Basin & Range Demo map

Lowell · Post by **Lowell** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 9:08 pm

This is one of my favorite maps. Very well done, nice models as well. I was wondering about the "steel skin" on the passenger and mail cars. It doesn't have the same shinny texture like the F units do.

I was looking at the DSC cars as well and found some tga files inside Trainz (which is almost impossible) and was thinking of using different skins...here are a couple samples.

I'm not sure about seventeen but I have found several already.

snoopy55 · Post by **snoopy55** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 1:17 am

That was one of my questions. The seventeen DSC are up for grabsas far as better decoration. I had made the icons for the different goods and just echoed the container colors to match. A few different colors for the cars themselves would look better also. The wording is the hard part for me. I don't know which parts of the skins cover which parts of the container. Also, I don't know if the pixels (?) are fine enough to handle names.

K-class · Post by **K-class** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 6:54 am

Hey snoopy55 if I read this right you are off to re colour some icons / container colors and after a few hours of hard work which we appreciate there will be a update to download???

choobacca · Post by **choobacca** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 3:05 pm

The current container texturing is very crude in that it is with the Goods car texture map. I plan to separate the Well car texture from the Container textures which will greatly improve the quality of the container textures.

And thanks to Lowell for posting the above texture maps. I will make use of these. If you have more, I am very interested in seeing them.

snoopy55 · Post by **snoopy55** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:59 pm

K-class - got the containers recolored, just having a hard time finding time to do the icons, which should be easy once I get into them.

Choobacca - you mean I'm gonna have to do that all over again???

snoopy55 · Post by **snoopy55** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 6:46 pm

choobacca, Big Papa - in trying to change the icon for the containers I run into the little problem of the programs I use, IrfanView, IcoFX and Paint Shop Pro 7 are going to be hard to use with the structure of the icon you made. My finals on the containers themselves are poor next to yours, I didn't get into the deep detail as I only used 2 colors for each one. The icons use a whole lot of colors. Any thoughts on programs to use that don't cost? (hey, I can't even afford to replace my soapbox.....

)

choobacca · Post by **choobacca** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 3:02 am

Here is a look at the new containers with the textures Lowell posted.
Did you find any more Lowell?

Lowell · Post by **Lowell** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 3:05 am

choobacca wrote:The current container texturing is very crude in that it is with the Goods car texture map. I plan to separate the Well car texture from the Container textures which will greatly improve the quality of the container textures.

And thanks to Lowell for posting the above texture maps. I will make use of these. If you have more, I am very interested in seeing them.

Sure...those are jpgs, I have the TGA files for those two and a couple others...

EDIT//I have zipped up all the tga files. There are 24 different ones. A couple are for 20ft containers. Also a tga of a dark blue N&W f3, I am about half way with it myself.
::::same file rar or zip::::
http://www.CrimsonSun.cc/containers4_11_07.rar
http://www.CrimsonSun.cc/containers4_11_07.zip

EDIT//EDIT//I'm sure the tga files will provide much greater detail for the containers. "Even the jpgs look good." I still like those Santa Fe units in the above photo, those came out real good.

choobacca · Post by **choobacca** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 3:00 pm

Thanks Lowell, those texture maps are great!
Big Papa and I have been skinning engines and train cars for the BNSF RR including Burlington Northern and Santa Fe paint schemes. We plan to release these with our Basin & Range v1.0 map. Then we are going to tackle Union Pacific.
All other railroad companies are up for grabs, so don't worry, we aren't stepping on your toes with N&W.

choobacca · Post by **choobacca** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 3:09 pm

snoopy55 wrote:choobacca, Big Papa - in trying to change the icon for the containers I run into the little problem of the programs I use, IrfanView, IcoFX and Paint Shop Pro 7 are going to be hard to use with the structure of the icon you made. My finals on the containers themselves are poor next to yours, I didn't get into the deep detail as I only used 2 colors for each one. The icons use a whole lot of colors. Any thoughts on programs to use that don't cost? (hey, I can't even afford to replace my soapbox..... )

Snoopy,
I use PSP7 and PhotoShop. PSP doesn't handle the Alpha layers though, so this might be your problem. Your containers look good, but if you want to finish up your icons as best you can, I can look at them and recommend options, or even clean them up for you.

Lowell · Post by **Lowell** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 7:40 pm

I have modeled Burlington Northern in HO scale for over twenty years. I can't wait for the new models...sounds great!

The N&W F unit is one I had found and had started messing with, you are welcome to try it.

snoopy55 · Post by **snoopy55** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 12:44 am

choobacca - I can get the icons colored correctly in the 64 x 64 size as .ICO, .JPG and .TGA. I can't figure out how to get them to 32 and 16 size. I may just wait to see what you come up with. My mind is a bit confused right now, to many ER runs.

Below are 2 versions of the DSC_R containers. You might have a way to get them to 32 and 16.

choobacca · Post by **choobacca** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:19 pm

Snoopy,
Please attach TGA formats of these files. I can't work with the ICO files you attached above, and the game doesn't use them either.

If you have the 64 pixel image, you can simply resize the image to 32 and 16 pixel images.
Here are the steps to take in Paint Shop Pro 7:

With your 64 pixel TGA image open and selected, make 2 copies by pressing "Ctrl+C", "Ctrl+V", "Ctrl+V".

Select Image1 and click on "Image-->Resize".
Specify 32 for Width and Height.
Click OK.
Then sharpen the image by "Effects-->Sharpen-->Sharpen"
Save as icon_DSC_R_32.tga.

Select Image2 and click on "Image-->Resize".
Specify 16 for Width and Height.
Click OK.
Then sharpen the image by "Effects-->Sharpen-->Sharpen"
Save as icon_DSC_R_16.tga.

Now you have 32 and 16 pixel images.

But PSP7 doesn't let you add an Alpha channel to the images. I am not familiar with any freeware programs that do, but I'm sure they are out there. The Alpha channel is needed to make the icons round in the game instead of square. But you can still test with the square ones.

snoopy55 · Post by **snoopy55** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:21 pm

OK, here are the TGAs I did. They are only 16 color as I guess I don't have the patience to do the # of colors in the one you guys did. I put these in my map, but next to your, it's like college to kindergarden.

If you're going to put out different icons to go with different loads, then I can wait.

Post by **Warll** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 4:09 am

choobacca wrote:
But PSP7 doesn't let you add an Alpha channel to the images. I am not familiar with any freeware programs that do, but I'm sure they are out there. The Alpha channel is needed to make the icons round in the game instead of square. But you can still test with the square ones.

GIMP can make alpha channel.