Help with SMS Checker

[bertwise]

Hi there

I recently built a new computer running Windows 11 Pro and am in the process of installing some of the utilities I use, one of which is Ged's sms-checker v5.1.

I have a number of mini installations, all containing "Global", "Routes", "Sound" and "Trains" directories and a copy of train.exe.

When I select one of these mini folders, sms-checker comes back with "non-standard folder location" and gives me 4,953 file entries not found.

On my previous machine with Windows 7 Pro, running sms-checker on the same mini folder, sms-checker returns no errors found.

The directory structure of my mini routes on win 11 is a direct copy of the mini routes on win 7. On both machines my mini routes, as well as the utility programs and Open Rails are on drive G:, which is not a system drive. Ged's other utilities, ActMan and MSTS-Check work fine on the win 11 machine.

Is there something that sms-check looks for to determine the standard file location?

Thanks

Bert

[slipperman]

Hi Bert,
Sorry you're having trouble with sms_Checker

If you see the message "non-standard location" under the bottom right of the display, that is because you have, probably, selected the installation's 'root' folder (maybe Train Simulator or 1MSTS) or, even, the mini-route name.

You may select the GLOBAL folder to only check its own .sms files, the ROUTES folder to only check the SOUND folders for all the routes, an individual route folder to check its SOUND folder, the TRAINSET folder to check each stock item's SOUND folder and common sound folders or you can specify any individual SOUND folder within TRAINSET.

If that doesn't help please give more information regarding the folder hierarchy of any of your mini-routes.

Cheers,
Ged

[bertwise]

Hi Ged

Below is the directory structure from my 2 machines. The WIN 11 machine is on the left, WIN 7 on the right.

Directory.png
When I run sms-check on the "Canadian Rockies" folder on the WIN 7 machine I get the following (I used <ALT+T> to get the full display, nothing shows up on the error only display as no errors were found). You can see it processed 919 sms files covering all 5 routes in the mini installation.

WIN 7.png

When I run sms-check on the "Canadian Rockies" folder on the WIN 11 machine I get the following

WIN 11.png

It also checked 919 sms files and came up with 4953 file not found errors as well as the note about Non-standard folder location.


When setting up the WIN 11 machine, I had both machines connected to my network and directly copied the routes from WIN 7 to WIN 11, verified that all files copied over, then made changes to some of the directory names you see in the folder structure above.

On WIN 11 I have run sms-checker on it's own, and with "Run as Admiistrator" and in WIN 7 compatibility mode. Makes no difference.

What I think is happening is because of the "Non-standard folder location", sms-checker is not looking in the Global sound folder if the .wav file is not in the same folder as the .sms file.

What I don't understand is why sms-checker is giving me the non-standard message under Windows 11.

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

Bert

[slipperman]

Hi Bert,
Thanks for the information.

The user may select any folder to commence checking. Because of this, the program needs to find a 'landmark folder' so that it knows where it is in the MSTS folder hierarchy. Unfortunately, in your Windows 11 installation, you have used "ROUTES" as the grandparent folder of 'Canadian Rockies'. This is the name of the 'official' parent folder for all the individual route folders. The result is that the program can't find the GLOBAL folder it's looking for because it should have the same parent folder as 'ROUTES'.

I hope this explains the situation I suggest that you change the name of 'ROUTES' folder (ie the root folder in G to something like 'LISTROUTES'. DO NOT use 'ROUTESLIST' because the program looks for the string "\ROUTES". This should fix it for you, but if not, please come back.

Cheers,
Ged

[bertwise]

Thanks Ged.

I changed the name of the top folder and sms-check now works as expected. Your explanation was helpful.

Again, thanks for the help.

Bert