Message Areas - "New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)"

Train-Sim.Com Message Areas

"New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)"

Email this topic to a friend
Printer-friendly version of this topic
Bookmark this topic (Registered users only)
Previous Topic | Next Topic Conferences MSTS Route Design (Protected) Original message
suckow (84 posts)
Nov-23-01, 05:14 PM (EST) "New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" I just finished uploading a new route. This route is part of the former Chicago & North Western line between Chicago and Minneapolis. The section modeled is in central Wisconsin between the towns of Lodi and Reedsburg. It is mainly rural, traveling through farmland and the scenic Baraboo Hills. The route includes approximately 30 miles of single-track mainline, various sidings and spurs in the towns along the way, and a major industrial complex.The route is a work in progress. The track is done, as are signals, sidings, and platforms; however, only about half of the route has scenery. I had orginally intended only to upload the finished product, but it's taking much longer than I had imagined, so I thought I'd make it available at this point so that I could get some feedback from the train-sim community. If you download this route, please post here, or email me directly, and let me know what you think.In the mean time, here's some screen shots while we wait for it to hit the download page.Steve Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
Table of Contents

Subject Author Message Date ID RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... henry3 Nov-23-01 1 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... atl126 Nov-23-01 2 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... sniper297 Nov-23-01 3 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... suckow Nov-23-01 6 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... suckow Nov-23-01 4 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... atl126 Nov-23-01 5 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... sniper297 Nov-23-01 7 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... suckow Nov-24-01 8 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... sniper297 Nov-24-01 9 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... suckow Nov-24-01 10 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... wp713 Nov-24-01 11 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... suckow Nov-24-01 12 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... suckow Nov-24-01 13 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... wp713 Nov-25-01 14 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... suckow Nov-25-01 15 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... atl126 Nov-25-01 16 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... wp713 Nov-25-01 17 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... cskpke Nov-26-01 18 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... suckow Nov-26-01 19 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... henry3 Nov-26-01 20 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... cskpke Nov-26-01 21 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... cskpke Nov-26-01 22 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... beluga Nov-26-01 23 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... jgroute66 Nov-26-01 24 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... michigandon Nov-27-01 25 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... wp713 Nov-27-01 26 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... sniper297 Nov-28-01 27 RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (... ace6879 Nov-28-01 28

Lobby | Topics | Previous Topic | Next Topic
Messages in this topic
henry3 (291 posts)
Nov-23-01, 05:27 PM (EST) 1. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" Steve,Thanks for the info. I'll d/l and take a look, if and when the file library comes back on line. From what I see in the screenshots, I'd say that it looks pretty promising.As for uploading a works in progress, it's worked for a number of participants in these message groups. I think most of the feedback will be helpful. Just beware of the few jerks that pop up from time to time.Henry Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
atl126 (58 posts)
Nov-23-01, 08:33 PM (EST) 2. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" how big is the download if it's not to big could u sent it by e-mail?
andrew
atl126@hotmail.com Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
sniper297 (962 posts)
Nov-23-01, 09:13 PM (EST) 3. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" I rode that section once, summer of '69, back when the C&NW was still running doubledeckers from Chicago to Ironwood Michigan. I've also been to Devil's Lake, back when Devil's Doorway still had a top rock on it, '67 I think. I live in Chicago, but have spent most of my vacations in Cheesehead country, absolutely beautiful state even if the Packers aren't as good as Da Bears. (Snicker. Our new motto is, "I'd rather be lucky than good!") Being also a NorthWestern nut all my life, I would love to try your route. My route is fictional and therefore don't really have a fixed location, but most of the scenery was inspired by Wisconsin.Dairy Farm:Chippewa Falls:You need some custom ground textures made, gimmee a shout, and feel free to use anything out of the Port Ogden and Northern you like. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
suckow (84 posts)
Nov-23-01, 09:30 PM (EST) 6. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" Jim,That's very cool that you actually rode that route. I never had the opportunity, but love that area of the state. I was a frequent visitor to Devil's Lake, and that in part helped pick which section I modeled. The last screen shot is supposed to be the south end of Devil's Lake.I guess your family must have been some of those "Illinois Drivers" that my Dad was always complaining about. Thanks for your kind offer of textures and item's from the PO&N. I'll have to load up the latest version and take a look. I look foward hearing any feedback you may have.Steve
Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
suckow (84 posts)
Nov-23-01, 09:16 PM (EST) 4. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" Unfortunately, it's 20 Mbytes. I tried, but couldn't get the file size any smaller.I don't think your hotmail account will accept a 20 Meg attachment, but let me know.Steve
Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
atl126 (58 posts)
Nov-23-01, 09:20 PM (EST) 5. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" no it can only hold 10megs
you could send it to my dad its tml227@aol.com
Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
sniper297 (962 posts)
Nov-23-01, 10:54 PM (EST) 7. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" Now that you mention it, that last one does look familiar. I went up there for a weekend about 15 years ago (which is how I know that rock formation across the top of Devil's Doorway finally broke off), and I remember seeing that deep, glacier-carved lake. Cold too, altho there were some guys scuba diving in it anyway.20 megs? I don't mean to be insulting or anything, but this being your first route upload, I'm not going to take anything for granted, so this is rather basic:Delete the following folders; \envfiles \shapes \sounds \textures \terrtex. Do a tools, find in explorer (STARTING IN THE ROOT OF YOUR ROUTE) for *.BK , *E.RAW , and *N.RAW . Select all, delete all. Then zip the route up, delete the copy you zipped it from (you have been making backups as you've been creating this thing, right?) and test the extraction to make sure it works and is playable.If you did miss any of that don't feel bad, even after all this shrinkage has been known for a while, guys are still leaving in the .bk files, and a lot of other unnecessary stuff. Are you including a batch file to install the route? Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
suckow (84 posts)
Nov-24-01, 00:17 AM (EST) 8. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" No Problem - helpful advice is always welcome, and frankly I couldn't figure out why the file was still so big.I did miss the envfiles directory, so that probably contributed to the problem. I deleted all the sound, and all of the shapes, textures, and terrtex except for some custom stuff that I'm using. I also deleted all of the *.bk, *e.raw, and *n.raw files as well. I'll have to go back through it and see if there's anything else I can ditch.Yes, there is a batch file that copies info over from the NEC, Marias Pass, and Settle/Carlisle routes. I also deleted my old directory, and re-installed from the .zip file using the .bat file, so I believe that I have that covered.Looking back through the directory, I see that the custom *.ace files for the terrtex are 1 Mbyte apiece, and that some of them hardly compressed at all in the zip file. The MSTS tile textures are only 170 Kbyte. Do you know of a way to compress the custom files to a similar level?Steve
Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
sniper297 (962 posts)
Nov-24-01, 00:46 AM (EST) 9. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" LAST EDITED ON Nov-24-01 AT 00:58 AM (EST)LAST EDITED ON Nov-24-01 AT 00:50 AM (EST)Hmmm, you're more advanced than I thought, using custom terrtex. I thought that was one of the scrub textures in the pics. I had the same problem, had to settle for a little blurriness. I used PSP 7, sharpened the image, reduced it by 50% (from 512x512 to 256x256), sharpened it again, then down to 128x128 before making the ace. This was before the latest version of TGAtool, and there's also an acecomp utility now, altho I haven't really tested compressing the terrain textures with either one yet. Uncompressed I think the 512 goes to 1029k, 256 pixels to 259k, and 128 pixels go to 66k, quite a savings. I also added this at the end of the batch:call xcopy ..\europe2\Textures\acleantrack*.* .\Textures\*.* /s /ycall xcopy ..\usa2\TerrTex\us2farmland*.* .\Terrtex\ /scall copy .\Terrtex\coal2.ace .\terrtex\snow\coal2.ace
call copy ..\usa2\Terrtex\snow\us2pinkrock.ace .\Terrtex\snow\po4rkHsc.ace
call copy ..\usa2\Terrtex\snow\us2pinkrock.ace .\Terrtex\snow\po4rkQsc.ace
call copy ..\usa2\Terrtex\snow\us2pinkrock.ace .\Terrtex\snow\po4rock.ace
call copy ..\usa2\Terrtex\snow\us2pinkrock.ace .\Terrtex\snow\po4scQrk.ace
call copy ..\usa2\Terrtex\snow\us2pinkrock.ace .\Terrtex\snow\po4scrub.ace
call copy ..\usa2\Terrtex\snow\us2pinkrock.ace .\Terrtex\snow\po4sndsc.ace
call copy ..\usa2\Terrtex\snow\us2pinkrock.ace .\Terrtex\snow\sand.ace
call copy .\custom\waterbot.ace. .\envfiles\textures\WaTerBot.ace /yThat way I could leave out the snow textures, just copying an existing snow texture to the same names as the regular terrtex files. My reasoning is that snow covered is snow covered, you can't tell whether it's grass, sand, mud, or concrete under the snow anyway, why include a custom snow texture for each one. The "..\europe2\Textures\acleantrack*.*" part is because I like the european track textures better than USA2, and the other two oddballs are for the coal mine. That's the thing with ace files, they don't zip much smaller, so custom objects are gonna be an unholy beast to get into my route, cuz I'm trying to keep the zip under 5 megs. The current version is 1.83 megs, so I still got a ways to go before I reach my preferred limit, but you really want to get as much good stuff as you can into a given size zip. I'm thinking about making a seperate pack for maps and activities, the PO&N keeps growing like it has that might be the way to go. And to think version 3.1 would fit on a floppy disk, these routes are like The Blob the way they grow. You tried hacking the ballast yet? I get nice dark textured ballast and ties that look good close up, and give a pink/orange shimmering effect in the distance. No good at all, I even tried hacking the track base, but that don't seem to affect anything.Man, I get to rambling and i forget the important parts. Here's the link in case you don't have the latest;http://fly.to/mwgfx
Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
suckow (84 posts)
Nov-24-01, 01:21 AM (EST) 10. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" Thanks for the info. Actually the green foreground is a stock texture, but I did my own rock textures, and some modified farmland textures that only cover part of the tile.I'll have to experiment with the those files and see if I can pare them down a bit. I think I have 7 or 8 custom terrtex files, so at 1M a piece (or 727K compressed) it really adds up quickly.The idea with the snow textures is a good one. One thing I think I'll do is go to a "deeper snow" look as you describe. I never really liked that "light snow" look with some of the ground texture showing through.I haven't played with the ballast yet. I may have to draw the line there. If I spend too much more time on this may wife may divorce me. Thanks for your helpSteve
Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
wp713 (38 posts)
Nov-24-01, 08:38 AM (EST) 11. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" I was wondering if the route is available? I looked in the route section but couldn't find it. Thanx Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
suckow (84 posts)
Nov-24-01, 12:06 PM (EST) 12. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" I uploaded it Friday, but they've been having trouble with the new server location. The files section hasn't been updated for quite some time, so it may be a few days before this route shows up for download.Steve
Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
suckow (84 posts)
Nov-24-01, 06:28 PM (EST) 13. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" For those of you who are interested in this route, I received some advice from Jim Ward (Sniper), and was able to reduce the size of the zip file significantly (from 20M to 13.5M). I uploaded this new file today, and asked Nels not to post the first file. The new file is cnwis0_2.zip.The upload was much faster today, so hopefully that's a sign that the file section will be back in operation soon.Steve
Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
wp713 (38 posts)
Nov-25-01, 04:36 AM (EST) 14. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" I just looked for the zip file you mentioned, but I couldn't find it. Is it here on train-sim? Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
suckow (84 posts)
Nov-25-01, 12:25 PM (EST) 15. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" Well, it will be eventually. Nels is having problems with the servers for the download area. The files haven't been updated since 11/18. Once the problems are worked out, I'm sure there will be a huge update that will include this file, and many others that people have been waiting on.Steve
Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
atl126 (58 posts)
Nov-25-01, 03:18 PM (EST) 16. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" Just send me the route to my e-maill atl126@hotmail.comWhat?
What?
What?
That's what I though your afraid of me!! Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
wp713 (38 posts)
Nov-25-01, 09:02 PM (EST) 17. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" Thanks for the feedback. I'll be sure and check for it. Oh, and another thing, what is this guy above me talking about? Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
cskpke (10 posts)
Nov-26-01, 10:47 AM (EST) 18. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" Your route looks real nice and I'm sure it will only get better. Problem on my end though. I d/l "cnwis0_2.zip. Installed as directed. Puts file "Reedsburg" in my routes directory after running "Reedsburg.bat". Start TS and select "Drive Train", but the route does not show up on the selections list. Possible solutions or advice? Chances are I'm doing something wrong. I am running Windows 98 2nd edition. IC Route, E Metro, Tehachapi all install fine. Thanks,
CSK Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
suckow (84 posts)
Nov-26-01, 11:33 AM (EST) 19. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" LAST EDITED ON Nov-26-01 AT 11:34 AM (EST)I'm sorry you're having trouble installing the route. I have two questions.1) Did the Reedsburg.bat complete without errors?
2) The route shows up as "Central Wisconsin", not Reedsburg - did you look for "Central Wisconsin"? (no offense intended, just trying to think of everything)Steve
Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
henry3 (291 posts)
Nov-26-01, 12:45 PM (EST) 20. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" I got mine last night and installed it. The only strange thing I can think of is that the .bat file questioned me about several items. It wanted to know it they were files or folders and I chose files in every case. Then it was just a matter of replacing those nasty Dash9s with more appropriate power and I was off.I really liked what I saw last night. I went south from Baraboo and it was a most enjoyable ride. I'm looking forward to running the other activities later this week.Take care!Henry Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
cskpke (10 posts)
Nov-26-01, 03:45 PM (EST) 21. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" By all means no offense taken. I would just would like to get your route installed on my computer. To answer your questions.

1. Yes the .bat file worked with no error messages. I answered "file" to the questions at the end of the .bat.2. The folder "Central Wisconsin" shows up no where. Your .bat file creates the folder "Reedsburg" in my routes directory as it does its thing. Also noted that several .raw files, .s and .sd files are not in folders within the route. Unlike the other routes,there is no "World" folder or "Td" folder within the "Reedsburg" folder, and like I said' the folder "Central Wisconsin" is no where to be found.Could the download itself messed up? I'll try d/l it again and see what happens.Thanks for responding,CSK Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
cskpke (10 posts)
Nov-26-01, 04:35 PM (EST) 22. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" SW,
I sent the zip file to my personal computer from my son's computer (of course he has the high speed internet). I installed it per instructions and everything went fine. The only difference is that on his computer TS is on the F: drive. On my computer it is on the C: drive. Anything you can see here why it would not install on my son's F: drive? Otherwise the route loads okay and looks very nice. Sorry for any inconvenience that I may have caused you on your end. CSK Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
beluga (90 posts)
Nov-26-01, 04:54 PM (EST) 23. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" This route is outstanding. The scenery that is done is as close to perfect as one can get. I've spent many hours with the editor and know what a chore it is. The terrain rolls very nicely.
This will be a "must have"- just like the IC. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
jgroute66 (10 posts)
Nov-26-01, 08:26 PM (EST) 24. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" Steve,
I downloaded your Central Wisconsin this morning, had no problems getting it to run (unusual for me), and enjoyed driving an engine over the route much of the afternoon.
I lived at the Badger Ammunition Plant (Badger Village then Gate 10) until I was six (1956)when my dad was transfered to Buffalo, NY. I think there is a fellow who is into huge metal sculpturing who has a junkyard where part of Badger Village used to be. Gate 10 might have one building or two left standing. As a child, I remember the cows grazing behind a fence in the field next to the Gate 10 apartments. I remember the explosion in the early 50s that killed several men, at least one a close friend of the family who was a barber in his spare time and lived around the Dells. (Never saw the Dells except to go to a drive-in movie...Snow White.) Baraboo, with an oldtime popcorn wagon, was where my folks banked. Plant workers would picnic at Devil's Lake. It was a very sheltered, peaceful life out in the middle of some pretty countryside. I was just blown away starting out in the middle of the plant you constructed. This is the first time I have ever been inside the plant grounds. I always saw it from outside as a child.
Thanks for kindling up some special memories of nearly 50 years ago.
Joe G. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
michigandon (294 posts)
Nov-27-01, 00:48 AM (EST) 25. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" They've had motorcar meets on the tracks of the Badger Ammunition Plant in recent years. Never had the pleasure of actually attending one though. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
wp713 (38 posts)
Nov-27-01, 04:21 PM (EST) 26. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" I downloaded the route this morning. I ran the bat. file without a problem. When I tried to run a train on the route, halfway through the load process an error box popped up. It said (TRAIN WORLD INITIALIZATION FAILED) Could anyone help me out with this? Thanx Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
sniper297 (962 posts)
Nov-28-01, 00:09 AM (EST) 27. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" TRAIN WORLD INITIALIZATION FAILED is the most difficult to troubleshoot, it usually means some shapes and textures copied but not all. And if you don't have a \world directory, there won't be any visible objects. Winzip usually doesn't unzip a corrupted download, but sometimes it does, and it's easy to get dropped packets over a telephone line. If you download again and still get the same errors, doublecheck;It's in the right place. \Train Simulator\routes\Reedsburg is what it should look like, if your winzip isn't set up right you get something that looks like \Train Simulator\Routes\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Train Simulator\Routes\Reedsburg, and that won't work. The batch file is in \routes outside of \Reedsburg.You answer "F" to the prompt asking if these are files or directories.Watch the DOS screen for any error messages like "file not found, 0 files copied". They're easy to miss.Don't give up on it, I'm the "competition" (Port Ogden and Northern route), and I'm here to tell you it's well worth the effort.
Devil's Lake in God's Country. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
ace6879 (318 posts)
Nov-28-01, 10:21 AM (EST) 28. "RE: New Route - Central Wisconsin (5 screen shots)" Howdy, I just completed my "tour" of the route last night, with a current WSOR engineer/die-hard CNW fan here with me. Both of us have taken MANY trips over this line working for the RR. We must say your route is a totally FANTASTIC ride!!! Only thing missing is the CNW semaphores!!! (hint to the designers) I was only in Badger ordinance one time, and my buddy several times,but we both agreed yuo captured the "maze" of tracks and buildings well!!!Even a gate gaurd at the gate!!! COOL!!! I must try to encourage you to finish the route, and if possible, go all the way to the MAD city and Johnson street yard!!! I spent half of my time on the WSOR in Madison, so it is natural for me to want to see this done.You are doing GREAT work, and I had NO trouble loading or running!! Keep going on it PLEASE!!!!!Kelley
niceoneace@aol.com Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Lock | Archive | Remove

Lobby | Topics | Previous Topic | Next Topic