HELP!!! - Xtracks causing major MSTS havoc!!!

[micksasse]

Hi all.

Just tried installing xtracks 3.1 and it has gone, seriously, badly, horribly pear-shaped. Have followed instructions as best I could, namely copying relevant shapes etc and changing my GLOBAL\tsection.dat file for the one supplied with xtracks (is Build 00003 apparently). Then ran Horace with Update option, which seems to have worked OK on all the non-default routes, other than the electrified version of the Arlbergbahn (track is same as default route anyway I think), LGVMed and Modern City Tramway - all of these 3 (and the default routes) use compressed w. files, and i've been unable to get the FFEDIT thing to work (nothing seems to happen when I double-click on ffeditc_unicode.exe).

So decided to move on to next step for the routes I had been able to update using Horace, namely rebuilding the track database in RE. The good news is, this worked for the first route (Albula pass). However, I cannot get the track database to rebuild properly in others (have tried 3 other routes) - the rebuilding process goes a certain way and then gives me error message "TRACK DATABASE ERROR: 'REMOVE_END_END' ONE NON-VECTOR, ONE VECTOR" - and then RE just crashes with our beloved Send/Don't Send [Query: if everybody pressed send simultaneously, would this bring the evil MS edifice crashing to the ground? Hey, it might be worth a try!]. I should add that this is on routes which appeared to rebuild themselves OK with Horace.

If I try to run these routes in MSTS itself, the only one that works properly is the Albula route (logical as it's the only one where I've managed to rebuild the track database)In the others, I drive a certain distance (no fixed distance - and it actually didn't happen at all in about 10 miles going south of Newark on Tim's fictional ECML), and then the train starts to do weird things (concertinas into itself, before the loco uncouples from the train and the rest of the train disintegrates into its component carriages too and I get chucked out for derailing!

What can I do? If i've got this right, the main questions would seem to be:-
1. Do I need to run Horace to update the default (and other compressed) routes? (The installation instructions on the html with xtracks are very ambiguous on this point).
2. If so, how to I get ffeditc_unicode.exe to work?
3. Can I get the track databases to be rebuilt properly in RE?
4. If above is No, is the only option to ditch xtracks and re-install my routes from backups (fortunately I made some).
5. Is one of the above problems what's causing the trains to do weird things and derail? I'm assuming the answer must be yes as can't be a coincidence.

All help hugely gratefully received as I seem to be rather shafted at the moment. Let me know if you need any further details of what i've been doing or what i've got installed.

Many thanks

[CaldRail]

If you're using the Tsection.dat 003, then the good news (or bad from your point of view) is that you don't need to horace a route to run it as it is. You only need to run horace if you intend editing the route yourself. I have xtracks3 on my setup and its still nott fully installed, but it works quite happily because of the standardised Tsection file. If you have backups of the route then thats half the problem solved.

With the standardised tsection file and the shapes in the global folder, plus the additional tetures into the route folder, new routes will edit without problems because MSTS uses the tsection.dat file when it creates the route initially.

I'm not an expert on xtracks but I hope that made it clearer.

[micksasse]

Thanks for the response.

Oh dear. Well, good and bad news - if it's nowt to do with Horace, what has gone wrong with my routes?

Should I completely uninstall xtracks, revert to my backed-up routes and then re-install xtracks without using Horace?

tar again

[asalmon]

I don't think you should have run horace. I installed xtracks 3.1, replaced tsection.dat with standard build 5 from t****-s**.com, and that was it - everything worked, both x-tracked routes and default routes.

I think you will be best off reinstalling MSTS, I think that will replace the default routes and tsection, but leave alone any custom stock and routes you have. However, for completeness, I would wipe it and start again, assuming you still have the files you downloaded and can unpack routes and stock again.

Good luck!

{later}
blimey, while typing my reply it was already answered and acknowledged! Yes, I'd advise you to do as you propose!

-Alan

[micksasse]

The thought of replacing the 324 items in my Trainsets folder is just too depressing for words - will perhaps just revert to my backed-up routes first.

I take it if i re-install MSTS completely it won't erase my custom rolling stock, will it? Routes obviously not a problem as they look knacked anyway!

Thanks for your input, sir.

[micksasse]

PS sorry Alan (aren't these simultaneous conversations great!), but one more thing - reckon I should get the more recent tsection.dat off the aforementioned rival website? Funny thing is, my build 0003 version is with the xtracks i've only just downloaded!

tar

[asalmon]

It won't harm, new tsections are released without releasing the whole of xtracks. 3 will work, 5 will be better as it supports extra track like UKFinescale.

Yep, just try restoring your routes first. If that fails, save your trains folder (consists and trainset) somewhere safe and reinstall, I think it will be safe but belt and braces!

-Alan

[micksasse]

Will do, sir. Thanks again for the advice - great will be your reward in Hebburn. Wish me luck...

[asalmon]

S'OK.

I did wish you luck above, but as you need plenty of it, good luck!

-Alan

[micksasse]

Have reverted to my backups and all is now comprehensively sweetness and light - and I have xtracks track sections in my new routes too. Many thanks!

[asalmon]

Great news!

-Alan