MeshTextViewer Tutorial.pdf

Tools for Asset Repair by PEV Image by Alberte Zato

Using PEV's Mesh Text Viewer for asset fault finding

This is the last in this short series of tutorials on using my

PEVSoft Trainz tools.

Introduction

The Mesh Text Viewer program displays the contents of

the mesh in English and adds the names of the various

properties coded into the mesh. With a little experience

you can see what is causing some of the annoying errors

that Content Manager throws at you. To assist I have

attempted, here, to deal with a few of the common errors

that are caused by the data in the meshes.

The mesh is the primary data object in the display of 3d

objects in Trainz. The sim supports two mesh formats, the

Progressive Mesh (PM) and the Indexed Mesh (IM). The

progressive mesh is the more complex with data included

to simplify the mesh for distant viewing (Level of Detail

adjustments). Auran have changed how LOD is handled

by supporting multiple IM meshes, and in the process they

have obsoleted the PM mesh.

So, for example, you may download an asset from the

Download Station that has these errors (plenty of assets

do) and you can't get it to commit into the sim. How do

you know what's causing the rather cryptic error messages

that Content Manager presents to you? Read on...

As Trainz has evolved through its various versions some of

the mesh properties used by the render engine have

become more significant, and in a couple of cases these

properties now cause errors that prevent an asset from

being committed into the Trainz Asset Database.

To repair an asset, read the error messages carefully and

act upon them one by one.

The mesh is basically a string of numbers with a few

identifiers scattered through it so deciphering with a hex

viewer is nigh on impossible. Fortunately Auran published

the mesh format and the creation of a parsing program

was done ages ago by Jack Emmerichs (user JFE). My

work follows on (with Jack's permission) from where he

started.

Errors caused by: missing textures.

As you can see from the listing below from Mesh Text

Viewer the texture name also has the path of the file.

Ignore this.. Trainz always looks for the textures in the

folder where the mesh is located. Anywhere else will

cause the missing textures message.

Content Manager presents the user with the "Cannot find

texture 'name' in mesh 'name'." message when a texture is

missing from the asset.

The message is displayed when attempting to commit an

asset into TS2009/10. In the case of the listing below, the

env_metal.texture.txt and env_metal.tga were located

incorrectly, so the mesh could not find the texture, as the

error message rightly pointed out. Using the Mesh Text

Viewer we get the listing from which I was able to confirm

that the env_metal.texture was required by the mesh. So I

copied it into the correct folder.

80 Chunk ID: MATL Size: 316 (next chunk: 404) Version: 102

92 Material Name Size: 44

96 Material Name: *throttle_housing*A3FC19C5*mtl #1*m.reflect

140 Property Count: 0

144 Two Sided: 0

148 Opacity : 1.000

152 Ambient 1.000, 1.000, 1.000

164 Diffuse 1.000, 1.000, 1.000

176 Specular 1.000, 1.000, 1.000

188 Emissive 0.000, 0.000, 0.000

200 Shininess : 0.100

204 Number of textures: 2

208 Texture Type: 1 = TEX_DIFFUSE

212 Texture Name Size: 88

216 Texture Name: C:\Program

Files\GMax\gamepacks\Trainz\PEVAssets\EMU_cab\Levers\throttle_housing.texture

304 Texture Amount : 1.000

308 Texture Type: 9 = TEX_REFLECT

312 Texture Name Size: 84

316 Texture Name: C:\Program

Files\GMax\gamepacks\Trainz\PEVAssets\EMU_cab\Levers\env_metal.texture

400 Texture Amount : 0.100

404 Chunk ID: GEOM Size: 9736 (next chunk: 10148) Version: 200

Repair Strategy

*.texture file name. Use my Images2TGA tool to open

the .texture file. It should tell you the size of the texture in

pixels and also tell you the file is uncompressed. Since

only DXT compressed textures are supported in

TS2009/10, use my Images2TGA tool to convert the

textures to TGA images. The *.texture.txt files will be

automatically generated. The required compressed

textures (that we never see) will be produced when you

commit the asset into Trainz. If you use the "OpenWith"

menu in Content Manager for TS2009/10 and open with

Images2TGA.bat, it will convert all *.textures it finds to

TGAs...much easier.

Where a commonly used texture.txt and image are

missing, they can be copied from other assets. Textures

such as env_metal, env_glass, black, red and so on are

examples.

If the missing texture is a minor one for the object it may

be possible to view the mesh in my Trainz Mesh Viewer

and see where on the object the texture is missing. The

missing texture portion of the mesh will be rendered white.

Make a small image of an appropriate colour to fit the

missing portion. Don't forget that a texture.txt is needed as

well.

If the main texture for an asset is missing it is difficult, if not

impossible, to create an appropriate texture from scratch.

Such an asset would most likely be a write-off.

If you have downloaded an asset that contains early Auran

binary textures, you will also be confronted with missing

textures message. In this case the texture files will have a

Errors caused by: Unsupported texture

types

The listing below from Mesh Text Viewer illustrates an

attempt to use texture slots in GMax/3dsMax that are not

supported by Trainz. Pre-TS2009 versions simply ignored

unsupported texture types. However TS2009 introduced

checking of texture types and meshes such as this

example are rejected by the Content Manager 2.

Unfortunately the error message presented to the user is

misleading. In this case it says "Cannot find texture

'mainkfc.texture' in mesh 'kfc.im'." .. but it's present in the

folder isn't it..

80 Chunk ID: MATL Size: 480 (next chunk: 568) Version: 102

92 Material Name Size: 44

96 Material Name: *KFC-Australia*16A5E8E7*7 – default*m.onetex

140 Property Count: 0

144 Two Sided: 0

148 Opacity : 1.000

152 Ambient 0.973, 0.973, 0.973

164 Diffuse 0.973, 0.973, 0.973

176 Specular 0.573, 0.573, 0.573

188 Emissive 0.000, 0.000, 0.000

200 Shininess : 0.320

204 Number of textures: 5

208 Texture Type: 1 = TEX_DIFFUSE

212 Texture Name Size: 60

216 Texture Name: R:\TRS2004Copy\World\Custom\Trains\KFC-Oz\mainkfc.texture

276 Texture Amount : 1.000

280 Texture Type: 2 = TEX_SPECULAR

284 Texture Name Size: 60

288 Texture Name: R:\TRS2004Copy\World\Custom\Trains\KFC-Oz\mainkfc.texture

348 Texture Amount : 1.000

352 Texture Type: 3 = TEX_SHINE

356 Texture Name Size: 60

360 Texture Name: R:\TRS2004Copy\World\Custom\Trains\KFC-Oz\mainkfc.texture

420 Texture Amount : 1.000

424 Texture Type: 4 = TEX_SHINESTRENGTH

428 Texture Name Size: 60

432 Texture Name: R:\TRS2004Copy\World\Custom\Trains\KFC-Oz\mainkfc.texture

492 Texture Amount : 0.200

496 Texture Type: 5 = TEX_SELFILLUM

500 Texture Name Size: 60

504 Texture Name: R:\TRS2004Copy\World\Custom\Trains\KFC-Oz\mainkfc.texture

564 Texture Amount : 1.000

568 Chunk ID: GEOM Size: 34288 (next chunk: 34864) Version: 102

Here the SPECULAR, SHINE, SHINESTRENGTH, and

SELFILLUM textures are not supported by Trainz. (The

TEX_ prefix identifies the texture type number as a texture

name constant in the game code.)

Repair Strategy.

My PM2IM program removes the unsupported texture

references from both PM and IM meshes. The resulting IM

mesh is supported by TS2009 onwards. If the above

example had been a PM mesh the unsupported textures

would have been automatically removed in the conversion

to IM.

Trainz only supports DIFFUSE, BUMP, and REFLECT

texture types. All other effects are achieved by judicious

use of the alpha channel on these three texture types, the

numerical settings for the ambient, diffuse, and specular

colours for the material, and the correct use of the material

names.

In the example above the material name ends with

"m.onetex" telling Trainz there is only one texture when in

fact there are five. Notice also that all slots point to the

same texture, another no-no. Each slot must point to a

separate texture, as in the example in the first listing.

Errors caused by: missing attachments

attachments specified in the config.txt with those in the

listing. If you find a discrepancy alter the name in the

config.txt to match that in the mesh.

Missing attachment points are a common ocurrance in

assets imported into TS2009/10. Fortunately this time the

error message from the Content Manager clearly defines

the problem. Again open the mesh in Mesh Text Viewer

and go to the attachment portion of the mesh (close to the

end of the listing.)

If an attachment specified in the config.txt is missing from

the mesh, consider if you can live without the item that it

hosts. If not then use my AttachmentMaker program to add

the appropriate attachment/s.

The listing below shows an attachment list for an interior

asset with the first couple spaced to show each

attachment's data.

In many cases I have found that the missing attachment/s

are caused by typos in the config.txt or in the attachment

name in the mesh. So compare the names of the

13912 Chunk ID: ATCH Size: 1676 (next chunk: 15596) Version: 100

13924 Attachment Count: 25

13928 Attachment Name size: 16, Name: a.red_mushroom

13948 Orientation: [1.000, 0.000, 0.000]

13960 [0.000, 0.981, -0.196]

13972 [0.000, 0.196, 0.981]

13984 Position: [0.004, -0.626, -0.472]

13996 Attachment Name size: 16, Name: a.blue_button1

14016 Orientation: [1.000, 0.000, 0.000]

14028 [0.000, 0.981, -0.196]

14040 [0.000, 0.196, 0.981]

14052 Position: [0.165, -0.560, -0.487]

14064 Attachment Name size: 16, Name: a.blue_button2

14084 Orientation: [1.000, 0.000, 0.000]

14096 [0.000, 0.981, -0.196]

14108 [0.000, 0.196, 0.981]

14120 Position: [0.164, -0.502, -0.498]

14132 Attachment Name size: 16, Name: a.blue_button3

14152 Orientation: [1.000, 0.000, 0.000]

14164 [0.000, 0.981, -0.196]

14176 [0.000, 0.196, 0.981]

14188 Position: [-0.156, -0.560, -0.487]

14200 Attachment Name size: 16, Name: a.blue_button4

14220 Orientation: [1.000, 0.000, 0.000]

14232 [0.000, 0.981, -0.196]

14244 [0.000, 0.196, 0.981]

14256 Position: [-0.156, -0.502, -0.498]

etc down to

15460 Attachment Name size: 16, Name: a.horn_button

15480 Orientation: [1.000, 0.000, 0.000]

15492 [0.000, 0.981, -0.196]

15504 [0.000, 0.196, 0.981]

15516 Position: [-0.001, -0.272, -0.545]

15528 Attachment Name size: 16, Name: a.green_button5

15548 Orientation: [1.000, 0.000, 0.000]

15560 [0.000, 0.981, -0.196]

15572 [0.000, 0.196, 0.981]

15584 Position: [-0.169, -0.272, -0.544]

15596 Eof

Repair Strategy

Or, add missing attachments with my AttachmentMaker

tool.

As already mentioned, compare the listing attachment

names with those in the config.txt, and fix any non-

matches in the config.txt.

Specular Lighting Problems

Mesh Text Viewer can help in sorting out object lighting

factor issues. Each material has AMBIENT, DIFFUSE,

and SPECULAR lighting settings that control how the

mesh looks in Trainz. Early exporters from GMax and

3dsMax used default values for these colour properties

that cause an un-natural shine to appear on the object in

TS2009/10. The settings were all white (1.000 red, 1.000

green, 1.000 blue) as the listing from the Mesh Text

Viewer shows below.

We have found that changing the ambient and diffuse

colours from white, unlocks a default render property that

allows better use of these factors. It seems to give us

more control over the specular factor, allowing object shine

to be controlled. Keep this in mind when making new

assets for TS2009/10.

80 Chunk ID: MATL Size: 316 (next chunk: 404) Version: 102

92 Material Name Size: 44

96 Material Name: *throttle_housing*A3FC19C5*mtl #1*m.reflect

140 Property Count: 0

144 Two Sided: 0

148 Opacity : 1.000

152 Ambient 1.000, 1.000, 1.000

164 Diffuse 1.000, 1.000, 1.000

176 Specular 1.000, 1.000, 1.000

Repair Strategy

If you can re-export the mesh, more suitable values of

these colours for TS2010 would be

Ambient 0.750, 0.750, 0.750

Diffuse 0.750, 0.750, 0.750

Specular 0.830, 0.830, 0.830

PEV's Trainz Tools.

All of the tool programs mentioned above are available for

free download from

http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~villaump/pevsoft.htm

If you only have the mesh, then use my PM2IM program

with the "Zero Speculars" option set to make the specular

values 0.00, 000, 0.00. (black). Please note that the latest

version of my PM2IM tool allows you to adjust the

SPECULAR setting to any colour you wish. This give you

control over specular effect when the object is rendered in

the game. You should experiment with colours to find

what suits you best.

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