First try at Custom Train

[lrg162]

First off a BIG thanks to Rodea ... I have borrowed liberally from his experience and work for this first attempt

Well I have tried to recreate the 'Sunlander' (a long distance train voyage here in Queensland, Australia)

It's far from perfect, but maybe someone with a bit more skill than me may be able to touch it up a bit ...

Also I wasn't sure which files I needed to include so included ALL of them, but it still seems to require Rodea's 'Borneo' map and assets to be installed (obviously there is something in one of the .nif or .kf/kfm files that I don't know how to change however the skin looks OK on the longer carriages.

Also included is a re-skin of the GP38 to be a close match for the Loco which pulls the 'Sunlander'

OT ... I have seen a few people write thta they are having trouble with the alpha's on ther train skins ... I use Paint.Net, which has built in support for .dds files (as well as many others) so there is no need for a .dds converter and I use tthe following settigs to save the files

So you can acually just delete the areas you don't want to show ingame and they become invisible, then save the file, it's as easy as that

[karsten]

Very nice reskin! Looks like an excellent Sunlander to me. Looking forward to your map.

[lrg162]

Thanks karsten ... I've still got to figure out how to make the 'QR' logo appear the correct way on both sides of the train, it's fine on one side (opposite side to the screenshot) but the skin appears backwards on the other ... I read somewhere on here there is a 'decal' type thing you can use to keep the writing on the train correct?

As for a Queensland (or Australia) map, that may take a little longer ... getting into the 'event' file is scary stuff ... Then to, their is quite a few train journey's I'd have to re-create ... The Ghan, the 3801 Ltd, The Indian Pacific, The Australind, The Prospector, The Cockle Train, as well as the Queensland only ones, The Sunlander, The Tilt Train, The Spirit of the Outback, The Westlander, The Inlander and many other standard rail trips ... Maybe I should just shoot myself now ...

Having said that, there is probably more fuel for a Scenario in Australia, as we don't have quite as many railroads as other countries, so it's easier to re-create, the coal trains from the mines at Ipswich to the old Tennyson Power Station for instance spring to mind, or maybe shipping convicts (passengers) from Botany Bay (Sydney) to Redcliffe (Moreton Bay Penal Colony, now the city of Brisbane) Bauxite from Broome (Far north in Western Australia) to Perth (Capital of Western Australia) to convert into Aluminium at refineries ... OK now I'm scaring myself even more

[karsten]

There could be a lot of creative mileage in trying to model a single story like eg "the coal trains from the mines at Ipswich to the old Tennyson Power Station", with a focus on a comparatively small area and a good story instead of eg the whole huge continent of Australia with the obvious compromises that need to be made. Calm Dragon comes to mind with the most successful and interesting experiments in this direction, why not check out his maps

[lrg162]

That's a good idea ... hmmm ... I'd still have to do the 'convict' (passenger) runs to Redcliffe first (Develop Brisbane into a Metropolis) then build the power station that the population now requires, which means it would then need coal, so I'd at almost the same timeI'd have to ship 'settlers' (passengers) to the mines at Redbank (Develop Ipswich into a Metropolis) so there was enough 'workers' for the mines, and then there is the 'Vegetable' (Wheat) Farms around Warwick which would also need to be developed in order for Brisbane and Ipswich to develop, and the 'Pine' Forests (Lumber) around The Glass House Mountains north of Brisbane for building all the new homes ... You could create quite a complex and tight little economic circle ... hmmm

[Rodea2007]

Ok...I will figure out what your problem as I see from your files.
1. passenger_car_v2.kfm still use "passenger_car_U20CDA.nif as NIF file name refference, so you have to change it with open passenger_car_v2.kfm in Nifscope then click KFM button ( see to the picture below) and and change the old NIF file name with passenger_car_v2.nif, then save as KFM (not NIF) file
2. passenger_car_v2.kfm still use all kf files with prefix Rodea_passenger_car_U20C, they are all provide by Borneo Island Map on the folder namely BIM_TrainCars, so you need to put that all files with your files tu run this KFM file, if not the game will be CTD
3. I guess it alls, and keep up your good working.....