers available but quite fathom how you go about using different configurations ?
Thanks in advance

[jivebunny]

Ok - Running numbers.

This is where it gets a little bit more complicated, although once you've done it a few times it's a piece of cake.

As you've seen, running numbers are made up of separate textures for the digits "0" through to "9" (found in the asset's "textures" folder) and these textures are put together to form a number on the model. These numbers are predetermined, and are generated according to the information contained in a file called loconame_numbers.dcsv (for example class43_numbers.dcsv), which can be found in each asset's main folder. This file is a simple text file containing a list of running numbers which the sim is allowed to assign to the locomotive / wagon / carriage. As far as I know, there is no limit to the number of er... numbers you can have.

The easiest way to edit the .dcsv file is to open it with notepad, which you can do by right-clicking the file and selecting "Open with". You may need to hold Shift and then right-click in order to see this option. This is the file you want, obviously for other locomotives the file will be named accordingly.


Once you've opened it, you'll see something like this. The numbers between the <Name> and </Name> tags are the ones you need to edit. You can change these to your heart's content, the only rules being that you can only use numbers 0-9, and you cannot use more than the standard five digits, eg 43012.


If you only want a small selection of running numbers (as I will for my NMT Class 43 for example), then you can do one of two things. 1) You can start repeating numbers you've already entered or 2) you can delete the surplus entries from the .dcsv file. Each entry starts with <cCSVItem and ends with </cCSVItem>, so if I were to delete the highlighted text below, it would remove one entry from the list. Simply repeat until you have the correct number of entries.


Once you have edited the list, save it and launch RS. The new running numbers will be automatically assigned when you place the loco / wagon on the track. If there's any interest I can also slap together a quick tutorial on editing the colour and font of the numbers, but that's another kettle of fish altogether. At some stage I'll put all these together in one thread and get them stickied

JB

[Sly401]

Hey JB
when you get to sorting amending the numbers with a Prefix E.M.W Sc S.... we gotta talk lol

Sly

[jivebunny]

You would need access to RSDL's source files in order to add an extra placeholder for the prefix. The only other way is to paint the prefix onto the skin itself. I am however working on reskinning the BR Green Class 47 into D1501 (chosen at random) but it's only half working out for the time being... stay tuned!

JB

[Sly401]

Hi JB

prob with coaches is that textures are flipped and reused so any prefix also appears at the blank end (and reversed)

hacking the RS decal setup is the way to go

Sly