Railworks America

I've definitely warmed up to TS lately after writing it off in favor of MSTS/OR for the past few years but one aspect that still grinds me gears is how unnecessarily difficult DTG/Kuju/RSC/whomever came up with this system has made creating and editing scenarios. The ridiculous markers, all the flyouts, the difficulty of swapping stock etc. etc. really makes it a pain. Since there's no program like Conbuilder to bypass DTGs system I use RW Tools which is a fair replacement if not a bit overpowered (nothing wrong with that) for the task. I switched out some cars in a player consist and got a few error 53s but nothing that crashed the application. It also showed the stock was swapped so I figured everything was kosher. When I was finished I saved the scenario and fired up TS. Loaded the scenario and I got missing stock errors. Excuse me? I decided to edit the scenario within TS and of course the marker was hanging in the sky upside down in a yard, player train nowhere in sight. Rubbish. So I go back into RW_Tools and get some missing file errors for that activity. The supposedly missing stock has file paths that are definitely not on my computer such Railworks/assets/producernamehere/railvehicles/freight/boxcar/m/on/railworks/assets/producername/railvehicles/freight/boxcar/stock.bin just to provide an example. Figuring this had to be a glitch I loaded up TS again and tried the scenario. Same thing. Went back into RW_Tools and now the consist in question is GONE and I can't even edit it making the activity useless. What's going on here? This is pretty much why I've stuck to Euro stuff for the moment as since I don't live there it's all new to me. I can't play American scenarios unless I have American variety but TS has made everything so difficult I really just want to throw my hands up and go back to MSTS/OR.

Well, if you got Error 53 (Can't find specified file), it is fairly obvious that something was wrong somewhere and there was no way the option was going to work.

Can you tell me what route/scenario you were working on and what rolling stock you were swapping with what?

As you talk about a DTGs system, is the route a DTG route? If so it and its assets will be packaged in an .ap folder and will need to be unpacked before RW_Tools can edit it?

More information will help.

Mike

Metro4050 wrote: but one aspect that still grinds me gears is how unnecessarily difficult DTG/Kuju/RSC/whomever came up with this system has made creating and editing scenarios.

Ok, you never really made an activity in MSTS did you. If you did you would never say this. What exactly do you find difficult compared to MSTS? It still takes me mega hours to time out six AI on an hour scenario, if that's what you mean I can I understand.

mikesimpson wrote:Well, if you got Error 53 (Can't find specified file), it is fairly obvious that something was wrong somewhere and there was no way the option was going to work.

Can you tell me what route/scenario you were working on and what rolling stock you were swapping with what?

As you talk about a DTGs system, is the route a DTG route? If so it and its assets will be packaged in an .ap folder and will need to be unpacked before RW_Tools can edit it?

More information will help.

Mike

I was editing an activity for the FRC route. I swapped out the engines (which weren't an issue) and some rolling stock. A few box cars and a couple of hoppers seemed to the be the issue. I can't give specifics because the consist in question no longer shows up when I open the scenario file to edit it in RW_tools. Also all .ap files have been unpacked.

NYWhiskey wrote:

Metro4050 wrote: but one aspect that still grinds me gears is how unnecessarily difficult DTG/Kuju/RSC/whomever came up with this system has made creating and editing scenarios.

Ok, you never really made an activity in MSTS did you. If you did you would never say this. What exactly do you find difficult compared to MSTS? It still takes me mega hours to time out six AI on an hour scenario, if that's what you mean I can I understand.

Believe me, I have. As long as your trainset folder is kosher creating activities using the editor isn't hard at all. Of course if there is an issue with even one parenthesis in a .wag file you might not be able to get into at all. Still, when it works, it's better than what I deal with now. Scenario markers for example are uselessly complicated. Why does one need a scenario marker if you want the player to start in or around the locomotive? Poorly placed markers cause trouble with loading scenery and editing the activity because the scenario marker might be in the middle of nowhere whilst the service you want to edit is on the other side of the map. Pathing for both player and AI services also seems more complicated with go via instructions and all of that. The learning curve is a bit more than what I faced with MSTS.

I believe if it is that upsetting to you I suggest you go back to MSTS and not have all this stress in your life. RWTools does a wonderful job of editing scenarios if you follow directions and in all my years with Railworks I have never had the problem you encountered. Assuming that you made a clone or backed up your scenario you should be able to just try it again and see if you get better results.

And that's fine and dandy for you. I'm quite sure RW_Tools is wonderful across the board but it would not have gotten to that point if everyone who had an issue just gave up and didn't report their issue whether it was a creation of their own or a fly in the ointment of the program. I'm sure this section isn't here for decoration so I came to report my issue to see if there is a solution. I'm quite sure I have these items in my assets folder, as that's how RW_Tools was able to inventory them as replacements in the first place. The issue I have is that once they are put into the list the paths get screwed up and no longer recognizable by the program.

I guess what got me a little cranky is your constant reference to how wonderful MSTS is and how unwieldy RW is to work with. I and many others on here feel pretty proprietary about RW after spending many years with it and seeing it grow into a really nice stable platform. I'm sure not going to claim it's perfect however computers are funny things. If you don't get all the right stuff in the right place programs don't work. I have heard a thousand times "I followed the directions exactly and it still doesn't work."
There's always a answer out there. Always. If you stick with it what seems horribly complicated becomes routine and seems....... well almost normal.

Let's be honest. You're not "making" or "creating" scenarios, you're attempting to alter those made by others. Despite its difficulties and frustrations, the TS scenario creation system is quite simple:

1) Choose and place a scenario marker, which should always be as close to the player engine as possible, especially on large or complex routes.
2) Place the engine and rolling stock of your choice and give the engine a driver disc.
3) Using the Timetable editor, assign a series of tasks to your player train. These can be as simple as moving from point A to point B or as elaborate as carrying out a series of switching maneuvers.
4) Save the result and test it. If it runs, you can add AI trains, but they certainly are not required.

Before giving up on the scenario making apparatus built into TS, please try writing a very simple, point-to-point scenario.

buzz456 wrote:I guess what got me a little cranky is your constant reference to how wonderful MSTS is and how unwieldy RW is to work with. I and many others on here feel pretty proprietary about RW after spending many years with it and seeing it grow into a really nice stable platform. I'm sure not going to claim it's perfect however computers are funny things. If you don't get all the right stuff in the right place programs don't work. I have heard a thousand times "I followed the directions exactly and it still doesn't work."
There's always a answer out there. Always. If you stick with it what seems horribly complicated becomes routine and seems....... well almost normal.

I'm not saying MSTS is wonderful per se, just I found that when the activity editor functioned properly (rarely) it was an easier beast to work with. Yet and still since I started investing in TS heavily about a month or so ago I haven't fired up MSTS/OR once.

I edited another activity using RW_Tools and couldn't duplicate the error. Every swap I made worked perfectly. Can't complain about that. I'll try making a new scenario on TS. I've watched some videos and it doesn't seem too bad once one gets the hang of it.

Have you looked at my tutorials? These are a little old but still get the point a crossed.

http://railworksamerica.com/index.php/l ... t-scenario