[Tyler Bundy]

Hello,

I'm not sure if this is an Open Rails bug or something gone wrong on my end, but I wanted to inquire about a problem I'm having with a TSM model. It may or may not be linked to the issue in this thread:
http://www.elvastowe...__1#entry215068

I've built a number of TSM locomotives recently based on ICG Paducah rebuilds. I use Polymaster to finish the TSM models, based on the Steam4Me tutorial. The models have glass facing outward and inward, and I include a non-animated cab interior for the #5 key passenger view. All of the models I've built recently have this modeled cab and #5 view, and they now number in the dozens. All of these models show window glass facing inwards in the #5 view, both in MSTS and Open Rails.



I recently made a second batch of GP11s, painted for the 1990's era. Four out of six models will not show inward-facing window glass tint in the #5 passenger view. It appears as though the Alpha material is being displayed as a Trans material. This issue only persists in Open Rails, and only in the #5 view; switch to #8 view and the inward-facing glass appears. Shape Viewer and MSTS display the interior glass correctly. In the screenshot above, the lead locomotive does not show the interior window tint but the two trailing units do. I have another set of three that do not show any tint inside. The previous set of 4 that I uploaded at TS did show tint.




Since 2 models show the glass correctly in Open Rails, I had a control to work from. I first exported a new shape, derived from one of the working model shapes. No change. Since the shapes use several common textures and only two main textures, I edited that new shape to call the two *Exterior* textures of one of the working models. That did it. The interior windows showed tint, but the exterior textures were incorrect. That seems to show that the shape is not the trouble, and that the *Exterior* textures affect the inward-facing glass tint. I re-created the texture in question to check if I may have a corrupted .ace, but the new texture behaved the same as the old one.


The Exterior textures of all the locomotive models were exported as Trans from TGATool2A. The cab interior was also exported as Trans. The window glass is 8-bit Alpha, split between two .aces, inside and outside. As I said before, many textures are shared between the models, including the window glass, cab interior and coupler/truck textures. The only texture difference between models are the two main exterior textures.

I went a step further and tried exporting the texture in all the TGATool2A export modes. Exporting the Exterior texture with Alpha (should be Trans) brought the tint back. Exporting as NoAlpha, Trans, or DXT produced no window tint in the #5 view. The Exterior textures are 2048x2048. In the model, the window glass is placed in the small space between the cab exterior and cab interior shell.

I seem to have run into a problem of the #5 interior view alpha tint being affected differently by two nearly-identical 2048x2048 exterior textures, both of which are located behind the glass face and facing the opposite direction.

Does this sound like an Open Rails bug? I'm completely puzzled. Any help would be appreciated!

Edit: I moved the HeadOut location inside the cab, and it shows the interior glass. Only the #5 view shows the interior glass as transparent.

Tyler

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[Jovet]

The "Trans" export option makes 1-bit alpha. Either fully opaque or fully transparent. You want the "Alpha" export option.

I've always designed my models to have alpha'd texture areas in a separate texture as otherwise the colors get watered down for alpha channel processing. This is not an issue in OR, but it was a big one in MSTS.

[Tyler Bundy]

Jovet,
Thank you for your reply. I should clarify that I use 1-bit Trans on my exterior textures as well as the cab interior shell. This is to cut holes out for windows and such. I use 8-bit Alpha for my glass textures, and the panes of glass sit between the interior face and the exterior face, similar to where a window pane would exist in real life. It's very similar to the method described in the "Mastering Polymaster" tutorial on the Steam4Me site.

I haven't discounted yet that the trouble might still be with the four offending "B" textures. I should have some time this evening to try more troubleshooting.

Tyler

[Tyler Bundy]

I have fixed the problem, or at least found a reasonable work-around.

It turns out that the "A" Exterior texture (Long hood, fuel tank) was causing the issue. When first created for the GP10, the "A" textures were exported with 1-bit Trans for transparency involving the air filter. Since the GP11 did not have a need for transparency in the "A" texture, I exported them as No Alpha. For some reason, exporting these "A" textures as No Alpha from TGATool2A caused the interior window tint to disappear when using the #5 passenger view in Open Rails. I re-exported these .ace files as 1-bit Trans, and voila!, the window tint returned in the #5 view.

I still find it peculiar that a completely unrelated texture could cause an issue like this. Nevertheless, I'm relieved that I tracked down the problem and can now finish the project.

Tyler