Uploading Content to the Steam Workshop

This guide provides information on creating and uploading content to the Steam Workshop.

Types of Content

Simutrans supports uploading 4 different types of content to the Steam Workshop.

These item types are:

Addons

Addons are single '.pak' files containing details of a vehicle, building, or other object to be added to an existing PakSet.

Maps

Maps are '.ppm' images that can be loaded as heightmaps into Simutrans.

PakSets

PakSets are a collection of configuration files and '.pak' files that make up a cohesive game environment.

Scenarios

Scenarios are a set of additional game rules, goals or other settings coded into a text file, and also often (but not always) including an exisitng save game that the scenario is played on.

Uploading Content to the Steam Workshop

Upon launching the Steam Uploader, it will display a standard window with File, Windows, Help.

To upload content for the first time, you will need to go to File -> New, and select the appropriate content type.

For all content types it will prompt for a Title, Description, and Visibility.

Addons

Addons will also prompt for you to select the .pak file of the Addon, and which PakSet the addon is designed to work with (note that it will only show PakSets that it can detect installed on your system, and will default to pak128.

For an addon it will also prompt you to select a preview image.

Maps

As maps are PakSet independent, and it can create the image from the .ppm file, selecting a Map will only prompt for the Map file to be uploaded.

PakSets

For PakSets it will prompt you to select the Folder in which the PakSet is located and a Preview file for the PakSet. Note that the actual install name of the PakSet will match the name of the folder that the PakSet was stored in.

Scenario

For Scenarios it will prompt you to select the scenario.nut file within the Scenario directory. It will upload the entire directory to Steam. You will also need to select a preview image, and the PakSet the Scenario is designed for.

Final Steps

Once all the details are entered, go to File -> Upload to Steam

Make sure if you may want to be able to make changes in future to save the item after it has been uploaded to Steam, and then if you wish to alter the item again in future, you can Open the item again. (This will store the Steam Workshop ID of the item in the file, along with the other configuration options you have selected).

Creating an Addon

Introduction

MakeObj is a program that creates pak files. It merges the png image file with the dat file in a single pak file, that is compatible with Simutrans and is ready to be used in the game.

A wiki on creating pak files can be found at Simutrans Wiki[simutrans-germany.com]
An old guide can be found at this location[forum.simutrans.com]

Both the command line tool makeobj, and the graphical tool Tilecutter will be installed as part of the workshop tools

Creating a Map

Maps can be created in any image application that supports saving to ppm format.

One free application that supports this is Gimp[www.gimp.org].

When creating a height map if working in GreyScale, black is the deepest point, while white is the heighest point.

The color to height conversion is calculated by one of 4 methods, depending on if the given pakset uses 'half-heights' or not, and if it uses an old method or new method for calculation.

The formula is:
h0 = r*2+g*3+b
then one of
Old Method
h1=h0/32-28
h1=h0/16-14
New Method
h1=h0/24-34
h1=h0/48-18

Sea level is by default set to h1=-4, however it can be set as low as h1=-10 or h1=-20 depending on if 'half-heights' are used or not.
The table below gives a conversion of height to greyscale value (from 0 - 255).

Depth	h0/32-28	h0/16-14	h0/24-34	h0/48-18
-34			0
-33			4
-32			8
-31			12
-30			16
-29			20
-28	0		24
-27	6		28
-26	11		32
-25	16		36
-24	22		40
-23	27		44
-22	32		48
-21	38		52
-20	43		56
-19	48		60
-18	54		64	0
-17	59		68	8
-16	64		72	16
-15	70		76	24
-14	75	0	80	32
-13	80	11	84	40
-12	86	22	88	48
-11	91	32	92	56
-10	96	43	96	64
-9	102	54	100	72
-8	107	64	104	80
-7	112	75	108	88
-6	118	86	112	96
-5	123	96	116	104
-4	128	107	120	112
-3	134	118	124	120
-2	139	128	128	128
-1	144	139	132	136
0	150	150	136	144
1	155	160	140	152
2	160	171	144	160
3	166	182	148	168
4	171	192	152	176
5	176	203	156	184
6	182	214	160	192
7	187	224	164	200
8	192	235	168	208
9	198	246	172	216
10	203		176	224
11	208		180	232
12	214		184	240
13	219		188	248
14	224		192
15	230		196
16	235		200
17	240		204
18	246		208
19	251		212
20			216
21			220
22			224
23			228
24			232
25			236
26			240
27			244
28			248
29			252

Creating a PakSet

Creating a PakSet is a large undertaking requiring the creation at minimum of the following files:
menuconf.tab (Menu configuraiton for the PakSet)
and the following pak files as a minimum:

• crossing.*.pak
  
• cursor.*.pak
  
• misc.*.pak
  
• symbol.*.pak
  
• symbol.Builder.pak
  
• menu.*.pak
  
• ground.*.pak
  
• good.None.pak
  
• good.Passagiere.pak
  
• good.Post.pak
  
• config/*.tab
  
• building.*_CITY.pak
  
• way.city_road.pak
  
• way.*_road.pak
  
• building.CarDepot.pak

Additional details on creating a PakSet can be found on the simutrans-germany.com Wiki Site.[simutrans-germany.com]

Creating a Scenario

Scenario files are essentially a text script file(s), often with an associated save game that forms the starting point of the Scenario.

The scenario file is called 'scenario.nut'

The API Details can be found at Simutrans-Squirrel-API[dwachs.github.io]

Another way to learn is to simply open up the scenario.nut file from an existing scenario and take a look at how it is coded.