How To Edit Formation Variables To Allow Livery Substitutions In Dlc Timetables

I've been reading threads, racking my brain trying to figure out why on some routes with some cars in consists, repaints will show up that I've downloaded off the Creator's Club, while others won't ever change. I've poked around in the editor and have found that in the timetable folder is a formations folder where if you open each one, you will see that DTG have left by default all the locomotives as substitutable with a 40 percent chance and all the rolling stock in the formation to have sustitutable turned off. Not sure who decided this was a good idea, but I'm 99 percent sure that custom liveries can be used in timetable mode if you can change the switch and edit the probability factor. Problem is, the formation files are READ ONLY. I've managed to unpack the pak files to access the folder but I have no idead how to open them in the editor to turn the switch on.

There has to be a simple way to open an existing DLC timetable, to edit the substitutions switch in the formations file without having to upack the pak file and repack it? Can anyone explain how to do this? Does source control have something to do with it, because I can't save any of the formation files (they revert to default), and using the save button in the fomrmation file popup brings me to a page that wants me to use source control, or turn read only off (which it never can do).

See this thread as well for a screen shot of the formation edit page

https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/how-do-you-setup-substitutions-in-the-editor.76272/

 

No there isn't. Information necessary to open and edit the timetable is lost in the cooking process.

 

I understand that about the timetable information and the datatracks etc. What I want to do is just edit the variables in the formations files for the consists. You can open them in the offical editor and change the variables but you can't save them because the file is read only?

 

Anything that is part of a plugin made by dtg or a third party will be cooked and as such a lot of the not needed data etc is stripped.

Some of these assets you can open but as they are cooked you won't be able to save.

 

Yes, I realize how the Unreal Engine works with cooking files, and why they aren't accessible. That's been established. There is a way, however, to open the pak files and copy the assets for editing. I've downloaded timetables that are copies of the original with added services. I simply want to change the swithch on the formations to allow repaints. DTG on some routes has the switch enabled for locomotives and the occaisional consist, but most of them aren't enabled. That's why people are seeing repaints sometimes and not all the time, because of this. If you look at the screenshot I've included from Cajon Pass, all the locomotives in timetable have the substitute switch enabled for a 40 percent probability, while all the rolling stock has the switch disabled. Absolutely boggles my mind that they would do this when they know people would want to use repaints.

Does anyone have any knowedge of how to edit these files. It can't be impossible to do?!?!??

 

If the formation assets can be opened in Unreal Unpack, which I've done, is there a proper tutorial for how to import them into a plugin in the editor? Every time I try to migrate the files into my new plugin the editor tells me they're corrupt and it crashes. Once the files are unpacked, where are they placed in the unnoficial editor to open them? As I mentioned migrating them within the editor corrupts them.

 

They do this because substitution on freight cars is broken, so any cars substituted in will be empty. That obviously ruins the physics on a route like Cajon Pass.

 

Your prob better using unofficial editor tbf, reason is cause you want to unpack the plugin and put into files. Then copy the asset you want to alter, then from file explorer delete the original one, make your copy name same as what it was named. Then cook the plugin and pak ensuring the name of your has ! at the start and then put into game files. When game loads it should load the original and then yours which in turn overwrites the original.

 

Ok, as far as I can tell though they have some of the cars substituted. Can you point me to a link to this information regarding reskins causing issues with car load? I can't see how reskinning a DLC rolling stock is going to affect its ability to carry a physics load? If so, these developers need a lesson in programming, because they've releaed a livery editor, a formation editor and beta core editor - to not be able to use reskins in game seems to me to be kind of ridiculous. But then again, so is releasing a game editor without the ability to cook the actual editied files so you can use them. I've gone through all of the rolling stock on Cajon and about 95 percent of the cars are not substituted, on Oakville it seems the percentage is a lot higher.

 

Buddy that's exactly what I'm trying to do with the unofficial editor. Do you know of any links to tutorials from others who have unpacked dlc files to do this and repack them? So, what I'm doing is trying to get Cajon Pass edited for reskins. I've unpacked the dlc file and created a plugin. I've moved the unpacked timetable folder with just the formations folder in it to the new pluging. It shows up I can open and edit the files. So, i did that and then tried to cook the plugin but the cooking process always fails. I've also tried migrating the files from the formations folder to the new plugin in the unofficial editor, but the migrated files will always be empty as in, all the variables are missing so its a blank formation file.

I've also tried the same thing in the official editor and have changed the variables, however following Ligithins tutorial on youtube for cooking, the bat file never creates a staging folder and I get many errors in the cmd prompt. There has to be simple way to do this. To duplicate the formations folder and make this SUPER SIMPLE CHANGE of enabling one swithch........

 

Is this the thread you may have been referencing? Is there anyway to get a definitive answer on this from a DTG employee?
https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/american-freight-loco-cars-substitution.51178/

 

I think you are misunterstanding what the Allow Substitution option does. It allows the game to swap out a locomotive/car with another locomotive/car (i.e. GP9 for a GP38 or autorack for a boxcar). So for Cajon Pass it allows the default BNSF ES44C4 to be subbed with the SD40-2 or any other locomotive from your installed DLC (foreign power). As mkraehe mentioned freight car sub is disabled. It doesn't affect custom repaints. I do not know where that option is hiding but would love to know.

 

Thanks for this info, but I'm not sure how accurate it is. There are two substitute switches in the formations files. One is I believe for the subsituting of loco types, with a probability slider. The pop up says that it will substitute entire consists if enabled. Under each RVD at the top of the file, is a collapsible file structure for each part of the consist (loco 1, loco 2 etc, and then the freight cars which are either single cars, or packs of 3, 5 or 10. Under that collapsible file structure is another substitute switch with a probability slider for each RVD, each consist fragment. This is the switch which I believe controls liveries.

As I've mentioned on Cajon Pass, Sand Patch and HSC - some freight cars are spawning with reskins, maxistacks, gravel cars and some auto racks. I've opened the formations files for those consists and they do indeed have the switch enabled under the collapsible file strucure with the probabilty set to 100. Those consists will always spawn with a repaint. Its almost if someone at DTG just got lazy and left these enabled, which is why people are saying they pop in randomly. They don't, they just didn't disable the switch on all the consists.

If someone could point me to a tutorial that shows how to set up a plugin with the needed manifest files etc, and if its possible to duplicate a file and then edit it (as you could do in the original train sim editor), and how to package it I would love to look into it further. It has to be possilbe, because people were unpacking and editing cooked files long before the offical editor came out. Unfortunately, I've tried creating a new plugin and migrating the formations file in to the new plugin, but I'm not sure how to correct the file structure and it never seems to cook with the hack technique. I think I'm not setting up the plugin properly.