Railworks America

Hello fellow railworkers,

Link to the route: viewtopic.php?t=4160

Guys, the Conrail Chicago project seems to have encountered a problem. Creating scenarios for it is impossible. At most locations it crashes when loading the track . If i do get lucky enough to make a scenario, it runs like clockwork though. When doing route editing its solid as a rock, no problems.

I dont have a clue as to what is wrong. Like any route builder i spend 98% of my time building the route. Havent run a scenario in a long and i mean long time, wanna get the route done and share it.

Anyways,

My plan yesterday was to update my wip thread here at RWA, so i decided to create a scenario to take some progress shots, thats when i discovered the scenario editor had become hostile

Some thoughts and questions:

1. Is there a maximum amount of scalerail allowed? Too much scalerail? - More on this further down.

2. Is 4gb of ram finally taking its toll ? Will adding more ram help?

3. Are there any logs i can upload to you guys to take a look at ? Dmp files or Logmate files?

4. Is there a way to rebuild the track/blueprint for my route? Say, delete a certain blueprint/or file and restart railworks, launch the route editor for my route, and the blueprint/file repairs itself, creates itself so to speak. - just like the old MTS days, rebuild track database i think it was called.

Here are some troubleshooting i have done. ( Running Railworks with the latest patch, v11.7b )

Verified files via steam
Turned off all assets in the provider box
Removed all assets from the assets folder and installed a clean assets folder
Turned on assets one by one from the provider box
Turned off TSX
Started the sim in window mode
I have run rwtools on it, no missing files
Reinstalled windows 7 64 bit
Reinstalled railworks from scratch
Update graphic drivers
Tried a previous backup of the route, that version also fails. ( It has the same amount of track, so the fault must be older )
Uninstalled scalerail, installed freeware scalerail, back and forth.

Now, here comes the strange part. When i load my route without scalerail, it loads perfectly...I can edit consist, make scenarios and all... But when i turn scalerail back on, it comes up with the despicable sbhh.

- Call me crazy, but is it possible to replace the track with default kuju track? Probably not, but im desperate.

I have not added any objects as of lately, not installed any new "stuff". All my new engines go into a separate railworks that i run offline, so that cant be it.


My system:

Intel E8500 3,16 oc to 3,7 stable.
Evga gtx 570 superclocked version
4 GB Ram
Kingston Hyperx SSD
Windows 7 64 bit

Downloading railworks again as i type this, one last time to be sure.

Ive spent so much time and energy on this project, i dont wanna give up on it.

Help

Okay, somebody who knows something help this man! This route looks fantastic and I've been following it faithfully since the first announcement. I sure do hope the problem can be resolved!

imnew wrote: - Call me crazy, but is it possible to replace the track with default kuju track? Probably not, but im desperate.

Yes. Done quite commonly, was a thread at UKTS about it just yesterday: http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic. ... 4&t=124607

Griphos, thank you for the encouragement .

Kali, thanks. So there might stll be a chance. Will check it out when i get home. I sure hope this is the "fix" the route needs.

To anyone else stopping by, if you have any ideas, anything you think i should try out, then please say it.

Have you sent the route to an alpha tester or two?

Chacal wrote:Have you sent the route to an alpha tester or two?

Hi Chacal.

I havent got any alpha testers onboard yet. I will look into how to package the route, as of now i dont have a clue how to package a route without accidently package payware at the same time. Dont want to break any payware rules. Im not sure how it works but i think the packager only package the route, and not the payware that has been used.

It's very easy to replace all the track with another type using RWTools. It would be a pitty to do so though. Getting some testers onboard is the best start as pinpointing the problem will require going over all track with a fine tooth comb. I've encountered alot of funny things with laying Scalerail (and Scaleroad) and figured out a few no-no's and must-dos to make it work. Strapped for time right now but will flick you a PM later and see if we can figure it out.

NDORFN,

Sounds good and thanks ! Gotta log off for now, work takes me elsewhere. Will check back in tomorrow.

Nice to see you guys are jumping in and helping me out Keep them ideas coming.

Jerry had trouble with SR on his AND route, but I think he pinpointed it to a specific area, once you get to the spot it crashes you may have to rework that area like he did.

I really hope this works out as this route is in my backyard, and I look forward to spending many hours enjoying the familiar sites.
Unfortunatly I can't offer any advice, but there are a lot of smart guys on this forum (so I'm led to believe) that should get the route
heading in the right direction. The beta testing sounds like a good way to have it ready and bug-free when you are able to release it.

Can't wait to run some hot-shot freights around my stomping grounds here in the South Side of Chicago.
Good luck.

Nobody has addressed one of your questions so I'll weigh in. Your RAM may very well be at least part of the problem. I am in the process of updating my RAM from 12GB to 16GB. I paid about $25 for a 4GB DDR3 card. You will probably need to install paired cards and may have to remove existing cards to open slots on the motherboard for the new ones. Any additional RAM is only going to make things better overall even if it doesn't take care of this particular problem. I have a 64-bit i7 Processor with the GTX 570 video card so my capability probably isn't much different from your's. I'll be happy to look at your route and try creating a scenario if you would like some alpha-bodies.

Don

I'm not sure it would be a main RAM issue with a 64bit OS, it can just keep adding swap anyway. If it works with 2d track, try temporarily swapping someone else's 3d track in ( even if it looks silly ) - if your SBHH returns you might just be hitting game engine limits in that tile, and you'll have to reduce the scenery assets somehow ( combining assets into one item is a good first step ).

Adding more main memory will always help you do something or other, though.

I decided to try the additional RAM due to a comment elsewhere in this forum. I was having trouble running scenarios in NS-AND and Seattle. After upgrading to 16GB, I don't think that this is the solution I hoped for. I still have to run these two routes in a separate RW load to get them to consistently work. Sorry.

Don

Csxgp38-2 wrote:Jerry had trouble with SR on his AND route, but I think he pinpointed it to a specific area, once you get to the spot it crashes you may have to rework that area like he did.

That`s what im afraid of

Hi,

imnew wrote:1. Is there a maximum amount of scalerail allowed? Too much scalerail? - More on this further down.

I'm not sure about that, actually I can't quite imagine it would be a problem. SR is has a higher polycount than the default track and uses more textures as far as I'm aware, so there will be a (small!) performance hit -- but I think the actual crashes would probably only be caused more by a conjunction of having 'overpopulated' tiles, or too many other high-poly/texture objects on the same tile with many SR pieces.

There's another trick you can apply to create scenarios: open your route's folder in Explorer, make a backup of the route, then move the Scenery and MixMap folders to a temporary place, then load the route. RW will now load a 'naked' version of the route, with tracks and terrain only. The route should load fine now, unless there really is an issue with SR. You can also use this method to place a lot of freeroam scenario markers at various locations, so you'll be able to check them later on after moving the two folders back in place.

(BTW -- this folder moving also works the other way around -- cut out only the Networks folder and the route will load with only the scenery items in place! Which is very useful for when you want to J-key snap to terrain many scenery objects without having to bother about not accidentally selecting any road or track lofts.)

You could also have a closer look at the scenery objects that were used in 'offending' places. There are a few high-poly objects floating around. If you use more than a few of them in a built-up place it could also send the sim into a crash.

I think one of the old MSTS rules might also still apply, as funny as that may sound -- it could be advisable to keep the tile object count generally below 1,000. Also, I think one should not use an excessive number of different terrain paints on the same tile -- but this is highly speculative and based purely on hunches.

4. Is there a way to rebuild the track/blueprint for my route? Say, delete a certain blueprint/or file and restart railworks, launch the route editor for my route, and the blueprint/file repairs itself, creates itself so to speak. - just like the old MTS days, rebuild track database i think it was called.

Not that I'm aware of. But then again the RW database files are much more stable and reliable than the MSTS ones.

Cheers,
Michael