Renaming texture files?

LAST EDITED ON Oct-16-02 AT 00:50 AM (EDT)

I have a lot of locos in my TRAINSET folder. Several of them are really the same loco with different skins. Each one has it's own shape files, skin, sounds, cab, etc. It would make more sense to me to combine them all into one folder, so that all the AC4400CW's use the same shape files, sounds, cab, etc. and have separate skins and engine files for each one.Here's the question. How do I go about doing this? The skin for each loco has the same name, so I can't put them in the same folder without them overwriting each other and having the same skin, thus defeating the purpose. How do I change the name of the skin that the locomotive uses? I'm betting the shape files are the same for each, but they all have different names. I suspect the name of the shape files have to match the name of the engine file.

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

RE: Renaming texture files?, sniper297, Oct-16-02, 01:12 AM, (1) RE: Renaming texture files?, downside, Oct-16-02, 06:34 AM, (2) RE: Renaming texture files?, SDV, Oct-16-02, 07:51 PM, (3) RE: Renaming texture files?, dvdhoven, Oct-17-02, 01:14 PM, (4) RE: Renaming texture files?, SDV, Oct-17-02, 10:47 PM, (5) RE: Renaming texture files?, kevarc, Oct-17-02, 11:00 PM, (6) RE: Renaming texture files?, downside, Oct-18-02, 04:25 AM, (7) RE: Renaming texture files?, kevarc, Oct-18-02, 09:58 AM, (8) RE: Renaming texture files?, downside, Oct-18-02, 11:15 AM, (10) RE: Renaming texture files?, SDV, Oct-18-02, 10:00 AM, (9)

Conferences | Topics | Previous Topic | Next Topic

LAST EDITED ON Oct-16-02 AT 01:13 AM (EDT)

The shape files probably are the same, with one exception: the name of the ace file it's looking for. The shape files and ace files don't have to have the same name and often don't, the problem is each shape file is looking for one or more ace files. In some cases a loco reskinner just re-uses the same ace file name without changing the s file except for the name, which is why it needs to be in a seperate folder. So you can't combine shape files, since the shape file itself is what calls for the texture, and you'd end up with 9 different locos with the exact same skin.
.S (shape) and .SD (extended shape) files really aren't all that big anyway, what you want to do is alias the sounds and cabviews. There's a tutorial on how to do that somewhere, maybe over in the loco design forum.

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Kevin's (Kevarc) is at http://www.tahunter.net/tutorials.htmBill

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

LAST EDITED ON Oct-16-02 AT 07:52 PM (EDT)

Thanks, that will cut down on file size, but if it's possible to rename the texture files I'm still interested. Cutting down on the number of folders would be nice too. If anybody out there knows how to do it, I'm all ears!

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

>I suspect the name of the shape files have to match the name of the engine file.
Hi,You're wrong here. I have done the .eng/.wag file part of the Steam pack of the Ohio Route and I have several .eng/.wag files that uses the same .s file.For example, there is an 2-10-0 with green and one 2-10-0 with white classification lights. For each type of light there is a seperate .eng file, but both .eng call the same shape (.s) file.
I recommand to keep the name of the .sd and .s file the same.You can rename your .ace files, just as you want. Again I have done this last summer several times, but you have to change the .s files accordingly.So decompress the .s file of your choice. RouteRiter can do this for you. Afterwards you have an Unicode file, open it with Wordpad or a Unicode sensitive editor. Search for image or ace. You will find a list of the used .ace files. Now change the names of these .ace files accordingly to the new names. Save and close the .s file. Compress it by using RouteRiter or ffedit_unicode.Dick van den Hoven

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Thanks very much! Exactly what I needed.

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Yes you can do that.Another method to cut down on the number of folders is Enocell's method.1. Rename the files to match the car - for example: let us say you want to move ATSF boxcar (car b) into an existing ATSF boxcar (car a). Rename each file in the each different folder first. Car a files would be named atsfbox123.***. Car b would be atsfbox456.2. edit the eng and sd file to point to the new file names.3. This is the tricky part. Decompress the s file using Route Riter or ffedit or whatever the MS program name is. I prefer RR as it is really idiotproof for this. Now edit the s file in wordpad to change all the references in it to the new file names. Compress it. You would do this for BOTH cars.4. now move the redone files from boxcar b to folder a.The main drawback is if the cars are used in an activity. You will have to edit the consists and the loose consists to point to the right cars.Kevin Arceneaux
gdapia

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

<<
The main drawback is if the cars are used in an activity. You will have to edit the consists and the loose consists to point to the right cars.
>>And for that MSTS Activity Analysis from http://www.eto-software.de/ will do all the swapping around you want. Demo version which covers two of the default routes is free and the full registered version is $10 with unlimited updates at no additional cost. One of the best investments anyone can make if they don't fancy messing around in the editors.Bill

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

LAST EDITED ON Oct-18-02 AT 09:59 AM (EDT)

Conbuilder works just as well for this. As will Route Riter.Kevin Arceneaux
gdapia

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

>Conbuilder works just as well for this. As will Route
>Riter. That's good. To be honest I haven't tried either of those for that purpose having used Activity Analysis virtually since the day it was first released.Bill

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

I've found the consist files are quite easy to modify in notepad. I've already combined all my CP AC4400's into one folder, updated my coal train consist, and it runs great. And Route-Riter has activity analysis built-in, although you have to do the work yourself, but if I take small steps it shouldn't be a problem.

Alert | IP

[ Home | MSTS Forum | MSTS FAQ | File Library ] Copyright © 2002 by Nels Anderson. All Rights Reserved.