OpenRails questions from a non tech oldie.

[gremlin1812]

G'day all, firstly I really like ORTS as (so far) it has not taken away from the msts experience and has in-fact enhanced it, I am enjoying the experience with it but I do have a few things I need to know about or sort out.

No 1 is the track monitor, mine is not showing the track gradient, it used to but not now is there a way to fix this?

No 2 can you change the location that the screen shots are stored, at the moment they go to "C:\Users\Barrie1\Pictures\Open Rails" but I would much prefer them going to a location other than C: drive, can this be done?

No 3 the dreaded log file, I understand some of it but it has a lot of warnings and would like to know the significance/result of these, these are from the Whitefish9_RR. Things like:-

Warning: Track node 3256 pin 0 has invalid link to track node 0 in J:\US CAN & AMERICAS\ROUTES\Whitefish9_RR\Whitefish9_RR.rdb:li ne 26089

Warning: Ignored unknown SignalType script TESTSEM_BNSF2LIGHT in J:\US CAN & AMERICAS\ROUTES\Whitefish9_RR\sigscr.dat:line 281

Warning: Signal referenced in .w file -12600 14782 as TrItem 422 not present in .tdb file

Warning: Expected 1 geometry node map elements; got 2 in sub-object 0 in distance level 0 in shape j:\us can & americas\routes\whitefish9_rr\shapes\srv_30x30kujo housedormerporchbox.s

Warning: Ignored invalid track node 959 pin [1,0] link to track node 599; already linked to track node 959

This is enough for now but I am sure to have more.

Regards
Barrie

[crstagg]

#2 Screenshots are coded to stored in the sub-folder "Open Rails" on what ever drive the user has set Windows to store Pictures. Google "Change location of My Documents folder" to get instructions on how to change it. (Picture and Music can be changed using the same instructions as for My Documents). I have both My Pictures and My Documents set to be sub-folders of my OneDrive folder. That way they are saved to the cloud automatically. No backup required.

[geepster775]

Gradients in the OR track monitor only began with version X3678 or so. And they only display when you are actually on a grade. If not, its blank.

As for the log file, that's just reporting non-fatal issues with routes, many of them created by the poor editors or the cantankerousness of their operation. Sometimes, the errors are readily fixable, most times they are not without additional in-depth knowledge like an understanding of signal scripting.

Case in point, one activity in an MLT route will start okay in MSTS, but in ORTS, a couple of loose consists on a yard track stomp on each other which results in one not showing when the sim spawns, which destroys the ability to fulfill the work order. That's an AE tolerance bug allowing them to be placed too close to each other. The OR log will report which consist got stomped, which is one of the more user-fixable examples.

[muskokaandtahoe]

Barrie,

Open Rails tests far more items than does MSTS but instead of simply choking like MSTS it reports them in the log file. A whole lot of what is there was also bad in MSTS but they did not tell you about it (or it would just abort).

I know how to deal with .tdb problems but I'd rather have bamboo shoved under my fingernails than spend time fixing those things.

I'm not skilled enough to mess with signal scripts and the like so I ignore those. OTOH I am skilled enough to fix problems noted in the log for cars and locomotives. So I do look at those and see if I can fix whatever issue was called out.

And so it's really up to each individual to pick and choose... some, all, none... it's up to you.


You can change the location for screenshots but you have to make that edit in the system's Registry. If you are comfortable doing that I can look up the correct hive for you. Another way to deal with it is to use alt-print screen which puts the image into your clipboard, hit pause, bring up something like IRFAN and do a cntl-V to paste the image into that, then do a save where ever you want. When done, return to the game and unpause.