Restoring saved game troubles

[motormaster532]

Wow. It's almost like asking for help with MSTS and the answers are "use open rails". As I said I have have only recently made the jump to OR and I'm still learning everything about it. Once I feel comfortable with it I plan on updating to 1.4. I didn't know if others had this issue and if there was a quick fix for it or workaround, there is no need for major troubleshooting. I have ran this route a couple times without any crashes from shape or texture errors. And i have never noticed if the loading bar was still visible once the route shows up. I'll have to check it out. Thanks Motomaster532.

No problem,Buddy! Just let me know what happens.

[IndianRailways1601]

>I didn't know if others had this issue and if there was a quick fix for it or workaround

The fix for 1.3 is to go to 1.4.

Hit the nail on the head, Derek

[eric]

Wow. It's almost like asking for help with MSTS and the answers are "use open rails".

Nah, it's like running MSTS without BIN or the MSTS issued patch, and asking for help on the out-of-the-box product....

Back then, the answer was "apply the patch" or "apply BIN". And rightfully so.

[Sleepy]

Well I updated. And it didn't stop the problem.

[derekmorton]

And there is nothing in the log.
Have you tried any other route?

[Sleepy]

Happens on any route, any train. And unlike before now it will also happen when starting a new activity and not just when reloading a save.

[derekmorton]

Happens on any route, any train. And unlike before now it will also happen when starting a new activity and not just when reloading a save.

As we have said before, if you get an error reloading a save, that is bad luck, nothing can be done.

So lets start again.

Do you have a log file for a fresh activity?

[slipperman]

Hi,
The two log files already posted by the OP are for different routes.

several keyboard functions that will not work. Mostly the throttle. The escape key and F keys will all still function.

No indication of which other keys!
I suggest that the current key assignments are checked by pressing F1 when running the sim. If the Throttle Decrease/Increase keys are NOT shown as A and D respectively, it looks as if attempts have been made to remap some keys! If the keys are as shown, do they display correctly when using software like NotePad? If so, make sure that NO OTHER SOFTWARE is running at the same time as Open Rails - I seem to remember a recent report of a similar problem where this was the cause, but I can't remember the name of the errant program!!

Cheers,
Ged

[Sleepy]

This last time it did it the throttle keys, reverser keys, dynamic and air brake keys, headlight and bell would not work but the horn and F keys and ESC all worked. That is all I checked. All functions are the default keys, I have not changed any. Keyboard characters display fine on other programs and aside from the usual background windows stuff running I have nothing else running. Just like before after reloading a save or restarting a new activity a few times then everything works fine. Sometimes it works on the first try. Go figure

[R. Steele]

.... If so, make sure that NO OTHER SOFTWARE is running at the same time as Open Rails - I seem to remember a recent report of a similar problem where this was the cause, but I can't remember the name of the errant program!!

Cheers,
Ged

Ged's suggestions is a good way to start methodically troubleshooting this problem -- there is a thread at Elvas Tower about this, some people have had trouble with the F5 hud keys ( myself included ) and James Ross suggested using a utility to determine if any other programs were intercepting the key stroke commands before they got to OR.

Try using this utility "NirSoft HotKeysList utility" >>>> https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/hot_keys_list.html

Here's an excerpt from James comments:

For anyone who has a problem with Alt-F5 (or I guess any other shortcut in Open Rails), it might be worth loading the NirSoft HotKeysList utility and checking whether that shortcut is listed.

Listed: an application is definitely intercepting the shortcut
Not listed: no applications appear to be intercepting it, but it is still possible for them to intercept via more complicated ways

Reading your most recent post...I wonder, if somehow the OR saves are being corrupted? -- or not being saved properly? Strange, indeed.

[slipperman]

Hi,
@Gerry : I've had a look at the utility suggested by James, but as the keys Will is having problems with are not Hot Keys, I don't think it's of much help!

@Will : As the problem seems to be spasmodic it's going to be a bit of a pig to solve!! However, we don't know what hardware you're using or the specification of your PC. A couple of suggestions come to mind - if you're using a wireless keyboard, maybe the battery is running out. If you're not using a wireless keyboard, maybe the socket you plug the keyboard into has developed a fault - for this, try plugging it into a different socket (I'm assuming they are USB sockets - if it's an older PC, they could be PS/2 in which case, you may not be able to swap to another).

Cheers,
Ged

[geepster775]

How loaded with crap is his c:\users\{username}\appdata\roaming\OpenRails folder? Has it been cleaned out (totally) lately? Does he even know that failure to houseclean that once in awhile leads to squirrely problems? Seems like a place to look at for people who take a lot of saves and often run from there.

[ftldave]

Does he even know that failure to houseclean that once in awhile leads to squirrely problems?

Just checked the OR 1.4 manual, out of curiosity, and no mention at all of the need to clear that folder periodically. If it's that important, maybe it be should cited, give people a heads-up. Thanks for the tip, though other than F5 not working as it should on my OR rig, no squirrely problems like the OP reports. Now I'll go run the classic legacy MSTS routes and trains which make Open Rails still worth using.

[geepster775]

This location is your activity cache. Saves write there. Restores read from there. Sometimes it gets cluttered for those who like doing a lot of saves, you know, coming from the instability of MSTS and the habit of saving often.

Your web browser has a cache, too. Lots of people browse the internet for years and never have the need to clear their browser cache. But when people start seeing strange web page behavior one of the first things they know how to address that is to clear their browser cache. Other more experienced people periodically flush that cache on a schedule whether they are dealing with immediate problems or not. I guess if you are on the internet, you should know what you have to do without being told in some browser manual. If I suddenly develop strange activity gremlins, things that cannot be explained, one of the first things I would do is clear my activity cache.

On that F5 problem, F5 brings up the wide version of new HUD. Holding [SHIFT] and punching F5 toggles between wide new hud and concise abbreviated new hud. Hitting F5 once again makes new hud go away.

Holding [CTRL] and punching F5 brings up old Hud. Holding [CTRL] and [SHIFT] and punching F5 allows you to page through all the screens of the old hud. Brake info, Loco info, Force info, Dispatcher info, all those usual pages. Holding [CTRL] and punching F5 again makes old hud go away.

Let us know when you tackle the eradication of zero degree nodes in some of those MSTS classic legacy routes.

[Sleepy]

How loaded with crap is his c:\users\{username}\appdata\roaming\OpenRails folder? Has it been cleaned out (totally) lately? Does he even know that failure to houseclean that once in awhile leads to squirrely problems? Seems like a place to look at for people who take a lot of saves and often run from there.

I have never even heard of or knew that there was a folder there that needed periodic cleaning. I will check it out. If this folder gets crammed and has that much of an impact on the game there should be a mention of it somewhere. Currently there 2707 files in that folder and inside a sub folder named "Load Cache" inside there are 239 files. I'll clean it out and report back.