The Time Has Come

So I've been at this MSTS thing a bit over a week now. I've become a whiz at downloading engines/cars and intalling them. I've got Marias Pass Ver. 3 installed and flowing. I'm a real go getter, I'm am. Now the time has now come to start backdating my operations from the default/supplied "modern era", back to 1970 right after the BN merger. (Love the mix of power and paint schemes!) BUT... I know diddly squat about Activities. I figure I'll start by simply editing the existing Activities to backdate the consists... and therein lies the rub: I don't have a clue and the editing program ain't too good at learnin' a fella' on his "how to's".First order of business: Can I do this? Can I backdate the supplied consists, replacing the engines, some of the cars and adding cabeese?Do the AI trains have to contend with the same physics the player train has to? (i.e. Do I need to adjust the tonnage to match the replacement engines.)Is there life on Mars? If I'm getting ready to have (another) lesson in frustration, I'd appreciate any suggestions or pointers on what NOT to do.Thanks in advance.Andre Ming

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The Time Has Come... [View All], Coonskin, 11:40 AM, Aug-13-02, (0) RE: The Time Has Come..., kevarc, Aug-13-02, 12:56 PM, (1) RE: The Time Has Come..., dvdhoven, Aug-13-02, 01:14 PM, (2) RE: The Time Has Come..., Coonskin, Aug-13-02, 04:25 PM, (3) RE: The Time Has Come..., kevarc, Aug-13-02, 04:54 PM, (4) RE: The Time Has Come..., Coonskin, Aug-14-02, 01:40 AM, (5) RE: The Time Has Come..., carlylet, Aug-14-02, 01:59 PM, (6) RE: The Time Has Come..., Frin63, Aug-14-02, 05:57 PM, (7)

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Yes you can backdate, I retroed most of the consists for SCL/Family lines/Seaboard/Chessie(I like the cat, ok?). I use Conbuilder to do the consists, I have name line in all of my rolling stock so I do not need the pic, and I can never get the one in the AE to work to my satisfaction. You have to use the one in the AE for the consist in the activity file or do it by hand in Wordpad.Ai trains have to contend with the same physics, but they seem to do it in their own manner. I would get Rich's tutorial for creating activities. I am starting to do some and to get my feet wet I am doing mainline ones, which I prefer over switching ones.Kevin Arceneaux
gdapia

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Hi,Quite a challenging task, you have given yourself! First of all download ConBuilder. The complete version is here at the File Library. Search for ConBuilder.
The lastest upgrade can be found here: http://www.geocities.com/conbuilder/With ConBuilder, you can easily edit the Consists.
See also another reply from me here in the Activity forum for how to use Conbuilder.Dick van den Hoven

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Thanks to both of you for quick answers.I've already downloaded, but not opened, Rich's tutorial. (I didn't have time this morning to get started reading it. And if I opened it, I would want to read it... but that's another story.)As for Conbuilder, I'll have to go check that out too!Dick said: "quite a challenging task you have given yourself".Oh nooooooo!!!! Is it going to be that bad??Pray for me.Andre Ming

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Naw, once you figure out that it is better to create a new path rather than use an existing one for each activity. You can use the same path over and over but it is better to make a new one than try to fool with an old. Screw up something in the old activity way to easy. And the fustrations with the signals. But then you finish and run it and it works, its COOL.BTW, they SCl consists were for the Florida FunnelKevin Arceneaux
gdapia

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Thanks for all the good input guys.I've downloaded the tutorial, as well as ConBuilder. I will install ConBuilder soon, and when I get up my courage... it's off to the began the editing phase of my MSTS education.Andre Ming

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LAST EDITED ON Aug-14-02 AT 02:00 PM (EDT)

Another suggestion, As you build an activity, add one train, event etc. at a time and test. When you get it like you want it and then decide to alter, be sure to do a "Save As" with a different name or make a backup in a temp folder so as not to change the original. This is especailly important if you change and rearrange AI trains or static consists. Another program that is very helpful is Route Control. Run this when ever you add new routes. I also run it after downloading any new rolling stock or activities. Best suggestion in the above posts, use Rich's Tutorial. I have done some activities for myself and as soon as I get the conflict with my sound card resolved, I plan to make a couple of activities for the ORR and upload them.Carlyle Thompson
ACL Purple and Silver

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Another great tool to make 'backups' of your activity is the 'package activity' option. You can always revert easily because installing a previous apk will overwrite all the stuff of the modified activity. So if you don't like the way a new event or AI trains turn out, install the last apk again and you're back at where you started...Frank

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