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doncam65 (4 posts)
Apr-13-02, 05:03 AM (EST) "Locomotive Listing in Explore Route" I was very pleased to install the fix which extended the drop down box to allow selection of a loco to explore a route as it made the viewing and choosing much easier.However, the locomotive names which appear there are mixed to such a degree that my sense of order is offended besides making them hard to find ( at this time I have 170 locos installed).There appears to be several schools of thought for naming locos including showing
1. The operating company livery - either full name (eg Conrail) or abbreviated(eg CR)
2. The manufacturer of the loco (eg EMD, Alco) (Upper or Lower case or mixed)
3. The Loco Model (eg GP 38-2 or SD40)
4. The model maker
5. The locomotive number shown in various ways (eg 1234, -1234, #1234, No 1234 etc)
6. The Title of the Loco. (eg Flying Scotsman, Empire Express, etc)
7. The loco class without anything else (eg 310, 30000, 55015, etc)
8. The ones with spaces at the start to get them to the top of the list
9. And maybe some more types I have not come across yet !With the exception of No 6 & 7 the rest can appear in any combination and any order.
I have no problem with the author's right to call it whatever he/she wants but since Train Simulator sorts them into alphabetical order one can finish up with a very confused list.After a bit of searching around I managed to locate where these names are located and as it seems that the information is used only by the drop down list in explore route and the associated Details box they can be changed to a naming pattern to suit the user. ( I am open to correction on this but so far I have not had any difficulties)How to change the name for listing purposes
(if not fully confident make a copy of the .eng file outside Train Sim first)1. Open the .eng file with WordPad (not Notepad)
2. Towards the end you will find (example details are from SOO_RS-3_371 ie RS3_SOO.eng)
Sound( " gp38cab.sms")
Name("SOO Line Rs-3 #371")
Description(
"The Alco RS2 was the 2nd model .........etc."
)The name is what will appear in the loco list SOO Line Rs-3 #371
I have changed mine to DY Alco Rs3 SOO #371
although I am still thinking about the best way to list them.
At the present time I think the pattern will be
D or E or S (Diesel, Electric, Steam)
P or F or U or Y or A (Passenger,Freight,Utility,Yard,All Purpose)
Loco type
Livery
Loco number (if applicable)
So the above is a Diesel Loco for Yard work type Rs3 operated by SOO Line and numbered #3713. Having made the change - remember to keep the quote marks around the name, - just Save the WordPad file (Don't Save As..) and you have finished.Check TS and you will find the loco listed under D (in the above case) and when you click on details, the wording, which incidentally follows the Name in the .eng file, will be headed by the new name you have allocated.
I will have all my Diesels together followed by the Electrics and Steamers. You may decide that the Livery or the Loco type is more important so just change the order to suit yourself.Incidentally Conbuilder V1.5 by Carlos Gomes contains an option to produce a text file of Rolling Stock listing Type, Engine Name, Engine File Name, Engine Folder Name, Brake Type, Power, Mass and Length. With a little manipulation this can be converted into a very useful Spreadsheet file.Now to ask a question
When you click on Details in the Explore menu many of the Locos have an illustration - where does that come from ??. Sometimes the illustration for the previous loco looked at is there implying that there is no illustration available and I would like to be able to add one.Cheers
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