Bala Hub - Start Points help

lateagain · Post by **lateagain** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:52 am

Before you all say doh!!

I'd like to thank Gordon Mackenzie for the fun I've had with his Ruabon Llangollen Barmouth Route (Along with Tim Court's excellent Mid East UK these are a MUST HAVE for your routes collection)

I was delighted when the Bala Hub extension was added to the downloads and despite a bad case of ignoring the golden rule - RTFM (by the way in response to a previous thread- such expressions were devised to avoid offence - not cause it), I successfully reinstalled both and set of to explore the new extension. Breathtaking fun in my opinion.

Only problem is that I notice that installing the extension seems to have overwritten (in explore mode) all of the old starting points in Ruabon Llangollen Barmouth? Did I misread the manual again?

I seem to remember a thread on adding your own start points? Can anyone advise? or recommend a tutorial?

Thanks for any help you can Offer.

gopher · Post by **gopher** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 6:00 pm

Hello Lateagain

Thanks for the kind comments and glad you are enjoying it. Did you make it past Cwm Prysor without getting vertigo or resorting to a parachute?
Unfortunately I noticed too late that RouteRiter deletes all previous activities from a route when it installs the upgrade. I presume Mike (RouteRiter author) thought that old activities would not work on upgraded routes. They do work on the Bala Hub. Now don't quote me on this but I think all you need do is run the original install stock/activities program on the original CD. I will ask Alan Salmon if this will do the trick and post a reply here. Make sure you back up the Bala Hub route folder before you try this or you may end up with Ruabon Barmouth again if you click the wrong button

Gordon

asalmon · Post by **asalmon** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 6:00 pm

I imagine the old paths get removed because of the changes to the track database.

To create some more, you will have to go into the activity editor, start making a new activity, create a player service, and in that create lots of paths. Well, you only need to lay the start point, and put the end a few hundred yards on - in explore mode MSTS only uses the start and the direction.

Alan

gopher · Post by **gopher** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 6:08 pm

That was quick Alan

, I have only just emailed you. Is he safe just installing the old activities from the CD though? You will get the track database has changed message but just click on OK and continue.

Gordon

asalmon · Post by **asalmon** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 6:21 pm

I posted at the same instant you did, didn't realise you'd posted too as I never wait to view my message after posting.

Has anything changed from the original area? If not you can just reinstall the activity pack from the CD. If anything has changed, then this will produce broken paths, which is why I guess route-riter errs on the side of caution.

Another thought, the deletion must be part of the upgrade batch file, so I guess this can be edited and the deletion disabled if we're happy it is safe to do so.

Alan

BobLatimer · Post by **BobLatimer** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:24 pm

I can confirm that the "old" activities work okay on the latest version of the route. I backed up the whole folder for the route before installing the upgrade and then simply copied the Activities, Services, Paths and Traffic folders from the backup version into the upgraded version. I then went looking for broken paths to repair and, a bit to my surprise, I didn't find any. I think I have noticed some minor changes to the trackwork on the older parts of the route but evidently none of the paths that I had were affected.

gopher · Post by **gopher** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:30 pm

Bob wrote

I think I have noticed some minor changes to the trackwork on the older parts of the route but evidently none of the paths that I had were affected.

Correct and well spotted.

Gordon

Guild of Master Platelayers (and other assorted crockery):lol:

lateagain · Post by **lateagain** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 10:38 pm

Thanks Guy's for such a supportive and "snappy" response.

Hopelessly addicted to our mutual hobby, Iâ€™ve been â€œgob smackedâ€

lateagain · Post by **lateagain** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 7:38 am

I'm not loosing the plot here..... well not much!

In remembering I'd seen an answer to Petermakosch's question about changing what you drive in activities, I realised where I'd seen a tutorial on creating activities. Aptly named (for me) Activity Editor - The Idiot's Guide, by Jim "Sniper" Ward, covers what I need to know about start points. A quick read inspires me to try a simple activity creation even.

http://www.railpage.org.au/steam4me/tra ... s/ig_a.htm

Not talking to myself here you understand... Just posting the info for anyone else out there who'd wondered â€œhow toâ€¦â€