Battling the exporter

I managed to get an early draft of the 86 Class into Trainz for testing, and so that I could see what needed to be done to tweak the textures. This picture has a very rough texture on it for the moment.

So I started tweaking and moving things around, re-exported the model, and now it wont show up in any of Surveyor, Railyard, or Driver, in TS2009, despite showing up fine in Asset-X, Pev's Mesh Viewer, and even in CCP. There are no errors in CCP or even in the export process, and this has me stumped. All I can do is keep tweaking the textures and hope that the exporter begins to co-operate. I was even able to drive the one pictured here, but now - nothing.

Each time I've exported a model I've found the exporter to be very picky, especially about materials. At one stage it would just crash Max to the desktop if I renamed one particular texture to the standard .m.onetex naming convention. It exported just fine without that extension. Other times, it has crashed to desktop for no apparent reason, but every time it has been related to the materials.

These exporters have been around for over three years. One would think that Auran (N3V) would, from time to time, update the exporters - patching bugs such as these, but unfortunately Auran seem to be of the impression that you can release a piece of software once, then just forget about it. Not so with their flagship product though - they've released 3 or 4 versions of Trainz since the exporters were last updated. They seem to understand the concept of software development only when its directly connected to making them money, but without the exporters, where do they think the content would come from? Without content, JET is just an engine. It does nothing on its own.

Still, I press on. I keep tweaking the textures on the 86 Class, hoping that I'll hit that elusive magical combination that will cause the exported model to show up in Trainz - after all that's what its all about. In the mean-time, Im fiddling with a few side projects that are still in the modelling phase. I don't need to export them just yet so I can model happily without any problems.

Here is a shot from inside the cab. This is the low-res cab that is a part of the body mesh. You will see it through the windows in DCC mode. I tricked the camera to place it inside the cab on a multiple unit set. I've been trying to get the shiny stainless steel effect the way I want it, and I think its getting pretty close. The first thing that struck me about the real cab was how shiny it was. As you can see, there are still parts of the cab, and body that are untextured at this stage.

I've put the 86 Class aside for now and as I mentioned have been working on other things.  One of those things is a route. I want a route that is a) Unmistakably NSW, and b) appropriate for the 86 Class and the Tangara, so I've started putting something together. Ive always been impressed by the detail in the Wadalbavale line, and the sheer size of Pine Ridge, and Razorback, and I'm hoping to eventually come up with something inspired by all three.

I've started with the mountains - inspired by Lithgow being the former home of the 86 Class locomotives. At the highest point the rail is 600m above sea level, and Im gradually working my way down to sea level with some 2 and 3% grades to give a bit of a challenge, and to make good use of the dynamic regenerative braking in the 86 Class. This will be a coal run, down to the port at sea level.   I havnt started on any other sections but there will be other areas to explore as well, and of course commuter trains, which is where the Tangara comes in.

One major thing Im missing is decent Cityrail stations, so Im currently building one that I can throw in there for the time being. I'd like to expand on that and make a series of stations, but that is for the future.  I'd like to build something generic and have options available through scripting, similar to Andi06's station kit.

The Tangara is waiting to be converted to Max. I figure since TRS2006 is no longer supported there is no reason to keep it in Gmax.  The conversion process is a bit bumpy so I've been putting it off, but I hope to have an update on the Tangara in the next post (and some pics).

I'm not going to bother right now with the poly counts that I used to add to my posts, suffice to say the 86 Class in the pictures is about 18,000 polys and will use LOD by the time its ready for the final export.

Rent-a-cops Sheesh!

Last weekend, I went to Central Station to take a few "Research" photos of suburban trains. On the way there I stopped to take a few shots of Sydney Yard from the park that runs alongside it. It was kind of amusing, but just at that moment the police decided to drive through the park (normally closed to traffic). They stopped near me, deciding if they should bother getting out of the car or not, while I was taking a few photos through the fence. After a short while, they moved on. I guess I dont look like a terrorist.

It must have been no more than 2 minutes after I got to Central and started taking a few photos that the Cityrail Police (glorified security guards) came up to me and asked what I was doing, to which I replied "taking photos of trains". Well, actually it was just one of them. The other three had enough common sense to see that I was taking photos of trains, and didnt have to ask. This guy had a real problem with it.

He said. "You cant do that here". I asked why not, and his answer was that sometimes grafetti artists attack a train and then take photos of it as it travels around the network. I was like "Do you see any grafetti on this train?" He didnt. There was none. Not too bright this guy. I guess the others must have nick-named him "Tail Light", because he's not as bright as a headlght.

According to him, I had to get permission from the Station Master, which technically, is probably true, but lets check reality for a moment. People take photos all the time, at all kinds of places, including many rail fans and even train drivers with access to closed areas and trackside, who put their train photos up on the web for all to see (its just that none of those pics have the close-up detail I need to model complex parts like bogies etc). Heck, 3 weeks ago thousands of camera-toting rail fans decended on Sydney Terminal for the "150 Years of Rail" celebration, and between them, took more photos than you or I could in a year. (One of mine is above). I even managed to get a few photos from the narrow end of the Mortuary Station platform, which I normally wouldnt have access to. I didnt need to ask permission for that, and no one bothered me (or any of the other photographers) on that day.

Get real. I know its a different world now, after 911, but Im not plotting to drive a train into a building or anything. The truth is that you have a better chance of being killed in a car accident than in an act of terrorism. People are just paranoid, especially those who need to be seen as being concerned for the public's safety.