Problems getting my Percy the Small Engine into MSTS

Hey – Great job…

I’m amazed every time I run that plugin of Paul’s… Three different levels of detail for the wheels are available as well… Looks like you opted for the Hi-Res ones…

Good luck…

Regards,
Scott

Hello all, as I am new to 3DC and MSTS model exporting, I have a muddle with my Percy onto MSTS.

Here is Percy the Small Engine in 3DC.

[img:1wdzfjmz]http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/uu254/FelixCheng/percy1.jpg[/img:1wdzfjmz]

Then, when I exported him and opened him up in Shape Viewer, he didn’t show up. Is there a shape limit that exceeded or not? Or it’s just me <!– s:P –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_razz.gif" alt=":P" title="Razz" /><!– s:P –>

[img:1wdzfjmz]http&#58;//i653&#46;photobucket&#46;com/albums/uu254/FelixCheng/percy2&#46;jpg[/img:1wdzfjmz]

Note: side rods and pistons hadn’t been made yet until his first test. If anyone is professional enough to help me out with this, let me know and please help me too.

-Thanks.

Another update on Percy, accurately thickened boiler stripes as they were a bit too thin.

[img]http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/uu254/FelixCheng/percy3.jpg’]

The main fault with the export is that there were spaces in the texture file names – not allowed in MSTS.

Thanks, Paul. <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –> I’ve renamed the texture file names by reducing the spaces, and thus, compacting all. So therefore, I might need to resend you Percy’s 3dc file to look into the rods and piston animations.

-Felix

I would suggest reading this tutorial

[img:wj8j0jkk]http&#58;//web&#46;archive&#46;org/web/20070831010148/steam4me&#46;railpage&#46;org&#46;au/trainsim/tutorials/Steam3DC/steam3DC&#46;htm[/img:wj8j0jkk]
<!– m –><a class="postlink" href="http://web.archive.org/web/200…team3DC/steam3DC.htm">http://web.archive.org/web/200…team3DC/steam3DC.htm</a>&lt;!– m –>

(Until the steam4me website returns)

There are also a few on animating rods here:
[img:wj8j0jkk]http&#58;//web&#46;archive&#46;org/web/20060421092346/http&#58;//steam4me&#46;railpage&#46;org&#46;au/trainsim/tutorials/#models[/img:wj8j0jkk]
<!– m –><a class="postlink" href="http://web.archive.org/web/200…im/tutorials/#models">http://web.archive.org/web/200…im/tutorials/#models</a>&lt;!– m –>

A rather large update on Percy. Body height rescaled correctly, construction on the piston and rods.

[img:1tmxvbjh]http&#58;//i653&#46;photobucket&#46;com/albums/uu254/FelixCheng/percy4&#46;jpg[/img:1tmxvbjh]

After reading the tutorial, I’m confused with the rods mainly of where they should be grouped in which wheel.

Hi…

Did you try Paul’s Enginneer and Rod Animator plugins ??? The Engineer plugin creates and animates the wheels, connecting rods, and bearings… The Rod Animator animates the piston rods, eccentric rods, and piston… It makes this whole process so easy…

Here is how I set mine up… I have a few more animated parts as I have two trucks/bogies and eight drivers… The rod that connects all the wheels is in my Wheel4 group… The eccentric rod and the piston rod are in the Wheel2 group… Then I created another group for all my other animated parts…

See attached:

Regards,
Scott

Got it, Scott. I tried the Animator plugin but unfortunately, I got an error saying:

9
Subscript out of range
3DC7

But however, I will see what I can do about Percy.

Hi…

It looks like you have your own custom wheels… Maybe the error had something to do with that – as I have always used the Engineer plugin to build the wheels…

Glad your on the right track anyway…

Good luck…

Regards,
Scott

The good news about Percy:

To get Percy’s pistons and respective piston rods to animate properly, I basically go to the animate mode, adjust the positioning of the pistons/rods and when he’s exported, Percy’s pistons worked. <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

P.S., To Scott, I grouped the rods/pistons in Wheels2 in Percy’s case, seeing he’s an 0-4-0 saddle tank engine.

Hi…

Sounds like you are on a roll… I thought about ‘Subscript out of range’ error – I think it throws that when just re-animating the wheels without any rods specified – it’s normal…

If you build another engine – really – take the time to learn the ‘Engineer’ and ‘Rod Animator’ plugins… Paul has a complete tutorial available that takes you through the whole process – step by step… It will save you SOOOO much time in the long run – trust me…

Fine looking engine – sir…

Regards,
Scott

Thanks, Scott <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

Anyway, I’ve postponed Percy for the time being, as I’m testing the engineer plug-in of the Pacific 4-6-2 on Gordon.

Right, seeing that the 4-6-2 driving wheels from the Train Simulator Engineer plug-in are too oversized for Gordon, I’ve had to put Gordon and Percy on hold for a while in favor of the most suiting LNER Class B12 No. 8572 in the apple green livery.

[img:1zfnhh64]http&#58;//i653&#46;photobucket&#46;com/albums/uu254/FelixCheng/b12_1&#46;png[/img:1zfnhh64]

The bogie was simply done by disabling the trailing bogie, making a 4-6-0. A very pleasing result if I say.

Expect a footplate coming soon.

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