How does OR know where the MSTS installation is?

[lindsayts]

Over the past few days I upgraded one of my systems with a new motherboard and CPU etc. The PC concerend is a dual boot system running LInux and WindowsXP. Windows is installed on 2 different drives the OS itself on drive C and MSTS, OR and ascociated utils (Tgatool2a etc) on D:\, nothing else is installed, ie XP is ONLY used for trainsiming.

On the upgrade I reformated drive C and resinstalled XP and MSTS.
Before installing MSTS I renamed the existing installation to D:\Games\msts_used,
installed MSTS to D:\Games\msts to setup XP's registry,
renamed the new installtion to D:\Games\mst_installed
then renamed the original installation from D:\Games\msts_used to D:\Games\msts so XP/MSTS and OR would use it.

I have used this method before with no problems. Unfortunately OR refuses to use the new installaition for the DEFAULT. MSTS is in D:\Games\msts, this is what XP has for MSTS for both paths in the registry and this is the path I put into to the non DEFAULT path in OR to get OR to work and OR works great with this non default path. Question how does OR find the path for msts, in this case the path for MSTS in XP's registry APPEARS to be correct (could have a non printing character in the path name but I does not look like it).
Note: this is my standard method for installing and running MSTS/OR and have had no trouble before.

I will have a crack at removing MSTS using XP's tools and try installing again and see what happens. Any help would be apreciated, NOT a major problem though just curious to see what is happenning. I have spent many years with Linux and have much knowledge of it but know little of XP or anything else from microsoft.

Lindsay

[sniper297]

First thing in the opening screen, select Options, Folders.

1.jpg

In that submenu, click Add, then browse to whatever mini route you want to add.

2.jpg

After that select which folder you want to load from the main Open Rails menu.

[OTTODAD]

In other words ORTS does not care where MSTS has been installed.

Like Jim says, just point it to where a Train Simulator folder is you want ORTS to use and call it what you like in ORTS.

Below I am pointing it to my DB-TRACKS-ROUTES copy of a renamed MSTS Train Simulator folder.

O t t o

[lindsayts]

Thanks for the replies, it appears though I did not make my question clear, what I am wondering is how does OR find the initial installation. It does not use some hard coded path as my MSTS installation is in no way standard and it has in the past always found it. In this instance for some reason it has not. Now I have added MSTS to the folders menu as the previous posts have indicated and OR works OK, what interests me currently is why OR has not found MSTS under its own steam as it has every other time I have installed it.

The way my two other systems work (and the system under question previously worked also) is is when you start OR its starts seeing the required items immediatly. with the current system OR starts up blank and I have to select MSTS from the folders menu. I am simply curious to find out why it is different, as I stated it is no major issue.

Lindsay

[longiron]

Open Rails looks at your Windows Registry entries for MSTS and the path to the installed location. That's how it "finds" the location.

EDIT: I should have said INITIALLY finds

[OTTODAD]

Open Rails looks at your Windows Registry entries for MSTS and the path to the installed location. That's how it "finds" the location.

Having deleted all Registry keys which contain a TRAIN.EXE, after SAVING them to *.REG files, ORTS has no problems using what is in the selected for it Train Simulator, or whatever it has been renamed to, folder.

O t t o

[wacampbell]

Responding to the O.P. The very first time you install and start OR, it will search for an existing MSTS install to use to populate the folder list. The search strategy is to check the registry, and if not found, to look for it in c:\program files.

But after that it won't search again, instead refering to the folder list that you have created. That folder list is stored in your user folder under:

...\AppData\Roaming\Open Rails\folder.dat

To start fresh, you'll have to erase this file, something the uninstaller will do one day.

[OTTODAD]

The very first time you install and start OR, it will search for an existing MSTS install to use to populate folder list. The search strategy is to check the registry, and if not found, to look for it in c:\program files. But after that it won't search again, instead referring to the folder list that you have created.

After removing all traces of MSTS and it's Train.exe from the Registry, deleting the existing ORTS folder and re-installing ORTS-7, it's Menu.exe and MenuWDF.exe started ORTS without problems, displaying the routes used last.

An installed in the Registry MSTS or not is totally irrelevant to ORTS functioning as it should after installing and henceforth !

Perhaps a qualified in how ORTS works member of it's team would like to comment ?

O t t o

[jovet]

Otto, don't argue with the people who write the software. Do you know who Wayne Campbell is? It seems to me you've either not gotten completely rid of Open Rails or MSTS prior to re-installing.

"train.exe" is not mentioned in the Registry and never has been. Saying things like this re-enforces that you don't actually know what you're talking about.

[OTTODAD]

Otto, don't argue with the people who write the software. Do you know who Wayne Campbell is? It seems to me you've either not gotten completely rid of Open Rails or MSTS prior to re-installing. It seems to me you've either not gotten completely rid of Open Rails or MSTS prior to re-installing.

How should I know that he is a member of the ORTS team ?

He says:

The very first time you install and start OR, it will search for an existing MSTS install to use to populate folder list. The search strategy is to check the registry, and if not found, to look for it in c:\program files. But after that it won't search again, instead refering to the folder list that you have created.

If there is no trace of MSTS in the Registry how does one expect to find a Train Simulator folder elsewhere, unless it is a pirated copy !

I have no Train Simulator folder anywhere and the copies of MSTS I have in various logical drives are called DB-TRACKS-ROUTES, Bernina, Pro-Train, PRR, Train Simulator-MAIN and Train Simulator-CD.

The Train Simulator path shown in the Registry is no longer in use.

Installing ORTS should let the installer decide which of their MSTS copies it should use, many MSTS users having many MINI copies of it.

"train.exe" is not mentioned in the Registry and never has been. Saying things like this re-enforces that you don't actually know what you're talking about.

Perhaps I should have said "Train.exe path".

Don't be insulting ! I have forgotten more than you will ever learn and have been taught manners not to talk to others that way, especially not senior ones !

O t t o

[jovet]

This is the answer right here:

That folder list is stored in your user folder under:
...\AppData\Roaming\Open Rails\folder.dat

Otto, unless you're installing Open Rails to your "Application Data" folder then this file is not being removed when you attempt to remove "all traces" of MSTS and Open Rails.

Edit: If I had compeltely ignored the post with the answer from no more of an expert than who wrote the software (if one would bother to pay attention to that) then I would expect to be yelled at, too!

[OTTODAD]

Being a Senior Citizen I expect to be spoken to in a civil manner.

Forgot about ORTS using a C:\ Windows default folder to store related to it data, I have queried once before when creating more than one copy of it's Folder.dat to allow me to switch between various of my MSTS copies, now no longer necessary as the Folder.dat file can store more than one path to MSTS copies.

There is also an older Documents\Application Data\ORTS folder which contains a RunActivity folder, now also present in the Open Rails folder.

Being a programmer myself, I prefer to keep what my programs need in their folders and not elsewhere, which is what my Accounts software EXEs will do by default, unless their data parameter paths have been set to store it elsewhere.

I also do not install any non-Windows program into the WIN drive C:\ so if there is a problem with the O/S it will not affect them and their data other than having to re-install them and is now also the recommended method for 32-bit programs in WIN-7 64-bit.

Remains the question about how an installer of ORTS who does not have MSTS installed in his computer's Registry is supposed to find a Train Simulator folder's Routes to point ORTS to ?

Anyway, all this is academic because like I have said earlier I have finished with ORTS until it is more mature and am also no longer interested in TS-2012, having a lot of fun using my RW-2 and TS-2012 no TSX clones of some of their routes and rolling stock and working on my DB-TRACKS-ROUTES copy of MSTS, adding more routes to them.

O t t o

[jovet]

Being a Senior Citizen I expect to be spoken to in a civil manner.

One person's "insulting" is another's "telling it how it is." You accuse me of being insulting, yet there is nothing wrong with you telling two of the most-prominent people involved in Open Rails development to find someone qualified to advise on it? I can't think of anything more insulting! I'm sure the creators of Open Rails are too modest to point out who they are in every post they make, but I'm confident that most people know who they are because their contributions are appreciated...by most. And because their names are on the website. How ironic that someone who is so quick to repeatedly dish accolades onto them self about their "vast programing experience" fails to recognize others who provide valuable programing contributions to the community.

Respect is earned--not granted--especially on websites like this that do not cater to people based on their age or race or gender. There are many ways to show respect, and my way is to stand up and say something when those insulted are too polite to do so. Your age is not an alibi for being able to say whatever or offend whomever you wish. In fact, your age and (self-promoted) prominence in the community should hold you to a higher standard, and so I do. I show my respect for the community when I point out when you do not know what you're talking about, just as I expect to have the same pointed out about me when it applies. No one person is bigger than "the community" here who hopefully all share a love of why we came here in the first place.

There is also an older Documents\Application Data\ORTS folder which contains a RunActivity folder, now also present in the Open Rails folder.
Being a programmer myself, I prefer to keep what my programs need in their folders and not elsewhere, ...

Being a programmer you should be able to appreciate the standard to which people who create and give advice about software are held. Computers are the most logical of devices, and require the utmost in attention to detail. This is why people on this website who assist others demand specific answers to their specific questions. If you "have forgotten more than I'll ever learn" and can't accommodate that attention to detail then you should refrain from advising about them. For example, "After removing all traces of MSTS and it's Train.exe from the Registry" makes zero sense, and "Documents\Application Data\ORTS" is not the same as "Documents and Settings\Jovet\Application Data\Open Rails". You can rant and rave about "being insulting" if you want, but all misinformation and lack of attention to detail is a disservice to the community who need concrete answers.

Anyway, all this is academic because like I have said earlier I have finished with ORTS until it is more mature and am also no longer interested in TS-2012, having a lot of fun using my RW-2 and TS-2012 no TSX clones of some of their routes and rolling stock and working on my DB-TRACKS-ROUTES copy of MSTS, adding more routes to them.

Why are you asking about software you're not even using?!

[BNSF1959]

Enough! Locked!