.AP files for reskins

[bradleigh20]

Whilst I'm not new to Train Simulator (had it since it was Rail Simulator!), I am new to the new .AP files in the loco folders within the RSC assets.

I'm trying to install the East Coast reskin from DP Simulations website, and the read me instructions do confuse me a bit, up to the point were I find the class 91addonassets.ap file, then have no idea what to do from there. Extracting the files from within the .ap file? Not sure if I am missing something here. I have installed the reskin through utilities and now just need to copy the files over. Please help!

[rosschris10]

you need to download a program called 7zip download that then right click on the AP file select open via 7zip and then a window pops up just like you would expect it to look like as if you were viewing it through your RW folder

[Clemmo47]

I returned to TS2014 after a break a few weeks back and was also confused about this .ap thing. You can extract the folders in the .ap with 7-zip. Mostly at first I just extracted the route properties files so the routes showed in RW-Tools but as with the repaints for the 91 you need to extract the rest to the same folder.(ie next to the .ap folder).
Hope that makes sense as I know how confused I was at first.
There is also a geo file that has to be edited with a couple 91 repaints but this is easy enough with RW-Tools.

[mikesimpson]

If you have RW_Tools, it is better to use it to extract the items from the .ap files, as just using 7zip on its own extracts the files OK, but does not make them Read/Write, so in many cases you can't edit them.

See http://www.rstools.info/RW_Tools_and_APfiles.pdf for further details of the .ap files.

Mike

[gptech]

7-Zip has been known to not set the extracted files to read/write; far better to use RW Tools to extract the file(s) you need to edit.

Think of the .ap package as just being a .rwp installer that doesn't need installing, as the game reads the contents 'on the fly'. Just as with pre-.ap reskinning, you need to copy (extract) the files for a particular rekin into its own folder structure and from there it's exactly the same as it always has been.

[JohnM1945]

For those who, unlike the initiator of this thread, are relatively new to RW/TS, it may be worth suggesting that, when you extract the contents of a .ap file, you do so to a sub-folder that will not be loaded with your route or scenario. As an example, you might create an Asset sub-folder called 'RSC_Extracts' (or whatever you'll remember...) within your 'Assets' folder. If you copy any RSC .ap file that you want to unzip into this quarantined folder before unzipping (in any of the ways recommended in the posts above) you can be sure, firstly, that you are not potentially damaging the original data and, secondly, that you are not unnecessarily increasing the volume of data uploaded by scenarios.

Having pre-positioned the Assets safely here, you can then select the single desired file - a GeoPcDx say - into the desired location and then edit it (as discussed elsewhere) as a TS2014 file using RW_Tools.

(It's worth recalling that .ap files were introduced (at least in part) to cope with the data overload problem, exemplified most obviously by the \Assets\Kuju data structure, which (I understand) loads into any scenario the whole of \Assets\Kuju\Railsimulator and/or the whole of \Assets\Kuju\RailsimulatorUS even if only a single contained Asset is required.)

I'm probably teaching an awful lot of grandmothers to suck eggs here...

Kind regards,

John M

[gptech]

exemplified most obviously by the \Assets\Kuju data structure, which (I understand) loads into any scenario the whole of \Assets\Kuju\Railsimulator and/or the whole of \Assets\Kuju\RailsimulatorUS even if only a single contained Asset is required.)

It's more a case of the game loading all the references to the locations than all the information itself into memory. The so called 'Kuju bloat' only happens when *too many* reskins are installed by the user; *too many* being an undetermined number due to set up differences.

it may be worth suggesting that, when you extract the contents of a .ap file, you do so to a sub-folder that will not be loaded with your route or scenario

I agree with that advice, I'd even go a step further and extract the contents of any archive (.ap, .rwp, .7 et al) outside of the game completely (the desktop is as good a place as any) and copy/paste the folders and/or files required to their 'real' home.

[alanch]

it may be worth suggesting that, when you extract the contents of a .ap file, you do so to a sub-folder that will not be loaded with your route or scenario

I agree with that advice, I'd even go a step further and extract the contents of any archive (.ap, .rwp, .7 et al) outside of the game completely (the desktop is as good a place as any) and copy/paste the folders and/or files required to their 'real' home.

If you are confident with handling files and folders and use 7Zip you don't even need to extract all the files from an archive - just run 7Zip in 2-panel mode. Open the .ap archive in one panel, and navigate to the files you need to copy. Then navigate to the destination of the copied files in the other panel - you may need to create folders to do this. Then just drag the files from the first panel to the second, right click on them and change the properties to read/write.

[bri2808]

I just wish there was a thread that was 'stickied' so that people could click on it. We have so many threads on this forum around .ap files it would be hugely helpful if all the help and advice was in one place!!