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HOLT (17 posts)
Jul-30-01, 11:05 AM (EST) "Acela Ex" Hi.
While runnind Acela Ex, & not exceeding speed limit the train comes to a sudden stop, & I find that the brakes had come on, what am I doing wrong.
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Table of Contents

Subject Author Message Date ID RE: Acela Ex scand Jul-30-01 1 RE: Acela Ex mattboyslim Aug-05-01 2 RE: Acela Ex Randy_999 Feb-09-02 3 RE: Acela Ex Euston Feb-10-02 4 RE: Acela Ex Randy_999 Feb-10-02 5 RE: Acela Ex Randy_999 Feb-10-02 6 RE: Acela Ex markpascall Feb-12-02 7 RE: Acela Ex Randy_999 Feb-13-02 8 RE: Acela Ex Randy_999 Feb-13-02 9 RE: Acela Ex kevarc Feb-13-02 10 RE: Acela Ex markpascall Feb-13-02 11 RE: Acela Ex Randy_999 Feb-13-02 12 RE: Acela Ex markpascall Feb-14-02 13 RE: Acela Ex Randy_999 Feb-22-02 14 RE: Acela Ex CMO Feb-22-02 15 RE: Acela Ex Randy_999 Feb-24-02 16 RE: Acela Ex kevarc Feb-24-02 17 RE: Acela Ex Randy_999 Feb-25-02 18 RE: Acela Ex Randy_999 Feb-25-02 19

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scand (126 posts)
Jul-30-01, 06:34 PM (EST) 1. "RE: Acela Ex" I have had a similar problem with the REVERSER while the THOTTLE was notched up. Just scan your instruments and correct the situation. Should only take a second or two. You will easily make up the lost time if you are quick in troubleshooting. It may be a bug or an accidental key depression, in your case.Alex.
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mattboyslim (5 posts)
Aug-05-01, 08:51 PM (EST) 2. "RE: Acela Ex" Do you have the Alerter turned on? If so, either turn it off on the Options screen, or if you want it on, touch one of the controls when it starts blinking on your Acela dash board. If you let it blink and beep too long it stops the train.
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Randy_999 (18 posts)
Feb-09-02, 02:17 PM (EST) 3. "RE: Acela Ex" I'm another victim of that over-zealous Acela watchdog. I was enjoying a pleasant ride in the Maryland morning special activity and had to keep that F4 guardian on duty all the time to monitor my speed. But the Acela has a nasty tendency to reduce its speed limit suddenly and with no warning, and if you don't happen to be staring at that speed limit sign, in about three seconds you're at a dead stop with "All brakes applied" and a penalty comment. They made no allowance for our failure to slam on some brakes at the precise moment your speed is a trifle too high. At least twice during that run I either looked out the window for a second or spoke to our cat for a moment or two, and found myself stopped dead with the penalty message. I overspeeded, apparently, when I took my eyes off that speed limit notation for just a few seconds. Not a very satisfying trip, I'm afraid. Who wants to stare at the F4 without blinking for the entire time? This Acela activity has too many "Gotcha!s" built in to let you have any fun or relax at all. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
Euston (867 posts)
Feb-10-02, 05:41 AM (EST) 4. "RE: Acela Ex" Well, thats what the Acela is really like.If you don't like the auto-applied brakes, they can be turned off in the .eng file. You will need to search the file and find the section on vigilance warnings and set all the firgures to 0.(NB: make a copy of the .eng file first and put it somewhere safe, like "My Documents", so if you mess up, you have the original at hand).Simtrain UK/EU

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Randy_999 (18 posts)
Feb-10-02, 11:16 AM (EST) 5. "RE: Acela Ex" Many thanks, Euston, for the info on how to disable those instant brakes on the Acela. If there were real people on that train, they would need seat belts and strong shoulder harnesses to survive that kind of sudden stop. There's only one small problem, but don't trouble yourself trying to explain it to me. It's just that I haven't the foggiest idea of just how to GET to the .eng file. Is it somewhere among all those icons in the Program File for the Simulator? I couldn't find anything that said ".eng" there.Well, no matter. It's not all that important, and I have a grandson who's a semi-guru who may drop in on me some day and point the way.Thanks again. Sorry I'm not nerdier. R Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
Randy_999 (18 posts)
Feb-10-02, 06:51 PM (EST) 6. "RE: Acela Ex" A word to Euston again: I resumed my search for the Acela ".eng" file and finally found it tucked away in my computer. But when I clicked on it to take a look, I got the message: "Windows cannot open the file acela.eng To open the file, Windows needs to know what program created it. Windows can go on line to look it up automatically, or you can manually select from a list of programs on your computer. What do you want to do?" Then came the options OK or CANCEL
When I tried the manual options, the list provided did NOT contain the simulator, but possibly because it's on a D:\ and the list was probably the C:\ list. Do you think I might get into trouble if I pursue this another step or two? Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
markpascall (6 posts)
Feb-12-02, 10:08 PM (EST) 7. "RE: Acela Ex" LAST EDITED ON Feb-12-02 AT 10:11 PM (EST)The easy way to find and open the acela.eng file in Windows is to Right Click (RC) on the TrainSim shortcut on your desktop ... Left Click (LC) properties ... LC find target ... Double LC (DLC) trains folder ... DLC trainset ... DLC acela folder ... RC acela file (it might not have the .eng attached) ... LC open with ... LC Wordpad NOT word and NOT notepad ... LC OK. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
Randy_999 (18 posts)
Feb-13-02, 10:31 AM (EST) 8. "RE: Acela Ex" To Marcpascall: Many thanks for your explanation of how to get to the Acela.eng file. You must be a bona fide programmer. This sort of know-how is the kind no innocent bystander in the cyber world would ever have the slightest idea about. I'm glad I didn't try to tinker with this procedure on my own. I would probably have ended up having to uninstall and reinstall the whole Simulator program.I owe you one. What'll it be? Scotch? Bourbon? Rye? Vodka?Sincerely, Randy Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
Randy_999 (18 posts)
Feb-13-02, 03:24 PM (EST) 9. "RE: Acela Ex" Thanks to both Euston and Marcpascall for the 2 most important things I had to learn to reach the Acela .eng file, which I have finally and successfully found, Saved, and printed out.
Euston says I should simply change all the settings to zero. Is this literally true for all three categories, EmergencyStopMonitor, Vigilance Monitor, and OverspeedMonitor?
Only 5 of the 31 settings are now at anything other than zero or one. The VigilanceMonitor has the first 2 items of time limits (45 and 37), and the OverspeedMonitor has 3 others, dealing with an AlarmTimeLimit (5), a CriticalLevel (151), and an OverspeedMargin (2).Should ALL of these be set at zero if all I want from the Acela is either some warning of an upcoming change in speed limits or at least a short delay to give me a few seconds to slow down before it before it slams on the brakes for a penalty? In other trains, an overspeed warning doesn't shut you down like that.My thanks to both of you for getting me this far. It's been quite an education. Best regards, Randy Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
kevarc (312 posts)
Feb-13-02, 04:44 PM (EST) 10. "RE: Acela Ex" When it comes up with manual just choose wordpad. Uncheck the baox that say always open this type with wordpad.Kevin Arceneaux Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
markpascall (6 posts)
Feb-13-02, 06:52 PM (EST) 11. "RE: Acela Ex" LAST EDITED ON Feb-13-02 AT 07:12 PM (EST)Your welcome, Randy, happy to help out. Your comment about too many gotchas hit a chord with me. I like NEC and I like to make express runs. I find it relaxing. I like to let it roll and do paperwork between station stops. You could probably set all relevent values to zero. But, I have one that works just fine. I have included a snapshot of the changed parts of my .eng file for your reference. Its for the HHP-8 (more horsepower, they pull away alittle crisper) but i think these parts of the .eng are the same as the acela. This version gets rid of the vigilance and the overspeed nusiance. It also strengthens your couplers, they break sometimes ... especially with four HHP's . And it also gets rid of the bell when you sound the horn (personal preference, of course)... TIP: While making changes I find it handy to think of the 0's as no and the 1's as yes because most of the lines are really just yes or no questions ... As for the drink ... make mine beer ... rootbeer, that is. ______Wagon ( AcelaHHL
Type ( Engine )
WagonShape ( acelahhl.s )
Size ( 3m 4.5m 20m )
CentreOfGravity ( 0m 2.25m 0m )
Mass ( 100.7t )
WheelRadius ( 0.5m )
InertiaTensor ( Box (3m 4.5m 20m) )
Coupling (
Type ( Automatic )
Spring (
Stiffness ( 5e6N/m 0 )
Damping ( 1e6N/m/s 0)
Break ( 5e7N 0 )
r0 ( 15cm 1e9 )

***SNIP*** DoesHornTriggerBell( 0 )
BrakeCutsPowerAtBrakeCylinderPressure( 15 ) EmergencyStopMonitor(
MonitoringDeviceMonitorTimeLimit( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceAlarmTimeLimit( 0 )
MonitoringDevicePenaltyTimeLimit( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceCriticalLevel( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceResetLevel( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceAppliesFullBrake( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceAppliesEmergencyBrake( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceAppliesCutsPower( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceAppliesShutsDownEngine( 0 )
)

VigilanceMonitor(
MonitoringDeviceMonitorTimeLimit( 45 )
MonitoringDeviceAlarmTimeLimit( 37 )
MonitoringDevicePenaltyTimeLimit( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceCriticalLevel( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceResetLevel( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceAppliesFullBrake( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceAppliesEmergencyBrake( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceAppliesCutsPower( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceAppliesShutsDownEngine( 0 )
) OverspeedMonitor(
MonitoringDeviceMonitorTimeLimit( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceAlarmTimeLimit( 5 )
MonitoringDevicePenaltyTimeLimit( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceCriticalLevel( 139 )
MonitoringDeviceResetLevel( -1 )
MonitoringDeviceAppliesFullBrake( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceAppliesEmergencyBrake( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceAppliesCutsPower( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceAppliesShutsDownEngine( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceTriggerOnTrackOverspeed( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceTriggerOnTrackOverspeedMargin( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceResetOnZeroSpeed( 0 )
MonitoringDeviceResetOnResetButton( 0 )
)


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Randy_999 (18 posts)
Feb-13-02, 10:51 PM (EST) 12. "RE: Acela Ex" Marc - I got your list of settings, for which I can't thank you enough. Just one last teeny question and I'll get off your back.
Namely, when I get that screen and actually change some settings along these lines, do I have to do this every time I want to use the NEC? Or is there any way these settings can be incorporated into the hard drive? I don't mind if I do have to set them every time, but I just wondered about their permanency.Thanks again. Randy Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
markpascall (6 posts)
Feb-14-02, 00:03 AM (EST) 13. "RE: Acela Ex" Randy, after changing your .eng file, save it and the changed version will replace the original version on your hard drive. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
Randy_999 (18 posts)
Feb-22-02, 10:37 AM (EST) 14. "RE: Acela Ex" Dear marcpascall: I want to thank you again for your encouragement, but at the same time I have to get the following off my chest.
Just a brief summary of my Train Simulation career to date. It's changed my life twice in fairly quick succession already. The first change happened when I finally got the Simulator and was able to run it. Before this my recreation routine was based on TV first, then a good book. When the Simulator came along, my priorities took a sharp turn, and the trains became by far and away the prime activity, with TV and books in the distant background. I could hardly wait to get to my computer and kill a few hours of learning to run trains.
Then along came some moments of truth. For one thing, I have to accept the fact that my video card is probably insufficient for the best results, but I was preparing to brace myself to pay for both that and a 17" monitor. After weeks of laboring and playing, I had to confess there were two annoying problems in the train situation. One was (and is) the unfathomable mysteries of braking, especially where it deals with first of all that business of "Train brakes released 98%" and on down to zero, followed by that unfathomable "Self Lap 10%" claptrap and on up to 100, and FINALLY (thank heaven!) "Apply Train Brakes 0%" and up. For anyone not familiar with train driving (and how many buyers of this program are?), this whole procedure is mystifying, time-consuming and off-putting to the extent of causing poor braking. By the time you get through waiting for all that preliminary pair of % runs and are allowed to apply some brakes, the tendency is either to apply them too quickly or too late.
The other disheartening but not fatal problem is that of manual switching, which I have found to be thoroughly frustrating at times when I have to run a train or engine back and forth a few feet at a time until I can find where the manual switching will work, mainly in reverse. The first time I ever did the Orient Express bar-car exchange activity, I managed all right to put the defective car on the siding and then pick up the replacement car and put the front half of the train back on the main track, but then for some odd reason the switch on the main track refused to work at all, and I couldn't put the train back together again. I worked on this for more than half a hour before I gave up, Saved it, and eventually tried it again another day. This time I managed to get the switch properly lined, but only after moving that train back and forth about a dozen times, each time requiring that long waste of time with the braking, and when the switch did finally work, I had no idea why it worked when it did.
To sum it up, my life is now back to the old normality. TV first, then a good book, and the Train Simulator a distant third place. No new video card, no 17" monitor. I don't know why Microsoft couldn't hire a couple of bright high school hackers to produce a patch we could download to make life simpler and more fun. Why can't we have rainy or stormy weather by choice? Those weather boxes in the Options section don't affect anything whether they're checked or not. Why do the Evaluations have to be so finicky and heartless? No matter how gently I couple or how slowly I start a train forward, the Evaluation says I spilled passengers' drinks in the dining car or wrecked several freight cars. That's crazy.
Well, back to the reruns of M*A*S*H for tonight.Thanks for listening, if you did.
Cordially, Randy
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CMO (47 posts)
Feb-22-02, 03:53 PM (EST) 15. "RE: Acela Ex" It would help you a lot if you would read the documentation that is on the MSTS CD #1, and the FAQ that Nels has posted on this site. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
Randy_999 (18 posts)
Feb-24-02, 05:50 PM (EST) 16. "RE: Acela Ex" CMO - thanks for the tip about where to look for useful info. The only trouble is I don't know exactly what you mean by an MSTS CD#1. What IS this CD? Surely you can't mean the original #1 disk for loading the program, can you? Where's there any documentation there? And as for "Nels" and his FAQs, I can't find them to save my life. If it's somewhere in this site, it's buried where I can't locate it. I've tried searching under the name "Nels" and the word "FAQ" and even "MSTS CD#1", but with no luck. (Finding a specific entry in this crowded site is no easy task!)
Thanks again, but.......?? Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
kevarc (312 posts)
Feb-24-02, 06:33 PM (EST) 17. "RE: Acela Ex" LAST EDITED ON Feb-24-02 AT 06:39 PM (EST)Scoll down the first page at Train-sim, Can't miss it , big LETTERS and in a different color. Or scoll to the bottom of this page.Put the first MSTS disk in and when the autoinstaller comes on close. Open Windows Explorer and click on the CD drive, aand look for folder Tech or something like that and they are in there.Kevin Arceneaux Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
Randy_999 (18 posts)
Feb-25-02, 02:04 AM (EST) 18. "RE: Acela Ex" Thanks, Kevarc. I'll take a shot at the procedure you described. Keep your fingers crossed and hope I don't goof everything up! Hah!Randy Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
Randy_999 (18 posts)
Feb-25-02, 02:11 AM (EST) 19. "RE: Acela Ex" Thanks, Kevin, for the description of the procedure I need to use to find that information.Keep your fingers crossed and hope that I don't goof up the whole system. Thanks anyway, no matter what happens. Heh heh!Cordially. Randy Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

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