MSTS Modelling Techniques

Hi all,

I have been over on the UKTS Forum today and decided I would have a sneaky peek at some of the routes on the other said Sim! I know nothing about this said sim and I was wondering how do you get your models in MSTS to look as close and neat as possible to how they do it in the other said sim?

I know we use MS Paint to do the BMP file and then use other techniques afterwards..... But is there an alternative to get it close to looking how it does on the other said sim??

Any help/advice would be much appreciated.

Many Thanks

Andy

I don't know how things are done on the other sim, but it is worth noting that other "painting" programmes can be used such as Paintshop Pro. These alternatives will almost certainly give a wider range of textures and texture effects than MS Paint and allow a greater degree of texture manipulation. I do have a copy of PSP but haven't ever got round to installing it on the current setup.

I agree with Alec, there are much better programs available than MS Paint.

Corel Paint Shop Pro (PSP) is very flexible, easy to use once you have got used to it, and a lot cheaper than Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, the later versions of PSP will accept Photoshop plug-ins too. I use PSP all the time for my graphics work and photo editing, Corel are having a money off promotion at the moment to promote their latest PSP X8 version (the ultimate version is slightly more expensive, but comes with loads of useful extras and content.)

You could create the basic textures in MS Paint (as that is what you are used to using) and embellish them in PSP till you get more familiar with it if you like.

Photoshop Elements is a cheaper cut down version of Photoshop, (more suited to photo editing than texture creation) plus there are several free photo editors around, whilst a few of them are pretty good, none of them offer the flexibility and all round usability of PSP.

Mark
I note that you refer to PSP X8, but oddly that appears to have been superseded by PSP Pro X7 if Amazon are to be believed - see HERE!

Hi Alec.

That is the old PSP 8 from about 10 or more years ago, after PSP 10 they added the X prifix to future versions so PSP 11 became PSP X1, now we are up to PSP X8  which would correspond to v18.

PSP X7 is good value on Amazon, (the ultimate version is £11 more, but is worth it as the extras would cost a lot more bought seperately) if you want the latest version you can upgrade from this much cheaper than buying X8 at full price. (though X8 is not that much different to X7)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corel-PaintShop-Pro-X7-PC/dp/B00MO0JZIM/ref=dp_ob_title_sw?

From X7 upwards it will work on 64bit systems at 64bit speeds (I bought mine from Corel via electronic download rather than a disk and both 32 & 64bit versions installed.) older versions will work on 64 bit systems but will only run at 32bit.

Thanks for the replies guys.

I do have Paintshop Pro and I never thought about using that instead. I will try giving that a go and see how I get on!?

Cheers

Andy

I use PSP7 (that is '7' not 'X7') and love it mainly because of the way it handles layers.  PSP7 is from the days when PSP was a painting program rather than a photo titillation program.  I work in *.psp format (with lots of layers) until I have finished then save as a (single layer) *.tga then convert to *.ace.  I also use paint.net (free and very good).

However, in my opinion the best way to improve in-game appearance is to increase the size of the texture.  If an item of stock uses 512x512 textures, increasing this to 1024x1024 gives a 'canvas' 4 times the size of the original and allows much more detail (eg. text, and thin lining etc.).  There is no need to edit any *.s files to use a bigger texture  -  just make sure you are working with sides that are a power of 2 (512, 1024, 2048 etc.)

Martin

Hi Andy,
Martin says he uses PSP 7. The very last version before JASC sold out to Corel was v7.04. This version is available here : http://www.oldversion.com/windows/paint-shop-pro-7-04 Click on the LIME GREEN download button, not any others! You have to wait a bit, but the download will eventually start. It says it installs as an evaluation (Try & Buy) version, but appears to work as a full version.

The website seems to have a good reputation and doesn't download stuff you don't want - so long as you only click the lime green button!!

There are several video and pdf tutorials for this version on the 'net. The Reskinning Tutorials on UKTS use PSP6 so are likely to be applicable to 7 as well, although probably not to the later Corel versions.

Cheers,
Ged

Yes Ged, that's the one, and very good it is too.

I can't recall now whether it was necessary or if I considered it expedient (given the age of the program) but I have installed mine into {D:\PSP7} rather than {C:\Program Files} or {C:\Program Files (x86)}. It works beautifully from there.

Martin

Martin

Thanks for pointing that out as I was looking to install PSP soon myself.

Help!

Ged, from you link to the download, depending on the way I do it but always using the lime green button, I either get a very small file named "paint-shop-pro-7-04" (no extension) or a large file named "RENAME.ME".

Hi David,
Sorry, but I can't help.
I've just tried it again, from the link I posted, and the file to be downloaded is psp704ev.exe    Maybe, you've not set your PC to show extensions for known file types??  Or, perhaps, you're clicking the wrong button (although I can only see one lime green one!)

Martin : Yes, I thoroughly recommend installing it outside of the C:\Program Files (x86) / C:\Program Files folders

Cheers,
Ged

Ged, I'm certainly clicking on the correct button.  "paint-shop-pro-7-04" is only 25 KB in size.  I have taken a chance and renamed "RENAME.ME" to "psp704ev.exe" and after doing a virus check, run it and get the beginning of the correct install procedure.  I have not completed the install yet! It's size is 31,637,760 bytes.