[GreatNortherner]

http://www.elvastowe...eenshot&id=1465
File Name: 40ft NP Icebox Reefer
File Submitter: GreatNortherner
File Submitted: 06 Sep 2012
File Updated: 20 Sep 2012
File Category: Reefers Std Gauge

This is a model of a Northern Pacific 40ft icebox reefer, originally built in 3DCrafter for RailSimulator.com's RailWorks game. The model comes ready to run in one paint version, with open or closed ice hatches, and each car can be run empty or loaded. Comes with Bill Prieger's Pro Pack brake settings and friction data done with Fcalc2. The shape file export and setup was done with Paul Gausden's TrainWorks plug-ins for 3DCrafter.


System Requirements:

This model has been designed for Open Rails Train Simulator, however it should work fine in Microsoft Train Simulator too (MSTS-Bin Patch strongly recommended).

Caution: This model has a high polycount (15,000 in the near LOD, “freight-anim” and main objects combined) and uses large textures, so it might cause problems when used in large numbers on old PCs. However, aggressive distant LODs are included in the model, so overall this model should still work fine on most PCs.


Installation:

1.Extract the ZIP file to your Train Simulator\TRAINS\Trainset folder
2.A new folder, called “GA Reefer-40ft NP” will be created
3.Use RouteRiter or the MSTS Activity Editor to include the cars in your consist(s)
4.The cars are named: “Reefer 40ft NP [cls/open] [mt/ld]”


Copyright, Repaints, Distribution:

All of the contents of this software are copyrighted material. You may use and include them in route or activity uploads as long as they are free of charge. Please do not re-upload this original zip archive to other places, this always makes it very difficult to keep track of things in case I have to do an update for whatever reason.

You can do repaints of the included objects and you are allowed to distribute them as long as it is free of charge. If you wish to include the objects in a payware project of yours, please contact me first.

This add-on is provided to you on an as-is basis. Although unlikely to happen at all, I shall not be held responsible for any damage any part of this software might do to your system.

One or more textures on this 3D model have been created with images from CGTextures.com. These images may not be redistributed by default, please visit www.cgtextures.com for more information.


Support:

For questions and comments, please email or PM me via the Elvas Tower forum.

Thank you!
Michael

Click here to download this file

[timmuir]

Hi Michael,

I'm going to go against your warning and try it out in MSTS. It should work, since I've made a few box cars (in TSM/ via Polymaster2) that are 14,000+ polys, in one shape (SP B-50-15 and -16, for example)! Did you experience crashing in MSTS with this car?

At any rate, thank you for making a better quality version of this car.

[charland]

The CB&Q flatcar with the farm tractor load I made for the DAR route is 20194 polygons and runs file on MSTS as one shape... after running the car through Polymaster V2 of course.

Paul :-)

[GreatNortherner]

Hi,

Thanks for comments and PMs, I appreciate your help!

I thought the model would work in MSTS too, all the groups in the shape files are at most a bit above 2000 poly, I ran it through the "Shape Fix" tool (is that the same as Polymaster?) -- but then it still crashed ("can't add rail vehicle to scene, UID error 2000001" or something like that).

Reading all your comments and suggestions I'm beginning to think that there must be a serious bug in the geometry. I'll try to retrace my steps in 3DC.

Thanks!
Michael

[charland]

Hi Michael,

I'm not familiar with 3D Crafter so I'm not sure if that file format will open in Polymaster or not.... if it will Polymaster is used to divide you files into smaller groups that MSTS can handle properly. When a large file is opened you may have let's say 25000 polygons, Polymaster allows you to divide the model into groups of up to 14000 polygons which MSTS can read properly. You can also select sub objects like details and set them as different LODs. If you use Trainsim Modeler like Tim and I do, you can select your transparencies as the last subgroup to correct the transparency problem TSM has.

Polymaster v2 is free at:

http://www.simtreni....ent.php?dlid=60

Paul :-)

PS: Tim taught me everything I know about Polymaster, so if you have a problem it's probably his fault! :-)

[Eldorado.Railroad]

GreatNortherner, on 07 September 2012 - 01:05 AM, said:

Hi,

Thanks for comments and PMs, I appreciate your help!

I thought the model would work in MSTS too, all the groups in the shape files are at most a bit above 2000 poly, I ran it through the "Shape Fix" tool (is that the same as Polymaster?) -- but then it still crashed ("can't add rail vehicle to scene, UID error 2000001" or something like that).

Reading all your comments and suggestions I'm beginning to think that there must be a serious bug in the geometry. I'll try to retrace my steps in 3DC.

Thanks!
Michael

Can't help but notice the "deutsche" flag Micheal. It will be useful to know that PolyMaster was written by a fellow of yours. So you can download the german language version of PolyMaster as some of the english information was "lost in translation".

From my personal experience with 3D Crafter/Canvas the MSTS exporter already does optimization if there are enough polygons. This means that there are already subobjects in the shape file. The MSTS exporter gives you no control as to how this is done. The side effect of this is that PolyMaster will NOT load your model if it already has subobjects.

About to download your model to take a look at it,

Eldorado

[Eldorado.Railroad]

The following changes are required in the wagon files, otherwise errors occur:

reefer40ft-np1-open-mt.wag

Wagon ( reefer40ft-np1-open-mt

reefer40ft-np1-open-lo.wag

Wagon ( reefer40ft-np1-open-lo

reefer40ft-np1-cls-mt.wag

Wagon ( reefer40ft-np1-cls-mt

reefer40ft-np1-cls-lo.wag

Wagon ( reefer40ft-np1-cls-lo

Michael these are great additions to Open Rails! One other thing you might want to look at are the LODS, because Open Rails is visually clearer over a longer distance. This is a matter of personal preference, but I find that placing LODS at a minimum distance of 95 and 285 meters works best, without being noticeable in Open Rails and without generating a huge shape file size.

I hope that more works get translated into Open Rails from your capable hands, danke schoen!

Eldorado

[GreatNortherner]

Thank you so much for all your help!

I have just added an update to the original post in the beta files download section, if you install this on top of the existing install it should allow you to run the cars in MSTS too.

The key issues that caused the malfunctions in MSTS were I believe first the erros in the Wagon lines (I can't believe I didn't spot those, thanks Eldorado for pointing them out to me!) and a few stray things in the FA shape causing weird graphics artefacts on the screen. After cleaning up the geometry in 3DC and re-exporting everything seems to run smooth and stable.

Cheers,
Michael

[timmuir]

Thanks, Michael, she's a runner (in MSTS) now!

:pleasantry: