Open Rails Activity Pack for BNSF Scenic Sub (Starter Route)

[adreid]

I have just uploaded an Open Rails activity pack for the Starter Route (a free download from traimsimulations.net). There are nine activities, ranging from easy to hard, which together some optional exercises make up a tutorial on shunting. As this is intended for people who are new to Open Rails, no other downloads are required. I am releasing this work without restrictions, and you may do whatever you wish with it. This should provide hours of fun!

open_rails_starter_tutorial_1_0.zip

Regards,
Dan Reid

[dedwa15237]

Moved to Open Rails forum... not MSTS related....

[Peter M]

Thank you for creating this!

Is there any possibility this could be reworked for the new version of the starter route? The old version (which these are written for) and a lot of the rolling stock included has recently been replaced. AFAIK that version of the starter route is no longer available, and I only have the newer version.

Thanks,
Peter

[niknak]

Can I just echo Peter's thanks Dan. Like him I now only have the newer version of the route and so I'm wondering if an amendment is possible.

[gammaray84]

I did try to run first activity (A1-Appleyard-Cashmere v 1.0) and the instruction do not mach with what consist do you need to pick up and one of them is missing from the yard. I did try to make screenshots and point out accurate problem, but since you need to downscale screenshots to so small resolution, you can't see nothing what i am trying to say. Yes i do have previous avaible free route from Trainsimulations.com.

[michelouim]

Hi, I just installed the pack and make sure it was with the old version of the starter route, mine i got 2019-05-22, the new one being 2020-10-18.

On the first activity, the yard has 3 tracks, AppleyardLead(1), Appleyard6 and Appleyard7. The work order says to pick up 6 containers from Appleyard7 but there is only 5. And it ask to pick 8 cars from Appleyard2, but no tracks have that name. There are 9 cars Appleyard6. Continuing the activity with the 5 cars from Appeyard7, i found Appeyard1 to 5, but no cars on Appleyard2.

Which version is the good one?

[adreid]

Thankyou for the feedback!

I downloaded the Starter Route in July and have been working on the activities off and on since then. I had no idea that an update had been made to the route in the meantime. In fact, that's the last thing I would expect.

I have downloaded the Starter Route again today and will install it shortly. I will absolutely rework the activities for the new route, and will release them as version 2 as soon as they are ready,

Regards,
Dan Reid

[adreid]

Wow, I wonder how many versions of this route exist -- I downloaded the file on July 5, 2020. The properties of the installer program show version 1.0.0.0 -- most of the individual files are dated 2012-03-08, but some texture files are dated 2019-01-21.

Is anyone aware of other versions?

Regards,
Dan Reid

[Peter M]

These activities were written for the old version. The rolling stock is what I remember being installed previously, and the route folder from the activity pack has the old name (TS_StarterRoute). The new version is named BNSF_Scenic.

I would be happy to work on replicating these activities for the new version if anyone is interested and the author allows.

Peter

[csx8851]

These activities were written for the old version. The rolling stock is what I remember being installed previously, and the route folder from the activity pack has the old name (TS_StarterRoute). The new version is named BNSF_Scenic.

I would be happy to work on replicating these activities for the new version if anyone is interested and the author allows.

Peter

I just tried this earlier today and ran into the same issue, activities are for the old version. I’d definitely be interested in something for the latest release, if someone can include variety in the consists. While running the activities in the new route, the upgraded stock is definitely great but the trains keep repeating themselves taking away from the realism

[Peter M]

If someone could provide some more info about operations on the scenic sub I would consider creating some seperate activities for the new Starter route using much more varied freeware and probably payware content from Mullan or BNSF Seligman. There are a lot of industries in the Scenic area that require more rolling stock than grain hoppers and stack cars.

However, if I understand correctly, this specific pack created by Mr. Reid is aimed at users who may not understand the advanced possibilities of Open Rails (especially new users). This pack would give new users a taste of different styles of operation in OR than the default activities (switching v. mainline running). As these users may not want to spend large amounts of money for a product they may not like, it is wise to limit the content in these activities to what is supplied free.

For what its worth, I made several very simple repaints (just changed the numbers) of the BNSF Dash-9 4410 that I could upload here if there is a desire. I did this because I too was tired of seeing the same loco repeated 2-3 times in a single train.

Peter

[Shawmut]

The earlier version of the "TS Starter Route" is, in fact, the same thing - activity wise - as the original version of the BNSF Scenic Sub sold by Streamlines. This iteration of their route was published from 2006 through 2010. Any of the activities in the file library here designed for the Scenic Sub and published before 2011 will work with the earlier version of the TS Starter Route.

By comparison, the new version of the Starter Route is based on the version 2 of the Scenic Sub published by Streamlines and, later, Trainsimulations.net from January 2011 until just recently. All of the activities in the f/l marked for the "v.2" of the Scenic Sub, like, for instance, Joe Lawernce's "mevespop1.zip" and "mevespop2.zip" will likewise work with the new version of the Starter Route.

All you have to do to make these activities work properly is a) be sure you've got an activity designed for the correct version of the Starter Route you have. If you are loading a BNSF Scenic v.2 activity into the new Starter Route you simply have to unpack the files in the appropriate folders. The RouteID in both is the same.

If you are loading one of the activities designed for BNSF Scenic v.1 (and the vast majority of activities in the library are for that version of the route) into the earlier version of the TS Starter Route, then you'll have to make one small change to the activity file (and to that file alone): you must change the RouteID from to "BNSF_Scenic " to "TS_StarterRoute." Obviously omit the period and the parens.

This is the way the activity RouteID will look when you download it from the f/l:

SIMISA@@@@@@@@@@JINX0a0t______

Tr_Activity (
Serial ( 1 )
Tr_Activity_Header (
RouteID ( BNSF_Scenic )

and this is what you should end up with before you start up ORTS:

SIMISA@@@@@@@@@@JINX0a0t______


Tr_Activity (
Serial ( 1 )
Tr_Activity_Header (
RouteID ( TS_StarterRoute )


Because these earlier activities were designed with MSTS in mind, you'll want to either

a) substitute the Trainsimulations.net stock for the older, non-ORTS stock called for by the downloaded activity, or

b) add Gerry Storey's physics files to the locos and stock recommended by the activity. You can find his physics packages that just drop right in place here in the f/l.

There are some cracking activities designed for both versions of this route, so start downloading and have fun!

Cheers,

Dave

[geepster775]

The new version comes with dds textures while the previous one came with ace files. This makes the new version more suitable to residing with the newer Trainsimulations routes that are OR only that have DDS-based Xtracks and do not mingle with MSTS stock in any MSTS installation.

[niknak]

Thanks for the heads up on the 2 acts for v2 Dave. I've d'loaded them and substituted some of the missing stock in the consists. I've yet to run them but fingers crossed...

[PerryPlatypus]

Peter, feel free to PM me if you'd like detailed information on Scenic Sub operations. The only thing I would not have good info on are some of the local trains in the Everett area, but I can provide info on all of the through trains and local ops on the east side.