All the OLS/Redblock units were assigned to specific divisions and had the name spelled out below the CSX logo. 8428 was assigned to the Baltimore Division as could be seen often on the Cumberland and Mainline/Keystone Subdivisions often in helper service.
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Reskinning TrainSimulations SD45
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Here's a rough draft of what's next--4608 in YN2. Due to model limitations, this will be the last one that I do in this series. Beyond that, we'll just have to wait and see what Trainsimulations has in store. But so far it looks like the lines match relatively well for this scheme on this model and I should be able to continue, with some minor texture mismatch defects (like the handrail stanchions). Tyler did some pretty nifty things with his textures. But there's definitely something to be said about putting everything on one sheet, like TS does. Makes global color-matching and stripe-alignment a lot easier.
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Not sure why, but I always did like the clean look of the YN2 scheme. Then again, anything before the "Bright Future" scheme is far more appealing.
Looking forward to whatever you have in store for these locomotives!-Shawn K-
Derby Rail Shops
Maine Central Mountain Division: 25% Track, 12% Scenery.
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Tyler's CO 7508 is the closest for 8393, but it doesn't have the correct dynamic break shape. Clinchfield v3 comes with a Phase 2c style dynamic brake blister (which is the same, or at least more similar to the one on CSX 8393/CO 7534) and I explored using that cab.s as an FA to try to add the correct dynamic break shape, but the handrails are in different orientation and there was just going to be too much "static" anyway from so much areas of the 2 models overlapping.
Tyler was gracious enough to create the Clinchfield SD40 and GP38 models for me. He did a lot of research to make sure he got road and phase specific details correct. Which was important to both of us. At the time, we also discussed collaborating on an early CSX series. But when I reached back out him to start, he didn't respond. Seems like he has moved on from train simming.Last edited by yellowdog; 01-26-2024, 09:51.
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A couple of updates. 4608 is coming along. The striping takes forever. There is some paint bleed on the front handrails and stanchions, as the mapping isn't the best. I comprised, so there's some blue and grey patches in the wrong places.
I've also made some progress kitbashing a couple of SD40 units together to get a reasonably good model for CSX (ex C&O) 8393 and 4617. I got the proper dynamic break housing and front handrails in place (the handrails out of the cab had to move down). I was also able to leave the rock plow for 8393, but remove it for 4617. All of it seems to load properly in the sim. This solution is not elegant, but maybe it works ok. I haven't started repainting either of these kitbashed models yet, so it remains to be seen if the texture mapping works properly for either model. But I'm optimistic.
For each of the below pics, the inset is the original model (C&O 7508) and the larger is the kitbashed model.
Dynamic break housing:
Handrails
Rock plow/pilot
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That's not a bad idea. With the ability to have more than one freight animation, I'm surprised I haven't attempted this to get more accurate models that I need, for specific roads and specs. Then again, for some reason I never even thought about doing so!
makes it a heck of a lot easier than either, building it myself, attempting to reach out to the model maker, or wait patiently for TS to produce it..
Looking forward to the end results. Really like the looks of 4608 too.-Shawn K-
Derby Rail Shops
Maine Central Mountain Division: 25% Track, 12% Scenery.
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Hi Folks,
Looks great.
Is the original author of the SD40 still around? If it's a TSM model - perhaps it could be ported to Blender - released under GNU - which would make all kinds of upgrades, variants, and modifications possible. A couple mods to an existing model would be a great way to generate enthusiasm and get more people into actual 3D modeling. Of course - the author needs to be willing.
Just my two cents.
Back to work...
Regards,
Scott
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CSRX Yeah, I was working on something else when the idea struck me. The first time I tried it (a few posts above), I couldn't get it to work and thought the idea was DOA. But after thinking about it for a couple of days I was able to figure out a different process, and was able to successfully test it out today. It's a bit cumbersome, but doable. Tyler's models are pretty well suited for this because his cab.s files (which he uses for the 3D cabs) are essentially ready-made FAs that can be utilized as kitbash shells for mixing and matching with various full models, using alpha channels on both pieces to get the desired outcome. All the model specs and textures already match-up, so it's an easy "fit" in that regard. And I assume the cab.s is lower poly than the full model, saving system resources. But it would probably work with other models, too. I'm just not sure yet what the system hit would be (even using Tyler's models).
Unoriginal Thanks! It looks promising! I'll have to see what happens when I actually start painting the textures.
scottb613 Tyler and I were in pretty regular contact when he was making the Clinchfield models for me. But seems like he has dropped out of the hobby now. Which is what led me to this process. His readmes say his models are built in TSM, and give more information about repaints and freeware, etc. But nothing explicitly saying they are GNU. So I don't think we can go that route, unless he pops back in to give us the go ahead.
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I laugh a bit every time I see kitbash used here. It's entirely appropriate but, at the same time, such a throwback...If you like what you see here at Trainsim.com, be it the discussions and knowledge in the forums, items saved in our library or the ongoing development of our TSRE Fork, I hope you'll consider a paid membership to help support keeping the site operating.... Thanks!
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Ha ha, agreed. I don't know what else to call it, though, since it's not like a traditional FreightAnim--it is digital kitbashing....
I started with the base .s files, in this case the original C&O 7508 that Tyler released to the file library in his C&O SD40 80s pack and the cab.s file from the Clinchfield v3 set that Tyler made for me (I used his blank textures for this--which makes it look a lot like the undecorated HO shells I remember.... ha ha ha).
And then cut out the unwanted parts of each .s file (first changing TexDiff to BlendATexDiff in each .s file, then applying changes to the alpha channels in their textures where needed) while keeping and painting the parts I wanted. In this case, I wanted to change the handrails, dynamic brake blister, and plow/pilot of the 7508 model. I alphaed those parts off of 7508, while Ieaving just those parts on the CRR v3 shell by alphaing everything else out. Then I added the appropriate paint to the CRR v3 cab.s shell. (I haven't yet tested removing the cab textures from the shell, so they still appear on the alphaed CRR v3 .s file pictured below.)
Overlapping the two modified .s files in Shape File Viewer creates a frankenmodel, but gives the general idea of what it might look like.
TSRE Consist Builder displays the model correctly, assuming the kitbasher accurately modifies the eng file to use the shell as a FreightAnim
And it loads up in ORTS correctly, too, without any flickering that I've been able to notice, or errors in the logfile. Animations also appear to work as intended (I don't believe there are animations on the shell).
A concern may be system resources. But FPS on a camera view 4 roll by are similar for both the kitbash version (first pic below) and original version (2nd pic below)--FPS drops down to 220-250 when the train gets close, and then goes back up to 340+ once the first engine passes.
Kitbash at 220s:
Original at 250s:
And, of course, modifying the .s files by changing TexDiff to BlendATexDiff may also have unintended/unwanted results....
I'll also need to figure out how to get the 3d cabview working properly. The kitbashed version of the model above is currently pointing to the original 7508 cab.s file, with the incorrect dynamic brakes and handrails visible from the cab. I think it would be difficult (but maybe not impossible?) to try to create a kitbashed 3d cab.s file. I think in this instance, though, I can just replace the original 7508 cab.s with an unmodified crr v3 cab.s in a 1-to-1 swap, after applying the c&o paint to the crr v3 version. But other models may not be so "clean." I think this will still require 3 sets of similar textures in the loco folder, though--one for the base .s, one for the shell/freight anim .s, and one for the cab .s.
Assuming this process is viable, I should be able to get a couple other variants out of this series. Hopefully including CSX 8300/4600--the ex-GM SBD paint SD40 with no dynamic brakes (theoretically using Tyler's IC/ICG SD40 cab.s file and some other sd40 model, maybe the one from GM&O?). I have to finish 4608 first, though.... ha ha.
At any rate, this kitbashing process will all be completed on the reskinner side. The user won't have to do anything on their end to set it up.Last edited by yellowdog; 01-28-2024, 14:51.
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