North Wales Coast - BR Blue Route now available for download

[acfreeman99]

Hi All,

The regressed 1980s BR Blue version of the North Wales Coast Line ( North Wales Coast – BR Blue ), created by Nick Hudson and myself is now available for download from Wotawallysbits ( https://www.wotawallysbits.co.uk/nwc-brblue ).

Nick has regressed all of the track work and infrastructure ( signalling etc. ) and I have regressed the scenery.

As you may have seen, from the route regression update thread, this regressed route started life as a regression of the DTG North Wales Coastal route but quickly became pretty much a full rebuild, nevertheless thanks must go out to the original creator(s) for giving us a base to work from and the impetus to actually get started on a regression of this line, something that Nick and I had been discussing on and off for some time.

The download pack contains a full route manual and description and please do not forget to run the small batch job as per the instructions with the download.
NB. On the host site splash page you will see 2 screenshots, clicking on each will trigger a separate file to download.....you must download and install both files before running the enclosed batch job for the route and all assets to be installed on your PC.

As mentioned in the credits in the manual we have had some patient and thorough QA testers who have helped to identify glitches and bugs that we have missed, and also some scenario writers who have enabled us to provide a number of varied scenarios with the route download.
Nick and I would be grateful for any feedback via this thread, and please do point out any errors or glitches that we may have missed, we will endeavour to fix via a patch where possible.

And finally, we hope that you enjoy driving the route as much as we have enjoyed creating/regressing it.

Andy

[august1929]

Been eagerly awaiting this - thank you so much for your skills (and stamina!) in bringing this to the sim

Rod

[smarty2]

Yes, thank you so much for the hard work and patience to create it. Much appreciated.

[clarke]

Superb route - great detail - well done

I found 1 missing asset Chester EC nameboard under NWC nameboards

Kelvin

[brysonman46]

Superb route - great detail - well done

I found 1 missing asset Chester EC nameboard under NWC nameboards

Kelvin

Oops, sorry about that. A very recent addition which I forgot to put in the pack. It is purely a piece of "eye candy" that will not affect any scenarios (or even leave a space in the scenery)!

Nick

PS It is the sign for the Chester Enterprise Centre next to the station goods yard

[smarty2]

Well, I may as well be the one to start peoples eyebrows raising! installed the route and ran the batch file but it couldn't find the specified paths? Ran a scenario and there are a ton of assets missing? Is that because of the batch file? No platforms or buildings at Chester, No4 signal box is missing (just the name boards floating in the air), and some bridge decking and sides across the bridge going past the racecourse, didn't get too far past that before an access violation. Checked it with RWTools and it tells me there are over 1009 assets missing from the route, I have the original north Wales coastal as well as all the freeware packs installed plus your other route as specified in the readme?

Edit: That was interesting, just re-ran the batch file (without running it as admin) and the files copied over? Well almost, missing one, apparently, that does not appear to be in the freeware packs, JN's PJT shed?

[brysonman46]

Well, I may as well be the one to start peoples eyebrows raising! installed the route and ran the batch file but it couldn't find the specified paths? Ran a scenario and there are a ton of assets missing? Is that because of the batch file? No platforms or buildings at Chester, No4 signal box is missing (just the name boards floating in the air), and some bridge decking and sides across the bridge going past the racecourse, didn't get too far past that before an access violation. Checked it with RWTools and it tells me there are over 1009 assets missing from the route, I have the original north Wales coastal as well as all the freeware packs installed plus your other route as specified in the readme?

Edit: That was interesting, just re-ran the batch file (without running it as admin) and the files copied over? Well almost, missing one, apparently, that does not appear to be in the freeware packs, JN's PJT shed?

Just checked the files and the bat file
UKTS_FP\Railway_Buildings\PJT\Scenery\Buildings2\FP_PJT_Shed_01Cr
is in both!
And FP_PJT_Shed_01 that it is based upon is in UKTS_FP\Railway_Buildings\PJT\Scenery\Buildings

[jpantera]

Looking forward to this, cant get Amlwch-Widnes scenario going though TS2019 looking for LMS Brake Van (Grey) despite me having the listed requirements?

[chrisonline]

Haven't had time to run anything yet, but looking forward to it. I have downloaded everything and remarkably, for the detail and assets included, I have only one missing item, the Chester Enterprise Centre sign mentioned above. Great job on a detailed and complete installation process!

One thing that concerns me, though I'm sure I am missing something . . . several groups of assets in .ap files are replaced by same-name assets in this download. Although the Readme says "don't worry, the originals are still in the .ap file", my concern is that in running the original North Wales Coastal (for instance), it will now be addressing revised Markers etc, which could adversely affect existing scenarios on the "original" route. What am I missing here?

[smarty2]

Hi Nick, Its no biggie, sure it may just be an error in the detection is all?

Had a run through with a quickdrive and it is certainly more atmospheric than the modern version alright, so much more industry! Great for freight scenario's, once again a big thanks for doing this for the community.

[brysonman46]

Looking forward to this, cant get Amlwch-Widnes scenario going though TS2019 looking for LMS Brake Van (Grey) despite me having the listed requirements?

I have that in my Kuju folder under BR rather than default, so it may be a reskin (from 2008!). If you can swap with the default using RW_Tools, then all should be well

[brysonman46]

Haven't had time to run anything yet, but looking forward to it. I have downloaded everything and remarkably, for the detail and assets included, I have only one missing item, the Chester Enterprise Centre sign mentioned above. Great job on a detailed and complete installation process!

One thing that concerns me, though I'm sure I am missing something . . . several groups of assets in .ap files are replaced by same-name assets in this download. Although the Readme says "don't worry, the originals are still in the .ap file", my concern is that in running the original North Wales Coastal (for instance), it will now be addressing revised Markers etc, which could adversely affect existing scenarios on the "original" route. What am I missing here?

There aren't any "revised" route markers. There are plenty of "additional" ones. And any other markers are contained in the Tracks.bin - these are unique to the original and this route. The assets in .ap files are not "replaced" they are added to in separate folders (such as ...\buildings2\...). It is only the blueprint files (Geos) that are copied from the .ap archives, not amended or removed. We made the same sort of arrangements on our other regressed routes (in particular SLANC), and no problems occurred with RSC\LiverpoolManchester on which it was based. i.e. scenarios made for the originals will continue to work.

The only problem that may arise is if you "verify files" through Steam, which removes many of the additional folders. In that case, one needs to reinstall the assets and run the batch file again

Nick

[BMCrider]

Masterpiece ! Very well done and just as I remember it back in the day. Thankyou very much, an great early xmas present!

[sbowness]

Thanks, Nick, Andy and everyone who supported you. I was following the development thread and this has been a huge labour of love.

[chrisonline]

Haven't had time to run anything yet, but looking forward to it. I have downloaded everything and remarkably, for the detail and assets included, I have only one missing item, the Chester Enterprise Centre sign mentioned above. Great job on a detailed and complete installation process!

One thing that concerns me, though I'm sure I am missing something . . . several groups of assets in .ap files are replaced by same-name assets in this download. Although the Readme says "don't worry, the originals are still in the .ap file", my concern is that in running the original North Wales Coastal (for instance), it will now be addressing revised Markers etc, which could adversely affect existing scenarios on the "original" route. What am I missing here?

There aren't any "revised" route markers. There are plenty of "additional" ones. And any other markers are contained in the Tracks.bin - these are unique to the original and this route. The assets in .ap files are not "replaced" they are added to in separate folders (such as ...\buildings2\...). It is only the blueprint files (Geos) that are copied from the .ap archives, not amended or removed. We made the same sort of arrangements on our other regressed routes (in particular SLANC), and no problems occurred with RSC\LiverpoolManchester on which it was based. i.e. scenarios made for the originals will continue to work.

The only problem that may arise is if you "verify files" through Steam, which removes many of the additional folders. In that case, one needs to reinstall the assets and run the batch file again

Nick

Yes, I realize the vast majority are additional files. But I'm looking here at Assets\DTG\NorthWalesCoast\RouteMarkers\NorthWalesCoastal_Markers.bin (and .dcsv, and flag.bin) . . . these are direct replacements of the file names in the .ap file, so will also become the files used by the original route . . . that was my point (again, unless I'm missing something!). I fully understand the workings and priorities of .ap files etc.

Not wishing to stir anything up, as I appreciate all the effort put in, and this is looking to be an excellent piece of work. I just can't get my head around this specific point, and the specific files I'm referring to (I believe there were a couple of others but can't be sure, so let's focus on these in the NWC .ap file)