Starting fresh

[=FI=Ghost]

Hello, everyone!

It's been quite a while since I last played ORTS. Even though I haven’t touched the game in a long time, I’ve still been following updates on the TrainSim page and forums.

I have to say—I really miss playing ORTS. That’s why I’ve decided to come back to it, but this time I want to start fresh. Over the past fifteen years or so, I’ve collected a huge number of locomotives and cars released over the last two decades.

Needless to say, the quality of these assets varies quite a bit. So, as I mentioned, I want to begin again and build a small collection of the highest-quality locomotives and rolling stock available for ORTS.

I have to give special mention to the work of Mr. Welch—his locomotives seem to be absolutely stunning!

My plan is to install just a few of my favorite routes and then replace all the rolling stock and locomotives with higher-quality ones.

So, here’s my question: What’s the best tool for managing and replacing rolling stock in routes (AI trains, cars/locomotives parked in sidings etc)?

I know Route Riter can do this, but I’ve always found it a bit complicated to use.

Is there a simpler alternative out there that can do the job more easily?

[rdayt]

Welcome back.
To manage rolling stock I would probably use the consist editor that comes with TSRE.

Randy

[spoony1999]

Welcome back, I always enjoyed your models and cabs. I have only used TSRE since getting back into this in 2020 and I've been very happy with it

[oper190]

Though it has limits, ConBuilder can handle both Consists and your loose/static stock swop outs.

[=FI=Ghost]

Thank you very much for your kind words and suggestions. I guess Conbuilder is the answer then.

[yellowdog]

TSRE Consist Editor will also handle replacing rolling stock in AI trains and static consists. It will also manage new features of rolling stock (like include files) that conbuilder can't. I mention this because you specifically said you want to focus on modern equipment. Eric's fork of TSRE can be found here in the forums, and he offers regular support (unlike Conbuilder which is dead).

[geepster775]

Conbuilder has a hard limit of 150 cars, TSRE has none.

Conbuilder cannot handle Open Rails-grade rolling stock that features include files. It errors and will not load them.

Conbuilder alters weight limits in eng and wag files when OR rolling stock has non-metric units of measure, because it has no clue as to the other UoM's available that TSRE can handle. An Open Rails railcar with a weight of 286,000 US pounds gets altered by Conbuilder and becomes 286,000 metric tons, because that's all Conbuilder knows - metric tons.

[yellowdog]

TSRE also comes with a standalone shape viewer that handles modern equipment by default.

[DirtyRam]

Hey Borislav, welcome back bro

[crstagg]

FYI neither ConBuilder nor TSRE-CE have a "Replace" tool, but there are work arounds.

TSRE: Currently in TSRE one can open a Consist select Item to be replaced, select replacement item, the click "Add Cur" button and new item is placed to right of item to be replaced. Then user deletes item to be replaced and gap is removed by rest of consist moving to the left.

ConBuilder: Select Item to be replaced, double click to delete, select replacement double click to insert.

My choice: (FYI for newbies on the forum, I was a member of the ConBuilder team from version 1.8 to version 6.2) I would use the TSRE-CE for these reasons besides those expressed above by Geepster775 and Yellowdog.

• When the item to replace is selected TSRE displays a graphic of it. So one can compare it with replacement.
• When items are selected (item to replace and replacement) TSRE displays size, weight, etc. so one can judge effect on consist length, weight, etc. (FYI length is critical for fitting consist on sidings.) ConBuilder only reports that info for the consist as a whole

[yellowdog]

FYI neither ConBuilder nor TSRE-CE have a "Replace" tool, but there are work arounds.

TSRE CE certainly has a replace feature. You can elect to replace a single unit, replace all examples of a unit in a single consist, or replace all examples of a unit in all consists. The latter doesn't work in static consists, but will work in player or AI traffic consists.

[qballbandit]

Hello my friend, check your personal e-mail.

[wwhall]

I've used the TSRE Consist Editor solely for about 3 years now. It works quite well. One of its handiest features is finding "broken" consists--that is, consists with missing equipment. Under the "consists" column, simply select "Broken" from the drop down box. This will show all consists that, after your install of only higher quality equipment, have equipment missing. Then, on the View tab, tick the Consist Units checkbox. A column will appear showing all of the unit names in the consist--ones that are missing will show as "Broken". Then just just click on the "broken" unit and press the delete button at the top of the column--note--the delete key will NOT delete the unit, one must use the delete button. Then one can insert another unit to replace the removed one or just leave the consist with the unit removed. Then save the consist. Describing how to do it takes way longer than actually doing it.

One can also check loose consists. Select "Activity Consists" in the left column, then select the route in the dropdown box, then the activity in the drop down box. Click on each loose consist displayed and the middle column will show the the loose consists units, with the "Broken" notation if the unit is missing. Easy peasy. Then delete and replace the missing units. IMPORTANT NOTE: When you click the Save File button here to save loose consists, it saves the .act. file. That CAN overwrite or delete some things like location events, etc. in the .act file that you don't want overwritten. That is a bug in TSRE that has yet to be corrected. My recommendation here is to ALWAYS make a backup copy of an .act file before saving loose consists in the TSRE Consist Editor. Then, if the TSRE Consist Editor overwrites things in the .act file that is shouldn't, I then simply open the "new" .act file in a text editor (I use ConText), copy the whole loose consist section, then paste that into the "old" file, replacing its loose consist section. Then save the "old" file as the actual .act file in OpenRails.

Finally, one does not have to launch the full TSRE to open the Consist Editor. Just go to the TSRE folder and find the ConsistEditor.bat file. Create a shortcut for that file, then drag the shortcut to your desktop. You can rename the shortcut something like "TSRE Consist Editor". When you double-click that shortcut, it will open that .bat file and launch the TSRE Consist Editor independently of the full TSRE.

[crstagg]

TSRE CE certainly has a replace feature. You can elect to replace a single unit, replace all examples of a unit in a single consist, or replace all examples of a unit in all consists. The latter doesn't work in static consists, but will work in player or AI traffic consists.

YES!!!! I found it. Was looking in the wrong area.

Now my only recommendation is to use TSRE-CE.

Replace individual does not work on activity loose consists either.

[yellowdog]

YES!!!! I found it. Was looking in the wrong area.

Replace individual does not work on activity loose consists either.

Glad you figured it out!

It does work with loose consists--you replace the same way as with player/AI traffic, for Broken/missing stock as well as routine replacement. You just can't replace in all consists, when working with Activity/static/loose consists.