"mesh-table" container

KIND Hierarchy

The "mesh-table" container is a top-level config.txt file entry used by various Content Types.

The mesh-table is a list of mesh subcontainers with no standalone tags. Each mesh subcontainer uses the following format. Tags are parsed in a standardised format, but not all Content Types support the full range of tags listed below. Each mesh derives its name from the subcontainer's tag name. These names are used to refer to specific meshes from within the mesh-table and also from script.

This page describes trainz-build 4.1.

Known Dependent Parent Types

Main article, see: KIND Mesh

The Content Types listed here use the mesh-table container as part of their definition.

The following config containers also reference back to their Asset's mesh-table container in some fashion:

See also
• Modeling Guidelines • Modeling Scenery

Level of Detail (LOD)

For discussions of LOD see Level of Detail, LOD Example, mesh-table LOD and LM.txt file

Mesh subcontainer

Each mesh subcontainer supports the following tags. Each tag is shown here with its default value.


anim	""
animation-loop-speed	0
att	""
att-parent	""
auto-create	0
collision-data-generation-mode	"default"
collision-mesh	""
critical-animation	1
does-cast-shadows	1
effects	{
}
lod-level	255
mesh	""
mesh-asset	<NULLKUID>
mesh-scale	0,0,0
mesh-season	255
night-mesh-base	""
opacity	1.0
orientation	0,0,0
position	0,0,0
should-respond-to-clicks	1
use-parent-bounds	0

* The att-parent defaults to "default" which is the parent mesh. The att-parent tag can include a path.

Supported Tags

Each mesh subcontainer supports the following tags.

anim

Type: File

Default: ""

Compulsory: No

Desc: The animation file (.kin) exported from the 3D modelling tool and/or TrainzMeshImporter. This may include a sub-path.

animation-loop-speed

Type: Float

Default: 0

Compulsory: No

Desc: This tag must be present if the asset is to animate when placed. If this tag is not present when placed the animation will not play by default, but may play if controlled by script. A different value (e.g. 0.5, 2.0) may be used in the tag to play the animation at a different speed from that created in the 3D modelling tool.

att

Type: Attachment point

Default: ""

Compulsory: No

Desc: The mesh (and animation if present) is inserted at a mesh attachment point rather than the origin (without this line the mesh is placed relative to the origin of the parent model).

att-parent

Type: Mesh name

Default: Defaults to "default" which is the parent mesh

Compulsory: No

Desc: The tag tells Trainz in which mesh the attachment point is located. The insertion attachment point is located within the mesh ‘name’ , as listed in the config.txt.

auto-create

Type: Bool

Default: 0

Compulsory No

Desc: The model is generated automatically when placed, or when you load a map which includes the model. In some instances you don’t want the mesh visible (as this may be controlled through script). If auto-create is 0 the mesh will not be visible when placed.

collision-data-generation-mode

Type: Collision mode

Default: "default"

Compulsory No

Desc: Determines the method to use to generate collision data for this mesh. Collision data is used to select and move the asset in surveyor, and for physics simulation when necessary.

Supported collision data generation modes:

"default" - use game's default value (in general "collated", but can vary in specific cases)
"disabled" - completely discard this sub-mesh for collision data generation purposes. Causes the sub-mesh to be fully ignored for asset picking and physics simulation.
"collated" - the geometry of this sub-mesh will be added to that of the other sub-meshes selecting this option (within the asset), and one collision object will be generated for the resulting conglomerate.
"separate-shape-convex-hull" - this sub-mesh will generate its own individual collision object, as a convex hull.
"separate-shape-triangle-mesh" - this sub-mesh will generate its own individual collision object, as a triangle mesh. This is the most accurate option but also the most costly in terms of performance, only use when specifically needed.

collision-mesh

Type: Mesh name

Default: ""

Compulsory No

Desc: Specifies a mesh to use instead of this mesh to generate collision data - must be an entry of this mesh-table. The method used to generate the collision data (through the "collision-data-generation-mode" tag) is the one specified on this entry, which is allowed to be different from that of the referenced mesh.

critical-animation

Type: Bool

Default: 1 (TBD: surely this should be false (0))

Compulsory: No

Desc: "critical-animation" indicates that this mesh's animation generates events which are critical to the script system's behavior. If your asset is not scripted, does not use scripted animation events, or only uses the events for display purposes and will not break if the occasional event is missed, this tag should be set to false (0). Leaving this flag set to true (1) is a significant performance penalty.

custom-render-plugin

Type: KUID

Default: ""

Compulsory: No

Desc: TBD

does-cast-shadows

Type: Bool

Default: 1

Compulsory: No

Desc: "does-cast-shadows" determines if this mesh will cast shadows when the user has shadows enabled in the settings. Setting this tag to false (0) means the mesh will not cast shadows. Setting this tag to true (1) means the mesh will cast shadows.

Trainz build 4.4

effects

Type: Corona Effect | Name Effect | Attachment Effect | Animation Effect | Texture-Replacement Effect

Default {}

Compulsory: No

Desc: The effects container can contain a list of effect subcontainers. The effect subcontainers support the following generic tags.

kind ""

name ""

Each effect subcontainer supports additional tags depending on the effect kind. The following effect kinds are supported:

lod-level

Type: Int (0-8)

Default: 255

Compulsory: No

Desc: The mesh-table LOD level at which this mesh is displayed. The default value (255) indicates that this mesh is visible at all detail levels. See also KIND Mesh for the 'mesh-detail-level' tag.

mesh

Type: Mesh name

Default: "" (will raise error if null)

Compulsory: Yes (3.4)

Desc: The ‘main’ mesh name. This may include a sub-path. ie: mesh nightwindows/nightwindows.im, where the file nightwindows.im has been placed in the subdirectory nightwindows. Use .im files or reference an LM.txt_file file if you wish your asset to have ‘Level of Detail’ mesh reduction.

The mesh name can also refer to an IM file or an LM.txt_file file in a mesh asset library if the mesh-asset tag is specified. The LM.TXT file should be in the mesh asset library.

mesh-asset

Type: KUID

Default: <NULLKUID>

Compulsory: No

Desc: Specifies a mesh asset to be used in conjunction with the 'mesh' tag when the mesh is not contained within the current asset. The mesh name specified in the 'mesh' tag must be located in the mesh asset as Content Manager does not check for the existence of the mesh and will not report an error if it is missing. If the mesh is not located in the root folder of the mesh asset then the mesh name in the 'mesh' tag must include the path to the folder.

NOTE: There may be several different versions of the mesh asset installed, with different meshes. The mesh asset KUID number must be the version of the asset in which the mesh in the 'mesh' tag exists.

Example: If the mesh in the 'mesh' tag was added in kuid2:12345:9876:2 and does not exist in earlier versions, then this is the kuid number you must specify in the mesh-asset tag; specifying an older revision number (ie kuid:12345:9876 or kuid2:12345:9876:1) will result in errors. This applies even if the only change between versions is that the mesh is in a different folder.

mesh-scale

Type: Floatlist

Default: 1.0,1.0

Compulsory: No

Desc: This tag defines a minimum and maximum scaling value for the mesh, where 1.0 is the size as modelled. Each instance of the mesh that exists in the world will randomise within this range. Randomisation will not change between runs or between Trainz editions, but may change based on factors such as the position of the mesh in the world. This tag is currently only supported on SpeedTree assets; attempts to use this tag on other assets results in undefined behaviour.

mesh-season

Type: Int (0-250)

Default: 255

Compulsory: No

Desc: The season index for which this mesh is displayed. The default value (255) indicates that this mesh is visible in all seasons. See also "Season-selector" container.

night-mesh-base

Type: Mesh name

Default: ""

Compulsory: No

Desc: Defines this mesh as a "nightmode" mesh. This mesh is visible only at "night" (the exact meaning of which is defined by the nightmode tag in the top level of this asset's config.txt file. This mesh becomes invisible if the specified base mesh is invisible. Prior to v4.3, nightmode meshes have a material emissive color (currently 2.0, 2.0, 2.0) forcibly applied to them. From v4.3 upward, it is expected that the creator will set any necessary emissive coloration in the mesh file itself.

opacity

Type: Float (0.0 - 1.0)(See below)

Default: 1.0

Compulsory: No

Desc: Specifies the overall transparency of the mesh. Values other than 0.0 or 1.0 employ alpha blending and a value of 0.0 has the same effect as hiding the mesh. Note that this tag is buggy in TS2009 prior to SP4.

orientation

Type: Floatlist (radians)

Default: 0,0,0

Compulsory: No

Desc: Orientation of X,Y,Z axes. Allows a submesh to be rotated relative to its insertion point. To reverse a mesh by 180 degrees about the Z axis, add the tag: orientation 0,0,3.14159

position

Type: Floatlist (metres)

Default: 0,0,0

Compulsory: No

Desc: Position of the mesh using X,Y,Z axes relative to its insertion point.

radius

Type: Float

Default: TBD

Compulsory: No

Desc: TBD (should this be in "mesh-table"_container_(interior_version)?)

should-respond-to-clicks

Type: Bool

Default: True(1)

Compulsory: No

Desc: If set to false (0) on a mesh that is part of an asset, it will remove that mesh from the calculation of the 'bounding box' that will be used to check whether the user clicked on that particular asset. This is useful for light ray effects or animations which are significantly outside the normal bounding volume, and may cause movement to focus on the wrong asset. For instance, a traincar may need a mesh marked with should-respond-to-clicks set to false in order to ensure that the click is detected for the correct traincar when it is part of a consist. First introduced with TS12 SP1 HF4 (build 61388). Default value (True) is the prior behaviour (the mesh will be considered part of the bounding box for the purpose of registering clicks).

test-collisions

Type: Bool

Default: TBD

Compulsory: No

Desc: TBD (should this be in "mesh-table"_container_(interior_version)?)

use-parent-bounds

Type: Bool

Default: False(0)

Compulsory: No

Desc: When enabled, this tag indicates that render culling should occur using the whole object's bounding box rather than this mesh's bounding box. Bounding boxes on individual meshes may not update correctly when animation moves the object's geometry any significant distance from the bind position. This flag can help mitigate such effects, at a tiny performance penalty.

Mesh-Table Example

The following is an example of a simple mesh-table which implements two levels of detail.

mesh-table
{
  default-lod0
  {
    mesh "example-lod0.im"
    auto-create 1
    lod-level 0
  }
  default-lod1
  {
    mesh "example-lod1.im"
    auto-create 1
    lod-level 1
  }
}

Mesh-Table Example (with collision)

The following is an example of a mesh table with a separate collision mesh. For this, we are using a low polygon collision mesh with no material (null.m.notex) in place of any collision the game would generate for us. It's important to put the collision-data-generation-mode to "disabled" for every other mesh that is not the collision mesh. Otherwise, the game will assume the mesh can be used for collision and create unwanted results.

mesh-table
{
  default
  {
    mesh "example.lm"
    auto-create 1
    collision-data-generation-mode      "disabled"
    collision-mesh "collision"
  }
  collision
  {
    mesh "collision.trainzmesh"
    collision-data-generation-mode      "separate-shape-triangle-mesh"
  }
}

"mesh-table" container

Contents

KIND Hierarchy

Known Dependent Parent Types

Level of Detail (LOD)

Mesh subcontainer

Supported Tags

anim

animation-loop-speed

att

att-parent

auto-create

collision-data-generation-mode

collision-mesh

critical-animation

custom-render-plugin

does-cast-shadows

effects

lod-level

mesh

mesh-asset

mesh-scale

mesh-season

night-mesh-base

opacity

orientation

position

radius

should-respond-to-clicks

test-collisions

use-parent-bounds

Mesh-Table Example

Mesh-Table Example (with collision)

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