[TUTORIAL] Reskinning

[jivebunny]

Hi All,

Thought I'd transfer this over from UKTS as I'm in no doubt that people will want to start reskinning the second they get their hands on RS! Apologies for the choice of locomotive, if I could have localised this tutorial then I would have done! Just to cover myself, I understand some of the railroad companies over in the US are a bit more sensitive about seeing their liveries in virtual form than our operating companies are over here, so make sure you have the appropriate permission if it's required...

First thing to note, is that Mike's RS_Tools_TMB can be used to manipulate config (.bin) and - I think - texture (.GeoPcDx) files, so you don't necessarily need to download the RSBinTool mentioned in the tutorial. Other than that, if you have any questions just ask! Here goes...

I'll write a quick tutorial on how to reskin the Intercity Swallow Class 47 as a separate locomotive (rather than overwriting the original). If you want to use a "Default" asset as a base to start from then please see the end of this first post, which details the additional steps required. I'll make sure it's easy to follow for the less computer-savvy among us and I hope those with more of a technical background don't feel too patronised by my wording This is actually very easy to carry out and simply requires a long-winded explanation, so don't be too daunted by the masses of text you'll see below!

First off, you'll need three things:

1) RSBinTool - download and install this to a location of your choice. Again, you can also use Mike's RS_Tools_TMB utility instead if you want to.

2) A graphics package such as Photoshop or Paintshop Pro. Alternatively there are some very good free packages such as The GIMP or Paint.NET

3) Patience. If you have not reskinned before you will need to learn to use the various features your graphics package has on offer. For this there are plenty of tutorials available on the net if you search about. If you have, then there are still .bin files to get to grips with. Once you know how it's easy though.

Now for the gritty stuff

- To start with, you'll need to make a copy of the folder containing the locomotive, carriage, wagon or object you want to reskin. These can all be found under Rail Simulator\Assets\Kuju\RailSimulator - Railway vehicles are contained within the aptly-named "RailVehicles" folder, which is itself subcategorised into Diesel, Electric, Steam etc... In this case I need to go into "Diesel\Class47 and select the folder "ICS".



Make a copy of the folder and rename it to whatever you want, in this case I'll name it IC_Exec, since I'm reskinning the loco into Intercity Executive livery.



Now, before you start to reskin you will need to alter the name of the locomotive. To do this you need to find the .bin file located within the "Engine" subfolder, which in this case is called "class47_ICS.bin". No need to rename it, simply copy it and then paste it into your main Rail Simulator directory.



Now, in your Rail Simulator directory, locate the file serz.exe and drag the .bin file onto it.


This will convert the .bin file to a .xml which we will then be able to edit using RSBinTool. A black DOS box will pop up for a second, after which you should see a new file in the folder called - in this case - class47_ICS.xml. If you want you can now delete class47_ICS.bin. If you need it again you'll still have a copy in the IC_Exec folder you just created.


Now you are ready to launch RSBinTool. If it's the first time you've used it, you'll need to tell it where your main Rail Simulator directory is. Once you've done that you're ready to start. Go to File>Open>XML File and select your newly-created .xml file.


To many, this will look like a pile of gobbledegook. It is, essentially. But thankfully the bits we need to change are in plain English. The first part is the "Name" section. This can be whatever you like, but should not be changed once you have started distributing the asset or using it in scenarios, as changing it is likely to cause "scenario failed to load" errors since the sim will no longer be able to find the asset. The second part is the "DisplayName" section. Again this can be whatever you like, but in contrast to the "name" section can be changed by the user to suit their tastes. For example I have renamed all my Class 47s to be listed as "Class 47 - Operator - Livery". Choose carefully as this is the name that will be displayed within the sim, for example in the editor's rolling stock list.



You will then need to find the following two lines (which are found together a bit further down) and edit them to reflect the new folder name. In this case,

                    <GeometryID d:type="cDeltaString">Kuju\RailSimulator\RailVehicles\Diesel\Class47\ICS\Engine\[00]class47</GeometryID>
                    <CollisionGeometryID d:type="cDeltaString">Kuju\RailSimulator\RailVehicles\Diesel\Class47\ICS\Engine\[00]class47</CollisionGeometryID>

...would need to be changed to

                    <GeometryID d:type="cDeltaString">Kuju\RailSimulator\RailVehicles\Diesel\Class47\IC_Exec\Engine\[00]class47</GeometryID>
                    <CollisionGeometryID d:type="cDeltaString">Kuju\RailSimulator\RailVehicles\Diesel\Class47\IC_Exec\Engine\[00]class47</CollisionGeometryID>

Once you're done, go to File>Save and select "yes" when asked to overwrite.

You will now need to go back to your main Rail Simulator folder and drag the .xml file (not the .bin file) onto serz.exe. This will reverse the process and convert the .xml to a .bin file. If you didn't delete the original .bin file, it will simply be overwritten. Once that's done, copy or drag the new .bin file to your IC_Exec\Engine folder, and overwrite the old one. Your locomotive now has a new name. If you want to check it in the editor, simply delete the blueprints.pak file from Rail Simulator\Assets\Kuju\RailSimulator and launch the sim


Using a "Default" asset as a base, rather than an existing reskin.

If you want to use a "default" asset as a base to work off rather than one of the built-in reskins (as in some cases that's all you get, the BR van being one example) then it's slightly different. I've just tested this out by making a fictional BR Blue version of the Standard Van and it turns out all you need to do is make a copy of the folder and then edit the .bin file (see my first post) to change each occurence of the file path from \RailVehicles\Freight\StandardVan\Default to \RailVehicles\Freight\StandardVan\NameOfNewFolder.

Takes a bit more time, but it works.



JB

[jivebunny]

Now for the slightly more fun part

Before you can reskin, you will need to ensure your graphics package can open and save .dds files. For Photoshop, the Nvidia plugins offer this capability and are available here. For the GIMP, there are some here. For any other packages, a google search should throw up a few results. Once you've installed the plugins you're yet again ready to go.

Launch RSBinTool and go to File>Open>Serz file... Go to Rail Simulator\Assets\Kuju\RailSimulator\RailVehicles\D iesel\Class47\IC_Exec\Engine\Textures or to whichever folder your asset's textures are located in. Here you will see two main texture files and a bunch of number textures. A lot of the time you will simply need to open each file in turn to see which texture does what. Every asset is different so a lot of trial and error will be needed to find the relevant textures when reskinning. In this case, the files we are interested in are class47_01.TgPcDx and class47_02.TgPcDx, open the first one for now.





You can zoom in and out using the zoom dropdown menu above the image to see exactly what area of the locomotive the texture covers. In this case it covers one side of the 47, the fronts, and some other bits. Once you're happy you have the right texture, go to the DDSTool menu in the top left corner, and choose Export DDS Data. This will save the textures in .dds format so that you can open them with your graphics package. When saving, I would recommend saving them to the same location as the .TgPcDx file you just opened, and also giving the .dds file(s) the same name(s) as the .TgPcDx files so that you know what's what. In this case I'd save it as "class47_01.dds". Repeat the same procedure for the other texture, class47_02.TgPcDx. You're now ready to open them up in your graphics package of choice.



Depending on which graphics package you're using, to save the texture files once you've altered them you'll need to choose either File>Save or File>Save As and select "D3D/DDS .dds" from the "Format" dropdown list. Alternatively, you may have to find a File>Export option or similar. I can't cover all packages so I'm just going with what I know from Photoshop. If prompted, you will need to ensure the file is saved as a DXT3 file with explicit alpha and set it to "Generate MIP maps". This is what the Photoshop export plugin looks like when correctly set up:



Back into RSBinTool we go, and we need to go to DDSTool>Import DDS Data, where we will select our newly-saved texture file to open. We can now go to File>Save As and select "Zoom (*.TgPcDx)" as the format. Once again, select yes when prompted to overwrite the original file. Remember to repeat this for all the texture files you've edited.



Once you've saved the files, hop into RS and go and admire your efforts


JB

[jivebunny]

Ok - Running numbers.

This is where it gets a little bit more complicated, although once you've done it a few times it's a piece of cake.

As you've seen, running numbers are made up of separate textures for the digits "0" through to "9" (found in the asset's "textures" folder) and these textures are put together to form a number on the model. These numbers are predetermined, and are generated according to the information contained in a file called loconame_numbers.dcsv (for example class43_numbers.dcsv), which can be found in each asset's main folder. This file is a simple text file containing a list of running numbers which the sim is allowed to assign to the locomotive / wagon / carriage. As far as I know, there is no limit to the number of er... numbers you can have.

The easiest way to edit the .dcsv file is to open it with notepad, which you can do by right-clicking the file and selecting "Open with". You may need to hold Shift and then right-click in order to see this option. This is the file you want, obviously for other locomotives the file will be named accordingly.


Once you've opened it, you'll see something like this. The numbers between the <Name> and </Name> tags are the ones you need to edit. You can change these to your heart's content, the only rules being that you can only use numbers 0-9, and you cannot use more than the standard five digits, eg 43012.


If you only want a small selection of running numbers (as I will for my NMT Class 43 for example), then you can do one of two things. 1) You can start repeating numbers you've already entered or 2) you can delete the surplus entries from the .dcsv file. Each entry starts with <cCSVItem and ends with </cCSVItem>, so if I were to delete the highlighted text below, it would remove one entry from the list. Simply repeat until you have the correct number of entries.


Once you have edited the list, save it and launch RS. The new running numbers will be automatically assigned when you place the loco / wagon on the track. If there's any interest I can also slap together a quick tutorial on editing the colour and font of the numbers, but that's another kettle of fish altogether. At some stage I'll put all these together in one thread and get them stickied

JB

[Hack]

I thought I would comment to bump the topic. Nice post, JB.

[els1223]

Oh I am sure Frank will LOVE to see this

[sporbust]

Oh I am sure Frank will LOVE to see this

yea i allready been reading this alot. Definately a diff deal but i got paint on an sd40

[els1223]

yea i allready been reading this alot. Definately a diff deal but i got paint on an sd40

Oh boy ....BNSF???

[seaboardairline]

jivebunny, well needed post! Thanks!

[jivebunny]

Cheers guys! Glad it's of use

If a mod sees this could I please ask for this thread to be stickified? Thanks!

JB (had no internet for three days )

[seaboardairline]

Cheers guys! Glad it's of use

If a mod sees this could I please ask for this thread to be stickified? Thanks!

JB (had no internet for three days )

Jive, I already sent a note to RSADAM asking it be kept.
Arthur