Unpacking of .ap files

[Chacal]

From Mike Simpson:

I get a lot of queries about .ap file unpacking, so maybe the following could be made a sticky?

Unpacking of .ap files -

1. If you are using Windows 7, 8.1 or 10, you must run RW_Tools as administrator (right click on RW_Tools.exe and select Properties/compatability and tick the box 'Always run as administrator').

2. Run RW_Tools and go to Files/Find all .ap files

3. Once the list of all the .ap files appears, click on the ones you wish to unpack (CTRL-Click to select a number simultaneously)

4. Click the first button in the bottom row to unzip using 7zip (this is NOT the same 7zip as you may have downloaded, but a special version and this one makes all files read/write automatically)

5. Click OK on the next 2 messages which appear, don't change the selection and keep it as 'Unpack .ap overwriting all destination files if they exist' - This is the safest selection.

Note: The route .ap file is always named 'MainContent.ap' so you will probably have to check with a scenario pack name for the same route to work out which MainContent.ap applies to the route in question, they will all have the same route Hex address like 00000034-b000-0000-0000-000000002014 which applies to the South London Line and all its scenario packs. The South London assets pack is also packed in an .ap file.

Note2: Because a file in the list is red or black is not always a definitive indication of the status of the .ap file - In some cases DTG/Steam download updated versions of these files to your PC and remove the unpacked items, so even if you remember unpacking a particular file, it might not be available even the next day. I try to work out what is/is not unpacked by measuring the size of the .ap file and the size of the folder. Usually when unpacked, the folder is about twice the size of the .ap file on its own. But even this is not always the case :-(

Mike