first off, this is going to be quite long but it may make this place a little less tart than it is when it comes to these touchy subjects. 1.Locomotive Reskinning Ethics: If you repaint/ paint a locomotive or any object for MSTS it is okay to ask for opinions(and the praise that comes along does not hurt either), but do not ask for prasise for a reskin you have done. it makes you look like you have an inflated ego the size of the Hindenburg. it is like saying "look at how cool this is, say its cool or else". asking for praise is not good, if others think it is good they will say so. If you want to ask for somebody's opinion on a reskin remember it is just a reskin and YOU did it, they are just voicing what they think of it. What YOU think of your reskin is what matters. if people's advice makes it look better great! if not change it back! but do not bash somebody for thier opinions. i asked for opinions on a reskin i did of some Texas Western f-units and a certain person bashed the paint job. it turned out that the bashing made me tweak the livery into a very realistic looking engine. on the flip side if you see a repaint try not to bash, instead give constructive critism. suggesting a way to fix something that bugs you on a another's repaint is better than bashing it. or is you know how to reskin, fix it your self. i did that to NALW's big boy front cab windows and never said a peep. and i made it to my liking. if something bothers you about a repaint, fix it or suggest to the creator to fix it (in a polite manner). Doing this instead of bashing somebody will yield a better product for all of us. Remember people do have emotions and insulting somebody's working can crush their self esstiem. Locomotive Reskinning Ethics part II, requesting repaints:
this one is a double edged sword and has been a root for many flame wars (this also applies to 3d models of MSTS stuff). If you want a certain railroad livery done on a loco and CANNOT do it your self politely ask somebody you know that does good reskin work and if they have time they may do it. I beninly asked a question like this to rick lamp never intending for it to get done and he actually did it! being polite helps alot in getting your request processed. If you want to keep it general and nobody answers, ask a specific person to do the reskin. if the person does not have time for it or does not want to do it DO NOT get discouraged. If no one wants to do a reskin of your request, try repainting yourself. there are many people here who are "Nervous to get into the water" and will never reskin. yes it takes time to learn and patience but even if you get frustrated while doing a rekin eventually it will come out the way you wanted it to and you will be happy will a new piece of equipment you made. Many people here like myself and *many* others are willing to help out if you get stuck. plus there are many tutorials on reskinning here and at train artisan.com which help tremendously if you are a newcomer. ( i had to be self taught since i started reskinning before the concept of TGAtool2, gods how i hate DOS!) Reskinning is easy but it is a must to get the TGAtool2 at http://www.mnwright.btinternet.co.uk/index.htm. click on the Trainsimulator link and download the software. it is free and is very small in size only 179k. this allows you to convert .ace files into workable.bmp or .tga files to play around with in a graphics program and converts them back again show your changes show up in the sim. if you do not want to pay the $ for a new version of a graphics software download a demo version. www.jasc.com always has trial versions of thier products which are fully functional and last for 60 days before they will no longer work. (there is a way to get around that however, resetting the date to a time before the 60th day will TF the program into thinking it is that day, and will run again. i have been using the demo version of psp6 for over 2 years this way) yes i know this little tid bit is not "proper" but if you are strapped for cash it is great. if you want to stay morally clean, you can buy older versions of graphics programs for very cheap prices. psp7 is $100 because it is new, but psp6 is $39.99 because it is an older version. i have demos of both and there really is not much added to psp7 compared to psp6. the "other" part of making a train come to life is the making a file for it in trainsim show it will show up in the consist editor in MSTS editors and tools. if you do not know where to begin with this ask somebody to help you along with it. it is very complex and too lengthly to step-by-step it here. again if you ask politely about something people will be glad to help and before you know it something you painted made will be running in MSTS. and i cannot stress this enough, PATIENCE, PATIENCE, PATIENCE!!! it will pay of big as you get better at making repaints for the game.the last part of this gospel
being accepted at the forum here
this is probably hard to do for some but these pointers will make it much eaier to be accepted here. do not flame, bash, or post well, stupid posts, this a repellant right right off the bat. being immature is not the way to be accepted into a group. yes you cannot see the people you are typing to but they are HUMAN BEINGS and deserve to be treated the way you would like to. (the golden rule never fails). being nice to one another allows you to make friends here, even though you cannot see them. tim hunter is a friend i made here and one of the nicest people i've ever met (he also helped me get out of a re-skinning rut). age also seems to have no difference here. Tim is in his 50's and i am only 17, so since age doesn't matter and we all have something in common, trains, it's all good. Ego try to keep it down but not out. we don't like dry posts but ones that are sopping wet are not good either. if you are excited about something or are proud of something you did try to post it in a way that doesn't make you look like you are trying to brag. people here love to see your work even if you target group is small. if you make one person happy consider what you did a success. if a hundred people like it great, if one does good. but remember the only person that REALLY has to like something you did is yourself. being nice to one another about your work helps too. cutting down someone's work can crush their self esstiem into little pieces. constructive critism is great, as long as its that, constructive. If you are what we all call trolls and you are here to pester us, the best thing to do is just leave this forum and go elsewhere. people that are here just to be rude oh how can i say this, are not welcome here. if you are willing to be part of this forum and have meaningful posts go crazy. if not stick to e-mail and chat rooms, at least the messages there are not kept in an archive. last but not least THIS FORUM IS NOT A POPULARITY CONTEST, WHO IS BETTER IS IRRELAVENT. we all do good work here some of us have even made a name for ourselves (you know who you are) we all like sharing ideas, thoughts and suggestions, but keep them nice. you will make friends, instead of enemies that way. Posting off topic is okay but try to not be inappropraite with the o/t posts some i've seen her sould not have ever been posted. If you follow these guidelines you will make a name for yourself naturally over time instead of trying to make a name for yourself. being accepted is better than trying to be accepted.amen, i hope we can all learn from this and become even better people than we are. i know we fight sometimes but we should control our emotions not let them control us. hopefully this will make this forum a better place than it is now (and now its not that bad but kinks need to be ironed out)
Hauling America one pixel at a time
Bill Hemb train sim repainter, autocad 2002 3d modeler
Ah, the country's going down the tubes. What Tubes? I don't see any tubes.-George Carlin
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