Ts Tools 2

[Ricardo]

Is it worth me buying this product for my route building project? Or are there better forms of software out there?

Cheers Richard

[terrycunliffe]

Is it still available???

[Ricardo]

On Amazon, there are a few copies available, but don't steal in before me!

[leveritt]

Is it worth me buying this product for my route building project? Or are there better forms of software out there?

In addtion to Amazon, there are a number of places still selling:
http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/showth ... p?t=272011

I think there are better ways:
http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/showth ... 7#poststop

regards,
charlie

[bigvern]

TS Tools was/is an excellent and essential route building utility for MSTS, particularly if you don't have DEM data and need to contour trace from relief maps. My Alston, Blackpool, West Highland extension and Inlandsbanen routes plus the route I did for the BA Southern Pack all had the terrain and markers done in TS Tools.

However official support from its developers ceased years ago. Despite the million or so copies of MSTS sold over the years the product probably only appealed to the route building craftsmen (women) who were relatively few in number, so doubt it sold that many copies! Might be worth checking if the CD includes the licence/registration number as I'm sure these still had to be obtained from the devs. Without that you can only use it in a limited demo mode.

[dcmsoft]

well, i've been away from here for a few years now, and i was pretty surprised to come back and find that people are still talking about TsTools.

before you go and buy a copy I should warn you that it is unlikely to work under newer versions of windows - it was written in MS J++ and required the MS "Java" runtimes which were replaced post win98 with the J# stuff.

That said, you never know, you may get it to work. Before I left here, I did place a copy of the program in the downloads area here and I gave a license key to the site admin (is it Matt?) saying that he could give it to anyone if they actually asked him for it. The reason for that rider was that I didnt want to fall foul of my contract with the publishers, but I think that has now run its course, so if Matt is still here and still has that key, then give it a shot.

I probably still have the source code and binaries on an old hard disk somewhere in case anyone is interested in reviving it.

For the record, there were a couple of reasons why we abandoned the project. Firstly we (stupidly) got involved with a commercial publishing contract which pretty much bankrupted us once the modest cheques turned into hefty invoices for returns - it cost us hundreds in the end. Secondly, and more idealistically, we were under the impression at the time that MSTS 2 was about to be released and completely change the game, so we were waiting to update the software for that.

Anyway - If anyone is interested I'll see if I can dig out any of the old code and software for you.

Cheers,

Tony Billings / Dave Charles
erstwhile developer(s)
TsTools

[johny]

It seems to work OK on Vista. I've recently created a marker file using free placement of OS maps (1940's version).

John

[terrycunliffe]

Thanks Tony and Dave,
That's a very generous offer, which will surely be appreciated by all.
It would be great to upload here together with an access key. If you can dig out the proggy, and universal key, I'd gladly do the honours on your behalf.

On a personal note, you will be please to hear that I'm still using TS Tools on a regular basis. (I lost my installer back-up copy, along with the key, in a crash a while back, so if my current system ever goes belly-up, I'd be in a pickle...)
I still find it an invaluable and essential tool, certainly for my own 'method' of building routes... I much prefer to have the OS map as background so as to view embankments and cuttings etc, which are not always evident from google earth etc.

Thanks again,

T

[Buckeye]

Hi Tony & Dave (dcm)
Good to hear from you again after so long away.
Yes I'm another user of TsTools that wouldn't do without it.
Works Ok with XP infact I'm working on a project that at the moment requires its own tsection.dat file and TsTools get the message Java.lang.nullPointer Exception, Which is OK because the older TsTools 1.37 works fine with that one. If I require any extensive work on the route I just use a copy of the route with the old tsection.dat file.
Regards
Buckeye.

[AdamsRadial]

I bought my copy from UKTS a couple of years ago, and wouldn't be without it. Although Google Earth is great, some of the railways I am interested in vanished before 1945, so all I have to go on are old OS maps.

It runs fine on XP, I've kept java updated and never had any problems, once I learned where to click in the map when trying to zoom in.

I think it would be great if the code could be resurrected for some enhancements.

[longbow]

Could it be made to work for Rail Simulator?

[bigvern]

I could only get it to start in Vista by turning off UAC and of course the Help files no longer work under Vista either whether you try accessing from within the programme or in the Folder in "Computer".

ISTR it worked okay under XP though.

Java can be a tricky beast to get the correct version up and running - there are several sites offering downloads but a bit hit and miss if you get the right bit of kit.

It's good to hear Tony and Dave are still about, though obviously not such good news about the financial loss. Unfortunately route building is still a fairly specialised area and any utility - no matter how useful - is probably not going to sell a huge number of copies. Must admit all that contour tracing is probably not good for the eyesight, of course these days there is better DEM available for many areas (well 90m as opposed to the 1km DTED) than 4 years ago which made the contour tracing pretty much essential.

[leveritt]

I could only get it to start in Vista by turning off UAC and of course the Help files no longer work under Vista either whether you try accessing from within the programme or in the Folder in "Computer".

Vern, this enables all of the older type help files For Vista:
http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic. ... 2#p1034732

regards,
charlie

[alanch]

Java can be a tricky beast to get the correct version up and running - there are several sites offering downloads but a bit hit and miss if you get the right bit of kit.

Vern - I always get my Jave from Sun here http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp - you can set it to autoupdate, although as it doesn't completely remove the earlier versions they tend to accumulate, so you have to get rid of them with Add/Remove Programmes.

I only discovered this when I installed Securia PSI Personal Edition - free from here https://psi.secunia.com/ . This scans software on your computer, compares it to its database and tells you what needs updating (or removing). It gives you links to get the upgrades as well. I've found it very useful.

[dwgowen5]

Hi everyone

Just picked up on this thread from last year when I received my copy of TSTools 2 in this morning's post, ordered and paid for through UKTrainSim's ordering facility. Problem is, I hadn't read all this material about the makers dropping support, and possible problems with Vista, so I was expecting the whole process to be straightforward. I loaded the CD, selected the 'install' procedure, and found myself confronted with the usual 'licence agreement yes/no' pop-up, except in this case the part containing the licence agreement was entirely blank ! I clicked on accept, as there didn't seem to have been any point in buying the product otherwise, and then I had to enter my name, my business, and the serial code from the CD box. Did all that, clicked on continue, only to get a pop-up screen labelled 'Severe' and the error message 'UseDLL failed' and 'Error..117'. Tried five times - same result. Can anyone suggest what I might do now, before giving up and sending the product back ? I've tried Aerosoft's website and e-mailed them with the details, but when I tried to select 'support' I found it didn't even appear on their product list ! Seems a shame if the utility is unusable, since everyone seems agreed it's worth having - so as someone who was about to take the first hesitant steps into route building, any way round this apparent obstacle would be greatly appreciated.....

All the best

Dave