Hawk & Badger Railroad Forum

Hi all, I just downloaded the new buildings by WPP and Coruscate (waiting to d/l new RAR extractor for the latter) and i have a question. The Grain Elevator has the "normal" 3 files (BTY BCA and PK4) which I understand how to install. The Cereal Company However, has BCA BTY, and then a plethora of graphics files. Are these files supposed to be incorporated into a PK4 file? or , (because this is a "new" building), do I install all of these files separateley?

Yeah, I developed the Cereal Company back before I knew how to craft the PK4 files, so it's just all the assets Zipped up together, which go into the UserExtraContent folder. It ain't pretty, I understand, but it should work fine. One of these days, I'll get back to it and re-bundle these. I think there may have been other minor issues with it, too; keep an eye out here or on my site for an updated version. I did this a while back, and I didn't have Hawk upload it then because I wanted some "beta testing" feedback. So, consider the version you've got now as a Beta version.

Should I note that it's a beta version near the download link?

Yeah, Hawk, that would be good. That way people know to come back and check for an update. I'll probably get this done in the next day or two, anyhoo, but for now it's a good idea to call it "beta".

Done!

What are you using to make your pk4 files?

Making PK4's is tedious, as it is a command-line operation. In amongst the user skinning tools that C-to-C installs is a little executable, called pack4.exe, which does the work. You have to use Windows' Command Prompt, and navigate to the directory which contains both pack4.exe and all the files which will get packed up. In addition, you need to create a text file that lists the names of all the files to be packed. The syntax looks like this:

pack4.exe filelist.txt pk4name.pk4

This will tell it to pack all the files listed in "filelist.txt" into a file called "pk4name.pk4". You can rename the pk4 file after it is created, so don't fret too much over the filename.

What I did is create an "Export" folder, into which I copy all the files I intend to pack, and which contains pack4.exe already. I use a program called Printfolder to generate the text file, and I edit this text file to make sure it only lists the filenames I intend to pack (i.e. don't pack in the pack4.exe itself!).

Compared to editing the hex files that was pure, 2nd grade English by comparison. It worked, thanks!

No need to rush to update this one just yet Hawk, I'm going to drop a few more buildings on you the next few days, but the Landfill was just updated to use a pk4 file. So now there's four files in that zip file isntead of... what, 15?

http://healthyinsanity.com/railroad/landfill.rar

If you have already installed landfill, no rush to install this there's no changes yet. But If you do want to switch, I would remove any Landfill files you added to the folders "2d" and "userextracontent," and then copy the pk4 file into "userextracontent." The other files stay where you have already installed them. Don't bother downloading my casino yet, I will switch that to pk4 later tonight or tomorrow.

Yeah, in terms of instructions it is rather easy. What is tedious is being forced to do it all from command prompt; navigating to my export folder takes a ton of typing. Glad to see you've got the hang of it now!

WPandP wrote:What is tedious is being forced to do it all from command prompt; navigating to my export folder takes a ton of typing.

Put a shortcut to the command prompt in the "Export" folder and edit the properties to start in that folder.
A quick command line input will output the files to pack into a text file:

"dir /b *.tga > pk4list.txt".

the "/b" switch dumps the header info and only outputs the file names, "*.tga" specifies only "tga" files, and the "> pk4list.txt" pipes the output to the specified file.

Wolverine@MSU wrote:Put a shortcut to the command prompt in the "Export" folder and edit the properties to start in that folder.

Yes indeed! Excellent suggestion, wish I could say I had thought of that myself. Thanks!

This reminds me a lot of my last foray into the modding world- in the Blitzkreig game. Very similar. In it, you have to repackage unit graphics files into "PAK" files to insert them into the game. I wonder if I could lure some of the geniuses from that world over to the RRT3 universe ? hmmmm.....

Actually, for RRT3 you don't have to package things in PK4's; they work fine as individual .3DP and .TGA or .DDS files. A lot of my early work was released in this more messy format; the PK4 is a convenience, as it keeps everything together and keeps the UserExtraContent folder more manageable.

I unoerstand. I was wondering: If you place the individual files in a seperate folder within the UEC folder, does that work? Or will the game not reach into the folder? I ask this because it works in other games, but not all.

Another question I have concerning buildings is where are the "standard" ones contained in the program files? Are they "packaged" in a compressed file (apparently) and if so how do I unpackage them to get at the base files so I can monkey with them?

WPandP wrote:Making PK4's is tedious, as it is a command-line operation. In amongst the user skinning tools that C-to-C installs is a little executable, called pack4.exe, which does the work. You have to use Windows' Command Prompt, and navigate to the directory which contains both pack4.exe and all the files which will get packed up. In addition, you need to create a text file that lists the names of all the files to be packed. The syntax looks like this:

pack4.exe filelist.txt pk4name.pk4

This will tell it to pack all the files listed in "filelist.txt" into a file called "pk4name.pk4". You can rename the pk4 file after it is created, so don't fret too much over the filename.

What I did is create an "Export" folder, into which I copy all the files I intend to pack, and which contains pack4.exe already. I use a program called Printfolder to generate the text file, and I edit this text file to make sure it only lists the filenames I intend to pack (i.e. don't pack in the pack4.exe itself!).

OK, so now I understand just enough about pack4 to be dangerous(shoot myself in the foot kind) . Is there a pack4 for idiots anywhere and Hex for the braindead(lost me at go). If so show me where as I need a crash course in both. .(step by step,plus any programs needed)and maybe a start to finish example?

Let me translate, in your railroad tycoon 3 folder, the one in your program files drive, there's a "user skinning tools" folder.

Inside that folder is three more folders, and inside each of those three folders is a copy of "pack4.exe." Copy that into a folder called "a" on your desktop or the root of your C: drive.

Then inside that folder, create a new text file called filelist.txt. Inside that text file write:

buildingimage_a.dds
buildingimage_b.dds
buildingimage_c.dds
buildingimage_d.dds
buildingimage_e.dds
buildingimage_f.dds
2dbuildingimage.img
2dbuildingimage_a.dds

Then use the windows command line interface (formerly known as the DOS prompt) to travel to the "a" folder and type in:

pack4.exe filelist.txt pk4name.pk4

If you don't know how to use a DOS Prompt / command line interface all you need to remember is:

"cd.." to go down a folder
"cd nameoffolder" to enter that folder.

Coru, for your advice. cd.. works nice, (I also found that tab works for flipping folders on drive).
I still get error can not open file "filelist.txt" so my syntax is still wrong(using printfolder). used your shipyard.tga files in my attempts. does it have to be .dds files? Keep your mods coming their greatttt.

Is there a "filelist.txt" in the A folder? That's where the software looks to figure out which files it needs to PK4.

yes there is. My "a" folder consists of "filelist.txt", "pack4.exe",and "6 shipyard.tga" files to pack.