Atomic Systems

Hi Neil,
Thank you for your reply.
Because previously I had been unable to install the A1 & A3 updates I tried again before trying to install the TPO.
I still could not get them to install but as your instructions confirmed that I was doing things correctly I tried the TPO and it worked fine.
I would still like to get the A! and A3 Locos installed if possible.
Thanks again for you help
Kindest regards
Paul

Hi Neil,
Further to my last email I have successfully installed the A1 & A3 updates.
The installer worked perfectly.
Thanks again
Paul

Paul

Glad you got it working.


Mike

- I have a good idea what the problem is - the .ap file needs expanding (exactly as 'Choccy' said a few posts up - and which I ignored ). I will write a new version of the installer to do this automatically in future - but for now you should just need to:
- use RWTools / File / Open .ap File manager and then navigate to ...\railworks\Assets\VictoryWorks\GWRSaint2
then use it to unpack the "GWRSaint2Assets.ap" file.

THEN run my (not so useful) installer and the rest shuold work fine. This may also be your problem with the other packs too.....


GPTech - as I guess you already know - it is much harder to write something simple than something complicated (my excuse..) - handling the .ap should resolve several people's issues.


Goes off to hang head in shame...

You could end up going round in circles Neil----there are many who extract the contents of .ap archives and remove the .ap so if they run an installer that's looking for something inside an archive........

Thanks for the thought GPtech - I'll check for the presence of the .ap and expand if it is found and no previous expansion has been done. eventually...

cunningn wrote:Thanks for the thought GPtech - I'll check for the presence of the .ap and expand if it is found and no previous expansion has been done. eventually...

Hi Neil, really pleased to have "Royal" rather than "Western" - thank you very much.

On expanding the .ap - would that be to expand then just extract what is needed for a reskin (same as Richard Fletcher does on his reskins available over at Darren's site - DP Simulation)?

Rod

The stand alone 7-zip batch file method used by Richard and others works, works well, but once again it falls over if the .ap has been removed. The biggest problem with any automated installer that does the file management for the user is that despite it being nice and easy, said user hasn't got a clue as to what's actually happening---if it fails for any reason they're stuck, and the provider then has to deal with supporting that user.
If everybody was used to managing the files contained in a .ap archive it'd be back to the good old days of "simply copy the .GeoPcDx file from the Default folder and paste it into....."
RW Tools does the job of extracting easily enough, so do WinRAR and 7-zip and even Windows own .zip management routine can open a .ap that's had it's name changed to have the .zip extension (best done on a copy of the .ap) so it's not asking anybody to do anything that complicated.

My concern about an installer extracting an .ap would be that it didn't just extract the entire .ap and leave it there, extracted.

I like to keep my file structure as neat and lean as possible, only extracting the .ap when needed, and then often only dragging out what is required - the problem could arise that a fully extracted .ap could overwrite earlier modifications already sitting outside of the .ap (and you might not know that had happened if automated).

Rod

august1929 wrote:My concern about an installer extracting an .ap would be that it didn't just extract the entire .ap and leave it there, extracted.

I like to keep my file structure as neat and lean as possible, only extracting the .ap when needed, and then often only dragging out what is required - the problem could arise that a fully extracted .ap could overwrite earlier modifications already sitting outside of the .ap (and you might not know that had happened if automated).

Rod

For the reasons of neatness you describe, I had asked Mike Simpson and he duly provided a feature that allows purely the blueprint element of a .ap file to be extracted, thus saving space but making them visible for RW Tools and having a blueprint to work off for reskins etc.

august1929 wrote:My concern about an installer extracting an .ap would be that it didn't just extract the entire .ap and leave it there, extracted.

As Matthew has said, RW Tools extracts just the file you need and using the manual methods (WinRAR, 7-Zip, Windows Explorer (from a renamed copy of the .ap) and probably most decent archive management tools) allows us to do the same thing.
RW Tools removes the Read Only attribute in order for the asset extracted to be visible in RW Tools, but this step isn't necessary to allow the game to see the extracted file(s)
The stand alone version of 7-Zip used to make installing reskins easier also extracts just the required files, as long as the author has written the batch file correctly of course.

We've had the .ap system for quite a well now; I find it rather surprising that there's still so much confusion over what it does, and how to work with it---there's plenty written about it in these pages.

gptech wrote: The stand alone version of 7-Zip used to make installing reskins easier also extracts just the required files, as long as the author has written the batch file correctly of course.

No misunderstanding or confusion at all over .ap files - I love them and fiddle with them to my heart's content - but the last bit of the quote above encapsulates the concern if a batch file isn't correctly written - e.g. a general extraction of the .ap rather than solely the required files.

Rod

august1929 wrote:the last bit of the quote above encapsulates the concern if a batch file isn't correctly written - e.g. a general extraction of the .ap rather than solely the required files.

Certainly, but if we apply and expand that thinking, any reskin we add brings the chance of a badly written file having unwanted consequences. In your case, and I'd like to think you're in the majority but sadly I fear not, you're conversant enough with the system to be able to resolve any issues and clean up your installation.
Whilst I'm all for making things as easy as possible, that shouldn't mean that the end user doesn't need to know what's happening but only that he/she doesn't have to worry about it at that moment. Getting a file *wrong* and creating problems is dead easy to do, so I'm not saying that any *blame* should be laid at the feet of anybody *guilty* of making a mistake (and I'm guilty as charged on many accounts )