Tracks on all routes look like they're laid in concrete, ( no ballast texture).

[crstagg]

>Also Everything Was Running Fine Till I Installed Ohio Rail and Started Running the Batch Files for Track Textures.

Ok it is the copying textures that caused the problem, I will check the batch files.

My version of Ohio Rails does not have those batch files.

Mine does and they would ONLY affect the textures in the Bodiddly\Textures folder. Unless they were run from a lower level folder.

[eric]

I had a similar problem after installing the ORTS sample route. New shapes were loaded which used DDS textures, which is why they said to install as a mini route and not in your main MSTS route contact directory.

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[crstagg]

I had a similar problem after installing the ORTS sample route. New shapes were loaded which used DDS textures, which is why they said to install as a mini route and not in your main MSTS route contact directory.

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Eric,
See posts 2-5.

[eric]

I'm not blind, Charles. But it looks like the same symptom thus probably the same cause -- a change to Global\Textures files *or* Global\Shapes (which could have also had new shapes which expect DDS) that is impacting older routes.

[dkingsburg]

OK So What do I have to do to get things back to Normal. Reinstall the original TS as per steam4me and all my Routes or What?
DaveKfromUP

[eric]

Start by reinstalling the tracks you're using. If it's X-Track, only re-install X-Tracks. You need that subset of shapes and textures.


Reinstalling TS from the start may fix other issues since you seem to have used the Program Files directories, but I'd start out small.

[dkingsburg]

I do Have X-Tracks, do I Reinstall it in Each Route or Direct it to Trainsim? Or is it Preset to Go Where it needs to Go?
I wan't to be Sure I Do it Correctly and Make Sure I Eliminate the Problem.
I have Scale Rail Also or is that Different?
Thankyou,
DaveKfromUP

[rdayt]

If you intend on using MSTS or any of the editors that came with it then you'll want to uninstall it and reinstall it outside of any of the system folders. Per the Steam4me site.
Otherwise you can just move the Global, Routes, Sound and Trains folders to a new folder in the root of your drive, C:/msts1, D:/Trainsim are just a couple of examples. Use whatever makes sense to you.
You install xtracks to this new folder. The shapes will end up in the Global folder and most (all) routes come with the textures already in their respective textures folders.
Any utilities that want to see MSTS or Train.exe can use the registry entries from the original install and then you can point them to where you moved stuff.
You will probably end up with many different MSTS content folders in lots of different places as you progress. I have six.
It'll all start to make sense sooner or later.

Randy

[geepster775]

Something related to an old MSTS route has already clobbered his shared Global folder, so no sense in relocating anything. It just needs to be removed and reinstalled per Steam4Me. Then care must be exercised when installing old MSTS content that something doesn't re-clobber things yet again.

Like it or not, many early MSTS content projects were very selfish, where the creator always assumed MSTS was the end of the line and their content would always remain in a certain configuration because of MSTS limitations. So they abused the shared global folder with their specialty modifications without concern over how it would impact other routes when the replacement for MSTS eventually came along. Conrail indy with it's special interstate highway shape add-ons, the London & Port Stanley with its overhead trolley wire and incline tram. Lord only knows what those Ohio-Rail batch files are doing. Hell, you cant even place both payware routes from 3DTrains in the same OR installation because of incompatibilities in scalerail and scaleroads packages.

When it comes to building large shared installations for Open Rails, people need to be wary that all built-for-MSTS content is not exclusively compatible because it was built around MSTS and the barriers of the day. They need to examine and test and discriminate more thoroughly before going on any route installation binge.

The fact that Trainsimulations has moved all their content over to DDS texture formats that MSTS doesn't understand speaks volumes about their desire to divorce their current portfolio of products away from these black hole issues of the MSTS content era.

[rdayt]

Don't you just love self installing content?
I always run these installers into an empty folder created just for that route, or any other content that has a setup.exe.
It's easy enough to move the stuff I want where it needs to be on my own.
Once burned twice shy.

Randy

[mikeebb]

Having destroyed stuff a few times ...

Pro tip: Many (though by no means all) installers, especially of freeware, are actually self-extracting zip files and can be examined before installation with 7-Zip. Doesn't always work, but worth checking. That way, you can see whether it's doing anything odd to your Global folders and take countermeasures (like installing it in a mini-route) if it does. Open Rails works fine with mini-routes - you locate them for the program in the options just like for MSTS routes.

Xtracks, Newroads, and Scalerail and Scaleroads, have all proven to be safe, for me, to install as directed - in the MSTS folder outside of Program Files (I have a "sims" directory at the C:\ root level with short directory names, for MSTS and other old stuff, and Open Rails (to simplify updates)). You will certainly need to tell the installers where to put things. If you actually fully installed MSTS in that root location, it's possible that some installers will pick up the actual location from the registry, but many don't including the MS updates for MSTS.

I have seen no particular problems with other routes after installing the 3DTS Tehachapi and Cajon routes then adding the 3DTrains scenery (and Scalerail) updates. It helps to do things in a certain order, though: older route packages like 3DTS' Cajon and Tehachapi (and its equipment/activity expansions) should be installed before installing any other routes, then their scenery updates. THEN the current Scalerail and Scaleroads. THEN any other freeware routes you want to install in the real MSTS Routes folder and any added rolling stock and consists for them.

There are many instruction packages for creating mini-routes. Most of them date from when it was necessary because MSTS couldn't handle really big routes if others were present. Open Rails doesn't have that problem, but it's often better to do large, complex routes, particularly those that fiddle with the Global directories a lot, in their own directory outside of .\msts anyway. Trainsimulations does that by default. So does PRR-ER. 3DTrains' WP route and 3DTS' Donner route should also be installed that way because of the size and complexity, though in my experience, WITH OPEN RAILS, they do work in the regular msts\routes structure.

I keep a copy of the official msts installation (a working one), with no additions beyond the msts patches. If I need a mini-route for installing something non-commercial (commercial routes in my experience usually create their own mini-route correctly), rather than trying to fiddle things, I just copy that complete msts install into the new mini-route directory, install the new route and any dependencies (like the latest XTracks, Newroads, Scalerail, Scaleroads) in there, verify that any installme has run properly, verify that the route works, then delete the unnecessary MSTS stuff (mainly, the default routes that I'll never actually use, unnecessary stock and consists (for instance European stock and consists if it's an American route), a few documentation folders, and clean out the base msts directory itself except for the trains.exe file. Yes, for Open Rails, that can be deleted, too, and be replaced with a blank text file named train.exe - I'm too lazy to do that). I don't touch the Global folders. Oh yes, and in most cases, if the route doesn't do it already, I install the latest tsection.dat.

Probably easiest to show a picture of my top directory structure. Note the highlighted folders where routes are placed.
Screenshot 2021-01-24 125839.jpg

All stuff that we've all heard before. Except maybe some newbies. In my case, I have to say that I seldom have stability problems, even with a ton of routes and other stuff installed, in Windows 10 Pro fully updated, on a 15-year-old computer with a GTX750ti GPU, with frame rates that only rarely drop below 60 (the monitor refresh). Go figure.

[weter]

Most useful tip, I told already, is installing new content to empty folder and see, what installer writes, and where.
If it shows not harmful changes, you can copy or reinstall it to common MSTS folder, if it writes its own versions of global textures, shapes and sounds with same names as default stuff have, you probably establish it as mini-route at separate location, furthermore, ORTS don't need other MSTS stuff duplicated there, exept tsection.dat

[dkingsburg]

I Downloaded and Installed the Latest Version of XTracks 3.20 and No Change.
I Guess my Next Step is to Reinstall the Original Train Simulator.
DaveKfromUP

[dkingsburg]

Everything On My Older Routes Was OK. When I Installed OHIO Rail and Messed with the Track Batch Files is When Everything Went Bad with
the Track Textures. I've Removed Ohio Rail but don't know if the Cause of the Problem went away. I still Don't Get the Track Textures I Originally Had.
DaveKfromUP

[rdayt]

Not sure about this but XTracks might not overwrite a shape already in the Global/Shapes folder.
Install XTracks to a work folder and then copy/paste into your Global/Shapes folder overwriting when prompted to.
Better yet, go ahead and create the shapes and textures folders in the work folder and put the shapes in the shapes folder and throw an acleantrack1 and 2 in the textures folder.
They should open right up in shapeviewer.
Then copy them to your Global/Shapes folder.

Randy