Atomic Systems

Dear all

I recently downlowded the IOW route and found that, for all the scenarios I have tried, the player train is missing. This is after resolving any other errors, so the scenery is all there but the view is just the floating camera without a train to drive. Same thing but not for all with the Crabenmore branch v2. I've also had the problem with a number of the excellent payware Armstrong Powerhouse scenarios.

I've seen this issue mentioned in a number of threads but never seen a resolution that really makes sense to me in terms of what, if anything, is going wrong. This post isn't by way of compaint about excellent routes and scenarios, I'm just curious and want to work out how to avoid teh problem if I can.

Does anyone know why this happens? Is there a simple fix. I'm new to Railworks, but with 11 years of MSTS experience I'm well aware that trainsims can be awkward beasts!

Cheers


Mazda

Hi Mazda,

I find that there are a number of reasons that this can happen, sometimes it is simply that a Scenario has been made available and the "Player" Consist has just been completely left out by the builder by accident . Another reason could be that you do not have the correct Rolling Stock intalled for that particular "Player" consist, AP Scenarios often have an addition Rolling Stock file that you need to install for the Scenario work correctly. Finally, if a Scenario builder has chosen to make a Scenario where the Player box has purposely not been ticked, so that the Scenario starts where you (say) are standing on the Platform and the train you are required to drive arrives into the platform and stops, you then click on it to take control and this then will become the "Player" consist with the required timetable instructions for you to then complete the Scenario (I must admit that these are one of my favorite Scenarios ).

I have found that some (not all) the Passenger Scenarios supplied with the IOW Network v6 have a missing "Player" consist and I have gone into the RW Editor and provided one myself. If you haven't already I would suggest that you install Mike Simpson's (of MSTS Route Riter fame ) excellent RWTools to check out any problems that you are experiencing.

It's available here:
http://www.rstools.info/rw_tools.html

It has many, many uses, such as checking installed Routes/Scenarios for 'missing' files or Rolling Stock, swopping 'Payware' Rolling Stock items in Scenarios for items you already have installed and many more things.

RW_Tools is donationware, but will run 21 times without a licence key. A licence key can be obtained by making a small donation to Mike via PayPal which, when installed into the RW_Tools folder, unlocks the program for its continued use.

This is the best Railworks 'Utility' Tool available (IMO), has excellent support from its creator (Mike) and it is well worth making the small donation required to unlock the program, you will not regret it.

If you are still having problems come back and we will try our best to try and sort things out for you.

As an afterthought, if the Scenario is a "Free Roam" one, you sometimes need to 'fly' (using Key 6 and then "Arrow" keys or the "shift key + arrow keys to 'fast' fly) to a new location (if the original "Start" point has been placed in a strange position) to click on a Locomotive to be able to drive in the Scenario.

I apologise if I telling you how to "suck eggs", as the saying goes, but I do not know how experienced you are with RW.

Hope this helps.

4 years ago my very first pc did this, where some of the carriages from the player train were missing, but everything else was where it should be. It turns out that it was a memory issue on my pc. FYI - all the shape files were present in the right folders, so I'm sure if the train you are driving has shape files in the correct folder structure. Then I would say its a pc issue and not a Railworks issue.

Chris

mazda wrote:Does anyone know why this happens? Is there a simple fix. I'm new to Railworks, but with 11 years of MSTS experience I'm well aware that trainsims can be awkward beasts!

There is no solution at present, unless you wish to make your own scenarios or modify those ones you refer to. The player train is not there at all. The scenarios are broken and will no doubt be fixed by the developers in due course, but I believe all their efforts at present are being put into resolving the issues for those who have missing scenery items.

Try the scenario that runs from Cowes to Ventnor, that one works fine.

J

The scenarios packaged with this route are old versions and should never have been included. Updated versions were on the IOW Team site , but were ignored. When the route was packaged it wasn't sent to the team members to check, so apart from missing assets and track changes, there could be other reasons. I contacted the rest of the team on Saturday asking why this mess had happened, but I haven't heard anything from them. I haven't bothered to try and run the versions included in the route, and I won't be offering support for them either. The best thing to do is delete them.

Colin Green

Many thanks all for the information. Looks like I'll have to hone my own scenario writing skills and also invest in RW_Tools.

cheers

Mazda

and also invest in RW_Tools.

You will find it the best money that you will ever spend on Railworks IMO.