Black Country

[rufuskins]

From a personal point of view I would refer people to an answer I gave on another post

http://forums.atomic-systems.com/viewto ... e#p1209943

I do not support any of the comments vis-a-vis commercialism, etc. All of my comments seem to arise from my highly developed ignorance, which I need to learn to live with! I now intend to minimise my requests for assistance and will depend upon my own wits.

Thanks to everyone who has offered me help and advice, much of which has prevented me throwing everything in the bin, but the way things are developing is proving way too fast for me.

Despite its age it would appear that those in the know are extracting the maximum out of MSTS, and using all the available tricks to maximise its performance. I can see that this may be a problem for me as I am not sure my hardware can keep up. I shall be trying, and I can only hope that all the new SUPER ROUTES will work on my laptop with its current hardware and OS.

Continuing to live in hope, Ruf

[Iluka]

Hi All

For those who have successfully installed the Black Country Mini Route and are using XP can you advise what file version of MSTSBin train.exe is displaying in Properties/Version (Tab)/File Version(Value box) in the Value Box

It should show something like 1.7.1022222 or whatever version of MSTSBin Pete used

XP shows the version of MSTSBin but unfortunately you cannot get this information with Vista - all you see is the File Version 1.16.5.912 which is not the MSTSBin Version of the Train.exe

The reason I am asking this is to verify that all relevent files got copied across during the Mini Route Installation.

Regards

Mike

PS Ruf With the Mini Route Concept MSTS will keep improving with Age like a good bottle of Red Wine

[Easilyconfused]

By choice, give the community the availability to download the route.

The routes are supplied in whatever format the author decides. In the case of Black Country it would up to Don to authorise a route only download and then somebody to work out how to package it into downloads and sort out clear instructions for it and be prepared to answer questions about those downloads. That is what happened with North West England. Terry was happy with the CD route but there were requests to make it available by download so Jon Bilton kindly sorted out a download version that is still available today.

The decision always rests with the author. In the case of Black Country - I understand it was not reliable when tested under Trainstore despite the massive testing experience of the people involved and the fact it requires the MSTSbin patch at a certain level would make the installation instructions quite complex.

[Easilyconfused]

Hi All

For those who have successfully installed the Black Country Mini Route and are using XP can you advise what file version of MSTSBin train.exe is displaying in Properties/Version (Tab)/File Version(Value box) in the Value Box

It should show something like 1.7.1022222 or whatever version of MSTSBin Pete used

Is this what you are after ?

[Easilyconfused]

I am surprised that there doesn't appear to have been installation Instructions issued with Black Country reading some of the posts or if there was some of the UKTS community haven't read them

Indeed - there were clear instructions in a readme file that is available from the installer :

Black Country installs to a new Mini Route folder external to your normal Microsoft Train Simulator folder. You DO need to have Microsoft Train Simulator installed, including the 6 default routes, as the Mini Route Installer copies a large number of files from your Microsoft Train Simulator installation to the Mini Route folder.

The installation includes, with permissions, Mike Simpsons Mini Route Loader (Works like Tony Formosos TrainStore) and MSTSBIN 1.8.0521.

The installation is a simple 1 button click - "Install Black Country".

What does the installer do?

# Reads the System Registry to locate your current Microsoft Train Simulator Installation.
# Asks you where you want to install the Black Country Mini Route.
# Copies the default Microsoft Train Simulator files from your existing installation to the Mini Route folder.
# Installs the Black Country MiniRoute from the DVD.( Includes everything needed ie. Globals, Route, Stock and activities.).
# Runs the Route Installme.bat to copy default shape and texture files from the 6 default routes.

After the Installation

There will be a new icon on your desktop "BC1 Mini Loader, use this to run Black Country.

The following instructions are provided as is with no guarantees given or assumed.

For those users who wish to copy the Black Country route to their normal MSTS installation.

# You MUST ensure you have the latest XTracks, UKFinescale, tsection and New Roads installed.
# You MUST ensure that your version of MSTSBIN is 1.8.0521, the route has only been tested on this version.
# Black Country MAY work on other versions, but it is not certain.
# Most of the AI Locomotives have modified .eng files (wheel size) to work with Black Country.
# This version of MSTSBIN has the fix for wheel spin so wheel sizes have been reverted to normal.

Whichever way you go, enjoy the route and the activities.

There is also a larger more generalised information file with links to all the PDF files for the activity briefings

[Iluka]

Hi John

Thanks for that - this is exactly what I was after as it proves that if installed correctly the Black Country Installer copies everything over OK.

I am trying to fathom out why some purchasers of the Black Country are having installation problems - It's a bit difficult for me at the moment as I haven't received my copy yet (I should have it on Monday)

We have known for a long time now that with MEP the only way forward is with the Mini Route Concept as with highly detailed Routes & Rolling Stock together with very complex and interesting Activities there is absolutely no way of being successful with a standard MSTS Installation even with Trainstore

REgards

Mike

[chrisiveson]

Well I received my copy yesterday and it's still in its package, and will probably stay there for some time.
I might be out on my own here, but I would be quite happy to purchase routes only, commercial stuff included. ( and at a non reduced price )
I much prefer to use stock of my choice, ( and I don't mind paying for that also ) and write my own activities.
I cannot remember running anyone else's activities other than when required to do so in testing for "Making Tracks".
I've got Thames Mersey and Dorset Coast amongst many other routes, but the activities stay firmly locked away in "Trainstore"
This way I get to run what I want, where I want, even if it means purchasing commercial train packs. ( which I've done many times with American routes )
Sorry to all of you who spend hundreds of hours writing activities, but I also spent many hours writing acts for myself in the main.

Chris.

[systema]

Just to let you know I have just checked the size of my current MEP route including stock and it is near enough 5GB. I can't imagine anyone wanting to download that lot!!!


It seems the problems with BC1 stem from unfamiliarity with the MiniRoute concept and the new Mini_loader, coupled with a resistance to reading the instructions provided.

Just for information, you can use Mini_loader with any route you have installed, even if its not installed as a mini-route. You just navigate the left hand pane to wherever you want to use it. You can also have more than one activity active at a time. Simply click on another activity and unstore it. Its very simple to use. Note it automatically stores everything each time it is opened. This is to ensure you don't overload your computer when you run the route.

Obviously you will need to have opened at least one activity for the route to work. Then click Run Route. Its all in the pdf readme.

Mick Clarke
MEP Author

[chrisiveson]

Just to let you know I have just checked the size if my current MEP route including stock and it is near enough 5GB. I can't imagine anyone wanting to download that lot!!!

Mick Clarke
MEP Author

You might be surprised there Mick, Windows 7 is roughly 2 1/2 gigs, and the release version comes as a download ( as did the betas ) next week.
Many people now have very fast BB internet connections.

Chris.

[darren10000]

Hi Dean,

This may be of help to you, but don't forget to 'Back up' your Train Simulator folder 'First' with 'Everything Unstored' in Train Store (if you use it).

Hi All

Once you have installed this can you copy over everything from the miniroutes folder i.e. ROUTES,TRAINS,GLOBAL &c to the main MSTS folder as it causes just more clutter on my already fragged up tiny laptop HDD

TIA

Darren
73E

PS I'm running Vista and it's installed everything correctly on the batch file

This is from this Thread, Page 3 of 3;
http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic. ... &sk=t&sd=a

Hi All

Thanks for all the input, I managed to copy everything over to the default MSTS folder and no problems ....which has to be a first with MSTS


Darren
73E

[emrhd01]

Just glad you are sorted out now Darren and can now enjoy running BC1.

I was fortunate enough to be involved with helping to test the Route and can only say to those struggling, you will find it well worth getting to grips with the installation method, so you can enjoy this fabulous new Route of Don Hinton (Bigant) and further new Routes that will follow.

[darren10000]

Just glad you are sorted out now Darren and can now enjoy running BC1.

I was fortunate enough to be involved with helping to test the Route and can only say to those struggling, you will find it well worth getting to grips with the installation method, so you can enjoy this fabulous new Route of Don Hinton (Bigant) and further new Routes that will follow.

Cheers Rob

I will have to get used to it if Mid East Plus is going to use it as it has to be the most eagerly anticipated route since Great Eastern was released in my household. It's just me being fussy and keeping msts all in one place (Currently 170Gb at the mo )

Darren
73E

[gswindale]

Hi Geoffrey

APK's will not work with Mini_Routes.

Activities are made the usual way using Editor & Tools but then have to be Zipped up using either RR or Winzip.

The Activity will then be uploaded to UKTS as a Zip for subsequent insertion into the relevent Mini Route (after unzipping) into the Activities/Paths/Services/Traffic & Consists Folders.

Regards

Mike

Hmm - I've just changed the registry path in RR to point to my DC mini route, I've now downloaded an activity that comes in a .apk file and have dragged it over the TSUNPACK icon in my main MSTS directory. It has unpacked it into my DC mini route. Just fired up the mini route and it seems to have loaded fine as far as I can tell?

What is the rationale behind them not working?

[dean1986]

Is anyone else getting alot of crashing?? Having played the 1st two activities it must have crashed a good 20 times. I have turned settings down and turned the sounds down to low.

Dean

[SDtrains]

Sorry to be irksome, Dean, but could you tell us the titles of the activities which were being a problem?