Railroad Tycoon 3 Trainmaster Rolling Stock Developer's Kit 1.04 - 1.05 - 1.06 - Trainmaster This zip file contains a number of utilities to make developing rolling stock for RT3 Trainmaster easy. It contains everything you need except a photo editor capable of saving to TGA with an alpha channel. Trainmaster rolling stock works on a naming convention where the cars are broken up into a number of different eras. This allows for different start an stop dates for the different car packs that can be produced. By following the naming convention, changing car packs is easy an simple for users, and partial packs can be added for scenarios. A separate document will be produced to cover this topic. Note: In Trainmaster, the Dining Car is a First Class Carriage. --------------------------------------------------------- In this zip: DDS View - This is a program that will allow you to view DDS files and you can also save files as TGA. It will also convert TGA to DDS, however, the coversion results in scrambling, so for better conversion, use the NVidia utlities below. Hint: Ihave associated dds with this program so I can double click on a dds file in Explorer and it opens it. XVI32 - A HexEditor, the one that I use for editing profile.imb files, and can also be used for editing 3dp files. PK4 - Pack4 is the command line utility for packing pk4 files. I have created a batch file to make it easier. Pack4 creates a pk4 using a text file that lists the files to be packed. I use the extension .lst. PK4 Unpack - Is a java command line utility for unpacking pk4 files. Again, a batch file is included because it makes things easier. Just edit the bat file to change the file names when you are using it. NVidia DDS Utilities. This is for converting TGA files to DDS. It is a command line utility that accepts wild cards. A batch file is also provided that contains the proper command line switches for dds files compatible with RT3. This batch file need not be edited. NVidia Texture tools are also included as an extra, although I have not used them. User Skinning tools from RT3 are also included in case users don't already have them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rolling Stock Rolling stock in RT3 is made up of a few different files. The car and cgo files in the EngineTypes folder contain the information about the car, and also which files are used to create the car in the game. The RT3 defaults are spread across a number of different pk4 files in the 2d and 3d folders. The default location for Trainmaster rolling stock pk4 files is the 3d folder because the game engine looks there first, and then to the PopTopExtraContent, then the UserExtraContent Folders. It will use the files it finds last. The cars are created in the game from the following files: 3dp - These are the model files that give the car its 3d shape. They can be edited manual with a hex editor and their shape altered. dds - this is the skin file. the game will also accept TGA, however, it prefers DDS. The tga versions of these files can be edited to give a car a completely different look. The _Profile_A.dds file is the profile image the player sees as a profile of the car in the train list. imb - This is an image bag file which contains the information related to the profile image. It has the height (always 32) and the length of the car in pixels for determining what is shown in the trainlist window. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Naming Convention - PK4 Pk4 files should always be prefixed by Trainmaster so that users will know that the files are compliant with the car and cgo files. Then the car sets should be indentied, then the country or road name, and then if it is a partial set the eras, i.e. CG (for C D E F G). Full Sets Hierarchy: -> 3D (game default) -> PoptopExtraContent (user default) -> UserExtraContent Trainmaster_ExpressCars_.pk4 - Passenger, Diner, Mail Trainmaster_MailCars_.pk4 - Mail Trainmaster_PassengerCars_.pk4 - Passenger, Diner Trainmaster_BoxCars_.pk4 - BoxCars ----- Partial Sets Hierarchy: -> UserExtraContent Examples of Partial Sets: Trainmaster_ExpressCars_CPRail_CL.pk4 - Passenger, Diner, Mail from 1860-> Trainmaster_BoxCars_Paper.pk4 - Full set of Paper Boxcars only Trainmaster_Scenario_.pk4 - rolling stock, or other extras specific to a scenario. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Naming Convention - Models For Trainmaster rolling stock to work properly, it is necessary to follow the naming convention for the cars as they are in the car file. Then the car sets as pk4 files can be placed in the ExtraContent folders and they will override the defaults, changing the cars in the game being played. To create a car set, copy the necessary 3dp files and rename them to the car you want to replace. Edit the corresponding tga file, and rename it to the same as the 3dp files(TGA and 3DP files always have the same car name). Create the appropriate profile image for that car with the associated imb file. Passenger Carriages: Eras - A-L 3dp/DDS - PassTMA Profile - PassA_Profile ----------- Troop Carriers: Eras - A-L 3dp/DDS - TroopsA Profile - TroopsA_Profile ----------- Mail Cars Eras - A-H 3dp/DDS - MailA Profile - MailA_Profile ----------- Box Cars Eras - A-F 3dp/DDS - Box_A Profile - Box_A_Profile (brown - brune- oranj - blue - red - paper) ----------- Stake Cars Eras - A-F 3dp/DDS - Stake_A Profile - Stake_A_Profile (grn-red) ----------- The eras for the cars are: Passengers - Troops Mail Boxcars - Stake Cars A - 1830 - 1844 A 1830 - 1847 A 1830-1844 B - 1845 - 1859 B 1848 - 1879 B 1845-1884 C - 1860 - 1879 C 1880 - 1899 C 1885-1919 D - 1880 - 1904 D 1900 - 1924 D 1920-1954 E - 1905 - 1919 E 1925 - 1947 E 1955-1984 F - 1920 - 1834 F 1948 - 1969 F 1985-> G - 1935 - 1949 G 1970 - 2004 H - 1950 - 1859 H 2005 - > I - 1960 - 1974 J - 1975 - 1994 K - 1995 - 2009 L - 2010 - > Note: Troops are made available from 1830 instead of 1838. As other sets are created, this information will be updated. ---------------------------------------------------------- Questions can be posted at: http://hawkdawg.com/forums/ Happy Railroading! Nedfumpkin