Railworks vs RW_Tools

[fluteman70]

I am told by support that Railworks and RW_Tools do not work well together. That RW_Tools causes problems with TS2012. Has anyone found that to be the case?
Thanks,
Fred

[artimrj]

I guess that would depend on the user. RW Tools lets you get in to the meat of the applications and if you mess something up, well you messed up RW. It is hard to do tech support when the user has been altering the core files and anything else you might be doing while using RW Tools.

[Hawk]

I know I don't have RW installed, but I know from experience that Route Riter is a must have tool for MSTS, and I suspect that RW_Tools is also a must have tool for RW (both from the same developer - Mike Simpson).

That being said, RW_Tools does require some knowledge of what you're doing, or else - as Bob said - it can make a mess of things.

[artimrj]

No Hawk, RW Tools doesnt make the mess, the user does. ;)

[Hawk]

No Hawk, RW Tools doesnt make the mess, the user does. ;)

That's what I meant. I just didn't say it right.

[fluteman70]

Just to clarify. I have not used RW_Tools and have been considering downloading it, so in this case the "user" didn't mess up anything. I know you didn't mean me anyway.
Fred

[Hawk]

It's not that 'you' messed anything. It's the fact that if you don't know how to use RW_Tools right, you can then mess things up.

[Merlin75]

RW Tools is a useful tool to have. If your a route builder it can save you alot of work setting up a route. If your a repainter it can open the image files and bin files this is allso handy for when you need to try and fix things that RSC mess up. If you need to swap stock around or check a route it can do that. But as pointed out you make a mistake and you mess up RW.

[Machinist]

If wasn't RW Tools I would not get to make my enhancements ever, it's a must have tool, no doubt, I recommend.

However as far as you advance in more complex and advanced details RWTools doesn't help or starts to cause problems (yes) in scenarios, at the point of you have to delete the scenario and re-start it from scratch. The quite recent feature of "don't change numbers of vehicles" (set as default) already made (still makes) me waste a lot of time so far; changing start time never worked; and it's not advisable to do more then one change at the time when handling stocks, for example: add, delete and swapp vehicles all at the same time. Sometimes you have to open Scenario Editor to load and (just) save the scenario, otherwise changes done with RWTools won't work or won't show some informations up as expected (for example: the correct name of a new engine on lists). The packager for scenario doesn't work when packing multiple scenarios in same pack. That's what I can recall. Nothing that I cannot handle...

Mike is very fast when you ask for support.

Cheers,
Doc.

[LionelDave]

I'm no expert in any shape or from and have used RW_Tools for only changing out vehicles and changing a few text messages. But I've never had any trouble with it and have found it very use full.

I would encourage you to lean how to use it because I believe you will be glad you did if you want to change any scenarios.

Dave

[arizonachris]

Whoever told you that, Fred, is an idiot. Not only is RW Tools a very useful tool, Mike Simpson is a wonderfully helpful guy. For a small donation (I think I paid $10) you get the full blown program. It's really a wonderful thing. Change weather, day to night, add the moon, change a loco or entire consist. I have not gone into editing (well, heavy route or scenario stuff yet) or creating yet but it's all there. All the tutorials on Mike's site are fantastic as well. Highly recommend RW Tools.

[DonR]

RW Tools is a great program. I use it all the time mostly for swapping out locos and rolling stock. I also check for missing items in scenarios, then replace them with something I have.

[Scott_AUS]

I'm also a fan of the RW Tool and of Mike - who is great at replying to questions and being downright bloody helpful.

It's a total Swiss Army knife. It has heaps of functions.

From basic swapping stock to making scenarios (my work space) and route stuff "easy". but yes, the advice is sound, there are some awfully powerful functions, so you have to choose carefully what you use....

Ensure you backup before you explore it.....maybe common sense, but worth saying!!

or as the Romans learned the hard way....pillage THEN burn....

[dazzharvey]

I'm starting to find that RW tools has a better cloning tool for routes, the one in game seems to sometimes give me wrong coodinates, it was also vital for setting up my route template correctly, With this tool and RW decal going for free these days, now's a good time to get into creation :)