MSTS - Helpful Facts and Links - Part 07 (Shape (.S) Tools)

This is the seventh part in a series of posts that are meant to give a simple history of MSTS and point people to the various accessories/links considered vital to maximising the performance of MSTS.

This part looks at a series of well known accessories that are important to the creation of the models used within MSTS, and includes links for additional information and download access:-

Shape Viewer
Shape files (.S) are the 3D models that make up the MSTS world, whether it's a house or a sign, a coach or a loco - the 3D part is always in an .S file with accompanying .ace texture graphics files.

With Shape Viewer you can load these 3D models independently of the sim and rotate them; even animate them, and see how they look.

If you're a builder this is a much easier way to see how it might look in the sim (though note that Shape Viewer renders things better than MSTS does!) without having to load the sim itself.

The latest version is MSTS Shape Viewer 2.2.237, and can be downloaded here.


Shape Fixer
There are numerous errors that can creep in to the 3D .S shape files and this will help fix them should they occur. This program checks uncompressed .S files for potential problems that may crash MSTS. It will then attempt to fix the file, and by using this tool, models over 20,000 polygons are possible.

The latest version can be downloaded here.

Shape File Manager (SFM)
SFM is a single-file HTML Application written in Java script - actually it is unrelated to Java and does not require Java to run - to assist with shape file maintenance. Once SFM is opened, a simple yet powerful interface enables you to select an MSTS Shape and uncompress it; it is then possible to adjust height, width, length, size, position (e.g. reverse the model) and visibility of any model in MSTS.

The latest version can be downloaded here.

It should be noted that the above files can be downloaded from other sources.

When installing and/or amending all or any part of MSTS it is strongly recommended that you create a back-up copy, because even with the best will in the world mistakes can and will happen. There’s many a “simmer” who can testify to that.

Alec

PS - Shape Viewer and Shape File Manager have been indispensible to my FG DMU project!