Activity King George V Goes To Butlins

[paulco]

Hi all, Help needed yet again please.

Recently Purchased Cambrian 2 Route which is an excellent Route. However, I'm a little disapointed with the above activity which I was really looking forward to because it runs most of the route length.
I have followed all the instructions regarding Install and installed additional rolling stock required. Activity installs OK through Train Store, no errors. Activity starts fine at Shrewsbury Station with A1traffic on the move but when leaving Shrewsbury, get as far as first 30MPH track limit Marker and programme freezes with no error message to be able to check, also unable to cancel without turning Computer off and rebooting.

Has anyone run this activity with same problem, and have they solved it.

Any help please, Quick reply if possible please.

[mendes]

Hi Paul,
The first AI you should see on the way out of Shrewsbury is a double header class 2251 passenger train. This requires the GWR Loco Sound Set (File ID: 6481) to be installed.

In the common.sound directory of TRAINSET you should have a folder called SteamSoundsOrgUk (and I think that uk_shared is part of it as well).

If this is not missing then I really don't know what the problem is. I'm fairly sure that this is the only extra sound used here, but the 2cylinder sound set is used in quite a few other activities.

Cheers


Martin

[Lad491]

If there is too much AI traffic or static consists in an activity, this can cause a freeze such as you describe. The solution is to turn the detail levels down and so reduce the stress on your PC. Start by turning sounds down to medium. Sound files are generally very large and take time to load. If that doesnt work you will need to turn the best graphic/best performance slider two notches towards best performance, and possibly other graphics settings down one or two notches. Turn off specular lighting and high detail shadows.

If you get the balance right it should work ok

[paulco]

If there is too much AI traffic or static consists in an activity, this can cause a freeze such as you describe. The solution is to turn the detail levels down and so reduce the stress on your PC. Start by turning sounds down to medium. Sound files are generally very large and take time to load. If that doesnt work you will need to turn the best graphic/best performance slider two notches towards best performance, and possibly other graphics settings down one or two notches. Turn off specular lighting and high detail shadows.

If you get the balance right it should work ok

Hi, and thanks for both replies. I'll reply to both of your replies here to save a little time.

Regarding sound files I have all the above in common sound folder. thank you for help with this one.

Regarding graphics, not to sure about this one, but will give it a try. I currently run Thames Mersey, dorset Coast and even 3DTrains Feather river Route which is a hell of a size on current settings. thanks for your help

PS don't get far enough out of Shrewesbury to see any A1 traffic, A train leaves before me and one arrives before I depart but not Double Header.

[mendes]

Hi Paul,
I would have thought that if the problem was caused by lack of computer resources then you would have problems at Shrewsbury Station ( which 3DTrainStuff reckon could cause problems on a low spec machine) combined with one train arriving and one going out.

When I first got Cambrian 2 I was running it on my old machine from 2001 and didn't have any problems, but all the activities I've doen have been on my new machine from last October.


If you're running Thames Mersey and Dorset Coast I assume you have a fairly adequate machine.

There is another activity that was an amended KG V going to Aberystwyth from Shrewsbury called Not In My Manor (as I remember it requires no downloads). Have you tried this one?

Cheers



Martin

[paulco]

Hi Paul,
I would have thought that if the problem was caused by lack of computer resources then you would have problems at Shrewsbury Station ( which 3DTrainStuff reckon could cause problems on a low spec machine) combined with one train arriving and one going out.

When I first got Cambrian 2 I was running it on my old machine from 2001 and didn't have any problems, but all the activities I've doen have been on my new machine from last October.


If you're running Thames Mersey and Dorset Coast I assume you have a fairly adequate machine.

There is another activity that was an amended KG V going to Aberystwyth from Shrewsbury called Not In My Manor (as I remember it requires no downloads). Have you tried this one?

Cheers



Martin

Hi Martin, thanks for reply.

The Activity, Not In my Manor runs fine although not completed yet, keep running red light, MY FAULT.
Not sure what to do next, Have tried reloading the KG V butlins activity without any success.

[mendes]

Hi Paul,
I'm sorry to labour the point, but I am suspicious that it is something to do with the GWR sound files.
I had a look at King George just now and you should see a small Green Mogul hauled goods as you get to the 30mph point.
The Class 2251 double header appears as you branch off onto the Welshpool line.

Have you run the Mach To Pwllheli Limited Stop as this has the same double headed Class 2251 train leaving Mach as you approach it.
If that works OK then it would prove me completely wrong about the sound files.

Not In My Manor has another manor in front giving you Red Signal grief. You pass it just after Hanwood and you should then have a (relatively) clear run.



Cheers



Martin

[paulco]

Hi Paul,
I'm sorry to labour the point, but I am suspicious that it is something to do with the GWR sound files.
I had a look at King George just now and you should see a small Green Mogul hauled goods as you get to the 30mph point.
The Class 2251 double header appears as you branch off onto the Welshpool line.

Have you run the Mach To Pwllheli Limited Stop as this has the same double headed Class 2251 train leaving Mach as you approach it.
If that works OK then it would prove me completely wrong about the sound files.

Not In My Manor has another manor in front giving you Red Signal grief. You pass it just after Hanwood and you should then have a (relatively) clear run.



Cheers



Martin

Hi Martin, thanks again for reply. Will give Mach To Pwllheli Limited Stop a try and come back to youlater, Thanks.

[paulco]

Hi Paul,
I'm sorry to labour the point, but I am suspicious that it is something to do with the GWR sound files.
I had a look at King George just now and you should see a small Green Mogul hauled goods as you get to the 30mph point.
The Class 2251 double header appears as you branch off onto the Welshpool line.

Have you run the Mach To Pwllheli Limited Stop as this has the same double headed Class 2251 train leaving Mach as you approach it.
If that works OK then it would prove me completely wrong about the sound files.

Not In My Manor has another manor in front giving you Red Signal grief. You pass it just after Hanwood and you should then have a (relatively) clear run.



Cheers



Martin

Hi Martin, thanks again for reply. Will give Mach To Pwllheli Limited Stop a try and come back to youlater, Thanks.

Hello again martin, tried Mach To Pwllheli Limited Stop but getting shape and texture warnings, pressin enter keeps it going for a short while but dont get into Mach station before programme crashes

[mendes]

Hi Paul,

There's a whole raft of AI and stationary locos at Machynlleth so it looks as though your machine can't cope with it all. I would go back to LAD491's post and turn some settings down. I've got a relatively new machine and have everything on full and this activity is a bit jerky at Machynlleth.


Cheers


Martin

[Lad491]

Paul

A couple of other things you could try.

Are you running the Msts Bin patch ? This can help with memory management and smooth out frame rates. If you arent already using that I'd certainly suggest giving it a try.

Next, again if you arent already, try installing and running trainstore. If you already have some big routes installed this again will lighten the load on msts by only loading the minimum of items needed to run the activity.

Finally go back to the sounds settings and try setting them to medium. This definitely makes an improvement in graphics and again lightens the load on msts.

[paulco]

Paul

A couple of other things you could try.

Are you running the Msts Bin patch ? This can help with memory management and smooth out frame rates. If you arent already using that I'd certainly suggest giving it a try.

Next, again if you arent already, try installing and running trainstore. If you already have some big routes installed this again will lighten the load on msts by only loading the minimum of items needed to run the activity.

Finally go back to the sounds settings and try setting them to medium. This definitely makes an improvement in graphics and again lightens the load on msts.

Hi All, thanks for all your help, King George V Goes To Butlins now running, almost got to Mach before programme crashed.

Am using both bin patch and Train Store plus a few other things like Route Riter, Conbuilder Full version Etc

Have had to reset settings at expense of Cars, lorries, buses etc. ( Personal choice, ) nice when something else is going on in activity apart from just watching the trains.

My Computer system is only 12 months old and a reasonable spec, but you cant keep up these days, you buy a new computer and a week later something comes out with 10 times the spec

As mentioned before, Dorset Coast, Thames mersey and 3DTrians Feather River Route run on maximum settings, which is why I thought this Route, Activities etc would be doddle. Anyway will keep adjusting settings until it does run ok. Will let you know progress. Thanks again for your help and time.

[Lad491]

Remember that as far as msts is concerned bigger isnt better. The game engine is now 7 years old, possibly 8 years if you count development time, buying a brand new state of the art computer wont improve the running of msts one bit. 256mb graaphics cards are not necessaray it runs fine on a 64mb card. dual or quad processors wont make any difference as msts is a single threaded application and can only use one of them. The best improvement is to go for the fastest SATA hard disk you can find (10,000 rpm are available now) and put in about 2GB (3GB on Vista) of RAM, any more is also wasted.

I currently have a copy running on a P3 1.8ghz machine with 768mb of ram, 64mb graphics card, onboard sound, 40gb IDE hard disk and it still runs just as good as my latest purchased.

[mendes]

Hi,
Thanks for that technical information. I've not found Train Store necessary with the Cambrian 2 and when I've tried it the only difference it makes is the speed that it loads.

There are three problems I've come across producing activities for the C2 :-

1) Smoke disappearing on passing trains.

This seems to be fairly common usually with "Busy" areas. I understand from the forums it may be a by-product of MSTSBin making AI locos smoke.

2) MSTS crashing when a save is attempted after a saved game has been loaded.

Again, I have seen this mentioned in the forums. The strange thing is that it's only happened to me after trains have gone through Harlech.

3) MSTS seizes up and crashes after loading a save.

When I restart it and load it again it is always OK.

As far as I can make out running through Train Store makes no difference to any of these.

As ever MSTS seems to be a law unto itself !!


Cheers


Martin

[paulco]

Hi,
Thanks for that technical information. I've not found Train Store necessary with the Cambrian 2 and when I've tried it the only difference it makes is the speed that it loads.

There are three problems I've come across producing activities for the C2 :-

1) Smoke disappearing on passing trains.

This seems to be fairly common usually with "Busy" areas. I understand from the forums it may be a by-product of MSTSBin making AI locos smoke.

2) MSTS crashing when a save is attempted after a saved game has been loaded.

Again, I have seen this mentioned in the forums. The strange thing is that it's only happened to me after trains have gone through Harlech.

3) MSTS seizes up and crashes after loading a save.

When I restart it and load it again it is always OK.

As far as I can make out running through Train Store makes no difference to any of these.

As ever MSTS seems to be a law unto itself !!


Cheers


Martin

Hello Martin, thanks for reply, and appologies for late reply. Just got out of bed , off this week. couple of small additions to above. Saving in trainstore has never worked for me, cannot find it afterwards. Also I notice within Cambrian 2 which I dont think has happened before, when you pause the game and then unpause programme crashes a few srconds after you start but think I may have solved that by using F11 key instead of esc option.