HowTo/Add thumbnail and preview images to your route

Like all assets in Trainz, routes can have a thumbnail image, which is used as the 'preview' image on the Download Station as well as in Content Manager. Additionally, the route can have up to three preview images which will be displayed in the Driver/Surveyor and Routes menus (TANE and TRS19 only). This guide will show you how to add the thumbnail image to your route from within Trainz, and then how to manually add the three preview images using Content Manager.

Adding the Thumbnail

Adding the thumbnail within Trainz is quite simple, using Surveyor to generate and add the thumbnail. You can do this by following these steps:

1. Select your route in the Routes list, then click on Edit Routes
2. Once the route loads, position the camera in the view that you would like shown in the thumbnail
3. Click on the Main Menu/System Menu button on the top toolbar
4. Click on Edit Route
5. Click on 'Set Thumbnail'. A screenshot will be taken, and the thumbnail preview will update to show the route's new thumbnail.
6. Click the checkmark to confirm the change
7. Save your route

The new thumbnail will then be saved to your route.

The picture produced will not show many of the icons for assets placed along tracks (such as sound horn and triggers), even if in view on the screen. However, many other survey mode icons will be present in your picture: switch settings and spline points (circles), for example.

Adding the Preview Images

The first step is to take 3 screenshots that show off your route, such as interesting locations and features. These can be taken in either Surveyor or Driver mode, and can be edited to include logos or similar if you wish.

These should be resized and/or cropped down to 1280 x 800 pixels. You can do this using most image editing tools, an easy and fast tool for this for Windows is [Faststone Image Viewer or Photo Resizer]

The preview images should be in jpeg (.jpg) format, and it is recommended to give them simple easy to remember names. For this tutorial, name them '0.jpg', '1.jpg', '2.jpg'.

Once your images are ready, follow these steps to edit them, and add them to your route.

1. Open Content Manager by clicking on Manage Content on the launcher screen

2. Click on the drop down box to the right of 'Filter:' and select 'My Content'.

3. You will now see a list of your content; locate your route in this list (you can use the filter tools, or search box, to help locate your route)

4. When located, right click on your route

5. Go to 'Open...', then click on 'Edit in Explorer' (windows) or 'Edit in Finder' (mac). You will then see an explorer/finder window appear, with your route asset shown.

6. Copy your three preview images into this folder

7. Now double click on the file called 'config.txt'. This is the 'configuration' file for your route.

8. Locate the thumbnails container, it will look something like this:

thumbnails
{
 default
 {
   image                               "thumbnail.jpg"
   width                               512
   height                              384
 }
}

You will note that your thumbnail image will already be entered into this.

9. Copy and paste the following three containers after the 'default' container, but before the last '}' of the thumbnails container :

 00
 {
   image                               "0.jpg"
   width                               1200
   height                              800
 }
 01
 {
   image                               "1.jpg"
   width                               1200
   height                              800
 }
 02
 {
   image                               "2.jpg"
   width                               1200
   height                              800
 }

The resulting thumbnails container should look like this:

thumbnails
{
 default
 {
   image                               "thumbnail.jpg"
   width                               512
   height                              384
 }
 00
 {
   image                               "0.jpg"
   width                               1200
   height                              800
 }
 01
 {
   image                               "1.jpg"
   width                               1200
   height                              800
 }
 02
 {
   image                               "2.jpg"
   width                               1200
   height                              800
 }
}

10. Save the config.txt file.

11. Close the config.txt file and the explorer or finder window.

12. Go back to Content Manager

13. Right click on your route, and then click on 'submit'

14. If the route does not show as faulty, then you have correctly followed these steps. Start Trainz and select your route in the Routes menu. You should then see the preview images shown in the Routes or Driver/Surveyor menu!

Note: You must ensure that you have the same number of matching "curly brace" symbols - the number of "{" characters and "}" characters must be the same so that the structure of the thumbnails container looks exactly like it does above, otherwise your asset will become faulty!

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