Where did it go?

I have to admit… I’m surprised it worked, myself.

I have been starting to get to grips with v6.5, so I picked up an old model of mine, the VEA van. This was the one that the old automated LOD creation process turned into triangles at a distance.

I added some extra details, and loved the speed that objects can now be moved from one group to another. This is a great improvement, thanks Richard. <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

I did a straight export to MSTS model and it worked fine in MSTS. (not using the Train Sim Wizard)

I then copied the model and created a cut-down version for my first LOD, as described in the Help tutorial. I then ran the Train Sim Wizard, named the project VEA, selected the parts, etc, and completed the export. The message came up, saying the project had been exported to ‘F:TRAINSTRAINSETVEA’ but I have searched my entire computer and can not find any new files anywhere. Going back into Train Sim Wizard, I find it has lost all the infomation I had entered, like project name and type.

Where did it go? <!– s:? –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_confused.gif" alt="" title="Confused" /><!– s:? –>

Ahh, some progress. By right-clicking on a piece of the main model, and then exporting to MSTS, it allows me to export my custom LODs and has created a .S file for me, so I can continue – phew <!– s8-) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_cool.gif" alt="" title="Cool" /><!– s8-) –>

OK, I have created three distance models, set to swap at 20m and 40m at the moment, so I can see what is going on.

The closeup model has lots of detail, like buffers, coupling hooks and couplings, courtesy decapod’s plug-in and object library. It weighs in at 836 polys.

The second model, on its own in the sceenshot, has lost its axles and coupling hooks, and ‘inside’ faces and is reduced to 652 polys.

The distant model has lost everything except its basic shape and is a very acceptable 36 polys.

I am well pleased at the results, and now I just need to work out what distances to set the LOD models for best effect.

Very Nice Mail Vans Ian. Great pictures also showing the difference between each version’s LOD level. <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

It sounds like the wizard produced some sort of error when it exported but didn’t inform you of it. Can you send me the model and textures (<!– e –><a href="mailto:support@amabilis.com">support@amabilis.com</a><!– e –>) so I can try this on my computer?

Richard

Richard, Did you receive the email?

No, I didn’t receive any email. Maybe it was too large. How big was it?

And of course I released 6.5.0.2 this morning. I guess there will be a 6.5.0.3 <!– s:( –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_sad.gif" alt="" title="Sad" /><!– s:( –>

Richard

I have received the file now.

The one thing that I noticed when running the Wizard was that the item ‘Convert Textures’ showed up without an option selected. This is pretty weird and a bug of some sort (how exactly it happened I don’t know). But this didn’t seem to make any difference. It exported correctly either way (It showed up and looked OK in the consist editor).

The wizard may be exporting relative to the location of TXT2UNI.EXE which you have had to set explicity. If you are still on 6.5 you may want to consider trying 6.5.0.2 to see if it works any better. I did make some changes in 6.5.0.1 that could improve things. Either way I would recommend being on 6.5.0.2.

Richard

I have installed 6.5.0.2 now, and tried again, but the same results <!– s:( –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_sad.gif" alt="" title="Sad" /><!– s:( –>

Where does 3DC say it is putting it? And where is TXT2UNI.EXE on your computer?

Richard

It says it has exported to ‘F:TRAINSTRAINSETVEA’ which is a very strange place. In the registry, the MSTS Path is ‘F:RoutesForMSTSNorthWestEnglandTrain Simulator’ although it does vary as I have multiple installations for different routes. The MSTS tools live in ‘F:MSTStools’.

3DC did not ask me where to find the tools this time, so it must have saved that information somewhere that I can not find when I tried the earlier version. I did uninstall everything before installing 6.5.0.2.

I have now created a new model from scratch, using Paul’s Engineer Plug-in, and it gives the same result – message saying created in F:TRAINSTRAINSETNEWMODEL

I have also had a couple of fatal error #91 when deleting faces and objects, which was why I went back to v5.7 after trying v6.0 a while ago.

So your TXT2UNI.EXE file is located in ‘F:TRAINSUTILS’? Is MSTS installed in ‘F:TRAINS’? Try creating the folder ‘F:TRAINSTRAINSET’ and see if 3DC then creates the model in ‘F:TRAINSTRAINSETNEWMODEL’.

Usually these error 91’s are really easy to fix. The problem is that objects become de-selected but the buttons are not refreshed to indicate that the object is no longer selected. What I need is to know what you did immediately before the error. For example if you deleted a face and got error 91 what did you do immediately before you deleted the face.

Richard

The MSTS tools live in ‘F:MSTStools’.

I created the folders ‘F:TRAINSTRAINSET’ and sure enough, the Train Sim Wizard created the VEA van model correctly in there. Thanks, I am well pleased with that, it is just a little odd though. <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

One of the #91 errors I got by dragging a cube primitive into play, selecting the top face, extruding it, then deleting the new top face. After restoring the model, I went to delete the bottom face and got another #91. The model restored again correctly. I tried to repeat it again just now, but did not get any errors that time.