[Procopius]

I've probably phrased the "problem" badly. When you go to the menu to select a route and activity, next to the name of the selected engine there's a button marked "Details." For many engines this takes you to a picture of the engine and some data on its capabilities. For some engines there's no picture or maybe a standard picture of three pairs of railroad tracks running diagonally across the screen. Why is this and is there a way to add a picture to the screen? It's not really particularly important, I'm just curious.

[ebnertra000]

Not all modelers have such an image with their sets. I try to on the very rare occasion that I make some, but I have probably missed one, too. One can be made by taking an image of the engine, and exporting it as an .ace named loco.ace in the engine's folder. They must have special dimensions that I don't know (I'm away from home)

[jdgremsjr]

Procopius, on 01 October 2017 - 05:09 AM, said:

I've probably phrased the "problem" badly. When you go to the menu to select a route and activity, next to the name of the selected engine there's a button marked "Details." For many engines this takes you to a picture of the engine and some data on its capabilities. For some engines there's no picture or maybe a standard picture of three pairs of railroad tracks running diagonally across the screen. Why is this and is there a way to add a picture to the screen? It's not really particularly important, I'm just curious.

If you are talking about MSTS, then it is because the builder of that particular engine didn't include the picture in the build. The description is from the .eng file, since I don't model I can't tell you where the picture is from but i think it is in one of the ace files. But it is up to the model builder to add the picture.

[B & O GUY]

Which consist editor are you talking about?

In ConBuilder the picture is optional. If you want it, I think it uses an image from Shape File Viewer if you have that installed. It doesn't always work though. Maybe the newer paid versions work better.

With RouteRiter's consist editor your guaranteed a picture every time and it doesn't even ask if you want it or not.

I'm a builder and don't include a snapshot in the Zip file. One is required here at ET at the time of uploading a creation to be posted along with the file description. That should be sufficient I would think.

Allen

[Procopius]

B & O GUY, on 01 October 2017 - 02:04 PM, said:

Which consist editor are you talking about?

In ConBuilder the picture is optional. If you want it, I think it uses an image from Shape File Viewer if you have that installed. It doesn't always work though. Maybe the newer paid versions work better.

With RouteRiter's consist editor your guaranteed a picture every time and it doesn't even ask if you want it or not.

I'm a builder and don't include a snapshot in the Zip file. One is required here at ET at the time of uploading a creation to be posted along with the file description. That should be sufficient I would think.

Allen

At this point I've only used the MSTS Activities Editor to build a consist.


Ah, I wondered about that "snapshot" thingy. I see many files including a .jpg with a name something like, "If you want you can use this for a thumbnail."

I've seen a tutorial, probably at steam4me, on packaging files for uploading, so that should probably give me any info I need about specific dimensions for the .jpg to be converted to .ace.

You inadvertently gave me some interesting information, though. I'm just beginning to scratch the surface of learning what Route Riter is capable of, and I had the impression it required ConBuilder to be installed, because it uses it for its own consist editor. I can't afford to buy ConBuilder, so hadn't started exploring that in RR. It has its own, independent from ConBuilder?

[ebnertra000]

You could always use Goku's new (and free) consist editor. It's easy to use, tells you things like length and weight of cars and of the whole train, and is far less prone to the kinds of problems the old AE consist editor has

[espee]

And Goku's Consist Editor generates its own images, so you don't need thumbnails...

[jdgremsjr]

ebnertra000, on 01 October 2017 - 08:08 PM, said:

You could always use Goku's new (and free) consist editor. It's easy to use, tells you things like length and weight of cars and of the whole train, and is far less prone to the kinds of problems the old AE consist editor has

Conbuilder is a must have, it is $30.00 for a lifetime subscription. They also have a private forum for support. I recommend everyone using MSTS to buy it. I haven't been impressed with Goku's consist builder, but I swear my Conbuilder.