newbie question :(

[PamBrooker]

Actually, i edited the properties file last night ( this morning ) before going to bed, and chasnged the pointers to point to my own folder including the templates folder, then i temporarily uninstalled Kings Arm Highway to see if i had completely screwed something up or if my changes to the file would work..

As for the loading pic?/ Thats a whole nuther fish to fry.. I located and installed a copy of RWAce.exe and converted the .dds file to tga before dropping it on rwace. I DO get a .ace file out of it, but that file is seen as being a winrar file. I click it and winrar opens up.. I was able to defeat that by copying over the barstowbernadino.tgpcdx file , changing the name and editing it using rwtools as the go between. Unfortunately it still only loads the default load up pic.. I'm going back through the above posts again at the moment to see what i might have missed.
One thing i have noticed and i dont understand. While Kings Arm Highway was still on the system, the properties.xml file in my root asset directory, pointed to Kings Arm. With Kings Arm Highway removed, and after having edited the xml file to point to my directory, it went and changed itself to point to the fort kent directory.. I've re-edited it again to point back to my own directory, but i'm still missing something as in RWTools i still get a path not found error, and on loading the route, i still get the default load up picture..
God i hate scripting...

[PamBrooker]

Hi Gordon..
I guess your correct. i dont know.. What i did to begin the route was start RW, click on routes and then " New Route ". When it asked for what template to use, i chose Dons Kings Arm Highway as it's one of very few routes to use mountains. I still ended up getting a flat earth to work with, but, oh well.. As i developed the route, i came to realize that using RW's route editor, created a route that was never meant to be distributed to anyone else.
I just went into RW's blueprint editor, and checked the scenarios folder.. Mind you, i havent created a single scenario for this route beyond the free roam scenarios, but I seem to have aquires all of the fort kent scenarios somehow.. The program copied them in.. It seems the more i try to correct things, the more kerfuggled it gets.. If i delete all those scenarios, will i lose the route?? Yup, its frustrating.....

[Hawk]

I DO get a .ace file out of it, but that file is seen as being a winrar file.

Sounds like you need to fire up WinRar, click on 'Options' then 'Settings' then 'Integration'.
In the box that says 'Associate WinRAR with', remove the check mark from the ACE box.

While you're there, might as well remove the check marks from all the boxes except for RAR, ZIP (if you prefer to use WinRAR), and 7-Zip (if WinRAR is your chosen compression utility). I really don't see a need for WinRAR to be associated with everything else in that menu.

Then what you can try is to right click on the ace file and click on 'Open with...' and browse for the exe you want to open it with, or you can probably fire up whatever utility you use for ace files and associate that with ace in the options somewhere.

I hope that makes sense.

[qrfan3]

Hi Gordon..
I guess your correct. i dont know...

Pam
If you think this is what I have made you believe, then I am sorry.... ...it was never any intention or thought of ever doing so. You have a few issues and most likely will be found to be an easy fix. You are getting fired at from both sides with information and help and this may be adding to your problem.
In my eyes RichG is the Master at Route building and baring the RS.com guys not far in how / what RailSimulator & RailWorks works / does....so not to step on RichG's toes I will back off a little and let you focus on his input.....okay.

I still ended up getting a flat earth to work with, but, oh well..

Yes, that's all you get...flat terrain with the default texture, no mountains....nothing. You have to create all your own using default or 3rd party material from here including making those mountains from the DEM option of RailWorks or using the payware ReDem which I like and used.

I just went into RW's blueprint editor, and checked the scenarios folder... If i delete all those scenarios, will i lose the route??

This I don't understand as the Blueprint Editor gives you access to the Source Folder where you create your Blueprints, add all associated files and export into RailWorks. I usually delete them in Windows Explorer ( I have XP SP3 ) In your predicament at the moment I cannot say no for sure as you may lose the Route or your own built free roam's...

HTH some...

[PamBrooker]

Thanks Hawk. That makes a lot of sense, and i did that.
The roadblock i face with this route though is in not knowing which exe to open the ace fle with. RWAce has already converted it to ace and will not convert it further. ConverttoTG.exe gave me an xml filePerhaps hats a step forward, but getting the xml to tgpcdx is proving interesting. RW_Tools wont do it, and neither will any of the Convertto applets in the railworks folder..
What i do know is that at this time, somehow, the route works all on its own, but it still will not load the loadup picture, and RW_Tools gives me path not found errors any time i try to access it to add a pic, change a consist or do anything with the route beyonf adding a description.. I've gone through and cleaned up all the properties.xml files 9 three of them ) to point to the correct folder and product. I'm beginning to think that the Name 'High Desert" is the problem. It has a space between the words, and i dont know if RW can handle that.
Another little issue i just found was that windows 7 had taken ownership of the Steam folder and all subfolders and made them hidden and read only. Its another pet peave of mine that makes UNIX look all that much more attractive, but i wont get into that here.. This could be preventing RW_Tools from being able to do any of the things i'm trying to do right now. It may not be preventing it, but it's still a possibility.. After all, when all logic fails, then the illogical must be considered..

[PamBrooker]

Hi Gordon..
No worries about the confusion.. Remember, i've got ADD. my entire life is a big mangled ball of yarn ( chuckles) i didnt lose my routes, but i deleted them nyway and created a new free roam just in case..
The only really confusing thing i'm running into is that there are so very many little programs to be run to make this file or convert that file or edit this thing over there, and they all feed into each other from a sideways slant.
The biggest lesson i'm learning is that when i start on Donner Pass, ONLY use RW_Tools. Thats been the biggest problem. Starting the route in RW and then deciding to package it someday because others have shown an interest in it.
I knew you could get DEM files into RW, but didnt know how ( thats for another day ).. The mountains i've been making by hand, using local geography as a reference for shapes and topology. My big three challenges right now are:
1. Get the loadup picture to show
2. eliminate the path not found error in RW_Tools
3> Eliminate the Error 5 and subsequent app crashes in RW_Tools whenever i try to do something with my route..
You, Rich,Vern and Hawk have gotten me this far.. Without yu guys, i'd probably have a nice clean freshly formatted 500 gigabyte drive right now. I was that close to losing it.. but maybe with just a little more help and more reading and taking risks here and there, i can pull this out of the fire and make something to be proud of..
Pam

[qrfan3]

Thanks Gordon, this could be a nice thing if it works. - Rich

Rich
I have checked all file associations in your RailWorks Route folder against the DevString in the RouteProperties.xml file and there is no connection that I can find anywhere...the scenarios, even in the registry keys as a wild check, except in the .pi files ( Package Info of your Route / Scenarios found in the PackageInfo folder of RW ) so the only connection to the string value in the RouteProperties.xml is the Route folder name and the .pi file as far as I can see or know. Why RS.com have done this and come up with this unique but stupid key string name for each Route beats me and only they can give us their reasons??
As not being the industry standard, you know what will happen if folks start renaming their folders and stuff, so I guess their is no future in doing so until RS.com gives us an option in RailWorks to name our own Routes as we like.
Example of my test:
I used your Route, renamed the folder name only to Fort Kent Subdivision. Created an ******.rwp of all your scenarios and then deleted all those scenarios.
Installed the *****.rwp file and all the scenarios were back in the Scenario folder, because the .pi files told them where to go via the DevString value in the RouteProperties.xml file. Fired up RW, all the details, names, descriptions were there and the same. Ran two of your acts and had no issues...seems to work just fine. I didn't test all of your scenarios otherwise I would be like arizonachris with having a months backlog of yard shunting and running mainline...
That's about it....except the only check of making a scenario of my own and testing it. ( It should work anyway..but I will check )

[qrfan3]

My big three challenges right now are:
1. Get the loadup picture to show
Pam

YW...I have asked help myself with many given by folks and in return I try always to give back. Sorry Rich, I did say I would back off a little but I had done these before I posted such and it got the better of me so I thought I may as well use them. Pam, I tried a replication of what you may have done....as I did not know your Route name I substituted one as you will see in my pictures and explanations by using RailWorks which I will note as RW. As you can see I have the Real Route names listed and not the default key type.....I thought this would be easier to comprehend as well......as I was doing other tests at the time also.

Here we go....

cln 1.jpg

I cloned Don's Route ( 1 ) using RW and named it as ( 2 ) as I don't know your Route name. As you can see by comparison of your file structure first up and Don's you have nothing yet as far as folders, that's why you had flat ground, no mountains, etc....some of these will be automatically created when you start using default material or third party stuff by ticking the provider's name in the right flyout when in edit mode and others that will be generated by the Blueprint option if you use a Source folder with your name with appropriate files. The .xml file ( 3 ) is generated when you clone Don's Route and has his default paths in it which I will show in the next pic.

cln 2.jpg

As Don had his own Assets folder the paths for finding his Template for others to use and his load screen are noted in your RoutesProperties.xml file and that's why you were having these issues. ( 4 ) is his folder ( Provider ) in the Assets folders, ( 5 ) is his ( Product ) which is the King's Arm Route and ( 6 ) is the bin file that loads as the Template when used by somebody ( you in this case ) and it also tells RW where to find the load screen.

cln 3.jpg

This a breakdown of Don's Asset folder that the above picture is pointing to. The 4, 5, 6 in this picture are what's mentioned above and there is his load screen that your RouteProperties.xml is always loading.

cln 4.jpg

Okay, how do you get around this.....go through the whole learning process of creating your own Provider / Product names by using the RW Source / Blueprint / file option or an easy fix to get your own load screen to work for the moment. Let's go with the easy option just for now....you can learn all that other stuff later.
Using Windows Explorer or whatever you use, create a folder in your Assets folder of RW called ******** ? I used Pam B ( 7 as Provider ) add a sub folder ( 8 as Product ) called ****** as you can see I named it as such " not knowing your real route name " and the TemplateRoutes folder. Now copy Don's bin file over from his TemplateRoutes folder and place in your folder ( 9 ) and put your very own TgPcDx load screen here that you have made also. Rename and edit the KAHTemplate.bin to suit your Route and Asset name. I renamed it NIK-Template.bin for example.
Edit these parts in the new renamed NIT-Template.bin file shown in bold as my example:
1. <DisplayName>
<Localisation-cUserLocalisedString>
<English d:type="cDeltaString">NIK-Template</English>

2. <TextureID d:type="cDeltaString">Pam B\Not in Kansas\TemplateRoutes\[00]Not in Kansas</TextureID>

The first one will make it the same as the renamed bin file and the most important of all is the second one which is causing you all the grief will tell RW to load your very own load screen.
As you have used RW_Tools before the above is quite easy for you to do.
Is that it..... ....no, sorry just one little bit to go.....

cln 7.jpg

On the home straight....now go to your Route and open up the RouteProperties.xml and edit the parts I have underlined as my example of the names you have to change. There are two bits, one section at the top and one at the bottom of that file.
All the names I have given / shown are examples and not what you have to do. Name them as you see fit for your Route but make sure they are consistent.
Save and go see if your load screen works.....

[qrfan3]

i can pull this out of the fire and make something to be proud of..
Pam

And us proud of you. You have shown us your quality of work with the E7 repaint and screenies of your Route, so we all want to go for a spin on it...okay!!!

[PamBrooker]

::LOL:: Gordon, your a genius.. Thank you..
As for RW_Tools?? Well, the main reason i bought it was to edit the textures on the E-7. Since then, its proven pretty good at helping me out with the .tgpcdx files and moving them back and forth between photohop and Rw.. As for doing anything else with it? i got everything to learn still, and its a big manual.. but with about a tenth of the route in an acceptable state ( did i mention it was a huge route??) i'm hoping someone will want to volunteer to give whats done a once over and let me know what problems/broken bits/whatever else may pop up, might exist.. It also lets me know that it's ok to keep working on it, and that it all isnt just going to be a farse. It'll actually become worth developing further..
Pam

[qrfan3]

YW...Pam, I am very, very happy and pleased to see you getting results. Nice load screen.... and Route by the looks of it...
Yes, RW_Tools is a very good program and I used that to start my little try at Route building. It sets up all your Source and Asset folders and is rather easy to use. I actually emailed Mike to see if he would add some more options in his Blueprint list...maybe one day.
Mind you RW is good also, but RS.com have a bit to do to make it even better....it's not as bad as some think it is..just need to understand how it works.

Again...nice to hear the results.

Here is a shot of my Source folder that RW_Tools setup when I first started.

source.jpg

[PamBrooker]

Yup. Thats what i got too.. Havent got a clue how to use it all yet, but one step at a time. first we crate the universe, and then we learn how to do it ::LOL::.. Ys, i've always been backwards ;)..
The files been uploaded. Its up to hawk if he want to add an alpha stage file to the list or not.. :) If not, we'll find another way to get it to you..
Pam

[RailWorksDepot]

Hi Pam - i`ll always test for you - altho i might not have all the stock i can work round that.
if you need some help ok :)

[kin3]

I'll give it a run for you too. PM me on how and where to get it from.

[Toldrabald]

I also have a question to what I can't seem to find the answer.

I started playing around with the editor, laying some track, adding some hills and also placing some houses and other assets. After some hours I got a small station together with a quiet nice village behind it. As the "basic" route to start off I chose the "Hagen-Siegen" route, so I got lots of Assets and stuff from that. But I also have installed some asset sets and single items which I apperantly can't find in the editor. Though there are lots of things to choose which never appear on the "Hagen-Siegen" route (mostly british houses and signals). So how does the editor load the assets to a route and how I can I tear them apart from default stuff to extra content?

And a question for the future: when I want to give away my route (if it ever reaches a status where I can do this ) how would I include stuff, that RW has not by default but I have made use of on my route? Or is it done by the export feature by default?