Asset Validation
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The following changes are reasonably new additions that many users may not yet have experience with. They are included here to highlight the requirements and to advise users that they are legitimate problems. | The following changes are reasonably new additions that many users may not yet have experience with. They are included here to highlight the requirements and to advise users that they are legitimate problems. | ||
| − | * | + | * Content is now loaded by the game engine during validation, in addition to the existing practice of checking the content files for known errors. This means that some number of errors which previously only occurred at runtime will now be detected during validation. |
| − | + | * Limited sanity checks for incorrect use of [[material sharing]] are now present. | |
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== Recent Additions == | == Recent Additions == | ||
The following changes are recent additions to the config format. | The following changes are recent additions to the config format. | ||
| − | * | + | * A full list of [[TRS18]] Documentation is not yet available. |
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Revision as of 18:08, 15 October 2017
All Trainz assets must be correctly formed in order to work properly across a wide range of software and hardware configurations. To aid in this process, Trainz includes asset validation functionality which checks each item of content for a range of known flaws. This validation process is performed both on your local Trainz installation, and also as part of the Download Station Upload Process. Assets which fail validation cannot be used in-game.
This page documents recent changes to the asset validation process. It is not intended as a complete list of possible failure cases, nor does it seek to provide information on how to fix each error condition. If a fault is discovered in your own content, you should review the relevant Content Configuration documents to understand the rules and restrictions which are relevant to the asset in question.
Contents |
Common Misunderstandings
There are two common misunderstandings that our users often have regarding asset validation:
1. That built-in content is exempt from validation, and may be faulty. This is incorrect; all built-in content is validated at the N3V Games offices using the same tools as are available to end users. We do not perform validation of built-in content on end-user machines because (1) it is slow, and (2) the content cannot be modified and was known to be good at the time it was made built-in.
- It is important, however, to note that built-in content does not contain source textures. This means that a user who attempts to clone or edit built-in content will be faced with a faulty result unless they provide their own source textures. This does not indicate that the built-in content was faulty, but rather that the user's manipulations have left the game with a faulty copy of the asset.
2. That warnings must be fixed. Warnings are generated when the game believes that there may be reason for the content creator to review their asset. It is purely a courtesy to highlight cases which are known to be frequently problematic. This does not necessarily mean that the content is faulty, or that anything needs to be changed. Modifying your own created content to resolve warnings is encouraged, but not mandatory. Modifying content created by others to resolve warnings is strongly discouraged as it is likely to introduce compatibility issues for no benefit.
- Note that it is also a myth that "today's warning is tomorrow's error". In some cases we warn people about errors prior to making the changes mandatory in future versions, but this is a guide not a rule.
Validation Error Messages
The list of error messages that can be created during the validation process is at Validation Errors.
Recent Validation Changes
The following changes are reasonably new additions that many users may not yet have experience with. They are included here to highlight the requirements and to advise users that they are legitimate problems.
- Content is now loaded by the game engine during validation, in addition to the existing practice of checking the content files for known errors. This means that some number of errors which previously only occurred at runtime will now be detected during validation.
- Limited sanity checks for incorrect use of material sharing are now present.
Recent Additions
The following changes are recent additions to the config format.
- A full list of TRS18 Documentation is not yet available.
