OR-only .eng file loading problem

[Shawmut]

As I posted in another thread, I've been converting many of my models to OR-only status, for a couple of reasons: simplicity and cleanliness/tidiness. For example, here is a .wag file for one of the 200 Autoracks_Jeff_A; its size is a mere 1KB! You'll see some of those autoracks in action in images to follow.

00.jpg

I got the idea for doing this after downloading and applying the principles in Erick Cantu's Gosskit retrofit of those dozens and dozens of Larry Goss 40' boxcars from the 50's-60's. That project proved to be so easy to do and it so appealed to my OCD tendencies that I went ahead and purchased his Soo GP7 models (available from TigerTrains) even though I have little interest in either the 70's-80's time frame or the Soo RR, for that matter.

Lo and behold Erick had applied those same principles to his loco .eng files as well; gone was the long unitary file that we've known since MSTS arrived in 2001 ... now it was a very short file with a bunch of include links to other files like "compressor" and "26L." In other words, what Erick did was to deconstruct the engine file into its basic components. This allows him to mix-and-match those components based on the engine diagram he was following. For example, some of the GP7's you get in his pack use the EMD 567B engine, while others use the 567C. All he needed to do in the .eng file was to point to the right include file for whichever engine he wanted in the model. What an ingenious idea!

Well, thinks me, since the autorack project worked so well, why not apply Erick's deconstructed model to the various engine files I've got? I've been converting the rolling stock for my installation of Surfliner v.2.3, a payware-quality freeware route if ever there was one. For my first conversion I chose my TrainSkinner SD70ACe file, a now-elderly model that, like Paul Fowler's F-units, was one of the best at the time of its appearance (2009). I purchased my models from Mike Lewis, but he eventually decided he wanted out of the payware game and so made his models free on his website for a while before he pulled the plug on said website. However, all of his models are still available for download at archive.org. At any rate, here's the first one of the pack I've converted as it appears in Goku's consist editor. You'll note that leading Mike's ACe is one of Erick's Soo Geep's; that will play an important part - and the reason for my query - in what is to follow.

01.jpg

Mike included the standard-for-the-time trailing and AI units, and my original experimentation with this pack of locos was to convert those units into regular drivable units. If I was going to do that, why not go the full route and completely ORTS-ize them as well?

Erick had numerous include links in his Soo engine files because he provided a number of variants in his pack. But the Lewis ACe's were basically all the same loco, so there was no need that I could see to break down the engine file into the many components that Erick used. Instead, I had just the engine file and two, well three include files: one for the wagon section, one for the engine section, and one pointing to Gerry's Std_Eng_SD70ACE.inc file. See below:

02.jpg 03.jpg 04.jpg

As long as I had another loco leading the ACe - in other words as long as I included my conversion as a DPU anywhere in the consist besides being the lead loco - the consist loaded fine. I could switch cabs, uncouple from the lead loco, and drive off with the ACe conversion which worked and performed beautifully. I could even save the session then and go back and have it reload in OR. But if I chose to use this engine as the lead loco, OR refused to recognize it by giving me a <load error: TS_BNSF_SD70ACE_9335> message. When you get one of those you can't even start the explore or activity, so you can't get a log file to check and see what the problem was. Hmmm......

David

[Shawmut]

Here are some screenshots of that consist shown in the Goku consist editor in action on the Surfliner route's LA yard:

05.jpg 06.jpg 07.jpg

I've entered the Soo cab, jumped over to BNSF 9335's cab, uncoupled, and begun backing away from the parked and driver-less GP7 with a cut of those Jeff_A autoracks. But if I go back into the consist editor and switch the ACe and the GP7 so that the ACe leads, I get that failed to load message:

08.jpg 09.jpg

Hence my conundrum and the reason for this long-winded message. Can anyone see an obvious error in my .eng file, the image of which is in the post above. I'll attach that file to my next message (along with the wagon- and engine-section include files as well) as I've used up the file upload limit to this message.

My basic instinct is that it is not something in the wagon or engine section, because with few exceptions they are the same as the original .eng file from Mike in 2009. Rather I think that it's something in my interpretation of the deconstructed .eng file that I modelled after Erick's files.

But I could be off-base here; I'm hoping one of you kind souls can point me in the right direction. Thank you for reading!

Regards,

David

[Shawmut]

Attached to this message is my OR-only, deconstructed engine file for the TrainSkinner BNSF SD70ACe #9335, along with the wagon- and engine-section include files.

Again, thanks for looking and please point out errors if you see them. Just by way of reference, to get the OR version issue out of the way, I tried this with all three versions of OR that I have: the vanilla 1.3 version, the latest OR-X version, and the latest OR-MG version from Carlo's site. All three displayed the same issue, so it's not an OR issue (and if it was, Erick's Soo Geep wouldn't have loaded).

Regards,

David

[R. Steele]

David, have you tried changing the order of the include files -- for instance

SIMISA@@@@@@@@@@JINX0D0t______

Wagon ( TS_BNSF_SD70ACE_9335
	WagonShape ( TS.BNSF_SD70ACE_1_9335.s )
	Mass ( 190.5t )
	ORTSFreightAnims (
		MSTSFreightAnimEnabled ( 0 )
		FreightAnimStatic (
			Shape( TS.BNSF_SD70ACE_2_9335.s )
		)
	)

	Include( "..\\TS_COMMON\\SD70ACE\\TS_SD70ACE_wag_gen_info.inc" )
)

Engine ( TS_BNSF_SD70ACE_9335
	Wagon ( TS_BNSF_SD70ACE_9335 )
        Include( "..\\Common.inc\\Locomotives\\Std_Eng_SD70ACe.inc" )
	Include( "..\\TS_COMMON\\SD70ACE\\TS_SD70ACE_eng_gen_info.inc" )
)

...or remove the Std_Eng include line from above and move to the eng_gen_info include as shown below

Comment ( ~~~~~~~~Engine general info~~~~~~~~ )

	Effects (
		DieselSpecialEffects (
			Exhaust1 (
			0 4.72 0.99
			0 1 0
			0.15
			)
		)
	)
	Type ( Diesel )
	MaxPower ( 3200kW )
	MaxForce ( 840.3kN )
	MaxContinuousForce ( 687.5kN )
	MaxVelocity ( 71mph )
	MaxCurrent ( 1323A )
	WheelRadius ( 21in )
	Sanding ( 5mph )
	NumWheels ( 6 )
Include( "..\\Common.inc\\Locomotives\\Std_Eng_SD70ACe.inc" )
Comment ( ~~~~~~~~Cabview~~~~~~~~ )
	
	CabView ( BNSF_SD70ACe.cvf )
	HeadOut ( 1.899 3.9 7.5 )

Comment ( ~~~~~~~~Compressor~~~~~~~~ )

	AirBrakesAirCompressorPowerRating( 4 )
	AirBrakesMainMinResAirPressure( 14.7 )
	AirBrakesMainMaxAirPressure( 140 )
	AirBrakesMainResVolume( 12 )
	AirBrakesAirCompressorWattage( 19000 )
	AirBrakesCompressorRestartPressure( 135 )
	AirBrakesAirUsedPerPoundsOfBrakePipePressure( 1.4 )
	AirBrakesIsCompressorElectricOrMechanical( 1 )
        ORTSBrakePipeChargingRate ( 40.0 )
        ORTSMainResChargingRate ( 1 )
        
Comment ( ~~~~~~~~Brake controllers~~~~~~~~ )
etc

Option#3 -- insert the std_eng file into the eng_gen_info include file
The data order is something to consider in OR, I've had many occasions when simply changing the order of data would eliminate loading problems like you are having.

[Shawmut]

Hi Gerry,

Et voila!

10.jpg

As it turns out, it wasn't the .eng file I made, and changing the order of the Std_Eng link didn't make any difference. Further, adding that link to the TS_SD70ACE_eng_gen_info.inc caused the file not to load at all.

What did work was your anecdote about data order. I remembered that Erick had included both links to a Description.inc file as well as a Procedures.inc file. (Well, actually, he had two Procedures.inc files: one for dynamic brakes and one without; more or less the whole point of the deconstruction, eh? :-)

I had thought to myself, incorrectly as it turned out, that I could just bypass that info because, after all, I knew what an SD70ACe was and I didn't need any prompting about how to operate a diesel engine within ORTS. But, silly old me, it turns out that OR needs that information - or to be precise it needs the Description field, not the Procedures field - to load the file.

So I can proceed with my conversions full steam ... er ... 2-cycle diesel ahead!

Thanks for taking the time to look into this, Gerry!

Cheers,

David

[crstagg]

FYI: Checked to see if I had any installs that had the <Load Error: engname> Found one. Also found that I had the same ENG in another install but that install did not have the <Load Error: engname> Now neither of these files are set for Include files.

Opened both in ConText and used the ConText's Compare tool. Started at the top and changed each difference to match "good" file. Tested after each line. No Joy until I reached the bottom of the files. Bad file had no Description line. Good file did. Added Description Lina to bad file. Tested. FULL JOY no <Load Error: engname>

Test Confirmation: Selected a different ENG. Removed Description line. Opened OR menu got <Load Error: New engname>

OR uses the information from the Description line to display Locomotive information including the first line of text from the Description and the lines: "Locomotive type: ALCO C420" and "Power source: Alco 251" in the right panel of the menu. When that information is not present then it lists the ENG as <Load Error: engname>, displays no Locomotive information, and grays out the Start button inhibiting running the consist.

[R. Steele]

FYI: Checked to see if I had any installs that had the <Load Error: engname> Found one. Also found that I had the same ENG in another install but that install did not have the <Load Error: engname> Now neither of these files are set for Include files.

Opened both in ConText and used the ConText's Compare tool. Started at the top and changed each difference to match "good" file. Tested after each line. No Joy until I reached the bottom of the files. Bad file had no Description line. Good file did. Added Description Lina to bad file. Tested. FULL JOY no <Load Error: engname>

Test Confirmation: Selected a different ENG. Removed Description line. Opened OR menu got <Load Error: New engname>

OR uses the information from the Description line to display Locomotive information including the first line of text from the Description and the lines: "Locomotive type: ALCO C420" and "Power source: Alco 251" in the right panel of the menu. When that information is not present then it lists the ENG as <Load Error: engname>, displays no Locomotive information, and grays out the Start button inhibiting running the consist.

my emphasis

Good to know Charles, I'm gonna bookmark this.

[Shawmut]

Gentlemen,

Thank you both for your informative observations!

Cheers,

David