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LAST EDITED ON Jul-17-02 AT 12:41 PM (EDT)

MSTSGuide is now available in the download section as MSTSGde1.zip.This software came about from a need to see the shape objects that exist in Microsoft Train Simulator. In building a route, I knew I needed an object, but didn't want to create one from scratch if a suitable one was already present in MSTS. Randomly traveling around in the Route Editor, looking at objects in the 6 default routes, was not a very efficient way to see what was there.Using the entire directory structure under the MSTS installation folder plus the class groupings present in EZStuff4.bat (another MSTS utility that copies every shape object from the 6 default routes into your development route); I created MSTSGuide to help me. It displays shape file information and a preview of the shape object.It is a Visual Basic 5 application and uses a Microsoft Access 97 database. MSTSGuide also uses the MSTSPix image files (MSTSPix1.zip thru MSTSPix4.zip – also available in the download section), which are shared by another recent utility called ShapeShifter.I hope you enjoy MSTSGuide. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.- AndrewEdit: Changed topic type icon

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Introducing MSTSGuide [View All], SharkNose, 12:39 PM, Jul-17-02, (0) RE: Introducing MSTSGuide, dvdhoven, Jul-18-02, 02:28 AM, (1) RE: Introducing MSTSGuide, SharkNose, Jul-18-02, 08:35 AM, (2) RE: Introducing MSTSGuide, dvdhoven, Jul-18-02, 01:37 PM, (3) RE: Introducing MSTSGuide, Hawk, Jul-18-02, 03:33 PM, (4) RE: Introducing MSTSGuide, SharkNose, Jul-18-02, 05:04 PM, (5) RE: Introducing MSTSGuide, MikeSimpson, Jul-18-02, 05:55 PM, (6) RE: Introducing MSTSGuide, SharkNose, Jul-18-02, 07:02 PM, (7) RE: Introducing MSTSGuide, Hawk, Jul-19-02, 06:41 AM, (8) RE: Introducing MSTSGuide, SharkNose, Jul-19-02, 09:22 PM, (9) RE: Introducing MSTSGuide, Hawk, Jul-20-02, 05:42 PM, (10) RE: Introducing MSTSGuide, SharkNose, Jul-20-02, 07:00 PM, (11) RE: Introducing MSTSGuide, dvdhoven, Jul-21-02, 03:11 AM, (12) RE: Introducing MSTSGuide, dvdhoven, Jul-21-02, 06:56 AM, (13) RE: Introducing MSTSGuide, SharkNose, Jul-21-02, 08:41 AM, (14) RE: Introducing MSTSGuide, dvdhoven, Jul-22-02, 12:42 PM, (15) RE: Introducing MSTSGuide, Engineer, Jul-24-02, 02:28 PM, (16)

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Hi,It's looking great. It seems a great help.
But a picky remark. Is Visual Basic 5 not a bit too old? I noticed that Shape Shifter has used VB5 too and that is the reason that I didn't installed it so far.
I saw a very old Comcat.dll and some other very old .dll in the Setup package of Shape Shifter and it makes me shivering. I have had trouble with an old Comcat.dll and don't like it to have it again.Dick van den Hoven

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Hi, Dick. Thanks for the comment. I'm glad you like it.I wish I could give you a great technical reason why I'm still using VB5, but I can't. It is rather old, now that you mention it. I've never bothered to upgrade although I have kept up with the service packs pretty well. I'm not a VB power user by any means and never had a reason to upgrade.Hopefully, MSTSGuide will not conflict with any existing applications. Everybody's PCs are so different from one another - that's one area of testing that is impossible to do completely.Thanks again.- Andrew

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Hi,I am thinking.
When creating a setup package in VB6, it is possible to remove the system files from the setup package, like comcat.dll.
I don't know if it is possible with VB5, that is long ago that I had that version, but may be it's an idea.Dick van den Hoven

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LAST EDITED ON Jul-18-02 AT 03:34 PM (EDT)

Just curious. When installing MSTS Guide, wouldn't your system give you a prompt that you are trying to install an older version of the .dll file than the one already installed and give you the option to keep what is already there?
I downloaded MSTS Guide, but haven't installed it, yet. I got a little gun shy after reading your post, Dick.
Hawk
"Last night I heard an old freight whistle blow, as I was sleeping warmly in your bed. And it told me: "Boy, it's time that you were packing up to go", but I smiled and shook the leaving from my head."

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Hi. If you think you already have the files needed to run a VB5/MS Access 97 application without installing MSTSGuide, then I guess you could try this:- Create a folder for MSTSGuide
- In this new folder, put these files from the MSTSGuide Setup:MSTS_97.mdb
MSTSGuide.exe
MSTSGuide.ini
NoImage.JPG
ReadMe.txtand then run MSTSGuide.exe. Of course, the setup files ending in "_" are compressed, but I know I've uncompressed them before with "unpack" or something. This procedure will eliminate installing those scary files, but may not work if you don't have a compatible version of them already on your system.Good luck and I'll try some things along these lines too and get back to you if I find anything interesting. Thanks for the feedback! - Andrew

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I just installed MSTSGuide on my WindowsXP system which already has VB6 SP5 installed. The MS setup system correctly saw that there was a newer version of comcat.dll on my system and never attempted to overwrite it.Since VB5, I have never come across any problem with the MS setup system overwriting newer system .dll files, the only problems I have seen have been where some other Installer has been used.If VB setup.exe is used correctly, it will only overwrite older .dlls, and will warn if you are about to overwrite a new one and ask if you really want to do this, and suggest you do not.Mike.

Mike

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Thanks, Mike. I appreciate the confirmation on the setup routines.- Andrew

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Thanks Mike,
Now I feel I can safely install MSTS Guide, as soon as I finish downloading 2 more pix files.
Hawk
"Last night I heard an old freight whistle blow, as I was sleeping warmly in your bed. And it told me: "Boy, it's time that you were packing up to go", but I smiled and shook the leaving from my head."

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:7 Do the Hustle!

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Well, MSTS Guide installed without a hitch. I did not recieve any prompts about copying a file that was older than the file on my system.
Here's what the "ST5UNST.LOG" looks like on my system. Does it all look normal?
%% PLEASE DO NOT MODIFY OR DELETE THIS FILE! %%
%% This file contains information about the installation of an application. %%
%% It will be used to automatically remove all application components from your computer if you choose to do so. %%
NOTE: Beginning of the bootstrapper sectionCONFIG: Title: "MSTSGuide"ACTION: TempFile: "C:\WINDOWS\setup1.exe"
(File was not found or was an older version -- new file copied)ACTION: RegKey: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion", "SharedDLLs"ACTION: SharedFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VB5StKit.dll"
(File was not found or was an older version -- new file copied)ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSVBVM50.dll"
(File was not found or was an older version -- new file copied)ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\StdOle2.tlb"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\OleAut32.dll"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\OlePro32.dll"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\AsycFilt.dll"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)NOTE: The file 'Ctl3d32.dll' was not copied because it is intended for use under Windows NT 3.51 only. It is not needed under Windows 95 or NT 4.0.ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\Ctl3d32.dll"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ComCat.dll"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)ACTION: DllSelfRegister: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSVBVM50.dll"ACTION: TLBRegister: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\StdOle2.tlb"ACTION: DllSelfRegister: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\OleAut32.dll"ACTION: DllSelfRegister: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\OlePro32.dll"ACTION: DllSelfRegister: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ComCat.dll"NOTE: End of the bootstrapper sectionNOTE: Now spawning the main Setup program 'C:\WINDOWS\setup1.exe'....ACTION: CreateDir: "C:\Program Files\MSTSGuide"ACTION: SharedFile: "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DAO\DAO350.DLL"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSJtEr35.dll"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSJInt35.dll"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSVCRT40.dll"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSJet35.dll"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VBAJet32.dll"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)ACTION: SharedFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VB5DB.dll"
(File was not found or was an older version -- new file copied)ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSRD2x35.dll"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MsRepl35.dll"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ODBCJt32.dll"
(File was not found or was an older version -- new file copied)ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ODBCJI32.dll"
(File was not found or was an older version -- new file copied)ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ODBCTL32.dll"
(File was not found or was an older version -- new file copied)ACTION: PrivateFile: "C:\Program Files\MSTSGuide\MSTSGuide.exe"
(File was not found or was an older version -- new file copied)ACTION: PrivateFile: "C:\Program Files\MSTSGuide\ReadMe.txt"
(File was not found or was an older version -- new file copied)ACTION: PrivateFile: "C:\Program Files\MSTSGuide\MSTS_97.mdb"
(File was not found or was an older version -- new file copied)ACTION: PrivateFile: "C:\Program Files\MSTSGuide\MSTSGuide.ini"
(File was not found or was an older version -- new file copied)ACTION: PrivateFile: "C:\Program Files\MSTSGuide\NoImage.JPG"
(File was not found or was an older version -- new file copied)ACTION: DllSelfRegister: "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DAO\DAO350.DLL"ACTION: DllSelfRegister: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSJet35.dll"ACTION: DllSelfRegister: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSRD2x35.dll"ACTION: ShellLink: "", "MSTSGuide"ACTION: RegKey: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion", "App Paths\MSTSGuide.exe"ACTION: RegValue: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\MSTSGuide.exe", ""BTW! I really like this program. I started to attempt this a while back (not the Guide, but taking all the screenshots) and rapidly got sidetracked after taking about 100 shots. I think they're still on the hard drive, somewhere.
Thanks for a great little helper.
Hawk"Last night I heard an old freight whistle blow, as I was sleeping warmly in your bed. And it told me: "Boy, it's time that you were packing up to go", but I smiled and shook the leaving from my head."

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Hawk,That all looks normal. Your existing ComCat.dll wasn't changed. You must have had an equal or newer version already.Thanks for the comments. I'm glad you enjoy it. I've found quite a few shapes that I needed for my PATCO route and didn't realize they already were present in one of the MSTS routes.The screen shots were quite an obstacle. There was a team of three of us MSTS regulars just starting on the process when a fourth came in and made a utility to help with screen shots. Before we knew it, he had done almost all of the screen shots in a few days. Saved all of us quite a few hours of tedious work.- Andrew

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Hi,Sorry if I have upset anybody. But as I stated before, I have had some serious trouble with older system DLL's causing a reinstall of the Windows operating system, so I'm a little bit paranoia.
Sorry again.Dick van den Hoven

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Hi,The installation works like a charm and so far no problems.
Nice program, now it is much easier to see what is around in MSTS.I saw a little error. Vegatation, like trees is reported as having Snow & Night alternative texture, this must be Seasonal. They have a 252 in the .sd file, meaning that they have alternative textures in all the Seasonal texture subfolders.Dick van den Hoven

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Thanks for pointing that out, Dick. That's a simple program change for me. Alternative textures is an area that I'm not too sure about yet and I really just guessed at what the values meant. I did see some older posts explaining them, but still didn't quite understand them. At any rate, MSTSGuide is consistent in reporting "Snow & Night" for value 252, so you can just substitute the meaning mentally.Thanks again! - Andrew

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Hi,0 = No alternative texture(s)
1 = Snow texture(s)
252 = Seasonal texture(s)
256 = Night texture(s)
257 = Night + Snow texture(s)Dick van den Hoven

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I have Shape-Shifter Ver1 ready for upload and was glad to note, your remarks about VB5, I also have newer versions of VB, we all just have our preferences. I will redo in VB6 if it makes more comfortable.Thanks
Bozo

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