Should I continue working on RW_Tools

[mikesimpson]

Recently, it appears, RSC have been sending out emails to users advising them NOT to use RW_Tools at all. This appears to be a blatent attempt to stop users from using my program to check routes, re-skin locomotives or substitute rolling-stock within consists. Thus forcing users to purchase any re-skins directly from RSC or to buy the missing rolling-stock.

Examples of emails received by people who have sent emails to RSC support are:-
“There is n (sic) support for RW_Tools it is an unsupported product, I would advise you to stop using it, it would be foolish to comment on the results of anything that it reports.”

And
Quote
Thank you for contacting the Railsimulator.com customer support, your inquiry has been logged with a member of our dedicated customer support team.

There is a very good reason why we to not support RW_Tools, now you know why you should not use them.


RW_TOOLS despite what you may read elsewhere is not recommended and has no connection with rail simulator, over a period of time it will cause severe problems.

The trouble is that people who do not know any better will simply not believe it, we have a word for those people. can you guess what it is?

The same also applies to RW_Tools.

I suggest that you either move those files to their correct locations or delete and then re install the game completely.

Let us know if you need any documentation for that.


Please reply to this email rather than generating a new email, this will avoid any confusion, it also enables us to read the history of all correspondence in order to provide you with quicker assistance and better support.

Keep an eye on the Train Simulator 2013 website: http://www.railsimulator.com/ or Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/railsimulator for all the latest news and details about upcoming releases.

Regards

Rail Simulator Support
unquote

As I am one of the only utility writers who has constantly supported RSC (and their predecessors) ever since the inception of RailSimulator, and in the past I have had emails from Tim Gatland suggesting that in the future we might talk about further cooperation in the field of tools for Train Simulator, I am at a loss to explain this change of heart at RSC (unless it is some snotty nosed kid in their support department pushing his own agenda).

So is it worth my while carrying on with RW_Tools, or should I just pack up my tent and return to my Short Wave Listener utilities where I get a lot of support from other software providers.

Mike

[1S811985]

So is it worth my while carrying on with RW_Tools[?]

From a purely selfish, average users point of view YES!

From your point of view only you could say. I'd respect and understand your decision were you to walk away.

As an aside, I'd seen the "silly kid in support" excuse being used one time to many to explain away RSC's statements.

1S81

[DaveDewhurst]

Yes, definitely.

If it wasnt for your tool I and others would have been unable to diagnose and quickly fix bugs in recent DLC packages
ICE2 being the latest example where your tool was used to quickly find a problem and rectify it, then from the same program create a patch for distribution.
Granted I could have used Serz and and an xml editor but having a nicely formatted easy to view/use tool is priceless.

Dave

[daemonmp3]

So is it worth my while carrying on with RW_Tools

Yes, and reading some of the claims regarding your product, I think you are owed an apology.

Chris.

[gonzo2431]

Yes from a third party Dev standpoint as well (well mine anyway), Without it, B&A would be a forgotten memory by now

[AndiS]

I can understand your anger, but I would not give it a dime. You know you have a loyal fan base and you work for them, not for RSC. And certainly not for the support persons there, who send out funny mails on various topics.

There are three or four things to consider:

1) There will be some people who contact RSC support when they have a problem with RW_Tools. In that case, and only in that case, RSC support need to send a clear message to the misrouted customer. However, it should be "ask the creator" and not "stop using the product".

2) There are many people who edit files who do not have the required knowledge. These people easily mess something up, just by mistake. Now, there are two possible reactions, or three.
a) Curse the fact that it is possible to alter and corrupt files. Then curse serz.exe, not RW_Tools.
b) Tell the user to learn about the background before trying such stuff. Bad luck if the Wiki is still incomplete, otherwise, it would be my solution.
c) Curse the need for such alterations using external tools, a user-friendly programme would include menu-based functionality to do what the user just wanted to do.

3) People who do anything other than buying payware and playing the included scenarios cause trouble without yielding income for RSC. If they are freeware creators, they improve the overall product. If they just combine stuff for their own fun, they don't. If they still cause any sort of negative vibes because something does not work for whatever reason, it is an (ever so small) negative impact on RW marketing. So stopping all such activity would be an attractive option for product strategists. No RW_Tools would certainly reduce the people who enjoy RW in their own creative way, asking questions, messing up at times, finding RSC flaws.

4) RW_Tools do a range of things pretty elegantly which RSC fixed much later or never. Now if you are a new member of the team and you are very proud about your product, you don't like the smell of something that sparkles besides your new light of life. E.g., you fixed the proliferation of Producer/Product a bit faster than RSC. Certainly no fair to compare the two positions, but for fact their bug was ironed out by RW_Tools quite swiftly. Not good news for someone who chose RW for their religion.

(Duplicating a route was added later, replacing stock in a scenario still is not a RW feature. Checking for missing items neither, although messages on LogMate did improve.)


So the bottom line is just that everyone must understand the RW_Tools fix the things that RSC do not. Therefore, it is a bad idea to confront them with that fact and ask them any questions related to that.

[chriscooper]

Whilst I can understand where you are coming from, don't punish the community who love and rely on your program by withdrawing it. That said I think your product is one of the few things that keeps Railworks truely going, as it's a must have for third party developers and it's the third party developers that are keeping Railworks alive. The loss of utlities like RW_Tools would likely lead to a big loss of third party developers, both freeware and payware. This would likely have a knock on effect of destroying the Railworks community on sites like this. Many who develop here and at other places also develop for the workshop, so it would likely hit that. Many users who are currently disgruntled with RSC but cling on because at least the third party developers (including those on the workshop) are still producing high quality addons would likely loose interest. I know I would. If all addons for Railworks were available purely through steam and under the control of RSC then I wouldn't stop using it or uninstall, but I'd do something naughty to make sure my purchase was secure and then that would abandon RSC.

[gptech]

Thank you for contacting the Railsimulator.com customer support, your inquiry has been logged with a member of our dedicated customer support team.

There is a very good reason why we to not support RW_Tools, now you know why you should not use them.


RW_TOOLS despite what you may read elsewhere is not recommended and has no connection with rail simulator, over a period of time it will cause severe problems.

The trouble is that people who do not know any better will simply not believe it, we have a word for those people. can you guess what it is?

The same also applies to RW_Tools.

I suggest that you either move those files to their correct locations or delete and then re install the game completely.

Let us know if you need any documentation for that.

I'd say that was more than a touch libelous, but how sure are you that it is in fact a genuine mail from RSC?
Have you persued the matter with RSC themselves?
Whilst it's true that how RW Tools works can be confusing when you're new to it, it doesn't take that long or too much concentration to get the hang of things; problems only occur when folk try to do more than they understand, which you could also say is true for Windows---are RSC telling people of the dangers of irresponsible use of the 'Delete' key?

As to should you carry on developing RW Tools, it's a very loud "YES" from me, your program has saved me hours when editing things.

[gougha]

The trouble is that people who do not know any better will simply not believe it, we have a word for those people. can you guess what it is?

Cant believe that this line in particular would be in a professional company response.

I hope you keep up the good work Mike.
I vote YES.

Regards

Andy

[jessie1940]

Yes, Yes, Yes. Please carry on working on RW_Tools because, as can be seen here, there are users who have saved hours and hours by using your program. I have been with you since RailSimulator days and for substituting stock I find no easier way as your one step highlight and select "change". I have had no problems with using your program in all the time I have had it
Mike
New Zealand

[220389]

Another massive Yes for continued support from me.

As have saved a lot of time editing stock for sounds and scenarios for descriptions.

I also recomend what GPtech put get in contact with RSC to see if a real response etc.

Chris

[mjoliver1]

RW_Tools is absolutely indispensable, having proven itself time and time again in helping to patch up the shortcomings of each successive generation of this product. RSC should be embracing you and RW_Tools, as otherwise I, like many others, I'm sure, would have binned their clunky, temperamental product long ago. As it is, you can still see people in these forums who have given up and gone back to MSTS, BVE etc.

RW_Tools is a life-saver! Please keep it up Mike - don't let the turkeys get you down, especially an inarticulate, 'snotty-nosed kid', who is unlikely to possess more than a tiny fraction of your talent; and, who could learn a thing or two from you about customer service.

Mike

[pjt1974]

Yes Mike, Yes. Please continue with THE essential program for Railworks

You have my full support.


I have been using RW/RStools extensively for over 30 months now and I can't think of any time it has caused a problem with my RS/RW installation, apart from where I've made a mistake ofcourse.

What's next, Jim's RWdecal being torn to shreds?

[sniper297]

Dump it and get Trainz, Mike. If you'll recall they tried to blame all the corrupted RouteProperties.xml file problems on your RS tools packager, even though it came out before the official RS package tool - which never did work reliably even after umpteen patches.

[minniebannister]

Mike,
Most definitely you should continue (if that is what you want, of course).
We train-sim users have to rely on third-party developers for unbiased content and for utilities such as RW_Tools (and your original MSTS Route_Riter).
Without people such as your goodelf we would be at the complete mercy of the commercial developers, who are only interested in beating their own drums.

Please don't abandon us!

Your fellow Aussie,
Bruce