MSTS won't start up

LAST EDITED ON Aug-24-04 AT 04:33 PM (EST)

Hey guys, once again MSTS has punched me in the teeth.Today I went to load up train sim to run a few trains but instead I get an error message saying it failed to initialize properly. What is odd is that the Activity Editor and Route Editor work perfectly and I've been able to work on my route and build consists as I please. My father defragmented the computer on the weekend could this have something to do with it? It will not launch train.exe from the launcher in the TS folder or thru Rail Driver. If anyone has any pointers or solutions for me I'd be greatfull. Hopefully I won't have to reinstall the sim again, I reinstalled it during the spring. Thanks very much
<EDIT>
As well, it loaded up properly on Monday, but didn't do so on Sunday. So I'm quite confused. Rob

TH&B Van #68
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RE: MSTS won't start up, cn_bayview, Aug-24-04, 10:27 PM, (1) RE: MSTS won't start up, derekmorton, Aug-25-04, 01:15 AM, (2) RE: MSTS won't start up, thenudehamster, Aug-25-04, 10:45 AM, (3) RE: MSTS won't start up, cn_bayview, Aug-25-04, 10:49 PM, (4) RE: MSTS won't start up, cn_bayview, Aug-26-04, 06:13 PM, (5) RE: MSTS won't start up, OTTODAD, Aug-26-04, 06:41 PM, (6) RE: MSTS won't start up, cn_bayview, Aug-26-04, 06:49 PM, (7) RE: MSTS won't start up, OTTODAD, Aug-26-04, 07:06 PM, (8) RE: MSTS won't start up, cn_bayview, Aug-26-04, 09:41 PM, (9) RE: MSTS won't start up, OTTODAD, Aug-27-04, 12:06 PM, (10) RE: MSTS won't start up, cn_bayview, Aug-28-04, 03:32 PM, (11) RE: MSTS won't start up, Damascus, Nov-23-04, 10:09 PM, (12) RE: MSTS won't start up, dgauci, Nov-24-04, 00:05 AM, (13) RE: MSTS won't start up, Damascus, Nov-24-04, 01:42 AM, (14) RE: MSTS won't start up, dgauci, Nov-24-04, 10:06 AM, (15) RE: MSTS won't start up, OTTODAD, Nov-24-04, 11:35 AM, (16) RE: MSTS won't start up, Damascus, Nov-24-04, 05:42 PM, (17)

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LAST EDITED ON Aug-24-04 AT 11:17 PM (EST)

I hate to seem impatient here... but "bump"Edit: I may have solved my own problem here!
I deleted all my saved activities... About 20 of them, then deleted about 200 consists. From 997 down to 797. MSTS loaded up after removing the save's but still froze if I hit F9 or something to open an aid window. That sparked my memory which recalled a post by someone stating that too many consists and saved act's will do that to the game. If it doesn't work, trust me... I'll be back here asking some more Rob

TH&B Van #68
www.greatlakesrail.com

Check out my train photos!http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?userid=472

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Sounds to me that you need Train Store.I have 3000+ consists and TS won't start anytime when I forget to run Train Store.

Derek
EngMod@sgrail.org
www.sgrail.org
EngMod forum
http://www.3dtrains.com/forums/index.php?s=3c21ea4e4882bb70177f35d82c51523b&act=SF&f=59

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Sounds like the old 'too many consists' bug; the genreal 'rule of thumb' is that more than 800 consists will cause problems, though some have reported as few as 600 and as many as 1000 before trouble. TrainStore is the solution - just make sure that once installed you use it EXACTLY as it tells you, otherwise you'll get all sorts of other errors - like 'missing' stock, 'corrupted' activities - since they're actually 'in Store' and unavailable...

Barry
Certified Old Fart
=========================
Any opinion expressed above is hereby warranted to be worth exactly what you paid for it.

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Thanks Barry I've brought it down to 700, and I am aiming for below 600. Sometimes it will lock up if I hit F9 or F11 and I want it to work flawlessly. Thanks again.Rob

TH&B Van #68
www.greatlakesrail.com

Check out my train photos!http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?userid=472

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Ok, well, Its been running off and on which is unacceptable. Last night I went to play and it wouldn't start so I deleted a few more consists and it started up. Today I go to run it and the damn thing will not load. I deleted more consists, I'm now down to 640 consists and it still won't load! I removed a few routes I don't run as well and still won't load. I'd say I'm at the point in time that I should just give up on deleteing consists, and reinstall the game. It should run 100% and not 50%. It sucks not having the sim available to play when I'm bored. And short of reinstalling, I'm not sure what else I can do.Rob

TH&B Van #68
www.greatlakesrail.com

Check out my train photos!http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?userid=472

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Rob,you have not told us yet what your machine's specs are, WIN O/S, RAM and Graphics card used.If the amount of RAM is on the low side and having other programs loaded into it at the same time as MSTS could also be the cause why MSTS can not load into it what you want it too.I bet your Task Bar is crammed full with Icons, some indicating that other programs are running in the background ? O t t o

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Otto,I forgot about my specs I have a:
Pentium 4 1500MHz
Windows XP home edition
1.50GHz
512MB of Ram
32mb GeForce2 MX 100/200The only programs I've had running were MSN messanger. Which I have running almost everytime I play MSTS and it has never been a problem(untill now?) Norton AntiVirus is also running in the backround(as usual)
I just restarted the computer and of course MSTS loads up as usual. So as usual I am confused Thanks Otto.Rob

TH&B Van #68
www.greatlakesrail.com

Check out my train photos!http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?userid=472

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LAST EDITED ON Aug-26-04 AT 07:10 PM (EST)

Rob,shut down the MSM and Virus checker, they are using RAM. MSM in particular seems to have a bad reputation for sticking it's nose into where it is not wanted ! Do a Ctrl-Alt-Del running a route in MSTS before and after you have shut those two down. The Performance Tab will show you the amount of available RAM there is in both scenarios.MSTS also having poor memory management, not releasing all of RAM after certain tasks, the longer it is being run the more RAM gets clogged up with leftovers, to the point that it just throws in the towel ! Thus, switching off the machine and on again after a few seconds to let all of RAM drain, not re-booting, clears all of RAM for another session until the whole process repeats itself ! Many unexplained niggling problems with a lot of Software seem to be cured doing that, like your function keys suddenly not responding, etc ! O t t o

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Otto,
I did as you said and here is what my perfermance looks like with MSTS going and 2 MSN chat windows. As well as Raildriver running.
And after MSTS is shut down along with Raildriver, PF usage drops from 349 to 212.So I guess I'll have to check on the memory before playing MSTS next time Thanks Otto
Rob

TH&B Van #68
www.greatlakesrail.com

Check out my train photos!http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?userid=472

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Rob,150 Mb of available RAM is not enough for MSTS to be happy with for too long ! My PF Usage before starting MSTS is 73 Mb, only essential "Services" being loaded into RAM !What do you need to have two MSM Chat Windows open for while playing MSTS ? You are not connected to the Internet as well by any chance ?You want to shut down everything non-MSTS before loading it and then check what difference that makes to the "Available" amount of memory !O t t o

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Thanks Otto! Now I know all I have to do is restart to fix MSTS, I thought I fried the game some how.Usually I'm talking with my friends while I build a route or work on activities. Sometimes I just leave MSN Messanger on while I'm playing MSTS to do multiplayer runs over the MSN voice stuff etc. And yes, I'm connected to the internet.Thanks very much!Rob

TH&B Van #68
www.greatlakesrail.com

Check out my train photos!http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?userid=472

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I'm re-opening this thread because you folks seem to know what's what.I bought a new computer (P4 3.2GHz, 1GB RAM, 128mb video card) and I was finally getting through-the-roof frame rates. Slowly I began to re-install all the downloads I had made over the years. NECv4 was installed and ran. MPass3.0 also OK. After unpacking the fixed activities (there were errors in the originals and this was an uploaded patch), I ran ConBuilder and corrected the 50 or so errors. I installed (and renamed) dozens of cars and engines and finally ConBuilder could find nothing wrong.So you can guess the rest. MSTS crashes when loading (when the screen goes black after the first screen but before the gameplay screen.I really don't want to uninstall and reinstall the whole program, as I seem to remember doing this sort of thing many times in the past.

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>I'm re-opening this thread because you folks seem to know
>what's what. See message 2 above in this thread. Derek had it right, and because his good advice was ignored the problems of course persisted.Get and use Train-Store from the file library here.

"Boycott Michael Moore and France"

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LAST EDITED ON Nov-24-04 AT 02:16 AM (EST)

I'll give it a try. I only have 259 consists, but anything that can point out and correct errors will be welcome.OK, tried Traine Store and it didn't find any errors. The Activity Editor crashes, too. I uninstalled MP3.0 and it didn't help so I guess I'm going to have to redo the entire thing.

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>I'll give it a try. I only have 259 consists, but anything
>that can point out and correct errors will be welcome.
>
>OK, tried Traine Store and it didn't find any errors. The
>Activity Editor crashes, too. I uninstalled MP3.0 and it
>didn't help so I guess I'm going to have to redo the entire
>thing. Do you have Marias Pass 3 or Marias Pass 3.1 ?Big differences between the two, MP3.1 being the newer and better version.When you say MSTS is crashing, what are the symptoms your seeing? If it is not the consist bug, then it's something else and to help I'd need to focus on and consider what else is happening.Before reloading MSTS did you completely remove all of the original file folders from your previous installation, you would also want to go through the registry and remove the registry keys for MSTS to have a completely clean re-installation.If you already freshly loaded MSTS what patches did you load with it, did everything work then? Did it stop working as you added new routes? Did you add a new route that requires X-Tracks, if you did, do you have the current build of X-Tracks and what is your current Tsection.dat file version?

"Boycott Michael Moore and France"

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Installing anything wholesale without intermittent checking that all is well is never a good idea !Before you to re-install MSTS do what dgauci says, un-install MSTS and delete all it's folders.Then take things step by step.Install MSTS, check o.k., BACK-UP the Train Simulator folder.
Download the MSTS 1.2 Update, check o.k., BACK-UP the Train Simulator folder.
Install first ADD-ON, check o.k., BACK-UP the Train Simulator folder.And so on !At the first sign of trouble, you will know what caused it, RESTORE the last Train Simulator folder Back-Up after deleting the faulty one and aks for help here.This will prevent your MSTS getting into such a muddle nobody can help you with !Good Luck, O t t o.

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LAST EDITED ON Nov-24-04 AT 05:49 PM (EST)

I re-installed MSTS and everything is working. I seem to remember that there was a problem with the repackaged MP3.0 activities, so I didn't install them. One of them is the problem. Since they were packaged together, they didn't come with read me files, so it's impossible to see which non-default files were needed. I will go slowly now, one thing at a time.Thanks for all your help.

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