Replace moving Train Car in Hit & Run Level 2?

In The Simpsons Hit and Run level 2 (And 5) part of the world is the train yards that appear at time on The Simpsons. There's a freight car that moved back and forth, which is an obstacle in certain missions, and a challenge when you have to climb atop other cars, jump onto the moving car, and jump to other cars, or to overhead pipes.

Freight cars do not move under their own power (Unless you've watched Schoolhouse Rock's 'Conjunction Junction') with the exception of hump yards, which have a man made hill (The hump) where cars are pushed up the hill, and uncoupled, and roll down the hill and switched onto classification tracks. A great labor saving system, effective enough to make Mr. Burns proud!

Anyway, I am wondering if it is possible to replace the artwork for that car with a yard switching locomotive? I am somewhat familiar with how artwork in computer games is used, and am interested in replacing the artwork with a yard locomotive. If the replacement would have to have the same dimensions as the original, I can work with that.

How might I go about doing something like this?

It is completely impossible.

Just out of curiousity, why? Is something as simple as just replacing the skin or texture of that particular car impossible? Even if it would then mean every other car like it in the yard (The non-moving cars) would also be replaced, that is fine. Most train yards have more than one switcher.

AFAIK, texture editing the world is possible. Just not model editing.

The trains in the yard are part of the overworld, not vehicles so editing their models and collisions isn't possible yet.

Texture editing != removing something from the world. I think you're confusing the two.

If you aren't, let me know what you meant in more detail please.

I don't intend to remove or functionally change any part of it. It would basically be the same box shape, same size, same walkable area on the roof. It would just look different, that's all.

There were yard switcher locomotives whose engine hood were as tall as the cab (I've operated them, they are a beast for forward visibility as the cab is at the back of the locomotive), and there were early diesel locomotives called "Box Cabs" in the 1920s used in train yards, which got their name because they looked like boxcars with end cabs. I could draw up either, and functionally it would not change the moving car at all.

Though you could replace the texture used on the freight car with another texture, every side of it uses the same texture. The long sides use a repeated version of the texture used on the short side, and the top uses a repeated version of part of the texture, so changing the appearance to anything more complicated than what is already in the game is, unfortunately, likely impossible. (To be fair I haven't actually messed with this myself, just looked inside the .p3d file, so this might not be entirely accurate).

I can work with that. I mentioned a "Box Cab" diesel. One of the very first diesel locomotives in America could be reasonably approximated the way you described. It had two windows at the end, and the sides of the unit had four windows. The unit was ten feet wide and maybe 30 feet long. If the pattern repeats three or four times, though, it would still look OK. The end pattern with its windows would work for the side.

Here's a picture of the unit I am thinking of. I think you can see how a rough approximation could be achieved. Even if it were a "Stretched" version with more windows.

sbiii.com/rrpix/Ircodemo.jpg

OK, I found the texture for the moving car, and replaced it with something that would work for the ends, and the sides. These were taken from a photo I found online of a boxcab diesel locomotive.


The end of the unit looks good


The only downside is that the roof now also has the new artwork. For me this is tolerable, as the moving car is usually seen from ground level. So it isn't perfect by any means (Though I do have some ideas that might help) but at least it can be done, and I did it.